Nutrabaits - Let me take you on a journey, Part 3 - Carp Bait

Nutrabaits Diary, Part 3

Well that was a long time between drinks as they say. What’s going on Holmesy…come on lad…you’re well behind…what’s going on?

Please forgive me but when I was laid in the back of the ambulance with the blue lights flashing, I wasn’t thinking about this diary piece LOL I was actually wondering if I’d ever go fishing again! Seriously, its common knowledge now, but I had a heart attack in June. Real life changing events like this make you question everything and indeed I did. However, beyond my wildest dreams was the recovery I have made. Tough? Yeah very tough and at times I questioned my drive but I was determined not to let it define me which is why I didn’t go public with what had happened. I don’t want to embarrass the gaffers at Nutrabaits but their support and empathy I will NEVER forget. It’s in those true watershed moments you realise the real friends and supporters.

Right enough of that old tripe…let’s talk about carp fishing.

As you can probably imagine my summer carp fishing was cut short very, very short. My targets were to get back behind the rods in September, as I always want to be bank side this prime time. However what I very quickly realised is that what we have become to know as autumn fishing this year was very. very late. Let me explain. I have spoken often about taking water temperatures. It amazes me that so few carp anglers do it. Think about it, it is the most important aspect to understanding the carp’s behaviour whilst you’re fishing. I have two thermometers. One I take the temperature in the margins and the other I cast out to the spot where I am fishing. There are certain important temperatures that I always note. An important one is 18C because anything above this the carp will start to spawn. This has been the problem this year. The water temperature has been above this for going on for three months…yes three months. Now the large, old female carp will only spawn once but the young male carp will keep spawning and spawning when the water is this warm. That is why a lot of the bigger specimens have died this year because the smaller males have been herding them constantly and this causes the females to stress and being old, usually die from heart failure…I know the feeling well LOL.

So if the water has been this warm the ability of weed and the naturals within it has also carried on far longer than normal. This means the naturals that have usually been eaten and worked are still in the lake. Therefore the dependency on our boilies is less and less. During this time I need to try and get the carp to move into an area I am fishing. This year I am having to keep moving swims as I get followed around the lake by other anglers. A big hit or a good carp caught usually means I cannot get into the swim I want for ages. Therefore I have worked hard at trying to get the carp to accept my baiting tactics as natural food. Now the way to do this is quantity and accuracy. Let me try and break that down for you.

Quantity is pretty straightforward and is dependant on many things for the grass root carper. Notice I write baiting tactics and not boilies. That is because as I am moving around the lake, I want the carp to recognise the food signals as often and as quickly as possible. That I do by using as much liquid as I can. Not the standard liquids are not what I am looking for I am looking to create a syrup type liquid that I present on the bottom of the lake. This quickly releases amino acids into the water column and starts to pull the carp in. Now many of you will have noted that I have advocated using hook baits within silkweed this time of year. That is true but when using liquid it is a massive no-no to use them anywhere near weed. Syrups will hang up, blanket cover and if not careful, kill the natural food within the silkweed, if it is covered, light and oxygen won’t be getting to the naturals. Therefore, it is vital that you cover clear areas. Now a clear hard area is clear and hard for a reason. It is devoid of natural food as the carp have already worked it. So the tactic is to cover these barren spots with a liquid that attracts the carp without feeding them they are what I have christened ‘stimulating spots’. I then spread around in the weed that borders and surrounds these areas with large individual boilies. I prefer the 15mm amd18mm freezer baits. As you all know I am using the Trigga Ice as my chosen boilie along with the liquid boosters plus a few little gems I add to them. I have to keep some things secret LOL.

Now you can see why I mentioned accuracy as a vital ingredient in my baiting tactics. I do smile when I see the binoculars on me while I am baiting up. Most would think its just flung all over the place with gay abandon but trust me the quantity and accuracy are everything to this approach. An extension of this is regularly bait. Every couple of hours whether I’m getting bites or not, I introduce 200 freebies spread on the areas I’m targeting. I can now mention the Solubles that Nutrabaits have been working on for over two years now. This has been Richard Hughes and Jason Callaghan working closely with Graham Mabey from the England Carp Team. I do smile when I now see the clamour of some to try and copy to catch up with Nutrabaits with this product. All I will say is some will try and imitate but they’re not the same. As I write this development is currently over two years long and stabilising the breakdown of them is key. I have been very fortunate to be using these since I joined Nutrabaits and quite frankly, attribute my success on a busy syndicate to using these. One thing that happens often, and I understand why, when you are known for using a lot of bait, other anglers follow you having no problem in fishing on your baited spots. I have experienced this for nigh on 20 years now so it’s not a new phenomenon. However with the solubles I have been achieving various breakdown rates. If you want to extend the breakdown of your solubles I have found just glazing them with a seed oil such as walnut and sesame seed, extends the breakdown to about 6 to 8 hours BUT again it is governed by the water temperature, It goes without saying that the warmer the water the quicker the breakdown but how clever is that. It basically leaves a bed of attraction but no soluble mass. So it is actually a great tool to use alongside liquid. So all my fellow syndicate members who presumed I was filling it in they were wrong. However the actual hook baits are not placed in amongst the baited stimulating spots. I always use a PVA Mesh bag filled with four 18mm boilies or seven 15mm ones. These mesh bags are hooked to my hook bait and cast to land in silkweed away from the baited areas. I have long since realised that this is where the bigger carp will hang back letting their smaller brethren try and gorge themselves on the baited spots. Well being the luck old angler that I am, I soon got back into the groove of fishing my syndicate. I get a little annoyed with those that say why is he still on here …he’s caught them all. Well let me tell you, part of what I do now is to develop bait and fishing edges I pass onto grass roots. It’s no longer simply a way of stacking up the photos for my bulging album…I’m not that desperate to catch a big carp. However when you have come back from a near death experience and you sit there by yourself in the middle of nowhere, you need to feel at ease in case anything happens. This summer that has been a major reason why I have still been fishing my syndicate, that and proving all those who said the big uns were dead, wrong.

Well when I caught an old warrior of 45lb a week into my return I was rightly very emotional with its capture. Fortunately, I was by myself, as I like, as I did get emotional and realised how close I have come to simply not being here anymore. I don’t mind telling you I shed a private tear or two as I sat down with a cup of tea five minutes after returning it. Now this year a few new members have joined the syndicate and are starting to realise it’s not the walk in the park some expected. I often get asked about how I keep catching them and it’s because I am constantly trying new tactics and methods. The big carp in there are old and some of the best anglers in the UK have fished for them over the last 20 odd years. I say this as the forties as well as thirties kept coming. I did however believe a carp that I’d seen out at 49.12 last season, could go over the magic 50 mark soon. Well would you believe it, a few days ago, I received a midday bite that as soon as I picked the rod up I knew it was a special fish. There are only two carp in this lake that could fight this hard. I kid you not the first run was about 120 yards over a bar, through a weedbed and I was hanging on wondering how the hook had not fallen out. 25 Minutes later, I was staring down at the one I wanted. As I struggled to get it into the weigh sling, I knew this was big…very big. I was jumping up and down like a kid who’d had too much sugar as the needle swung to 52lb 3oz. My 29th UK carp over that magic figure. I sat down to calm myself and smiled from the tip of my toes, right to the top of my head. Even I was smiling at the results the bating approach was bringing me.