Angler’s Mail – July 09, 2019

38 | 9 JULY anglersmail.com

COLIN DAVIDSONCOLIN DAVIDSON

The thinking carp angler offers his advice every week in Angler’s Mail,

analysing tactics and tackle to help you put more fi sh on the bank.

T

HE fi rst few choices you
make when you arrive at a
fi shery have more potential to
make or break a trip than any
other.
You could be holding a
‘lumpy’ carp before other
people have even pushed their
bivvy pegs in, or you could be

killing your chances of catching

with duff decisions one after

another.

Whatever time of day you

arrive, it’s a game of common

sense and balancing time spent

looking, against the chances of

action.

Where fi sheries open at a

set time, your chances can be

reducing by the minute after

getting through the gate. But

setting up in a swim devoid of

carp activity also does you no

favours.

Keeping your eyes open and

ensuring that you are in front of

the areas where carp are most

active is the easiest way to get

your trip off to a fl ier.

But even if you get that bit

right there are plenty of rookie

errors that can follow.

Here are a few areas to look

at, to tell whether you need

to change your arrival habits,

boosting your catches.

Starting out

1

If anyone is still turning up to fi sh and tying rigs when they arrive,
they need their bumps felt. You’ll need a well-stocked rig board, with
ones that will allow you to deal with what you fi nd in front of you. So for
visits to new venues, it might be an idea to have a few chods, which can be
cast almost anywhere, even if you wouldn’t ordinarily use them.

2

Most carpers leave end-tackles on rods between sessions, and this

forward organisation gets you fi shing more quickly than people who

need to knot or splice leaders. Make sure that you know the venue rules –

having to take leaders off and thread anti-tangle tubing could cost you a

lot of time and start your trip in the worst possible way.

3

Get your rods out and fi shing as a priority, especially if you are
arriving at a time when carp are likely to be active and prepared to
feed, such as fi rst thing in the morning. Too many times, anglers spend
an hour or more pegging out bivvies and making camp, when there are
chances to get an early fi sh in the net. Watch the lines for clues as to
whether you have numbers of carp in front of you.

4

Try to organise your kit so that the items that you need to get

fi shing are accessible easily, not buried in the middle of a

well-stocked rucksack or carryall, meaning that you need to turf

everything out to fi nd a baiting needle or your hair stops. A small pouch

in your bucket can take PVA, a few leads, rig board, pots of hook baits and

tools. No rummaging or unpacking required.