New to carping + surface fishing

[Ben cParticipant]

Hi all,

After a break of over 18 months I have started fishing again, this time having a dabble at carping (previously took my match fishing very seriously).

At the moment I am concentrating on Elvington Lake just outside York and have picked up 10 fish in my last 2 sessions fishing method feeders and fishing off the surface. Those 10 fish ranged from 7lb up to 15lb but I feel I could have caught more, especially off the surface (I caught 6 off the top including 3 doubles).

any tips on how to maximise my ‘take to catch’ ratio off the surface? I must have had 20-25 fish rise and mouth the bait but i only connected with 8 of them (I pulled out of 2 lumps that I couldnt stop!)

Cheers

Ben

[TF_proper tidal boy]

what tackle are you using, and how are you fishing the floaters ,and what floaters are you using, and what are you feeding ????

[TF_D.W.]

Couple of options. First is to wait until the line tightens before lifting into the fish, as the first time round the fish are just usually mouthing the baits. The second is to use one of the inline floater systems such as the Nash Bolt Bubble or the Fox inline clear controllers, that when the fish takes the bait, the controller acts like a semi fixed lead does on the deck and helps to initially cause the hook point to prick the fishes mouth.

[Ben cParticipant]

Using 12lb mono, size 10 wide gape hook, ‘bubble’ controller float with long hooklength (around 2 feet).

fished with side hooked pop up, hair rigged pop up and single / double dog biscuits. seemed to get the best takes from the side hooked pop ups. the fish were not aggresively feeding so most didnt show any line tightening so i was striking at most the bites.

[TF_D.W.]

2 feet is a VERY short hooklink when floater fishing!!!! The shortest I go is generally 6 feet unless fishing floaters at range where I lengthen it to around 4 feet.
Don’t side hook the baits either in all honesty, but use a pellet band or tie the pop-ups to the shank of the hook with dental floss (a slim D-rig type setup works well with trimmed pop-ups).
I use a thinner diameter hooklink as well (usually 0.20mm Shimano Silk Shock Antares of Garbolino Garbo-Line) and grease the whole hooklink other than the last 4-6″ of it so it floats.
The secret though is to get the fish competing for the floaters before casting the rig out to them. Ideally you want the fish to be mopping them up almost as soon as they hit the surface, so that they don’t spend too long examining the baits and testing them by sucking them in & spitting them out almost immediately.
I use size 9 Drennan Specimen Barbel hooks for my floater work and have never had a problem with them. I found the size 10 to be a little small & the size 8 to be slightly too heavy for a small mixer.

[Ben cParticipant]

cheers D.W.

I will try the longer hooklink and different presentations next time i am out. Its been interesting starting out carping, I find myself still thinking like i did when i was seriously match fishing (and that seems to be working as i am outcatching all the lads who fish there regularly and are out and out carpers). I dont want to stop thinking with the match anglers brain as i feel that makes me try more things out but equally my knowledge of big carping is limited and i will need to seriously expand it to do well and start catching more ‘proper’ carp. any extra tips for a novice would be greatly appreciated!!

[TF_D.W.]

Best bit of advice is to feed, feed & feed until the fish are taking the baits with confidence before casting. Similar to fishing shallow with pellets in that you want the fish competing for the food rather than just picking the odd one or two off. Floater fishing is not the easy method that a lot of match anglers would have you believe (I used to be a match angler), and catching small carp on a commercial on floaters is a darn sight easier than catching proper carp on a lower stocked fishery – they have seen virtually everything before!

[greenhillParticipant]

As said, longer hook lenghts, get the fish competing for the freebies, feed and feed ,up to a half hour, then cast, one of my fav floaters is marshmellows, there white, pink and sweet, carp love them, and if fishing a few rod lengths out, dont use any float, just flick your bait out and free line, wait till the line tightens and then strike.
If useing bread, free linning, dip the bread in the water to take on a little water, this will aid casting, good luck and hopes this has help a little. ~think ~think ~think

[TF_D.W.]

Half an hour is not long enough on the majority of waters to get the fish competing for the floaters. I have fed for up to 4 hours in the past to get the fish feeding with such gusto that they literally home in on anything hitting the surface. This is the best chance to hook one properly without spooking the others as they are competing that hard, they are oblivious to everything else – even a 20lb+ fish charging off through them with a hook in it’s mouth!

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