| Locating Tips, Part 1 |
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We wouldn't be far off the mark if we said that locating carp, or more importantly their feeding areas, is the fundamental key to successful carp fishing. Very often you hear anglers asking each other about how they would rate bait, rigs, location and tackle in order of preference. Usually you'll hear several different answers, all conflicting with one another, but as this is our guide, we will only tell you about our own fishing strategies, and these will almost always be centered first and foremost around locating the carp and their feeding areas. It is no good whatsoever having the best tackle, bait and rigs if there aren't any carp in the lake! The same goes for a swim. We can't put it any more simply than that. Find the fish first, and then find out where they are going to feed and you will make life so much easier. Forget fancy rigs and bait. They don't attract the carp in the way that some of the adverts and articles would have you believe. If they did, you would catch every time you used them! So where do you start looking for carp? All waters are different and not all carp are the same. This is what makes it sound so difficult. The only way to make it sound easier is to begin with the basics and gradually progress from there. In this article we shall do exactly that, so we'll begin by considering the four different ways in which we can actually locate the areas that we all set out to discover: visual, aural, mechanical and conversational. These are fairly self-explanatory in that you will either see carp with your eyes, hear carp with your ears, find them with the use of an echo-sounder or feature-finding tool or discover their whereabouts through conversations with other anglers. The one thing that we all like to do is see carp for ourselves, because at least then we are certain of where some are located. The ideal, however, is not just to see carp, but to actually see them feeding in a certain area. That is sure to be the icing on the cake. We wouldn't just use leaping carp as an indicator here either. Sometimes, especially on the big waters, leaping carp are not always feeding. They may be cleaning themselves of parasites, clearing their gills of unwanted debris, or simply just leaping out of sheer enjoyment. We must say, however, that leaping carp are always going to be a great confidence booster, and wherever they are seen you will always see us casting a bait towards them. The secret here is not to cast right on top of their heads, but rather over the back of them, drawing the rig towards the area where they have shown. This way you are less likely to spook them from the area and they are more likely to inspect the hookbait. As for aural location of carp, you will hear them topping around the lake both in the dark and during the day. It therefore pays not to have a radio turned up loud or a TV set blasting out for all to hear: you may miss that all-important fish location clue. We've reached a point now where our minds are almost trained into listening for sounds of carp jumping. We may be sleeping at night, in total deep sleep, but come the morning our minds will have registered whether carp have topped in the night or not at all. Sometimes, especially if we are sleeping lightly, we may even rise from bed to try and locate where a particular carp has shown. On still nights, or those where very little wind ripple is present, you may be able to pinpoint exactly where a carp has shown by the splash created on the surface. Obviously this is harder on large waters where the carp are showing at range, but if you wait a short while until the ripples make their way to the shore, you may receive an all-important clue. |
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