Let’s consider how river flows affect the baiting strategy. We all know that fast flow can make an accurate bait very difficult, if at all possible. Although carp prefers areas with a slow stream, it sometimes comes to the ridge. A “naked” nozzle works well on fast flow sections, without any bait. Simple pop-up and bottom nozzles give an excellent result on many rivers.
If you doubt the effectiveness of the “bare” nozzle, try a method that is very spread out on the rivers. Take a bag for an onion or any other container with small cells, load it with boilies, ground grains or pellets and lower it to the bottom, attaching a load. Small particles begin to penetrate into the water, enveloping the bag with an attractive cloud of food. This method is prevalent.
And now analyse the most common mistakes which to do even anglers and know about all tips and secrets that will be at the first stages in every angling.
- Mistake 1. To choose a location. We think about ourselves, not about fish.
The desire to make your carp fishing comfortable is a temptation not only for beginners but also for some reasonably experienced fishermen. Often, not the presence of fish in the catching sector comes to the fore, but other criteria: the beauty of the landscape, the convenience of approaching the shore, etc.
There are even cases when a carp fishermen chose the place of fishing depending on whether there is a beach for swimming nearby. Of course, it’s also possible to understand such lovers of comfort – to spend a few days, or even the whole vacation in the constant struggle with surrounding circumstances – the prospect is not pleasant, especially since it’s not about competitions, and there is the possibility of unlimited choice.
But then you often have to hear something like “I fed all week, tried different attachments and there is not even a single bite.” Nothing strange: where the fisherman feels good, the fish feel usually bad. To dot the is and cross its: one can not confidently claim that it is impossible to achieve a good result on a clean, convenient place for carp fishing. Many domestic carp fishers know, for example, where a unique position located.
This place invariably works during the whole season, and therefore it is obligatory that someone fish there and feed. The teams of carp fishermen from all over the country change here, like sentries on duty. It is not by chance that the organisers of the local carp tournaments in the past two years began to exclude this place from competitions, because before that it invariably brought victory to even less experienced fishers.
In other words, technically it is possible to lead a carp to a convenient place if there is sufficient depth, a free approach to this fish with ample water and at least a small flow that allows the bait to work. But the problem is that if the place is new and not fed, then this operation could take much longer than you thought it would on your fishing trip.
We had only five fishing days at our disposal, so I decided not to wait for the approach of the fish from afar, but I went straight to the carp. Bracke the camp on the high bank of the Volga – on the ravine among the impenetrable stump.
Before us, there was only a small area where the flooded trees did not stick out from under the water. Several control casts with dragging the sinker on the bottom confirmed my fears that in the catching zone there are also invisible from the surface, lying on the bottom of the obstacles. But having enough experience, I knew that if you can find even small areas with a clean base, where you can generally fish, it will work.
And it happened, although at first there were indeed a lot of cliffs and losses of rigging. That’s when the beginning of the rapidly dwindling stock of fish weighed for fishing; a beginner carp fishers usually lose temper. At first, Alexander also felt sad and began to persuade me to move to a clean place. But gradually he managed to find the optimal distance of catching and to find safe points for casting. Here the matter went so well that it was that time that he broke his record of the number of fish caught and also took his biggest carp at the moment.
I emphasise once again that it is not an aim to choose a difficult place for fishing, to climb into the wilds of a dead peasant. You need to realise that it is much more comfortable, especially in times when fishing is strictly limited in time, to catch the carp in the place where it lives and feeds than to try to entice him with bait to the area that is convenient for you. And what I have told you is just one of the particular illustrations of my thought.
- Mistake 2. The farther the cast is, the more fish you catch.
This rule sometimes really works on large lakes and reservoirs, where the flooded river bed or another likely part of the underwater relief is often located more than a hundred meters from the shore. Sometimes very long casts are justified on carp competitions, when the fish, frightened by the unusual noise, does not approach close to the coast even in spite of tens of kilograms of bait poured into the pond. In this case, a single boilie, which you send to a safe distance, can work even better than one which is lying on a thick layer of ground bait near the shore. But the river is a little different thing.
Getting used to the new place of catching, Alexander set the stands to the water itself, and, going up to the ridge, began to check how can make far casts with entirely new carp fishing rods. The logic of his reasoning was apparent – the more distant from the shore you cast, the larger fish you catch.
At first glance, everything is logical, but it was not possible to implement the venture. As a result of too far casting, too much fishing line appeared in the water, its sail increased, and the hopper hopelessly disrupted the flow and began to drag along the bottom. This process ceased only in the case when the rigging rested on some snag. Needless to say, how disappointed Alexander was during each attempt to reload the tackle.
But when it comes to the loss of expensive rigging, the lesson is learned very quickly. Soon the teammate followed my example and began to throw not in the distance, but to the nearest coastline, which was only 40 meters from the shore and on which the sink just stopped. I’m not even talking about the fact that along places the fish is moving in search of food. He took on arms the very technique of exhaustion – not a smooth monotonous rotation of the handle, but a sharp jerk and then work with a coil at the maximum speed so that the sinker went high from the bottom and did not settle in the buckwheat. By the way, about the weights. Here, too, there is one common misconception.
- Mistake 3. The heavier the sinker is, the better it is
Anyone who has ever caught on the river, is entirely familiar with such a problem, like the drift of the rigging with the flow. As you already knew, Alexander also had to solve it. The primary and most obvious response is to increase the weight of the sinker. I can say confidently: this is how many people act, sometimes even with a risk to break a rod when casting. I sometimes fish on the Volga with heavy-duty “sticks” intended for feeding with a feeder “rocket”, and the sinker sometimes uses up to 300 grams and higher.
This method is useful for catching in a clean place with a flat curb when you should keep the rigging in a steady flow and also during the competitions when it suddenly turns out that there is too blowing in your fishing sector. But if there is a possibility to choose another place for catching – it is worth using this, because superheavy sinkers give a lot of trouble.
Firstly, the heavier the sinker is, the higher the requirements for rigging and the casting technique itself are. The rod with the most common 3.5 lb test for river fishing, according to the manufacturers’; calculations should cope with a weight of no more than 130 grams. Let me remind you about the simple formula: we take the rod’s power in pounds, add one and get the allowable weight of the sinker in ounces. Further, multiplying this value by 28, we get the weight in grams. With the weight of 400 g, there is more than three times the overload of the gear.
Secondly, when catching with superheavyweights, the casting range and its accuracy are significantly reduced. But the main thing (and this fully applies to our case of picking near the stump) – the superheavy sinker starts working as an anchor. When pulling the tackle, it drags along the bottom, always clinging to all the underwater obstacles. As a result, the chance of losing snap on edge or multiply in the snag. It’s one thing if it’s carp fishing competitions, and the fishermen have to adjust to the specific conditions of catching, because the flow can even carry tackles to the nearby catching sector, and another thing is when there is room for manoeuvre. You can, for example, reduce the weight by several tens of grams by merely choosing the optimal shape that will better resist the flow.
Alexander, for example, stock up with pear-shaped weights, but these are more suitable for fishing in places with a very weak flow or even without it. Much better ideal for our purposes is the sinker, which thanks to its flat form and individual teeth very reliably holds the bottom.
It is worth mentioning here the great sinker “sheet” by FOX. Due to its flat shape, it keeps well on the flow, but most importantly, when exhausting, it suddenly rises upwards, calmly passing over the insidious stump. As a result, we limited ourselves to weights of 120-140 grams. They did not drag along the bottom with fast exhaustion and usually kept on the flow.
- Mistake 4. On a large sazan – the line thicker
Not only the shape of the sinker matters but also the thickness of the line. It is also a separate topic. The desire of beginner fishers to wind the coil with a thicker line is quite understandable: after listening to stories about the incredible power of wild carp, which sweeps everything in its path, and seeing an exciting fight with an unknown to the last second, the beginner unwillingly wants to be reinsured.
Alexander also initially distrusted the monofilament fishing line with a diameter of 0.3 and even 0.25 mm. In fact, there is entirely nothing to be afraid of, because during the casting the shock-leader takes all the load on himself, which, thanks to his length (about 12 m), successfully resists both the underwater brow and the drifts for the snags. And at the last stage of disguise, when the fish is already near, and the first turns of the “braids” were on the spool of the coil, it is the shock-leader that is the primary load.
So for what should you refine the tackle? The answer is simple: the thinner the fishing line is (it is not worthwhile, however, to fall below reasonable limits and put a fishing line with a diameter of less than 0.25-0.27 mm), the less it sails in the water column, which means that the flow carried the less the sinker. And do not be surprised that I once again come back to this problem – it is one of the critical things when fishing carp on the river.
By the way, the place that Alexander and I chose to catch is very typical of the Lower Volga. It’s enough to say: “High steep bank with a bucket” – and any fishermen who have been fishing in these parts will understand what we are talking.
And although there was a small platform near the water, sufficient for the installation of rods and tents, we were located at the top, right on the hole. There we also put fishing rods. It seemed to be a little strange for Alexander – you can stumble, walking down a steep slope to the water with a rod in his hands and resisting fish at the other end of the
line. But soon he understood and appreciated the meaning of this venture.
Having placed the rods at the top, we thereby substantially shortened the length of the line, which is in the water. The sinker immediately ceased to carry the flow, and it was easier to lift the fish in the upper horizon, away from snags and treacherous crookedness, while rebounding the rigging it became easier to come out to the surface. Well, Alexander learned very quickly how to jump on the steep mountains – the fishing excitement and the steps made on the slope for
five minutes with a shovel helped him.
- Mistake 5. A braided line with carp fishing rods.
I must say that throughout our joint fishing Alexander invariably demonstrated the skills of an experienced fisherman and some gaps in the theory of modern carp fishing did not prevent him from catching the next carp in the pods. Right, having vast experience of catching Volga catfish, pike-perch and pike, he was more used to working with a braided line. In the end, he asked me a question I had heard many times: why do not we catch with the “braid”?
Indeed, it is thinner than a monofilament with equal strength and instantly passes all information about what is happening on the other end of the line to the fishing rod. That’s why many beginner carp fishers equip with it the coils of their first carp fishing rods. But I should not advise doing this and especially for fishing on the river. Why? Let’s sort it out in order.
Firstly, thanks to the use of new carp assemblies, the fish is detected by itself, and the need for instantaneous puncturing disappears merely. Also, the zero extensibility of “braids” is in a sense even a minus, since it does not allow amortising sharp jerks of healthy fish.
Secondly, and it is perhaps the most critical problem, it is as a magnet and attracts to itself a variety of dirt, floating along the flow of grass, algae, etc. As a result, collect all this river trash in the “tulip” area of the rod, and at the most crucial moment, the line stops merely. In part, this phenomenon is typical for nanoscales but to a lesser extent.
Finally, a thin “braid” quickly runs through all kinds of underwater obstacles: shell rock, driftwood, etc. You can, of course, put a braided line and thicker (say, a 50-foot cord, as for a shock-leader), but then the whole point of the idea disappears.
- Mistake 6. Porridge, honey, tops and nails.
Since the Sabaean times feed the place of carp fishing according to the principle “you can not spoil the porridge with oil.” As a result of this culinary and fishery creativity, unimaginable vinaigrettes of cereal with breadcrumbs, cake, corn, peas and still more than were born. We throw all this explosive mixture at the point of fishing in the calculation
that the carp, like a pig, would swallow everything.
In the 21st century, the very technique of carp has undergone radical changes, but as for bait, many still operate in an old-fashioned way. As a result, a vast flock of trifles usually gathers for such a bait: batteries, dodgers, ide. Next, come carp, but more often this feast is visited by catfish, which destroys carp fishing.
The task of correct carp feeding is to attract the carp. And I suggested Alexander use the standard recipe for catching on the river. We take 1 kg of cut boilies and 4 kg of pellets. We add about 50 g of amino acids. All this we knead in clay, which by volume should be about three times larger than the bait. Clay is collected directly on the shore. Often she lies in the water on the washed sand. It is worth paying attention to its smell – it should not be sharp and unpleasant. Clay should be kneaded, mixed with bait and blinded balls with the size of an orange.
The process of sculpting balls is the least attractive in modern carp fishing. I, too, do not get much pleasure from it, but there is no such thing as a free lunch.
- Mistake 7. We feed where we catch.
From the psychological point of view, the desire to put the feeding balls as close as possible to their equipment is understandable. It is difficult to force yourself to swim upstream and feed somewhere off to the side, usually 10-40 meters from the place of ultimate place of fishing. But the amendment is necessary, and the more, the stronger the flow is and the higher the depth is. It is complicated to give a confident answer to the question of precisely what kind of anticipation should be.
Not everything depends only on the strength of the flow and depth; it is also important whether there is a so-called “return”, whether there are pits, crooks, transverse braids on the bottom on which the feeding balls can linger. I can only give advice not to throw out the entire daily stock of shots at one point, but to move along the shore at a casting distance, thus feeding a full zone. The process of feeding is a responsible business. Having floated on the water, Alexander admitted that he could not independently estimate the distance of fishing looking from the boat to the shore. That’s why the coordination of the partner left on the coast during the feeding is just necessary.
To make the bait stay longer in the catching zone, try to sculpt not perfectly round balls, but first cakes or bricks – it will be more difficult for the flow to roll them on the bottom. During the fishing, once in 2-3 hours and immediately after the capture of fish, it does not hurt to send a dozen or more boilies into the river with the help of a “cobra” tube. But here, too, one must take into account the strength of the flow, the depth, the presence of a "reverse" and do the pre-emption. In general, it is the technique and tactics of feeding that are often the weakest place for beginner carp fishers, so I advise paying particular attention to this aspect of fishing.
- Mistake 8. If the fish has settled in snags, you need to pull it all out.
It was necessary for us to properly lure the place of fishing, as almost immediately my pupil’s fish started to bite. But at first, it was not possible to take out of the river. The fact is that if you act mechanically, on the principle of “tightened up – wound up”, carp will necessarily impose his will on the fisherman and will be able to avoid catching.
There are several options for him: you can just jerkin snags, and there’s a robust way to tangle the tackle, or you can walk at full speed along the cobblestones of a sharpened shell and just cut the shock-leader.
So the first task after triggering an alarm is to raise fish in the middle horizons and not let it go to snags. Receiving the control of a trophy specimen walking on a hook is quite simple, at least in theory: if the carp make a left-leap – we tilt the rod to the right to the water and try to deploy the opponent and if it went to the right – we pull to the left. But even despite all our efforts, it happened that the carp could still find some stump at the bottom.
Usually, you feel this moment by the rod: the fish just barely managed to give in, but suddenly it was as if it were sticking to something. Immediately you lost the feeling of direct contact with the opponent, and you feel how the line begins to rub against some underwater obstacle.
Alexander was not unique in his actions. Feeling that the fish had settled, he tried to take it by force. The new rod bent at the same time into the wheel, but time after time everything ended trite: the breakage and loss of the next trophy. And it was necessary when having felt that the fish was in some way rested and does not go, put the rod on the rack, loosen the friction and turn on the alarm. In our case, the outcome was usually about half an hour later.
The warning light suddenly came to life, and through his long trill, it was possible to understand that the carp had himself emerged from the bucket and again went out into a clean place. The second attempt was usually successful. In this way, approximately 90% of rescue fish stuck in the buckwheat. I will not say that this device is some know-how, many people know about it, but it’s difficult for novice fishers to show calmness at this moment.
- Mistake 9. We catch butterflies with a net.
The technique of carp landing net does not have, at first glance, a unique specificity. Everyone knows that one should not try to catch fish, but wait patiently until the partner himself will lead the carp into the net. In practice (and the reason for this is the unusual excitement of this catch) the carp fishermen begin to outstrip the process and try to catch the carp with a landing net, like a butterfly.
But if, say, a pike perch or an asphere approaches the boat already at the end of the force and can allow the fisherman some balancing act with a landing net, the carp is usually still full of strength and ready for a decisive breakthrough. During my fishing practice, I’ve seen enough cases of fish falling off at the bottom of the landing net. Most of them occur just at the moment when, wanting to help a partner, the fisherman makes a sharp move toward the fish, she is frightened and, rushing out of the last forces to the side, descends. Here is a classic example of a bearish service.
The reason is also that the first carp landing net is vast and does not allow when lowered into the water, to make any sharp movements. All that you may design for is to be raised it from the water when the fish is above the net. Further, having moved, the fisher slammed a loss and made it. Just in case, let me remind a straightforward thing – to raise fish from the water and to transfer it to the carp mat you should hold the rim or the grid of the landing net.
- Mistake 10. “Catch – let go?” Yes, easily!
The need to release all fish caught, in my opinion, is an essential rule of modern carp fishing. And it follows from the simple fact that a literate carp fishermen in the right place can get within a week of moving the fishing train, so many fish that its account will go to tens and will not calculate the weight with only one hundred kilograms. In other words, this way is so sparing that we do not have the right to afford to take the caught fish if we want to continue to enjoy this kind of fishing in the future.
Also, I am doubly annoyed when young carp fishermen are ready to ‘’catch& release’’, but only do not know how to handle the caught fish. As a result, the trophy is formally released but has low chances to survive.
So, in order. While the fish is in the landing net, closed and lowered into the water, nothing threatens it. At this time, the partner should wet a unique carp mat, which you will need under the circumstances that you are going to take pictures of fish. If not, you can gently remove the hook directly into the landing net and release the fish, without take off it out of the water.
It’s another matter if planned a photo shoot, which, from my point of view, should take place whenever the trophy produced is of real historical value for you. Before you start taking pictures, do not forget to fill some large container with river water. In the course of the process, you will need to periodically water the carp, so that it does not get burned. For the same reason, your hands should also be wet. Yes, and in the frame, this shining fish looks much more spectacular, the water, as it were, emphasises the fact of its recent capture.
You must make all manipulations over the carp mattress. In case the fish falls, it will not get a fatal injury. As a result, there is no point to raise the trophy too high above the ground – I have often seen how the fans of spectacular photographs slipped out of the hands and missed out to the field from the height of human growth, and then these grief-fishermen “carefully” released shell-shocked and often doomed fish.
If you want to make an original shot – do not be lazy to go with fish into the water. Here you can run riot to your photographic fantasy, without fear of causing serious injury to the trophy.
Several days of our joint fishing with Alexander Davydov flew unnoticeably. Excellent biting and constant hassles in the Carp camp – preparation of bait, self-feeding, knitting carp assemblies, etc. – did not allow us to be bored even for a minute. The internship benefited the expert at the “Success” base, and let him at first make some mistakes, by the end of fishing he was already acting like a real carp fishermen. But the main discovery that he made for himself and about which he admitted while saying goodbye: it turns out that real carp fishing is not a sitting in an armchair waiting for a bite. That is why, summing up this article, I want to note that almost the main mistake of the beginning carp fishermen is the confidence that carp fishing is so simple.
Lure a place of fishing
A bright bait is one way to attract moving fish. Another way is to scatter a fertile field of bait, in this respect, very suitable cereals. They are cheap and easy to use. A mixture of grains and nuts is active on any river. Pellets correctly stop fish, in particular, Formula Magic. The pellet layer can retain its appeal for many hours. The flow will transport the dissolved pellets and be hammered under rocks and other carp habitats. Having felt the taste of the bait, but not finding its source the carp begin to eat everything that can live nearby.
