Margin Fishing

As the weather warms the waters of our carp lakes Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe prompts us to try the margins.

How many of us inspect the margins when we arrive at a lake?

You might want to if you want to improve your catch rate.

Fishing for carp in the margins can be extremely productive if you find the right places and apply good angling tactics. How many fishermen/fisherwomen ignore the margins when fishing? They see all that water out in front of them and think that the fish must be out there.

I often see anglers using three rods with all of them cast out to the far bank. With so many anglers casting out far it makes the margins a safe place for carp to hang out. In fact, the margins can even be the best places to target the bigger carp in the lake.

As long as you’re quiet when setting up and fishing you can take fish from the margins in most lakes. Carp have great hearing and will be able to pick up vibrations from the surrounding bank, so you do need to be as quiet as possible.

When it comes to margin fishing I tend to use a small 8ft rod and centre pin reel, this allows me to fish in-between trees and other places you would find hard to use a 12ft rod. Its best to wear dark green or brown clothing or better still use camouflage clothing, as you can blend into the surrounding.

I like to find the more subtle features rather than the obvious ones such as overhanging trees, island banks, etc. I like to look for features like undercut banks, posts or trees sticking out of the water, small bulrushes, bushes, lily pads or inlet pipes all these can be ideal feeding spots for carp.

I like to use a small float, 8lb fluorocarbon line and a size 10 hook partnered with good quality bait. One of my best methods is to wrap paste around a small boilie, many fish have taken using this approach, as the carp are not wised up to these methods.

So as the weather starts to warm up go out and have a go, this is a very rewarding way of catching carp guaranteed to provide a good fight whatever size fish you’ve hooked into.



All the best and good fishing
Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe