Carp on Chinese Sweet & Sour Sauce, or……

A new slant on carp baits

Oh, and just in case Richard thinks he’s got us on this one we have noticed this article was submitted on 1st April………….

Sweet and sour carp
Richard Thorpe and 9lb 2oz Sweet & Sour Carp

I belong to a small angling club in Brighton, East Sussex.

Saturday, 31st march was our match day at a venue called Barretts Farm in East Sussex. I have never fished this lake at all before, but I found out that mainly carp, bream and roach are the main species in the lake.

The weather conditions on the day were bloody cold and windy, not good for pole fishing. Anyway, racking the brains what to take bait-wise, I went for red maggots, corn, meat and some pellet.

on the Friday evening before match we had a Chinese takeaway, plus all the bits and pieces. After the meal I noticed thee was still half a pot of sweet and sour sauce left and the old grey matter kicks in…..I wonder! Will it or won’t it work with my bait?

So in the morning I went to pour it in a glug bottle, but nothing happened, it had gone solid. So I poured a drop of hot water on it and that did the trick and I was back in business as it was now just the right thickness.

I arrived at the venue and mixed some of the sweet and sour with the pellets, plus a few maggots and some corn, and cupped it in. My hookbait was a grain of sweetcorn dipped in the sauce. It was a slow start and then it kicked in, and I had some nice ghost carp to 4lb, commons to 3 – 4 lb, and then the 9lb 2oz common.

I won the match with 41lb 12oz, people either side of me weighed 3lb and there was a couple with 4lb, nearest weight to me was 16lbs on the opposite side of the lake, but all my hookbait was dipped in the sweet and sour sauce.

What a sweet victory that match was.