River Carp

I am targeting some river carp on a secluded river this coming season and wondered if anyone would be kind enough to give me some advice. I have located them and am going to start a prebaiting campaign closer to the start of the season but want advice on tatics and rigs from more experianced river carpers than me.

You have located them, and that is a key part of river carping and will make it a lot easier. With prebaiting I would be careful to select certain baits that the barbel (if there are any in the stretch) will be less intrested in, otherwise you may have a hard time getting through them.

As for rigs, there is no need to complicate things with river carping. I would use a simple running rig incorporating an Enterprise Snag Safe Lead Clip (allows lead to run freelyand should it snag it will snap and release the lead leaving you still connected with the fish, also enables quick change of lead should conditions dictate a lighter/heavier lead is needed. See link to read more about lead clip.[http://www.enterprisetackle.co.uk/terminalhtm/snagsafelead.htm]). The'Snag Safe Lead Clip' is not necessary, however i feel it is a worthy addition to any running rig.I would then use a bead over a swiveltied to the mainline to protect and hide the swivel.
Should you wish to fish a bolt rig then using one of the many widely available lead clip kits will suffice. If you wish to use a leader such as lead core then you can, however this is down to your own personal preference and certainly isn't essential.

As for hooklinks it is down to personal choice, but i would use a fluoro carbon line such as Kryston Incognitio tied using a knotless knot to a size 6 or 8 hook depending on the size of bait you are using. You could tie the hooklink straight onto the swivel attatched to the mainline, or use a quick change clip which will allow you to quickly swap hooklinks from one to another.

Backleading again is down to personal choice and whether it is necessary for the swim you are fishing in.

If you have any more questions then I'd be happy to try and help further.

I certainly do not want to overcomplicate things and am thinking that back leads will be needed, i do a fair bit of barbel fishing on the trent but i did not want to presume that i could fish the same. I have never used a leadcore and could do with knowing what advantage / disadvantage this would give me, or why they are used?
On another point i have used some camoflaged line on the trent 15lbs b/s that matched the gravel brilliantly and now i am hearing that red line is suppose to be the best to use? Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

The methods you use for barbel certainly will work for carp if you wish to use them.
Leadcore is a weighted leader that will sink to the bottom and pin the few feet above the hooklink the bottom, hiding it from the carp. However, you will catch as many river carp without it and if you are unsure about how to use leadcore, it is probably best you avoid it for now.
As for mainline i would stick to the one you are using as long as you are happy with it.
You mention it is 15lb b/s and that is perfect for most river carping situations. River carp fight extremely well and strong gear is essential. As for red line, personally i believe products such as that are a gimmick to try and make more money.
The theory behind the red line is that it is one of the first colours that 'disappears' under water, which happens at somewhere in the region of 10 - 20ft deep (or so my research has shown, however i am unsure of exact depths, and it will vary depending on conditions of the water). Although it is marketed as 'disappearing' it is still visible but looks black. If you really want an 'invisible' line, then i would recommend fluoro carbon, however you need to ensure it is pinned to the bottom, or else it is clearly visible if you are looking from underneath it up to the surface.

I have been doing a bit of research on the subject of the red line and for the water i fish i can not see many times i will be in over 12ft of water, it is more the angle that the line goes in the water at, i put the rod as low as possible but think that these carp are going to be a bit more wary so want to pin a fair bit of line back down, i have found an article on esp anchor tubing, is this ok safe to use compared to leadcore?.
I have always used mono, so would not know where to start with floro carbon line, what make/brands would you reccommend?
As a bit of share of info i have used the fox camelon soft steel line and had some good results compared with the dirct mono, even tho the fox was thicker.
Also as you can probably tell i am a bit of a virgin carper, i am going to prebait, how many boilies are usually used as i read so many varing amounts, i want to keep the fish intrested but not full, i am dealing with a shoal of about 20-30 carp varing from 10-25lb but the river also has a good head of bream that seem to be sticking with the carp. I am going to feed a groundbait with hemp, pellets, vitalin and sweetcorn as well as brown crumb my baiting campaign is going to be over a few weeks to build there confidence up.
By the way i will also take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your time in answering my post, i just want a change from barbel hunting this coming season.

For river carp I try to keep it simple. Semifixed leads (flat pears, korda grippers, fox inline grippers etc). A 3' leadcore leader protects from abrasion from rocks and mussels. For end rigs I use snakebite combi rigs to try to keep things tangle free but you don't need anything complicated, just strong. Hooks with beaked points are good as they don't lose their points on rocks/mussels as easily as straight point hooks. I like the ESP raptors but its personal preference.

Best tip of all is to use the method feeder/ groundbait moulded around the lead and 5-10 bait PVA stringers. This means you always have bait around the hook bait which can be tricky to ensure in deep rivers. You could also use PVA bags but the method feeder is cheaper.

For prebaiting, go big and don't skimp. Vitalin and maize are cheap so aim to use a couple of kilos of vitalin and maize for each prebaiting trip, add a handfull of boilies each trip to give them a taste for them too. It will disappear quickly when the bream and carp get on it.

As for hookbaits, most things will pick up bream as well as carp. I'd avoid anything that can be pulled of the hair like sweetcorn or meat. I've done well with both boilies wrapped in fishmeal paste and maize. Tiger nuts might be good as they seem pretty bream proof.

If you are catching Barbel on scaled down Carp tactics then you will already know enough about rigs to catch a river Carp and your problem may be that you end up putting too much thought into it. I would take a step back and consider the very basic stuff before you move onto whether red line or fluro or whatever will help.

The good news is that you’re already doing the one thing which will make the biggest difference…your prebaiting. However I think the feed you mention has too many small items in it. Put some big things in there that may survive the Bream till the Carp find it. Also as you are drawing the fish to you, make it easy for yourself - bait an area close in, don’t over complicate by baiting a far bank swim which you then have to fish across to. Also bait more than 1 swim and rotate between them. It also gives you a backup plan if someone is in your first swim. You mention it’s secluded so don’t discount the day light hours and don’t stomp up on them and hammer in bivvy pegs. Keep back from the edge….common sense stuff.

For rigs sacrifice finesse for a rig that keep fishing till the Carp turn up. A big lead that keeps it all in place. A hooklength and hair that won’t tangle at the first bream or Chub that has a pull.

Use tackle strong enough to land them…that means strong lines, big hooks, and good knots.

Good luck.