Margins or Miles

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Chris Isaacs

Guest
I have recently started carping again after a 10 year break (got introduced to pubs, drugs, women etc) and have recently purchased a whole new kit. One thing i have noticed is that everyone seems to be into Big Pit Reels. I have joined a local lake that is in excess of 70 acres, most carpers seem to go for the long chuck when casting. On smaller lakes however, carpers seem to be unhappy unless their bait is 12" of the other bank. I know the basic of feature finding etc but on such a large lake are the fish as likely to be in the margins as in the middle?
 
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The Monk

Guest
stick to the margins mate, theres a lot of bullshit about long range carping, even on the noisiest banks, ive still found carp in the margins, oh and theres nothing wrong with beer, women and drugs either
 
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Paul Williams

Guest
They use their big pits on canals!!! i kid you not!!.......the fish will visit the margins (or at least close) at some time.
I'm happy with just the beer and women!....after a good fishing session of course!
 
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andrew jackson

Guest
I could be wrong but I suspect that many anglers budgets only strech to one set of reels. This could be why some anglers are seen fishing big pits in strange situations. Of course there will be others who are just brain dead.
Margins are so often ignored, and as such can be great areas to fish. The real thing to do is keep an open mind and do your own thing, at the end of the day that is the only way of standing out from the pack.
 
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Stuart Bullard

Guest
I got Shimano 8000's (I am not sure if these are considered "big pit", but they are obviously a lot bigger than 5000's). As Andrew says, it was based on budget and the fact that I wanted to cover all options.

My only observation of a local (32acre) pit is that the smaller carp are often seen, and caught, in close and swim in small shoals (e.g. 5-8 fish). The bigger lumps are normally in ones and twos and caught (not by me!) either further out or in margins on the non fishing bank (one hell of a chuck!).

I will stick close, but only because its easier, especially after all the beers.
 
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Chris Betts

Guest
I only have one set of reels EMZ5500T they are big pit reels. Its a budget thing. However I do not let that worry me. On one lake I fish 22 acres most anglers seem to get the baitboat out or go for the long chuck. The lake in question can be quite hard, one guy is up to about 20 complete blanks in a row. I have caught a good number of fish over the last couple of years from this lake. I would say that 75% have come from the first 30 yards of water. With all coming from less than 70 yards. I have caught fish to just under 30lbs from the margins. In some cases the water is less than 2.5 feet deep. This is on a busy water. I is quite an amazing site when you see bream feeding in a foot of water at your feet, and then from no where a great big Carp comes by and grabs your bait without raising a small boil on the surface. Stick to close in mate, just look for good features and have faith.
 
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Sir Steven Blanksalot

Guest
I have fished a dificult lake in Lincolnshire this season and 90% of the carp I have caught have come from withing 10 metres of the bank! I have caught a lot of fish from under the rod tip too, but if you are going to fish this close in I would suggest using backleads and keeping extremely quiet.

One of the best margin baits I have used is corn, I have had carp to upper twentys using corn close in, give it a try!
 
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Chris Isaacs

Guest
Thanks for your replies, can anyone explain to me how i use a backlead?
 
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Martin Scullion

Guest
Completely agree, though not a carp man I managed to snaffle a couple out fishing no more than 3ft from the bank on a heavily fished day ticket water.

Both fish came after the kids & crowds cleared up, both on 2 grains of corn, as mr blanksalot rightly points out.
 
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Stuart Dennis

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Chris, cast your baits where you want to fish, sink your line as normal and then walk backwards a little whilst paying out additional line. Then place your rod butt on the ground and lean your rod tip on your back rod rests facing forward. This should leave your rods pointing upwards slightly and leave you some access for you to clip your back lead on (i.e. your rods are not now stretching over the waters edge). Now by keeping your line fairly taught, you should be able to slide your backlead down the line into the margins in front of you. Once in position, put your rod back on its rests and wind to tighten slightly.

I think that makes sense!
 
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Chris Isaacs

Guest
Thanks Stuart

Not ever seen that one before. Can you explain how i get the lead on the line and the benefits of a back lead?
 
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Stuart Dennis

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And there’s me finking you had backlead’s and just wanted to know how to apply them! Ok, the benefits of a backlead are for me, twofold. If I cast into the centre of a lake for instance and lets say 60 yards, by having my backlead holding my line on the bottom in the margins, then my line should be tight right across the bottom of the lake. I wouldn’t necessarily backlead if the bottom is totally uneven with features for all the obvious reasons. The other benefit for me is that when I’m playing a fish o lets say my right hand rod, and the carp starts darting hard left, then this shouldn’t upset my other lines.

A backlead is like a normal small ledger weight, except it has a large flat bottom enabling it to lay flat with the eye at the top. But instead of a normal swivel eye that you’d get on ledger, it’s a rubber one about the size of a 5 pence piece. This rubber eye will have a slit where you place the line through. Next time you’re I the tackle shop, just ask for a backlead, you’ll be able to workout exactly what goes where and what to do with all he information above. They cost around ?2 for three. Hope this helps.

Rik, do me a favour, and put a link here for Chris that shows a backlead image. – Cheers!

Questions are great Chris, keep-em coming as we're all here to help mate!
 
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Cakey

Guest
There are situations where you cant and must not use back leads !!

CAKEY
 
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Stuart Bullard

Guest
Right, thanks for that inspired piece of information Cakey. How about expanding a little??
 
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Chris Betts

Guest
I never use back leads in the margins, I prefer to use very slack lines instead. I feel a backlead in a situation where any weed exists is liable to cause some very nasty problems.
 
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The Monk

Guest
I think Mr cakey is refering to locations where the geomorphological substrate is either uneven or indeed excessive weedy waters, particularly in areas of skewed fluvial geomorphological locations, using a backlead in these situations makes the line stand out in angled straight lines and obviously causes fish spooking, I'm not suggesting you try this, but I have done a bit of diving to examine terminal tackles and you learn some pretty amazing stuff when you see how your bait and line has actually landed, I know a few guys who actually carry their baits out on certain waters, a good alternative to back leads is leaded fly leaders, but again only under certain conditions.

As for long range carping, I must confess I find it advisable when you have a bivvy full of drunken women, particularly if they are an extremely noisy and uncouth lot, that it is better to fish the far margins, as they tend to scare the carp away, so probably best fishing the far margins when partying
 
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Stuart Bullard

Guest
Monk.....geomorphological substrate!! Do you mean the bed?? And "skewed fluvial geomorphological locations".....I did a degree in Climate and hydrology and dont know what you mean!!

Good answer though........
 
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The Monk

Guest
I've got a BSc (Hons) 2.1 and a Masters in Ecology mate and I still dont know what it means?
 
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The Monk

Guest
Geomorphological Substrate is the bed, fluviation refers to glacial lakes, according to Mathews R B & Glasser N F (1996)Glacial Geology", Ice Sheets and Landforms, Wiley & Son, New York.

As a full time time bandit it was a case of get hassled by the dole or skulk about in university for a few years, my theory being that if I became incredibly highly qualified, the dole would leave me alone and let me get on with my carp fishing. any body want to fund my Phd by the way?
 
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