The Carp Column

I'll definatly be giving river carp a lot of thought this year, after a little succsess last year i want more!! it really can be ecxiting, and after years of barbel fishing it makes a really pleasant change. As Rik says it really has only been scratched at the surface, so many virgin carp waters...thanks for the bait tips Rik.

Nice start Rik but it would take more than Riks article and my book just scratch the surface of this fasinating subject.Tips relevant for one river might be useless on another.Rivers vary so much ie you have carp in the fast flowing Hants Avon and the near pace less River Rother.
Pre baiting is 50% of being successfull the other 50% is location.As Rik says you can bait up extremely cheaply and get some amazing results.Maize is an awesome bait and cheap, couple it with Vitalin dog food and hemp and you can get bait down in to the deepest of water before it breaks up.When mixed correctly you can get vitalin to go as hard as concrete even when it's packed with maize and hemp.It will also take a flavour that will leak off down stream pulling fish from far down stream.The hemp will travel further downstream than maize but not as far as a flavour.The various sized pieces of vitalin will also travel varying distances downstream creating a bait and flavour trail for the carp to find.
Location can be differcult but here are a few starting points Bridges always attract carp so try them but be warned every other lazy river carper will head for the nearest bridge.Weed beds,Reed beds brilliant spots to fish.Any water confluence be it two rivers or just a small stream will attract carp.Drainage ditches pumping into the main river.Snags either in the margins or mid river are another favorite.Depressions on the river bed and boats.I hope this gives you an idear along with Riks starting article of were to start but if you want ask more questions either Rik or myself will try to answer them.It's vast subject that has very little written about it but as the big fella says just wait till you connect with the first river carp.You will find it hard to go back to their lake bound cousins.

That's it. I'm off to the canal on Sunday !!

Hi Big Rik. in your article you say pre-baiting is essential, i agree if you are fishing virgin or lightly fished swims but as most good spots are heavily and often overfed i have found stalking around your chosen area to find where the fish are holding and hiding from the feeding onslaught will produce far more bigger fish exactly the same as with lakes. The bigger the fish the wiser the fish is my motto and it has me good stead for many sessions.

Wow another thread dug out from the depths!

Hi Leslie, 5 years is a long time in angling, i tried my river carping and it was fantastic....but stalking wasn't always possible and short term prebaiting paid off handsomely for me, at least in terms of numbers of fish caught.

Big fish may well be wise, but they didn't get big by letting their smaller brethren beat them to all the easy scoff.

Stalking can be deadly in some situations....but produce far more bigger fish? very debatable and dependant on situations?

Talking of rivers what about the Fen drains and rivers..?

Mark Barrett had a 40 off a drain last season.

The Ouse did fish to over 30.

Great stuff Chris......carping as it's meant to be!

I would totally agree with Rik and Neil,50% location and 50% prebaiting.

With the closed season still in force on our rivers it certainly makes pre baiting for the start of the season a great tactic.

The few rivers I carp fish have a very low head of carp but once found and concentrated over some feed they are really easy to catch.

Best thing though is that I very rarely have to share it with anyone

Get out to France and fish the river Saone. You'll rarely have to share it with anyone, there's no close season and it holds carp to world record sizes. Hooking carp is relatively easy, landing them is a different matter.

its the St Lawrence for me everytime for river carp, get over to the USA

Dont go any where yet mate just get a few English river carp under your belt first.Plenty of time later to go abroad.

I think the English river carp are probably more difficult to catch than some of the overseas rivers, we certainly have less in our rivers

I totally agree. There are less carp in English rivers......and they are smaller. The French versions are still carp and they are just as wild and, if anything, even stonger because the rivers are bigger, wider and faster. You must choose which you want and decide how long you want to devote to catching them. Believe me life is very short.