Starting Carp fishing

I have just got a basic carp rod and tackle, and want to start learning more about fishing for carp. Can anyone offer some basic advice on rigs, baits and good fisheries in Kent?

Many thanks

Hi Paul,
Sorry about this, but I have to let you into a big secret about carp fishing. Most carp anglers are 'morons' (not all) but most. Sitting in a bivy (doing what?) behind 2/3 rods, trying to ambush a creature more intelligent than themselves, come-on pal - take-up fly fishing instead, this is for serious thinking fisherfolk. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a 'carper' in my earlier days, so I know what the 'crack' is!. Boillies, flavours, secret mixes, special rigs, etc. blah, blah, blah. It's all bollocks. Do not become a carp angler, you will regret it when you have spent all your money on tackle/bait . . . for nothing (or at best an ego trip) Thank's Paul.

Paul,
He's right you know!! go spend your dosh on some lumps of fluff and catch fish with no tails, thats what it's really all about!!!! or look in for more information from guy's who can catch carp...secret mixes? flavours? boilies?.....carp record...corn!!! Paul you do what you fancy i'm sure you will get answers, it may help if you try to tell what experience you all ready have.

Mr. Williams,
Catch fish with no tails eh?
How about carp with no lips?
Due to frequent capture and poor/inexperienced handling?

why do fly anglers think they are above everyone else?

Paul, if you want some info either read some of my previous Carp Columns or mail me privately as this thread seems to have been hijacked.

Most of the Fly Anglers around this area are so stuck up their own backsides that they won't even acknowledge any other person apart from their own. Leave them to it is what I say, and if the 'Fluff Flingers' want to call Carp Anglers 'Morons' then they had better start looking at themselves first. At least we don't smack the fish we catch over the head and return them to fight another day.

Mr Tyer, if you want any Carp Angling advice, just ask matey, and ignore the ones who knock our side of angling.

Mr Leatherbarrow.

I see you are a tackle dealer. Do you insult the Carp Anglers that use your shop in the same way as you have insulted us on here? Or do you not sell Carp angling tackle? Sorry to sound like I am having a go at you, I am not, but I would have thought that being a tackle dealer you would have encouraged someone looking at expanding their angling skills to do so?

I would like to point out to all you hijackers of this thread, there is a anti-angling group out there and if all areas of angling are unable to work together then we will lose our sport!! (Do you want your children and their children to have the chance to experience the very thing you enjoy?????)

I have been game angling for numerous years and felt the need to experience new areas of angling, and took up coarse fishing a year ago, and now want to expand this to carp fishing. So if there are any anglers who fish in Kent and would be willing to advise me either via the web or at a local fishery, please contact me.

Mr Leatherbarrow,
You are a tackle dealer!!!! talk about biting the hand that feeds you!!??

Mr. Tyler, please excuse the rantings going on in this message area, its down to foot in mouth!!

As for the carp fishing, I would suggest nipping into one of your local tackle shops and asking advice. Also, have a scan of british websites etc. I would suggest keeping things simple for a start. Dont worry about the latest rigs, fancy baits etc. These are for the hard waters. Get down to an easy water were there is a big head of smallish carp (up to 10 pounds) and concentrate on catching and handling fish. Once u start to get confidence in looking after fish on the bank(take a matt please) and confidence in your rigs and baits, then start to think about the bigger fish. Dont run before u can walk.
Baits, well, any boilie from a known company will do really. Have a look at Nash, Richworth, Mainline etc. Some people will advise against boilies to start with, but if u are fishing waters where everyone uses them, the carp will be *switched* on to them. I myself tend to use many simple baits such as pastes, bread, corn etc, but boilies are far simpler to use.

Send me an e mail if you want any more help!

Colin, I hope what u wrote was in jest! You have been very helpful in my quest for rods, but if that is your attitude, well, I wont be buying blanks from yourself.
I have fished for Trout, Salmon, Carp and Pike for the last 25 years and i can honestly say the average game angler has no idea about fish, conservation, fish handling and etiqueet!
I do hope this is just a missunderstanding.

Mr Leatherbarrow

I trust you are having a bad day and easing this by making such remarks. Otherwise I can only assume you are trying to cause a further pointless rift between game and coarse angling.

As far as moronic behaviour goes I can do no more than point you in the direction of a frequently employed game technique of throwing coarse fish up the bank, senseless culling of pike etc.

I am sure you do not follow such practices but perhaps you will get my drift about tarring with one brush.

Finally this is a carp forum and the original thread was a request for related information and not for a tirade against the sport and its participants.

Ref. Trout Fisherman this month in the Readers Questions section "Should Pike not be killed as they eat all the trout?"
Reply from an informed game angler, "NO, Pike are an important requesit in a healthy, balanced fishery and should be treated with respect"!
Well done Trout Fisherman!! He then went on to explain what Pike do for a fishery. Very good reply.

Well, well boys! I seem to have livened things-up a wee bit?
Sorry if my 'wind-up' upset a few people but it shows that real people are in fact reading these pages. Well done.
Threats from Mr. Brownfield about not using my business because of my 'thread' are, well, ... can't think of a suitable reply!

How about Bankrupting and worthy?.....and yes people do read these pages...you only had to ask!

"Well, well boys! I seem to have livened things-up a wee bit?
Sorry if my 'wind-up' upset a few people but it shows that real people are in fact reading these pages"

A wind-up, was it ?? - if that is the case, why the devil didn't you make that clear?? - anyone else would have used a `smiley` ( ;^) or similar ) to show that the comment was made as a wind-up.
And irrespective of that, it is about time that all the internal sniping stopped - we are, after all, all anglers- there are enough `outsiders` having a pop at us without us doing it ourselves in this way. Game against coarse against carp against barbel against match against .... it just carries on ad infinitum, doesn't it ??

Might I recommend that in future you carefully read what you have typed, and if necessary edit and re-read it, before pressing the `submit` button ??


Jonty

Colin, I'm really sorry if it appears that everyone is ganging up on you, but you were out of order - sorry.
The one I feel bad for in all of this is Paul who raised the thread in the first place. I can't tell from the photo, as it's not a close up, but he looks quite young. Just what sort of example is that to set before a young man. He puts out a perfectly reasonable and well worded question, then gets a reply like that. What are his parents going to think?(again, I'm assuming his age here, I could be wrong. If not, then it's still a valid point in principle).
And the worst of all, is that it comes from a tackle dealer.
Colin, if it was a 'wind up' as you say, then you misjudged the whole situation. Certainly, banter is part of the Forum, but I think it's very important that when we do fool around, we do so with people who know us, and they know exactly where we are coming from.
But I don't think it was a 'wind up'. I think it was a thread you replied to and has back-fired.
For the sake of Paul, why don't you mail him direct and apologise? If he wants to be a carp angler, so what? If you want to be a fly angler, so what? Neither is superior or inferior to the other, only what certain anglers try to make it. In fact, when I started fishing again in the mid 90's it was fly fishing that I took up. At this present time I'm going carp fishing. Does it matter? Live and let live I say.

Colin, I am sure u can think of a reply!! I am waiting with baited breath!

I unfortuantly come across the worse side of Game anglers virtually everytime I walk into my local tackle shop, so you could say I am a little biased when it comes to taking sides. I did find it a little strange that in the info pack u sent me on your rods, you list Carp and Specialist rods too.

Firstly…
Paul – Your local tackle shop should have the free Freshwater Informer newspaper that details Carp waters and fisheries that are open in Kent and East Sussex. Their url is http://www.freshwaterinformer.co.uk.

Secondly…
Having returned to fishing after a break of nearly 20 years I am dumbfounded by the Carp fishing craze. Although I can’t see myself sitting in a –10deg bivvy for 3 days I have to respect the perseverance and patience of those who do. But strictly speaking is being woken at 2am by an electronic alarm to find your bolt-rig has caught a fish really angling? The natural progression is surely an electric reel instructed to land the fish by a silent bite detector. That way the Carp fisherman won’t have his sleep interrupted ;-)

With the current foot and mouth crisis the number of available waters is very limited. It is very frustrating to arrive at a lake and find 6 Carp fisherman with 3 rods each casting to every swim in the water. When you stop at the furthest permanent peg from them a shout goes up “Oi! I’m fishing there!!!” There’s not much you can do except tackle up, cast in and hope for the best. After much swearing they will reel in and cast somewhere else. Since I started fishing again a few months ago this has happened many times.

I have lately started fishing exclusively at waters that have banned boilies. Fishing with natural baits is thankfully too much like angling for most Carp fisherman and every peg is available for use. As I and my fellow coarse anglers use only 1 rod each we often share the same swim without any animosity or difficulty. Using maggot and worm I often catch 5-10lb Carp. Not huge by Carpers standards but great fun on light tackle.

I think the attitude of Carp fisherman to other lake users causes comments like Colins. Although I disagree with the tone of his message I understand why he and others make them.

Andy, I can also see Colin's point of view. (But of course, two wrongs don't make a right.)
For sure, it's very selfish to have three rods and then cast them across the lake (if it's interfering with others fishing), but I've got to say I've had as much trouble with 1 rod anglers casting into my swim as those with multiple set ups.
Check out Philip Inzani's thread on bankside etiquette, it deals with a lot of what you bring up.
By the way, welcome back to angling. haven't things changed (I'm talking tackle wise, by the way..)