Floating carp pellets

[keora]

I usually fish for carp with just a floating dog biscuit about 12mm in diameter. It's a simple method as all I have on the line is a hook and the bait. I can cast it about ten yards without having to use a float.

For various reasons the owners have banned the use of floating baits.

I'm still allowed to fish with a buoyant bait providing it's not floating on the surface. I wonder if it would be worth trying a zig rig. The average depth is about 5 or 6 feet, so I'd fish with the floater about a foot below the surface.

I've never used a zig, have members any advice on using one?

 

[mikench]

This might help.

 

[keora]

Thank you for the link, it's very useful. Have you ever tried the rig?

 

[@Clive]

I usually fish for carp with just a floating dog biscuit about 12mm in diameter. It's a simple method as all I have on the line is a hook and the bait. I can cast it about ten yards without having to use a float.

For various reasons the owners have banned the use of floating baits.

I'm still allowed to fish with a buoyant bait providing it's not floating on the surface. I wonder if it would be worth trying a zig rig. The average depth is about 5 or 6 feet, so I'd fish with the floater about a foot below the surface.

I've never used a zig, have members any advice on using one?

Why not use a float and fish it a foot deep? Better than having a lead weight and five foot leader imo

Just use a sinking biscuit like a Frolick under a small float.

 

[nottskev]

Might well work in some places. There's a place not 5 mins from me where I've never succeeded in catching one of the seen-it-all-before carp, not that I've got the patience for more than the occasional stab. Any line or gear on the top, and they won't even swim past. Some of the locals use baits floated from the bottom up rather than the top down, and reckon there's more chance of a take.

 

[@Clive]

If they have been accustomed to take floaters then I don't imagine that they will spook from a shallow fished bait under a float. I would only use a zig as a last resort. I think it is a horrible way of fishing. I would even try freelining a Frolicks biscuit with a bit of rig foam in the hole to make a very slow sinking bait.

 

[mikench]

Thank you for the link, it's very useful. Have you ever tried the rig?

No but I have a few zigs which I have never tried. I use bread floated from the bottom up mostly. You could attempt this by the use of a stop on the line so it’s a foot or so below the surface.

 

[@Clive]

That only works with baits or lures that are very buoyant otherwise the bait / lure doesn't pull the line through.

I have used zig rigs and the work best on a fixed leader which ultimately ends up with the lead several feet up the line when landing the fish. Five feet is managable, but for me it isn't a nice way to fish as you are relying on the fish hooking themselves. It is basically a bolt rig. That is also why it works best as a fixed lead.

 

[keora]

I should mention that fixed rigs and bread aren't allowed.

I think I'll try a float with a sunken pellet about a foot below.

I like surface fishing is a good method because you can see how carp react. Most avoid the floating bait then out of the blue a carp will swim up and take it. I've occasionally legered for carp and caught them - but with a leger rig it's hard to judge if there's carp in the swim.

 

[mikench]

Why the objection to surface fishing? A hooked carp is the same whether the bait is sucked up off the bottom or the surface. Bread is debatable .

 

[nottskev]

At fisheries, Mike, it tends to be because ducks etc can get themselves hooked (although determined mallards will pick up bottom baits in shallow water. I've had to reel in one or two that I didn't see coming) and because anglers feed lots of bread, dog biscuits that then drift through everyone's swims. I'm not sure why Clive is set against what you describe - in shallowish water, it's really just a leger rig with a longish tail and a floating bait. Wasn't it a Former FM Member who showed you that one? The OP is right about the will they/won't they fun of it.

 

[mikench]

It was indeed. I too have had the odd mallard and a Canada Goose.

 

[@Clive]

As I said earlier Kev; fishing a running zig isn't possible if the bait or lure isn't buoyant enough to draw the line through the weight. The theory doesn't meet the practical aspect. Also the zig works best when the rig is fixed so the stretch in the mainline doesn't cushion the take. I found that when the weight, typically 2oz or more is five foot or further from the hook link it can cause problems in getting snagged and can cause the hook hold to give way. I disliked it so much I stopped using the method.

I think that if carp are readily taking surface baits they should take shallow fished baits. When fishing 12" deep for mullet I use a Crystal float or a piece of reed fastened with a float rubber. Alternatively he can use a small cork or foam insert into a Frolicks biscuit and freeline it as a slow sinker.

Last year I found that when carp were basking in the sunshine a land snail suspended 12" under a wine cork and allowed to drift down to them took fish. It was attached merely by slitting the cork and trapping the line in it so the cork came free when the fish inevitably went into the weeds..

There are lots of ways to overcome the floating baits ban, but zig fishing wouldn't be on my list.

 

[Keith M]

I’ve used anchored bouyant baits (which are now called zig rigs) for a great many years on waters up to around 5 or 6 feet deep or thereabouts when I need a bait that doesn’t drift out of my swim; and have had some decent sized fish using this method. It can be used to present a bouyant bait either below the surface and/or on the top.

I’ve found that a sub surface anchored bait is particularly good when there is a bit of a chop on the surface; but it is also a good reliable way of presenting a bouyant bait on waters with lots of water fowl when surface fished baits are likely to be causing you too many problems.

When using this method on the surface and ducks or other water fowl are likely to be getting fairly close (but not continuously) then I often use a boilee cake which doesn’t disintegrate easily and then when a duck gets near a couple of turns of the handle will sink the bait out of sight (see diagram) and once the water fowl has passed I can release line and the bait will come back up to the surface again.

I make my boilee cake by adding couple of extra eggs to my boilee mix until it starts to feel sloppy and then add a little extra sodium cassenate or a largish pinch of baking powder and then place it into a baking tray and bake the mix in the oven until it starts to turn cake like.
This will float well; cast well; and last in the water for ages (unlike bread); plus it can be flavoured and coloured too



Keith

 

[nottskev]

But it's not a theory, Clive - it's just something people do that catches. The bait can rise to the limit of the long hooklength with no need to pull line through the eye of a weight, which might be a 1/2 oz bomb. We're talking something very different from carp angler zig rigs that fish mid depth etc in deep water.

I mentioned it first, though, as something I've seen used with success on a pool 5 mins away. Far from taking surface baits readily, the two dozen ancient carp in it will turn round and leave if they see so much as a line through your swim or anything on the surface.

It all looks mechanically a bit wrong, but catchable carp are very obliging and you either see the bait taken if it's anchored on top or see your rod dragged round if sub-surface. I posted several times about how the tidy-size carp in my pics contrived to hook themselves against the rod when free-lining!

I like the alternatives you've mentioned including the drop-off cork, but this one also works.

 

[keora]

Why the objection to surface fishing? A hooked carp is the same whether the bait is sucked up off the bottom or the surface. Bread is debatable .

Protection of birdlife.

 

[Philip]

Are you absolutly set on the bait has to be boyant ?

If your primary reason for contemplating a Zig is because you have been catching on floaters & have confidence in baits near the surface then rest assured in 5 or 6 feet of water they will still find a bait on the bottom.

Why not just freeline a bottom bait ? ...then you dont need to change anything & can basically use exactly the same setup as you already do i.e just a hook and line.

 

[keora]

I'm not insisting that I use a buoyant bait. I no longer can use baits floating on the top because they are now banned.

I liked fishing with floaters on the top because I caught more carp that way, compared with legering, or float fishing with hookbaits on the bottom.

I might try a freelined bottom bait. Although how sensitive would the rig be? I imagine the fish could pick up a bait, swim towards me and then drop the bait before I notice the line getting slacker.

I like surface fishing, it's good to see carp swimming close to the bait, even if they are moody and don't take it.

 

[Philip]

The rig can be as sensitive as you want to make it.

At the 10 yards distance you mentioned I doubt drop backs will be a big problem but again it depends on how you want to fish...If you want to freeline then your indication could be (for example) watching the line where it enters the water on a calm day or touch ledger.

Alternativly put on a very light bobbin or float and use those for indication.

 

[keora]

Thank you.