|
Carp Fishing - Choosing your Swim!
Assuming that the water is not already packed with anglers, and that you don't have to race for a swim before someone else nicks it, then don't fish anywhere yet. Leave the stuff in the car with the exception of a pair of good sunglasses, a chair (If you own one) and maybe a pair of binoculars if you have any. Then have a look around the water. I always like to walk around the whole of the lake (if the bank permits) before deciding on where to fish, investigating each swim, even on waters I know. Why? To decide where the carp will want to be. You have to almost become the carp yourself. Think "where would I want to be now if I was a carp". As a rough guide, during the warmer months, you might find the carp barsking on top of weed beds, swimming in the shallows, and even skimming the surface of the lake, where as during the winter, you might find the carp In deep water, or IN the weed beds.
It doesn't matter where you will be most comfortable fishing. Well it does to a certain extent, but you want to be where you will catch fish, that is after all, what you came for. So start looking around for signs of any fish movement. If you see any, think "Can I present a bait there?". Look out for those tell tale signs like bubbles, fish stirring up mud in the shallows, bumping against reeds or lilies.
But what if there are no signs at all? This is especially common in the colder months. Then, where do you fish? Well, you need to look for features that are likely to be holding carp. Things such as lilies, reeds, the edge of islands, and don't forget in the winter that lily pads will have died back but are still there under the surface and fishable if you are careful. What if there are no visable features the be seen? Then you are going to have to take pot luck, and search for hidden features once in your swim. Things such as bars and channels, thes cam be easily found be using a marker float and investigating the lake bed. Dragging a lead slowly along the lake bed will give you a rough idea of what is in the swim weather it be gravel, silt or weed.
|
04-04-2007, 02:59 PM
Cheers
Linear Mode
