Anglers Mail Action Replay >>>
Spring 2013
This week: Prawns catch loads of big
perch but how many anglers use them for other species. We’ve teamed
up with one angler who regularly bags up on big carp simply float
fishing these in the margins.
Heading – Alan Muller goes marginal
carp fishing with prawns.
Every now and
again an anglers stumbles on a venue by accident when targeting a
different species and that’s exactly what Alan Muller did when
fishing prawns for perch last winter.
Trying to tempt
one of the few big perch that a local commercial, Alan found himself
constantly being beaten up by hard fighting double figured carp that
certainly tested his perch set up to the limits. Being a lover of
float fishing he wasn’t complaining and now regularly returns in
the traditional close season to get his angling fix, before his
preferred rivers reopen and his quest for catching monster barbel
begins.
Alan classifies
himself as ‘old school’ being bought up using watercraft to
locate his fish and traditional float tactics to outwit them. ‘Once
the rivers open you will find me spending the majority of my time
targeting barbel and during this time rarely visit a Stillwater, yet
once these close I have to get out and its species such as roach and
perch that I prefer to target, yet just watching a float dip in the
margins then disappear and the sound of my clutch screaming as a carp
heads of to the centre of the lake is a s close to the power of a
barbel as it gets and the frill of the fight and the fun of doing
something other anglers rarely do these days is refreshing,’ he
remarks.
Anglers Mail Rating: Having the lake to
himself and knowing the venue like the back of his hand, fish are
guaranteed.
08:00
Arriving at the
lake Alan’s has already made his rod up and with minimal tackle
quickly assesses the wind direction before deciding on four swims
that he will bait and rotate during the short morning session.
‘What I love
about this style of angling is that you don’t need loads of tackle,
just a rod that I made up at home, a landing net, mat, bucket with
bait along with a small bag which has items such as terminal tackle,
scales, camera and a flask. This allows me to keep mobile, just like
being on a river, taking a fish, maybe two from each swim before
baiting and moving on,’ he comments.
He seems undecided
at first to which bank to fish. ‘This wind is a north and its cold
and I’m concerned the fish aren’t going to like it in there
faces’, he mentions.
08:10
Not wanting to put
all his eggs in one basket, Alan finally decides to bait two swims on
the windward bank as well as two on the bank with the wind of his
back and proceeds to bait up.
‘What I’m
going to do today is to bait each swim down one margin with a handful
of hemp along with two or three broken prawns. Before doing so, I
place the rod on the ground as I’m going to be fishing right under
my rod tip in every swim,’ he adds.
Leaving the swim
to rest for ten minutes has a quick cuppa whilst deciding on what
swim looks like producing a quick bite.
08:20
‘Bait for today
is as basic as it comes, king prawns and hempseed as loose feed. I
also have a few mussels in my bag just for an alternative, but rarely
have prawns ever let me down. I keep a small pole cup also in my bag
just in case I need to bait up really accurately. I also find that
hemp and prawns that are a little past their sell by date better so
always keep an eye out for any going cheap in the supermarket, so
although I have had to pay for a day ticket, the cost of the bait is
so cheap it counterbalances this,’ he explains.
He also tells me
that in the winter when targeting perch he replaces the hemp for red
maggots, however with the lake containing so many silver fish he’s
decided against this as it will only attract unwanted species.
08:25
‘Everything
about this session is about keeping things simple, moving around as
well as using balanced tackle. The rod I’m using toady is an old
Normark Titan 13’ Match rod which I’m teaming up with a small
Shimano reel loaded with a fine 0.17mm mono, approximately 6lb. At
the business end I’m using a small 0.4gram pole float which is
virtually cocked with a 0.3gram inline Olivetti and positioned at
half the depth of the swim and locked in position with a float stop.
No hooklinks here as knots produce weaknesses, so its 6lb Gardner
HydroFlo mono straight through to a size oversized size 14 barbless
hook with is tied on using a grinner knot. The most important piece
of kit in my tackle box today is a plummet which I use in each swim
to set the float an inch over depth,’ he remarks.
08:30
Instead of
plummeting the depth right where Alan’s baited I watch as he drops
the rig short as not to disturb any feeding fish and notice how
quietly this is done. Even with the water so murky everything is
completed in an extremely stealthy manner not to spook any fish.
After hooking on a prawn and lowering this into his swim just of the
rod top I’m not surprised to see Alan bent into a fish within
twenty seconds of the bait settling.
‘Well that
didn’t take long and this feels a good fish by the way its staying
deep and hugging the bottom,’ he reveals. After a few minutes of
steady pressure the rod does its job and the fish, a common of around
10lb glides into the landing net and Alan rubs his hands in
anticipation.
08:40
The common’s a
great start yet I’m surprised as Alan risks another cast and
instantly hooks another carp. ‘This lake seems to allow an angler
to catch a couple of carp quickly, anymore and they seem to spook for
the rest of the day, so by not being greedy and taking just two means
that I can return later and catch almost instantly again,’ he
comments. Proving the point Alan baits the swim with a handful of
hemp and broken prawns before moving on. Repeating the process of
plummeting he takes four carp from his three other baited swims in
the next ninety minutes before returning to his original position.
‘I’m not
surprised that the corner swim with the wind blowing right into it
failed to produce, yet this just shows the important of swim
selection and how an angler can get it wrong if approaching a venue
in a static manner,’ he remarks.
10:10
Alan’s unhooking
mat is only used on the bigger carp with most being unhooked in the
net and creates some comfort to his knees during the session. ‘I’m
not a great lover of chairs as most are two heavy and high which not
only makes an angler lazy but reduces the stealth factor when
approaching a swim. If I were here longer then a small lightweight
chair maybe an option, but for now I’m happy to kneel down on my
unhooking mat which gets me right down close to the water level, a
position where I can see any slight movement of the delicate pole
float.
10:15
The suns beginning
to show as just like the action the air temperature is rising.
There’s few carp sucking at the willow pollen that’s floating on
the surface and knowing this, Alan edges his float even closer to the
marginal cover knowing that the carp will be looking on top of the
shelf for food. It doesn’t take long for the float to sail away and
once again a healthy curve on the rod to appear.
‘ There’s no
need to cock the float right down, in fact its best to have plenty
showing as these carp brushing up against the line will create line
bites so its best to ignore these and wait for the float to sail away
in un-missable fashion,’ says Alan.
11:30
The action
continues, rarely does the float sit still for more than a couple of
minutes and I watch as Alan lands further carp. ‘The great thing
about using such a natural bait is you never know what’s coming
next. I’ve caught plenty of good tench here as well as the carp
that run to over 30lb and with them averaging double figures you need
to use reliable tackle and you never know when a monster perch will
show. If I loose a fish its inevitable from a hook pull, however with
a forgiving but powerful rod and a clutch set correctly rarely does
this happen,’ he comments. The next fish is a well conditioned
mirror, not the biggest and I can tell that Alan’s somewhat
disappointed at the average size today which is below standard,
however it’s all about to change.
11:45
Moving back to the
swim with the most prominent feature within the lake Alan soon finds
himself bent into a better fish that once again keeps low. After
around five minutes a few bubbles start to appear and the pole float
shows that the fish is tiring.
‘The bigger fish
in here don’t tear of like the smaller ones. I remember playing a
fish for over half an hour only for the hook to pull at the last
minute. I saw the fish it was a big common in the mid twenties and
just plodded away under the rod tip, proof you can’t ignore the
margins. This one doesn’t feel as big but it’s certainly going to
be the biggest of the day,’ he remarks.
Top tips -
1. A good pair of polarising glasses
and peaked cap are important for removing surface glare.
2. A large circular landing net is far
more manoeuvrable than a big triangular net and allows fish to be
unhooked easily within it.
3. Removing weaknesses is important
when targeting big fish on light balanced tackle and with line
diameters so fine these days I can get away with quite unforgiving
mainlines without compromising on finesse.
4. Placing shot on mainline is a recipe
for disaster so I use an inline Olivetti locked in position with a
float stop.
The End Result –
That final carp
certainly was the biggest of the day, an immaculate mirror of around
15lb that shows no signs of past captures. Maybe it’s a clever fish
that safely hunts in the margins, far away from most anglers’
baits.
‘It’s been a great morning but
running my own business means I cant fish too many hours in the day,
maybe that’s why I have a love for barbel. It’s now just before
midday, less that four hours fishing and I have lost count of the
carp I’ve caught, definitely more than a dozen. Fishing rarely gets
better than this,’ he remarks with a big smile on his face.
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