Crafty carp – help needed
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:16 pm
Although I've had some good days fishing recently, the carp at my club water have become very cautious. Spam has been a fantastic bait at this lake until about a week ago. Yesterday I decided to do some experiments to observe the reactions of the carp to free offerings.
95% of the time the fish will back-off or flee when they come close to luncheon meat. They are clearly attracted to the smell and approach confidently searching for the bait but once they have located it they are off, except for the odd fish. Sometimes they just about have their lips over the bait before bolting. I tried prawns. They don't search for these with the same vigour as they do luncheon meat but once located they ignore the free offerings in at least 95% of cases however, they don't flee as they do when faced with spam.
I've laid down cockles but they don't seem to actively search for these but will occasionally take them if they have chance – the smaller fish of several species take them confidently and they are a real nuisance.
Big carp will generally spook at bread that attracts small fish.
The carp go mad for pellets and will feed on a beds of pellets for extended periods of time rooting around for them. I have tried using pellets as hook bait and although I get bites I very rarely hook the fish when striking. I'm also not keen on having to fish with an exposed hook point as this can lead to foul-hooking in such shallow water.
From my observations at close quarters in the clear shallow water with polarised sunglass, I concluded that it is the colour or rather the light colour of some baits that is making the carp back off. I'm now at a bit of a loss as to what bait to use. Yesterday I caught an 18 1/2 lbs common on luncheon meat but because I'd seen at least 20 other carp flee at the sight of it I'm a bit loss as to what bait I can use next. I thought that a paste made from crushed pellets that was dark in colour might solve the problem. However, my question is given the above what would you try next?
I should add that the fish in this pool are nigh on impossible to catch off the top unless you fish for them in the lily pads in which case they become relatively easy to hook when using surface baits but rather harder to land given the vegetation.
95% of the time the fish will back-off or flee when they come close to luncheon meat. They are clearly attracted to the smell and approach confidently searching for the bait but once they have located it they are off, except for the odd fish. Sometimes they just about have their lips over the bait before bolting. I tried prawns. They don't search for these with the same vigour as they do luncheon meat but once located they ignore the free offerings in at least 95% of cases however, they don't flee as they do when faced with spam.
I've laid down cockles but they don't seem to actively search for these but will occasionally take them if they have chance – the smaller fish of several species take them confidently and they are a real nuisance.
Big carp will generally spook at bread that attracts small fish.
The carp go mad for pellets and will feed on a beds of pellets for extended periods of time rooting around for them. I have tried using pellets as hook bait and although I get bites I very rarely hook the fish when striking. I'm also not keen on having to fish with an exposed hook point as this can lead to foul-hooking in such shallow water.
From my observations at close quarters in the clear shallow water with polarised sunglass, I concluded that it is the colour or rather the light colour of some baits that is making the carp back off. I'm now at a bit of a loss as to what bait to use. Yesterday I caught an 18 1/2 lbs common on luncheon meat but because I'd seen at least 20 other carp flee at the sight of it I'm a bit loss as to what bait I can use next. I thought that a paste made from crushed pellets that was dark in colour might solve the problem. However, my question is given the above what would you try next?
I should add that the fish in this pool are nigh on impossible to catch off the top unless you fish for them in the lily pads in which case they become relatively easy to hook when using surface baits but rather harder to land given the vegetation.
