CARPSKILLS
BUMPER TIPS SECTION PACKED WITH EXPERT ADVICE TO HELP YOU CATCH BIGGER & BETTER FISH
THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHTS:
•Top catches – some of the best big carp you’ve landed recently
• Adam Penning reveals his top early-season baiting strategies
• Round-up of the latest tackle
• Rob Hughes: ‘The lessons that I’ve learned over previous springs’
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR PERSISTENT LEVY
A ‘WINTER FIFTY’ became a reality for Dave Levy with the capture of this 51lb 10oz common carp from an Essex club lake
The RidgeMonkey-backed angler began targeting it more than three years ago, when the Covid-19 pandemic caused many waters to turn days only. After two tough winter campaigns, during which the fish was caught only once, he resumed the quest for his target at the end of 2023.
“The lake had got really busy, with 10-14 anglers on there some nights,” Dave recalled. “But in a way this helped me. The lake was seeing far too much bait and I knew baiting wouldn’t give me an edge, so I decided to concentrate my fishing around solid bags.”
Dave's PVA bag mix consisted of crumbed Mainline Cell and Essential Cell, with maggots and PVA Spod Pellets.
Inside the bag was a rig incorporating 5ins of RidgeMonkey SilkFlex in 25lb and a size 6 Apex Medium Curve hook, tied knotless knot style with a fake corn hookbait and six maggots on top.
"I concentrated on the central zone of the lake and I blanked my first few nights. My first bite of the year was from a 35lb common, but I then blanked the next few sessions doing one night a week,” he said.
“I recently got back in the central zone and through the day recast the bags at the same range so there were five lots of small baited spots exactly the same size as my bags.” After both his rods were wiped out by a ‘trailer’, Dave recast in the dark, and the next morning the left-hand bobbin dropped back and he lifted into a heavy carp.
“As soon as it hit the surface, I knew it was the one. She’s so long that I struggled to net her. After three years from my first day and 85 nights, she was my 130th carp from the lake. Weighing 51lb 10oz, she equals the club record – a proper old English common carp.”
MAKER’S LINEAR HAUL
THERE can be few anglers in the country who know Oxfordshire’s day-ticket Linear Fisheries complex better than Tom Maker, which he proved again recently with a staggering catch of big carp from the site’s Brasenose 2 Lake.
In what can only be described as an ‘epic’ winter carp fishing session, Tom caught no fewer than 14 twenties, four thirties, and the lake's biggest mirror at a weight of 44lb.
Arriving at a typically busy complex, Tom had to slot into an area he was a little unsure of at first, but seeing a fish show near his zone boosted his confidence.
Sti
