RINGER TO THE RESCUE
CHAMPION ANGLER STEVE TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT YOUR ANGLING PROBLEMS
GARETH MORTON, BROMSGROVE
SMALL ‘stockie’ carp weighing just a few pounds are great fish to target, since they always provide bites. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are easy to catch, as they can quickly wise up to their new surroundings.
If it was winter, then I’d be thinking that a maggots and groundbait approach might be best but, as the temperatures continue to creep up, it has to be hard pellets.
PELLET CHOICE
When small carp are on the agenda, I favour 4mm hard pellets over 6mms.
Today I am on Derwent Pool at Makins Fishery in Warwickshire, and it’s 13m-14.5m to the far bank on every peg.
One of the beauties of small carp is that they are normally hungry and happy to feed in open water. With that in mind, I try to make it as easy as possible for myself, and I’ll
always try and catch them down the track to start with. Fish of this size tend to respond quickly to bait, so if I don’t get a response I’ll move across to see if they prefer cover, or a particular depth.
WINNING RIGS
Light rigs are the key to success when fishing with hard pellets. In 6ft of water I’ll use either a 0.3g or 0.4g Guru MW Bobbie. It’s important that your hookbait behaves as naturally as possible, which is why, when hard pellet fishing , light floats will bring more bites. Mainline is 0.15mm Guru N-Gauge to a six-inch hooklength of 0.12mm Super Natural and a size 16 Super LWG hook.
That may sound light, but it’s well balanced and more than capable of landing the carp I’m targeting , especially when combined with a soft white Daiwa Hydrolastic.
FRUGAL FEEDING
One of the many beauties of fishing with hard pellets is that you don’t need much bait to get the most from your peg. Little and often is the key and, if I can catch very short, I will
