Crafty carp – help needed

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Beresford
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Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Beresford »

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.
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Luga00
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Luga00 »

As you say, I would try making a soft paste out of the pellets that they seem to go mad for.
Also, you don't mention sweetcorn - a tried and tested bait for carp.
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Aitch
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Aitch »

Get on the Prawns... I have been carping with them for nearly a year and had fish to 18lbs on them... size 8-6 hook and thread the prawn onto the hook so the hook exits the back of the prawn... freelined or with a couple of swan shot link ledger for casting weight :Thumb:
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Beresford
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Beresford »

Luga, thanks. Sweetcorn has been a brilliant bait in the past for these fish so worth trying again. The only other carp anglers I see here appear to be using boiles.

Harry – I've tried prawns. I catch the odd small carp but by an large these fish are indifferent to prawns whilst hunting out free offerings. Having sighted a prawn most carp move away from it, only very rarely will they mouth it tentatively and usually they spit them straight out again. In some swims I've ended up catching lots of small perch on prawns, some of which get deep hooked, which I want to avoid.
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Aitch
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Aitch »

As Luga says Corn or possibly Maize with some Hemp to get them grubbing about
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MGs
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by MGs »

I found Pepperami quite good where the fish were wary. Add to that, it is easy to store. I just nick the hook through the outer skin of a piece about an inch long. If it doesn't work, at least you can eat the rest. It has worked well for me in the past for chub and barbel too.
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PershoreHarrier
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by PershoreHarrier »

Harry wrote: Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:44 pm As Luga says Corn or possibly Maize with some Hemp to get them grubbing about
It works for me on some hard fished Carp waters so I would suggest certainly worth trying.

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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Dave Burr »

Try colouring some spam or bacon grill with a powdered food colouring. Black, brown, red or green - all will work. Also, use irregular shapes as bait and either very big or very small - keep 'em guessing.

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LuckyLuca
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by LuckyLuca »

Dyed Luncheon meat if they shy off light coloured baits?
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Harry H
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Re: Crafty carp – help needed

Post by Harry H »

I use to use a shelf life paste marine halibut by Dynamite baits which is very dark in colour with a fair of success.
Also I fish a similar lake as in the carp don't take floaters in open water but what does work is feeding freebies around the end of the lake where the scum line is formed. They normally feed quite confidently in this area and it's quite exciting when you see those lips coming up through the scum towards your bait.
Good luck with whatever you end up trying :Thumb:
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