Choosing a suitable carp water

Choosing a water to carp fish on is primarily depends on what you want to achieve from the sport. Whether it's a tough challenge, peace and quiet in idylic surroundings or just to catch as many carp as possible, there will be a water out there for you.

Club waters - These waters are available to fish upon joining an angling club or society. These are usually one of the cheapest ways of getting carp fishing with angling clubs all over the UK from as little as £40 a membership. Each club is different though and your enjoyment of the sport will often depend on the other members and types of fishing they prefer. I.E. If you join a popular club for match fishing you can often expect your fishing to be curtailed on a Sunday morning by a match. The best approach is to contact a club and ask if it is possible to walk round a venue so you can see what it has to offer and talk some of the other anglers

Day ticket waters - These are now the most common waters for carp fishing and they generally offer the easiest way to catch that first big carp. The downside of day ticket waters are many though, they can be expensive to fish on a regular basis, they can be extremely busy so a tactical approach to your carp fishing is difficult and they are often not the most pleasant waters as high angling pressure can mean more littering, bankside damage and plant life and folage can often be damaged. Fishing these easier of waters also limits your skill development if you are wanting to go on to better things a few forays onto day ticket waters before joining a club is often a good way of getting into fish and landing and returning them successfully.

Syndicate Waters - Syndicate waters are not normally the first port of call of the beginner to carp angling, syndicates do hold most of the countries biggest and most sought after carp. Syndicates are operated on a limited membership basis depending on the size of the water and many of the best syndicates have waiting lists that can be for years. These waters are probably not the best choice of first waters to start on because of expense and catching difficulty, it could be worthwhile getting your name down on a waiting list or two for when your carp angling abilities have devleoped a few years down the line.

Rivers - There are free and paid stretches of river to fish on throughout the country holding some big carp, but because of the nomadic nature of river carp, currents, and other things, these are not the easiest waters on which to begin your carp angling adventure on.

You don't have to spend a fortune on tackle but you will need to spend a bit

Carp are big, strong and demanding fish to catch. Carp can be easily damaged so appropriate care must be taken when fishing for them. Cheap tackle is often false economy, as it will often struggle to last a couple of seasons and make your fishing less pleasureable. Some really good tackle is available on the cheap though, mainly through deals from carp tackle shops that have online access . On the flipside you don't need to spend a fortune though, despite the best efforts of the marketing men. Mid range tackle spending about £50-£70 on each rod and reel usually offers a good performance combination that can last you a number of years.

The one thing that you should try and have the best of though is your carp care equipment. Nets, un-hooking mats and weigh slings all need to be upto the job and often the cheaper end of the market on these items will do the carp no good whatsoever and often be inadequate, depending on the size of fish your are angling for. Always buy over sized than just the right size for the fish you catch, as you never know what may take your bait next time your on the bank.

My preffered choices of carp care equipment not everyone will agree with my choice of equipment but i find these do the jobs i want them to.

Greys landing net - micro mesh net 42" the deep mesh allows you to disemble the net whislt still in the water.

Un-hooking mat - Fox or Nash safety beanie mats, these mats have a raised outer edge filled with polystirene balls, with lower inner section of sponge.


Weigh sling - Chub safety weigh sling, reinforced support bars along the top edge. Zips at both ends have protection baffles for easy release and the safety sling also features Velcro strips just below the support bars for added security while carrying and returning the fish to the water. Fine mesh patches below the zips allow the sling to be used as a retainer while preparing the fish for weighing or photography. At the base there is a safe drainage system which allows water to escape quickly for accurate weighing.


Carp care kit - Either Kryston Klinik or Korda, One shot treatments following hook removal will sterilise the immediate area of the hook-hold preventing possible infection from setting in, also speeds up the natural healing process.


Get a head start on a water by spending some time there and asking other anglers questions

When beginning to fish a new water it can be daunting at first. If you go about it the right way though you can pick up all sorts of useful pieces of information and tips on how best to approach the water without even getting a line wet. If you have some free time, rather than sit in front of the TV go for a walk a round your chosen venue. One of the most fundamental principles of becoming a good carp angler is understanding the behaviour of the carp in the water you have chosen to fish. Carp are creatures of habit and in different weather conditions, or at different times of the year or in a combination of both, can 9 times out of 10 be found in certain areas of the lake. By spending time at the venue watching the water, look for feeding signs like bubbles and mud clouds, leaping fish, or fish cruising the surface, you can get a good headstart on where to fish under different conditions.

Other anglers are also a good indicator on this. Ask other anglers questions, but do this in a considerate manner, dont just trample onto there pegs making noise, approach from the back of there swim, keeping low and speaking in a soft tone, mindful of where you are standing and what you are walking on, this will stand you in good stead amongst the other anglers on the lake and effectively making friends and even fishing buddies in the process. Never sit quizzing someone though as they will eventually end up wanting to get rid of you or could end up feeding you with duff information.


Choosing the right bait and approach

There are two main successful ways to approach fishing from the baiting side. Firstly, creating specific feeding spots where the carp can become confident in feeding or fishing where the carp already have confidence in feeding. As mentioned earlier, muddy clouds, bubbles and fish movement are a good indicator of where the carp have confidence in feeding.

It's all too easy as a beginner to bivvy up and chuck your rods randomly out into the swim. Whilst this "pub chucking" approach will pick up the odd fish and even a few in easy heavily stocked venues with hungry fish, a considered and more thoughtful approach will be far more effective and produce better results.

Try combining your free time visits with some baiting up of different areas, always with consideration to other anglers on the lake and lake rules. Building an area of feeding confidence where the carp learn they can find food again and again is probably the most successful long term tactic.

Whilst boilies can be very expensive for long term baiting up cheaper particle baits such as properly prepared hemp seed and parti-blend, can be just as effective as the boilie for getting the carp to feed in spots you have created.

Learn to use a marker rod

As already mentioned the "pub chuck" approach is not a tactic that will bring long term carp angling success. As you will learn on any water fish prefer to eat in certain areas and this varies from venue to venue. so it is important to understand what type of lake bottom you are fishing to. Fishing tangled up in a big bed of weed of in rotten leaf litter ( chod ) is not usually successful on most waters but sweet silt or the edges of gravel beds often are. You can use the marker rod not only to find the depth your fishing at, but also things that are on the lake bed, you can find gulleys, plateu's and the edges of silt patches, weed beds and gravel bars.
Mastering the use of a marker rod is not something that comes overnight and will take lots of practice.