WIN - Avid Carp Screen House RT
If you like a good social with your mates when out on the bank then this is the shelter for you!
To stand a chance of winning, simply enter the special competition code as found in the May Issue of Total Carp, along with your details below and click submit!
Good luck!
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WIN The New Citruz Range!
There is no disguising the fact that the majority of Angler's top tip for winter is adding an aspect of colour to your approach!To stand a chance of winning, simply enter the special competition code as found in your December Issue of Total Carp, along with your details below and click the submit button in the bottom right-hand corner. Good luck!
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We’ve all had a big capture that we’ll remember forever, but what about this for a chart-topping big-carp capture.
Earlier this year, during the summer that now seems a distant memory, German-based angler Christian Espert a sixty and a Seventy in under 12 hours while using our famous, Club Mix boilies.
Having prepared his own Club Mix baits and air-dried them until they were rock hard, Christian used a throwing stick to bait an area at extreme range. Fishing a Club Mix hook bait over the top, he landed this big mirror at 66lb 8oz.
The night before my eliminator
I had stayed at the lake for the week prior to the BYCAC (British Young Carpers' Angling Championship), which was on my previous blog for some practice. I made some rigs during the week prior to the BYCAC but there weren’t enough so, I decided to make 5 solids just in case I saw a fish fizzing and could zoom my bait onto the spot, I also made a lot of different length zigs dependent on weather and temperatures to make sure I could get them in all different water columns and also my trusty bottom bait rig with sweet corn and a rig ring to attach my wriggly maggots just in case I was lucky enough to get the islands or corners where my tried and tested methods had been working on the previous week.
TheQualifier
So the day finally come, my qualifier, I had a bit of nerves as everyone else from Hydra Baits and Hobo Armour had managed to qualify either by a catch or by a cast off and this year I didn’t want to be in that, my head had to be in the game and I needed that all important carp to see me through.
I signed in and met up with some friends and talked for a bit, the rules were read out and the draw finally came, I came out second to last, but I came out with one of the best pegs, it shows picking a ball out last means you still have a chance of getting a good peg and I had peg 7 which was the long chuck swim to the island, I knew the peg fairly well from trying different pegs on the lake all year to make sure I had the best chance.
Fishing for a Bite
In autumn I have found that some of my best day session have been fishing single hook baits cast to showing fish. Watercraft and location plays a huge part in my angling but never more so than in the autumn when at times fish are less visible. As the temperature drops and the fish move into deeper water one of my favoured methods is to fish a “single” bait, nine times out of ten I will use a chod rig, and for me,this is the perfect presentation.
Being Autumn there is bound to be a lot of debris on the lake bed, using a chod rig gives me complete confidence knowing that my rig will be presented and fishing the way I want it to.
A very special autumn capture from a low-stock, ‘forgotten’ pit has made Solar Tackle team member Alain Servaes’ autumn season. In fact, it’s made his year. Alain explains:
“I’ve been targeting a ‘forgotten’ big pit for the autumn. It’s a huge water with a very low stock, but the carp that are in there are very special.
With autumn and winter fast approaching the season is coming into my favourite time of year for carp fishing. It’s a great time to be on the bank, with a lot of waters seeing angling pressure drop as the fair weather anglers come off venues. It is the ideal opportunity to get winter campaigns well underway. My main approach has and predominantly is bollie fishing wherever I can.
We pick the brains of consistent carp catcher Ed Betteridge to find out how he approaches this fruitful time of year, and how you can make this your best autumn yet.
Yes, we know we keep harping on about it, but autumn is upon us and we cannot stress enough what a great time of the year it is to be on the bank. We have formulated a list that won’t cost you any money yet can equally improve your chances for one last assault before the weather starts to take a turn for the worst.
Some may seem obvious, others less so, but guaranteed to get your grey matter thinking – we won’t be straying too far from these rules when we get out on the bank.
This style of rod holdall is becoming more and more in vogue, and for good reason. Being able to store multiple rods inside one sleeve, all together, but with good all-round protection is the holy grail when it comes to rod bags, and these tick all of those boxes.
Old-fashioned rod holdalls are exactly that, old fashioned, but many anglers don’t like the alternative quiver-style bags because rod protection isn’t at its best.
The triple sleeve, in Aqua’s case called the Tristar, isn’t a compromise between the two; it takes the best features of each and combines them.
I’ve spent years trying to find a soft cool bag that I’ve been happy with. Having never been successful, it’s led me to either not bother taking many supplies with me or having to lug a big, rigid Icey-Tek one around with me. This is far from ideal.
However, I couldn’t help noticing this one’s hugely impressive performance after reading a cool-bag test.