Tip Of The Month -

With the carp season about to get into full swing, Marc Coulson reckons that if you’re not getting ready now you’d better start doing so!

It might seem like the most obvious tip of them all, but that makes it even more valid in my opinion. I spent an entire day in my garage recently purely getting all my kit together after a winter in which I hardly fished.

As well as the obvious stuff like sorting out the rod bag and making sure that I had all I needed in the rucksack, I took time to pay particular attention to my bait bucket.

I literally tipped the bucket out on to the floor and sorted through what fell from it. Pop-ups were treated to a top-up with the relevant dips and sprays, I made up some fresh stick and bag mix (I combined three or four ingredients), and threw away a particularly rancid tub of paste that I’d obviously forgotten about!

The reason for all of this effort, and it was literally a day’s work in all, was simple. My fishing trips are often off the cuff and I need to know that if I go to the garage I can pick up my gear and go. All that needs to be added to it is boilies from the freezer or shelf, depending on my venue. I don’t have time to sort through my gear before every trip and, if I am honest, any need to do so actually becomes a barrier to me even going. The easier it is for me to go, the more chance I will do so, and I’ve promised myself this year will be one of my busiest fishing years for some time. What is it they say? Prior preparation prevents poor performance or something like that!

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