Total Carp Staff

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.

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.

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.

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.