Baiting to a Feature - by Sean Manning

There are many methods and approaches to baiting that we can use to catch carp. In this section we will address baiting tightly to a feature to pick up a specific fish.

If you are lucky enough to spend some time watching the water you may be able to establish regular patrol routes of the Carp. This is an ideal situation if you are targeting a specific fish (In a smaller water) for capture. You can then set up a tightly baited spot around the fish’s movements within the local ‘patrol route’ thus increasing your chances of capturing the fish that you have targeted. A PVA bag or a few crushed boilies around a single bait are ideal in this situation.

If on the other hand you are fishing a new or unknown water there are a number of things that you can do to increase your chances of capturing some of the residents in a relatively short amount of time. First off there’s the obvious signs of fish crashing that will give themselves away above the water. A single hook-bait or PVA bag right to the area should do the trick in many cases.

If you have arrived at a new lake and like the look of a particular swim, because of maybe the direction of the wind (The North Eastern corner of a lake will get the warm South Westerly wind) or some features above the water that you think may attract the fish (Overhanging trees, Lillie pads and reeds etc) the next step would be to find a feature on the lakebed to fish to. After getting the marker rod out and getting a picture of what is in front of you (You may want to draw a diagram like the one below so that next time you fish the swim you have a reference of what is there) you will want to find a feature that you feel might be a natural place for the carp to visit (a patrol route feature) because of the possibilities of it finding natural food in the area. Gravel bars and ‘clear spots’ are an example that many anglers fish. The troughs’ between gravel bars will be haven for a great deal of natural food. Also a clear patch of gravel or lake-bed may denote a regular feeding spot for the carp that have ‘cleaned’ the area through feeding. This can be something as simple as a worm bed on a clay bottomed lake, a clear spot in dense weed growth near gravel spots or an area where food naturally accumulates due to the structure surrounding the lake etc.

An excellent method of approach to baiting to a relatively small feature is taking a handful of boilies (Or whatever your bait of choice) and then tightly baiting to the area with your hook-bait just off to the side. This can be done with a PVA bag presentation, stringer or loosely if you have a good eye with a catapult.

This approach does take some discipline as it is very easy after a 8 hour period to second guess your bait positioning and either pull in and recast or continue to add bait to the area (We’ve all done it !) when you know that if the fish had passed through you would have gotten the run. You must be very confident in your bait presentation in these cases as there is little room for error. For example the fish in the picture above was caught at 60 yards in a clear piece of gravel that was roughly two feet square that immediately sloped to surrounding rotting debris and tree branches that would likely cause a problem with your hook-link on the cast though would also be a good natural food holding spot. 20 boilies were placed right on top of the gravel spot and the hook-bait was placed right on the edge of the ‘slope’ of the gravel spot. It took roughly 12 hours for the one run I received, but it was well worth it!