Secretive Techniques

[HawkerMan]

I was fishing a match once when the lad next to me was missing loads of bites so I got off my box and changed his shotting and hook lenght, told him to plumb up again and the next thing he was on a fish every put in and won the match.He did thank me and bought me a pint.The smile on his face at the end was priceless. As my old mate used to say it's nice to be nice.

 

[Scribe]

My match methods are a very closely guarded secret, you don't win the 'special' Wooden spoon two years running if you give all your secrets away....
Must admit @notneeded clocked from the other side of the lake that I pre-blunt hooks so fish come off after losing 4 on the trot.

 

[dave brittain 1]

When I first started fishing the Stainforth Canal opens at Bonny Hale where it was generally bream to win and eels long on the pole or silvers on squatt to frame, Keith Hobson drew a couple of pegs away and we had a great peg to peg battle catching eels with me thinking I'd just edged it.

Come the end of the match Keith came up and congratulated me on fishing such a good match, however despite catching a fair few more eels, when we weighed Keith had done me with far less fish sneaking 4th place, pushing me into 5th by 2oz.

Packing up he came up behind me and told me if I'd fed a combination of caster and maggots, I'd have caught a better stamp of eels and would beat him.
That advice has stood me in good stead until this day. No secrets, just knowledge, experience and know how and not being afraid to pass hard earned knowledge on so that others prepared to listen to his advise would benefit from his experience.

 

[Zerkalo]

I ask a lot on here obviously so all advice is welcome and I love talking about fishing so... but listening to a Dean Macey Guru podcast he says he NEVER gives advice on the bank, that probably doesn't mean he won't tell people what he's doing and how, but it was in the context of seeing anglers on the bank who are just starting out and 'fishing it wrong'. He says he won't advise them because he remembers the excitement of working things out for himself as a kid and doesn't want to spoil that for other people. I related to that as I have been asked by fishery owners to have a walk round the lake and speak to anglers who weren't catching and give them some tips, but I don't do it because they're probably enjoying what they're doing more than me, as Dean Macey says.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

My match methods are a very closely guarded secret, you don't win the 'special' Wooden spoon two years running if you give all your secrets away....
Must admit @notneeded clocked from the other side of the lake that I pre-blunt hooks so fish come off after losing 4 on the trot.

Everybody has standards to keep up, or down as the case may be.

 

[chefster]

Everybody has standards to keep up, or down as the case may be.

Scribe is the MD swimming champion though

 

[Total]

Scribe is the MD swimming champion though

And you are our Top setter upper of top kits setter!

 

[chefster]

And you are our Top setter upper of top kits setter!

Ha! Most I’ve set up is 17 so far trouble is with F1 shallow fishing you have to have a rig for every depth, whereas with carp you can basically get away with 1 rig and just move the float up or down

 

[Scribe]

Scribe is the MD swimming champion though

Definitely I tell you what Mr Wonkybox,you do know you are tempting fate and as sure as eggs is eggs one day your heading for a dip. yourself....

 

[MarkW]

All my methods and venues would be secret except it's all on YouTube.... or in books....

 

[chefster]

Definitely I tell you what Mr Wonkybox,you do know you are tempting fate and as sure as eggs is eggs one day your heading for a dip. yourself....

I’ve been in many a time over the years mate, retrieving top kits, sections etc, don’t worry about that

 

[Yosemite Sam]

Scribe is the MD swimming champion though

You cant keep a good man out of the drink.

 

[tipitinmick]

......At least 2031!>>>>>>

What’s with you ? Run out of squirrels already or has your shock leader broke ?

 

[chefster]

You cant keep a good man out of the drink.

He’s got more chance of catching them in his hands in the water

 

[ukzero1]

All my methods and venues would be secret except it's all on YouTube.... or in books....

Wasn't that supposed to be a secret?

 

[Total]

I’ve been in many a time over the years mate, retrieving top kits, sections etc, don’t worry about that

^^ Is that after having a paddy after a rubbish day?

 

[Total]

What’s with you ? Run out of squirrels already or has your shock leader broke ?

^^ ......Was good to chat to you on the phone last night mate and catch up.........I was so impressed with my new phone accent converter App....I understood every word you said!

 

[Silver fan 82]

All my methods and venues would be secret except it's all on YouTube.... or in books....

And very good videos they are too Mark

 

[Sam Vimes]

It's very easy to be free and easy with information if it can't possibly result in your swim/stretch/water being inundated with the fish chasing circus. It's not something that will ever be an issue for a matchman and many general coarse anglers. Having a match/general coarse fishing background myself, I was given a very harsh lesson in this regard about fifteen years back. Whether being more circumspect about your angling is necessary depends on the type of waters you are fishing.

 

[JLK]

I have a question that someone might be able to advise on.

I match fish on occasion an open water carp venue which is 10-15ft between 13m and 16m.

I like to have a line to myself and I either put a line in at 16m if the anglers at either side are fishing 14.5m - 14.5m if they are fishing 13m or 13m if they are fishing shorter than this, yet I still struggle to catch on the deck at this distance. (I really only feed either corn or pellet to catch on the deck and alternate hookbaits between expander/pellet/meat corn/maggot/worm etc)
I can sneak a few fish in early doors on the deck and an odd one or two as the day goes on have fed to keep them down over the length of a match as a trial to see what happens but it never works as I want it to.

So now I purposely use this line as my banker catch carp shallow line and start feeding it little and often with either pellet or maggot or caster from the off and after about 3.5 hours this line starts to become really good and I can catch really well fishing shallow. Sometimes until the end of the match.
In my mind these carp have settled onto the feed after making their way to the margins from further out in the lake.
I don't think I have drawn them up off the deck or from mid depth as I have never had indications when fishing to depth or deep shallow with the way I have my rigs set.

The other line which seems to be popular is the 6-8m line which is about 5-8ft deep.
Again, I can catch on this line later on in the match as the carp start to move closer in but don't have much confidence on it being a line I should be be concentrating on early doors as again it isn't very productive after spending hours concentrating on trying to make this line work. Obviously the margins are margins and the last hour is the banker here as a rule but not always.

I have played about with distances and depths on the pole to try to find what I would call the perfect starting depth but just can't seem to figure out what this should be. So I tend to now start on the waggler or bomb and pellet at about 25m scratching around while feeding the long pole line constantly until the carp rock up on it and then the margins while pludering the long pole line.

My results are not that bad most of the time and I do pick up on occasion yet I feel I am missing something and am not too sure what I need to be looking at to get more out of the peg.

On deeper than average venues when fishing for carp, has anyone got a particular preference on optimum starting depth/distances for fishing for carp on the deck or any advice on what else I can take a look at to try and optimise the peg?

Cheers in advance