Phil Spinks - Crucian Carp

This entry was posted on 10th July, 2018

Float fishing for crucian carp is by far my favourite way of fishing for them. Although on the bigger, lower stocked lakes, legering for them can be very effective, it doesn’t have the same appeal for me as watching a delicate little float lift up when a crucian picks up my bait.

A float will talk to you, telling you when fish are brushing against the line, getting closer to picking up your hook bait. I always fish the float lift style, as I find the bites much more positive. The float either slides away out of sight or - my favourite type of bite - the float lifts up. I will ignore any other float movement, as it’s generally caused by fish swimming into the line.



I’ve found fishing very close in on the marginal shelf the best spot for crucians. If you are quiet enough and at the lake at either dawn or dusk, it's surprising how close in the crucians will come. Quite often a rod length out is half a rod length too far!

Fishing at such close range makes feeding much more accurate. I keep my bait selection very simple; I use dampened 2mm pellets as my loose feed, and hook baits are either soft 6mm pellets or single grains of corn. Finesse is important when fishing for crucians, and, as with all my fishing, attention to detail can definitely up the catch rate. I use a small float that will sink under the weight of a AAA shot. Once the depth is plumbed accurately, I know my bait is always on the bottom. My reel line is normally 4lb breaking strain, with either a size 16 or 18 hook. Tackle wise the Advanta 11ft Power Float makes the perfect crucian rod.



There are two main factors that make catching crucians difficult for me; first of all finding a lake that contains true crucians. It seems we now live in a very much carp dominated scene. Crucian carp don’t mix well with king carp; they will hybrid with them, and the true crucians slowly disappear. How many still waters can you think of in your area that don’t contain king carp?

Secondly, once I’ve found a water with genuine crucians, it can be difficult avoiding catching all the other species that massively out number the crucians. Fishing very close in, as I previously mentioned, can definitely help single out the crucians.



My friend Chris Turnbull has been making a huge effort to help the crucian carp make a comeback; with his guidance, several fisheries around the UK are restocking true crucians in the correct environment, and giving them a fighting chance of establishing themselves once again. I hope more fisheries realise what a special fish a crucian carp is, and fingers crossed a few more traditional crucian waters establish themselves in the future.

If you do catch yourself a nice crucian this summer, send your photo’s to Angling Direct before August 31st as we have joined up with the Angling Trust to run a “Catch a Crucian” competition.