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Searching For Gold: Big Crucian Carp Fishing - with Phil Spinks
In this blog post, Angling Direct’s very own Phil Spinks covers his experience with catching specimen crucians in Sutton as well as his top tips for crucian fishing.
Finding waters in the Uk that still hold true crucians of any size is becoming increasingly more difficult. Finding true crucians of specimen size, especially outside of the famous Goldaming complex, is harder still.
One very special lake that holds enormous crucian carp is Edd Matthews Sutton syndicate, in Shropshire. Edd introduced several small crucians to his carp syndicate many years ago. 9 times out of 10, when fisheries stock small crucians they are never seen again due to predation from other fish and bird life. Fortunately, this was not the case at Sutton.
A trip to Sutton was long overdue for me. Previous trips that were planned had been cancelled because of covid and terrible weather. However, this time things looked much more promising.
Chris (AD videographer) and I, planned a trip to Sutton to film an episode for my Specimen Series on ADTV. Previously, all my crucian fishing had been on the float, but I felt my best chance of catching a big crucian for the cameras would be by using small method feeders. Although Sutton has some very impressive crucians, they certainly don’t give themselves up easily.
Best Fishing Rigs for Crucian Carp
My crucian rig is very simple, but the attention to detail is important as they are incredibly shy biting finicky fish.
The smallest size Drennan inline method feeder is threaded onto an 8lb mainline. Beneath the feeder is either a size 14 or 16 Guru wide gape hook, this is knotless knotted to 8lb Drennan gravel braid. Above the feeder, I add a small blob of tungsten putty to help conceal the line.
Fishing Bait for Crucian Carp
Although I was fishing for very large crucians, my bait and baiting approach needed to be very neat and tidy. I used either a small 8-10mm yellow Ringers wafter or 10mm CC Moore pacific boilie as hook baits.
The feeders were loaded with Dynamite baits marine method groundbait with just a few casters and the odd grain of sweetcorn mixed in. The feeders were placed in the baiting spoon with just a small handful of hemp and casters.
Best Location for Crucian Carp Fishing
One thing I do know about crucians is their love for the margins. This fish loves cover such as lily pads, overhanging trees and snags.
Sutton has loads of marginal cover, so how did I choose the right area? The answer is the wind! I’d checked the forecast before travelling over and had a rough idea of what part of the lake I needed to be in. The crucians, like many other fish, love to follow the wind's direction.
One particular swim looked perfect. A very unpopular swim for carp anglers due to being a very tight swim inside the canopy of a large willow tree, but for me, it offered everything a crucian loves.
Phil’s Top 5 Crucian Fishing Tips
1. Margins, they love the margins.
2. Keep baiting down to a minimum.
3. Cover: look for overhanging trees, snags, and lily pads.
4. Bubbles: feeding crucians will give away their location with a small amount of feeding bubbles.
5. Keep your rigs tidy; small hooks, small baits and attention to detail will make a massive difference.
How to Have a Successful Session of Crucian Carp Fishing
Now that the basics are covered, I am going to talk you through the technical side of crucian fishing! I guess now if you're still reading you are itching to know how the trip to Sutton went?
I was mega keen to start when we arrived, but there’s a side to filming that the viewers don’t see. Chris needed to film all the necessary steps to get the video started nicely, all I wanted to do was get the rods out before the morning bite time passed.
It wasn’t too long before Chris was ready for me to place the rods super neat under the willow with the bushwhacker baiting spoon. A traditional crucian angler will probably be rolling his eyes at the thought of me placing my feeders with a baiting pole, but I felt the need to get a minimal amount of bait as neat as possible in the right place.
I had a gut feeling we were in for a long wait for our first bite, possibly around dusk. But how wrong was I? The rods had been in place for around 30-40 minutes and I was soon placing a large crucian.
Apologies to anyone that watches the Specimen series covering this trip as I hadn’t got my mic on at this point as the first bite caught me and Chris well and truly off guard so the audio isn’t perfect.
What a sight to behold when a fin-perfect crucian of 2lb 11oz went into the net. A massive confidence booster too as I now knew I’d got the approach correct.
I won’t go into great detail about the hectic few hours that followed as it’s all on film, but by 12 pm I caught crucians weighing 2lb 11oz, 3lb 1oz, 3lb 3oz, & 3lb 8oz, plus a smaller crucian that I guessed to be a low 2lber.
I’d never caught a 3lb crucian before so you can imagine my excitement to catch a hattrick of personal best crucians.
Shortly after lunchtime, I received a much stronger take and after a tense battle on the Advanta RVS 1.25lb rods, I managed to slip a 20lb+ mirror carp in the net. It was a beautiful fish but not what I’d intended, still, I secretly enjoyed catching it very much.
The crucian fishing came to a halt after the mirror carp. This gave Chris and me a chance to have some lunch as well as time to film some talking and technical content for the video.
My next crucian bite came just before dusk, I was surprised it took so long as several giant crucians had been rolling all around me. A lovely conditioned crucian around 2lb was soon slipped back.
I suffered a hook pull from another crucian just into the dark, but I got a good look at the fish before it came off and it wasn’t massive. Once fully dark, I decided to reel the rods in and grab a few hours of kip so that I was refreshed for an early start the next day.
At first light the following morning, I made sure the rods were back out as neat as possible. The weather forecast was bright and sunny with next to no wind so I felt the bite time would be shorted.
It was a manic start to the morning as a stunning near leather carp comfortably over 30lb took a liking to my 10mm tuna boilie. I knew Chris would be back very soon so I popped it in the retainer to show him as I doubt, he would have believed me otherwise.
As you can imagine, playing a 30lb carp in my quiet secluded crucian swim on 1.25lb rods had caused quite a commotion. It took a little while for the swim to settle. I was constantly thinking to myself ‘please let me catch one more before the bright conditions arrive and stop play’.
The odd bubble started to rise over my spots. A few single bleeps from the Delkims, and I noticed the rod tips give the occasional tap. Crucians were feeding in my swim again.
What looked like a huge crucian rolled over my left-hand rod. Shortly after that, the bobbin pulled up tight and the small Shimano Baitrunner started to click. This was another crucian, but this time it felt much heavier.
Playing fish was tricky in this swim due to the overhanging branches above my head. After a few tense moments, and the constant “please don’t fall off” thoughts going through my mind another big beautiful crucian was safe in the net.
I peered into the net thinking to myself that must be another 3-lber. When I lifted the fish out onto the unhooking mat, I saw its true size. At 3lb 12oz, this was another dream fish for me, and yet another personal best.
