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Spring Carp Fishing Essentials - With Chris Ansell
In this blog, Angling Direct’s very own videographer and carp fishing specialist, Chris Ansell talks us through the best tactics for carp angling this spring.
Spring must be one of the best times of the year to target carp. As the days get longer and temperatures to start to rise the carp become more and more active. Through early spring, it pays to approach your carp fishing subtly, fishing for the carp one bite at a time.
Top 3 Spring Carp Fishing Tactics
1. Solid bags
2. Bright high attract hook baits
3. Zigs rigs
1) Solid Bags
This is a great approach during the springtime, and simple to tie. Solid bags offer a very neat handful of bait around your hook bait and are brilliant for casting at showing fish. In the right hands a small solid bag can be cast huge distances too, so don’t be put off if they start showing a range.
They are 100% tangle-proof, they offer perfect presentation over most lake beds, and suit the mobile angler too.
The best baits to use in solid bags are small pellets and stick mix type ground baits, you can give the bag an extra boost of attraction by squirting some PVA friendly liquid, such as Korda Goo or Mainline Smart Liquid.
Carp fishing rigs for solid bags couldn’t be simpler! Using inline leads with short soft braided hook links with either a small pop-up boilie or wafter presentation is ideal.
TOP TIP: Another great tip is to use bag stems so that several solid bags can be tied up in advance and simply looped onto your line. Having spare bags prepared ready to cast at any showing fish is a great edge.
2) Bright High Attract Hook Baits
During the spring a bright high attract hook bait in the right place is a deadly tactic. Soaking pop-ups in your favourite Korda Goo or liquid can give them a massive boost of attraction.
In early Spring smaller pop-ups of around 12mm will often out fish larger baits. Another great tip is to fish them over a light scattering of 10mm boilies.
Rig wise there are several options such as Chod Rigs, Spinner Rigs, and Hinge Stiff Rigs. View How to Tie these Carp Fishing Rigs in our dedicated guide.
3) Zig Rigs
With the weather starting to warm up, the carp will start to enjoy the warm sunshine and often sit up in the water. Add to this the fact several insect hatches will begin Zig fishing should not be ignored. This is a great time to fish Zig Rigs, with either small pieces of foam such as the Cygnet Zig Riggers, or 10-12mm pop-ups will both work well.
Hookbaits can be boosted with liquids such as Korda Goo or Betalin. Another great tip is to tip your zigs with a bunch of maggots for even more attraction.
For depths under 10 feet a simple long hooklink, straight off the lead is perfect. In deeper water the adjustable zig float makes life much easier.
Mobile Carp Angling
Another great spring carp fishing tip is to stay mobile. The carp will start to show themselves more as we move into the Spring and Summer, so as with all fishing location is very important. Having the option to move on to showing fish will definitely bring more chances your way. Look for fizzing and bubbles too, a single hook bait or solid bag cast at bubbling fish will often result in a quick bite.
Read more Spring Fishing Tips in our dedicated guide, here.
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