Wonderfully chaotic, fishing shallow for carp, raining in pellets and slapping the rig creating noise and commotion. Loud, deliberate, and devastatingly effective when the fish are up in the water. It’s not subtle, but then again, neither are the bites, and that’s exactly why it works. You are trying to emulate feed going into the swim without feeding, with the expectation that when a carp is attracted by the noise and looks for food, the only thing they find is your hookbait.
In this article I’ll describe how to tie the rig so you can put into effect on your next session.
THE BEST CATAPULTS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR FISHING SHALLOW.
A) Back Shot
Fix a few small No10 shot or Stotz between float and pole tip. This will help control the rig and also force you to keep your line tight meaning you’ll hit more bites.
B) Small float or dibber
A small-bodied float or dibber will create the maximum amount of noise when it hits the surface, and by having a couple of small shot underneath to cock it, you can create a definite ‘plop’ as you slap. Pick a float taking around 4x10 or 4x12 shot.
C) The right depth
Slapping is designed to attract fish shallow. Begin at around 18" deep, but be prepared to try varying the depth to find perfect depth, if bites tail off, add a couple of inches to the depth to see if they’ve gone deeper, if you're missing bites come a couple of inches shallower.
D) Use a hooklength
Using a lighter hooklength is a must. Don’t be afraid to drop down to as low as 0.12mm diameter if nothing much is happening, the thickness of the mainline won’t matter too much and, in fact, a thicker mainline will be less prone to tangling.
E) Pellet hookbait
Feed 6mm pellets and use the same on the hook. if you are missing bites, drop down to a 4mm bait on a smaller size 18 or even 20 hook. You should see your bite-to-hooked fish ratio rocket!
THE BEST FISHING POLES WILL ENHANCE YOUR SHALLOW FISHING.
