I’M sometimes asked: “What do I do if my swim has a margin that’s really deep?”
We tend to think of the edges as being shallow, where we can see carp move in, churning the bottom up with their tails sticking out of the water but, on many fisheries, the margins can be too deep. This is either because of the way the lakes were dug, or erosion over many years that’s added several inches to the original depth.
Normally, a shallow edge isn’t too difficult to fish, feeding groundbait and dead maggots, for example, but in water more than 3ft deep the groundbait gets wafted up and the carp follow it. That leads to foul-hooked fish and lots of annoying line bites.
Instead, a different approach is needed, one that’s more akin to if you were fishing the deeper water on the long pole, but it doesn’t need completely new kit, or fancy baits and ways of feeding.
It’s all about keeping the fish pinned to the bottom so that every bite hit ends up with a fish hooked properly in the mouth – not in the tail!
Pellets every time
Pellets offer a lot of attraction, and you don’t have to feed loads to bring fish into the swim. For fish from 3lb-6lb, 6mm pellets are fine, over 8lb and I’ll go up to 8mm. You don’t need lots of bait. Two pints is plenty for a session.
Feed by hand
I like to have the option of feeding by hand, using six or seven sections of pole. I could fish shorter, but I always feel carp feed more confidently further away. You also want to be fishing on a nice flat spot to get as tight to the bank as you can.
Ring the dinner bell
Feed six pellets at a time, initially every 90 seconds to pull fish into the swim. The noise attracts carp which follow them down to feed. Hard pellets are heavy, and don’t get wafted about very easily. They keep carp on the deck, where you want them.
Lift and drop
When the water is deep, because fish will follow the pellets down I want my hookbait to do the same. I use a light 0.2g float with which I can lift and drop the bait after feeding to make it resemble the feed pellets falling through the water.
