Carp lakes
The majority of my own carp fishing during the last few years has been on new venues especialy when on a fishing holiday, both in the UK and abroad. Many of the waters were quite small and new to me i.e. I had not previously fished them and had little information on them prior to a little research. Although every water is different to tackle there are a number of factors that can be applied to all. Therefore I will answer your question with a number of bulleted points that may assist you.
Tackle new lakes
Search for information prior to wetting a carp line; Information can be gathered from many sources including the Internet, magazine features and word of mouth, if possible make contact with those that have been there before you and ask those already in the know about the productive areas, clear spots, baiting methods and tactics to place a carp rod.
Rods tip
- Spend as much time as is necessary looking for signs of carp. Once they are located, using your carp rod search for features where they are likely to pick up a hook bait, you said the lake is very weedy therefore you may need to locate clear areas with a marker setup or through observation i.e. tree climbing. From the onset watch and listen for signs of carp before unloading the gear, there is no point setting up in the first available swim if the majority of the carp are at the other end of the lake? The only piece of equipment I carry whilst searching for signs of carp are a bait bucket and Polaroid’s. Once they are located the bucket is left in the swim and the fishing tackle is collected from the car. Tree climbing presents a much better view and allows the angler to view deeper into the water as the reflection is reduced. As we know carp love weed, reeds and snags, these are obvious spots to look.
- In general carp tend to be more rig wise in smaller lakes, consequently I would opt for finer more delicate tackle tactics and adopt small water tactics. However you can only go as light as the lake features will allow i.e. due to the weed presence you may need to use a good quality line of around 15 lb, maybe Fox soft steel or illusion.
- Smaller lakes tend to respond better to the lighter tighter baiting approach, therefore would probably go for a spoded mix of hemp, response pellets and chopped boilies with a small chop as a carp hook bait. I would avoid sweet fruity type flavours if Tench and other species are present in large numbers, in the worst case it may be necessary to use large hard boilies, however I would not normally go to these lengths unless it was absolutely necessary. In regards to the bird life you mentioned, they will pick up most baits but chops make it a little more difficult for them.
