Stalking Carp part 2 by Mathew Woods

Arguably the best approach however is to simply put a single hookbait infront of a carp, but not on the nose of a carp, as chances are at that distance the carp wont be able to see them, and would probably be alarm by the sudden appearance of them if they did see them.

So dangle your wrigglers carefully, I'd suggest around 4-6 feet infront of a carp. You may use other baits though, sweetcorn is always a good bet, a nice big worm is also a cracking bait when stalking, as are pellets and paste.

If the carp seem to be out of freelining range, then there are a whole host of rig ideas you can try.

Leadcore is the best friend of a carp angler fishing the margins, as the main area of interest is not obscured by any line, that can easily spook a carp.

This is extremely important, as carp arent very fond of seeing or feeling line, also, the leadcore adds casting weight, so you dont need the added splash of a lead.

I recall a time when I had just begun fishing, and I was fishing a crystal clear lake that was mainly used for match fishing, but because of the prolific mussel beds, there were quite a few 20lb carp swimming around.

I was fishing for carp, but I was also flicking in a fingerful of casters about 3 feet from the bank just incase a big perch or roach came along. The roach came first, then a few nice perch, but then, completely unexpectedly, the lake record mirror stumbled into view, all 26lb's of it. An awesome sight for me at the time, and one that had me very quiet, speechless infact.

I watched this magnificent creature suck in a single caster, then turn and swim off as though it couldn't really be bothered to feed, either that or it could feel my heart beating at 3 million miles an hour. It returned though, from the same angle, took one of two mouthfuls, and then disappeared slowly again. It came back a third time, this time with a friend, a common of around 20lb's, and they both took a few mouthfuls, the mirror swam off slowly again, but the common hung around for a little longer, and then swam off to the left of my peg, up a reedy margin.

This baffled me, was the mirror going to look for it's favourite friends to tell them there was a free meal right near the bank? Or was it simply swimming from baited patch to baited patch picking and choosing what it wanted to eat? What also confused me was how it was only taking a single mouthful, and then casually strolling away.

I saw my opportunity, and I reeled in my one rod, left my set up on put on some casters, and plopped it into the spot the mirror was visiting.

The carp came back, and didn't seem to look puzzled at the fact that the casters it had once eaten had been replaced, and started to feed more confidently until my own angling inexperience came into play.

I had left my rod with the line tied tight to the lead, and the fish brushed against it. Within a split second all my hopes and dreams of breaking my personal best, by what would have been 16lb at the time, were broken.

It was then I learned the importance of pinning down the line and keeping it well away from your baited area. Slack lines also have this effect, but you may need some SSG shot to aid the cast.

These large shot act in the same way that any lead would, causing alarm in the fish and a given opportunity that the fish may decide to up sticks and leg it! Which may result in a caught fish. However, the end tackle you would use for general carp angling may also be used to stalk the margins.

All the best and tight lines,
Mathew Woods