Being totally addicted to getting out there and wetting a line, a lot of my angling has to involve very short sessions after or before work if I am able to get my ‘fix’.
This past week has seen me on the bank 3 times for short two to three hour sessions, but during those three short sessions I have managed to hook carp each time, with 2 being hooked on one of those evenings, unfortunately one of the fish got off.
Now I have not stated the above to say ‘look how good I am’, but to demonstrate hopefully that you don’t need a lot of time to catch carp if you get yourself organised and set about things properly.
The first and obvious thing is to cut the kit you carry down to a minimum. I simply have a plastic storage container that I drop the bits in that I won’t need. This way when I go off on a proper session I know everything I need will still be in that box so no chance of taking things out then forgetting to put them back in again.
On short sessions I simply take a couple of spare rigs. You don’t need all of your rig tying bits and general mess we all cart about week in and week out. Those dozens of hooks and leads aren’t going to be needed on a 2 – 3 hours session.
Whilst talking about leads this is probably where most go wrong on short sessions. Forget the big leads, they spook the fish on the cast and they probably won’t return to your swim again during your short session.
Small and discreet
For these sessions I only target waters I know pretty well and choose swims where I can reach the fish easily with just a 1 oz bomb. In this day and age of 3 and 4 oz leads being the norm the splash of a 1oz hardly seems to make them flinch on a lot of places I visit.
Bait wise I also like to increase the speed of attraction by adding a bit of Glug before the session. I don’t take loads of bait as I need a quick hit but working on one teaspoon (5 ml) of Bait Glug per 1 pint of boilies just gives them a nice coating which will soon wash away an spread the attraction further in the water than any normal boilie ever could.
Short session glugging
I also prefer to use small baits for this short session approach, again because they appear to spook the carp far less than firing big baits in.
This week I have been arriving and loosely spreading five catapult pouches of 10 mm boilies in the area I am expecting the carp to be. The rig then follows this as I prefer the splatter of free bait sound to hit the surface before the possible scary sound of the lead.
As soon as those freshly glugged baits have hit the water they are spreading their attraction, the rigs are in and hopefully the carp turn up. They have been doing for me this week. If you are struggling to get out for a ‘proper session’ try popping out for just a couple of hours. The three evenings I have fished this week have each produced more than the 48 hour session I did last week-end.
Fish short, fish discreetly, fish well.
Best fishes
Shaun Harrison.
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