To me a 48 pound fish is traditionally an old-looking warrior with a legacy of captures spanning decades and a history reflecting the unfolding development of the water and surrounding environment in which it inhabits. The age of trees immediately beside the waters edge are especially evocative to me of this. But I have caught fish of this size which are only the age of fish which are most usually only double figures in weight and this does seem strange; a fish without the normal years to match its bulk!

When I was younger, I used to believe that all smaller fish perhaps up to late double figures in weight were relatively easy to catch, but I have discovered this is far from the case... In some carp waters, there are fish that have remained stubbornly at 17 or 18 pounds which are over 40 or 50 years of age. Such experienced fish are not necessarily the easiest fish to catch.

It is a fact that older fish have essential dietary and nutritional requirements which can alter with age and impact upon which baits and ingredients might be more effective. For example, much older fish use their food and nutrition far more for bodily maintenance than for skeletal growth for instance. Their bodies essential demand for many minerals, vitamins and amino acids and other key nutrients may be reduced very much compared to young actively growing fish which having a higher metabolic rate etc.

Older fish can certainly have different natural feeding habits compared to younger fish in a wild setting. However, it is sometimes harder to find fish which truly feed totally naturally all the time where anglers and anglers' baits have had an impact on particular fish for decades.

Now back to getting an edge over those much sought-after bigger fish. There are many pressure in angling and in the aquatic environment which can potentially impact upon the way fish behave and feed in any water and what a fish needs to consume or is willing to risk investigating. All this might seem a little meaningless in the face of rubber and plastic artificial baits catching big carp and the use of concentrated flavours of high or low pH as in attractor or instant baits for instance.

I recall testing different hook patterns on crucian carp decades ago and getting the shock result that 9 out of 10 patterns simply either could not hook the fish despite being taken into the mouth, or allowed the fish to immediately spit the hook even when hooked. Only one pattern provided positively well hooked fish and from my vantage point over-looking the margin where the test hook-baits were placed it was clear that a hook with a longer point which was exceptionally sharp stood any chance of hooking those wily old shy-biting crucian carp.

It is true that it is the bait that hooks a fish by getting the hook physically in the vicinity of the mouth and giving the chance of a hook-up. Some mad carp will take a bare hook with no bait on at all, but I've yet to met a successful carp angler who fishes a bait less hook all the time! The fact is you have to experiment on a water until you have positive feedback that fish are willing to at least sample whatever baits you offer them. Sometimes this is easy to discover and instant takes occur. Other times you need to change your options a few times before success comes.

Having found a small fish water containing single figure fish, I though I'd test some standard big carp rigs on them to see how experienced and tricky these small fish were. I was looking to test myself and look again at solving very basic and common challenges that any carp can present to you. It was obvious from the wary treatment of floating baits and the failure to positively hook fish on a variety of simple baits (excluding boilies and pellets,) that these particular fish were no walk-over and required a bit more thought to trick quickly.

In fact there were just 10 fish total in this farm pond and it was clear there would be a challenge if I fished conventional big carp style as I found out that tiny size 18 hooks and 3 pound line with match fishing tactics, maggots, and refined pole fishing tactics had been the main way to catch them until recently. I could have simply fished a bunch of maggots but that was cheating to me.

I tried worms but after a couple of aborted takes on small worms on a size 4 hook it was clear the carp were sucking on the ends of the worms and could easily detect the big hook and heavy line used on the ledger rig and this occurred on heavy and light leads, using running, fixed and semi-fixed styles. (These fish were clued-up and rig-shy for sure.) I could have tried any of a number of approaches and rigs to get an edge with worms, but this seemed too easy. I wanted really to catch these experienced fish on cruder tackle and much bigger baits you might want to use for far bigger carp.

The thought occurred to me that I could exploit the fact they had obviously been trained to take free ground baits on the drop as this would offer an often much safer way to feed without getting hooked. There I simply made up a size 4 hook direct to 18 pound monofilament line (snags abounded in this pond) and upon this placed 2 half centimetre square cubes of luncheon meat so the hook point was proud. Slightly above the eye of the hook I added a 2 centimetre piece of bread flake moulded down the eye so it was bread paste just above the eye and the soft flake covered the luncheon meat and obscured the point of the hook.

The next stage was simply to feed small pieces of flake into open water not the snaggy spots and then after half an hour of doing this to gently flick the hook bait out. Of course the immediate result was that a fish was hooked within 5 seconds of the bait starting to slowly sink, it being taken confidently and with a great rush, on the drop.

This fish turned out to be the biggest in the pond and was an absolutely beautiful purple-bronze coloured common of about 6 pounds.

Fishing conventional rigs on the bottom and surface would have taken a lot of perseverance and many missed bites in order to catch this fish, but just the simple change of bait and approach, even on very heavy tackle caught this fish immediately. I guess the point of this capture was that it is often we anglers that make fish conditioned to avoid rigs and accept various baits in whatever forms and states in the water, and in our own habitual actions and conventional approaches lie the answers to many of the obstacles we may have to catching small and big fish...

So next time you automatically reach for that rig, or set of baits you might usually use as you have so frequently before, just imagine the potential impact of using a different approach and bait format which is based on exploiting the conditioning your rig and baits have induced! In so many ways doing things differently is the real point that catches those harder-to-catch big fish dreams are made of, just in the same way that in life, it is not what happens to you that determines success but how you respond to it.

First off, pick an evening on one of your days off. Now I don't know if you buy your worms or not. But I don't buy them. And the reason why is because they are to easily taken off the hook, and chum is the same way. Personally, I get out the old shovel and find some damp soil and dig up fresh worms. Now there not as big as the one's you buy at the store frig, but the catfish go crazy over them. And all you need to do to keep them alive, is put them in some kind of shade.

Now that you have dug up your fresh worms. Get your poles and tackle together, and maybe a chair or two. Get the cooler out and buy or get something out of the frig to eat and drink later. Stop by the store and pick up some ice or food products that you might want to bring along with you. Like a snack or something. Also if you don't want to go by yourself, bring a friend or family member.

If you don't know where to go. Or what catfish are safe to eat. Then here's a hint. Don't go fishing in saltwater. Go down to the creek, or some place with fresh water. And that is the catfish that you want to eat.

So you're at the place you picked out, great. Get your gear and seats out. Find a tree and brake off a branch about 3 feet long and an inch thick with a forked end. Push the stick's end without the forked end on it in the ground about a foot. Get your worms out and fix up your fishing line on your pole with just a weight and hook. Now feed the worm on the hook, making sure the hook is completely covered up. Cause if any part of the hook is seen by you, then the catfish will see it to. That means that you're not going to get a bite.

Cast out your line as far as you can cast it. Let the weight and hook sink to the bottom of the creek. When your line goes slack. Set your pole down onto the forked stick to prop it up. Real the line up a little so it looks as if it is tight. Then set and wait. When your pole starts to jerk, pick it up easy like without jerking it. Wait a minute or two. Because the catfish like to nibble and jerk the line a few times, as if they were playing with it. Now as soon as you feel a huge tug on your pole, then rear back the pole to set the hook in its mouth. Then start reeling it in. To tell when your getting good at fishing for catfish is when you just about know when that huge tug is coming. Timing your jerk back at the exact time of the huge jerk. And If it doesn't want to reel in that easy. Then play the catfish out. That means reel and rear back on the pole , then leaning it forward without reeling. Do this until the catfish stops fighting you as much, or until you get the catfish on the bank.

Congrats! You are now enjoying catching catfish!

 

 

Solution

Fish are evolved to detect your bait components especially well when they are wet. This means that elements of your bait are able to become fully or at least semi-mixed or hydrated with water. Hydration of your bait is also very important because in order for many species fish to efficiently digest your free bait it needs to be hydrated. Most baits will finally fully absorb water over time depending on many factors regarding the bait and its ingredients and so on.

Hygroscopicity

This is an extremely productive property of your baits additives, liquids and ingredients to attract and absorb water. Think about it; these can ensure that your bait absorbs water even if it has been sealed pretty effectively by using proteinous eggs or similar binders in the mix to help bind it together as in boilies. Many types of pellets are heated as part of the shaping and extrusion process and depending upon the ingredients used, this can very much impact upon the bait performance in attracting and stimulating fish into feeding. Simple examples of hygroscopic substances are salt, yeast extract and glycerine as used in flavours.

Permeability

As with pellets, boilies are often made to make money as opposed to function as optimum fish stimulators. In fact it is obvious that some of the most effective baits are able to freely disperse their stimulators and attractors without limitation into the water column. However, such baits do not fit the criteria of many anglers who might prefer to have the same bait in a position in a swim for 48 hours or more for instance, before it becomes too soft to be practical as a hook bait. This does not stop permeability being a great fish-catching factor in both hook baits and ground baits of all kinds!

Density

Baits can differ in their productivity in part due to how much their ingredients have been compressed and this can seriously impact upon the rates of release of attractors, flavours, tastes etc into the water. Many machine-produced boilies and pellets actually have standard amounts of compression and density which I'm sure fish recognise in baits over time. I've certainly noticed that making free baits with extremely open texture and not using rolling in the bait making process results can be very much improved. Conversely, I do like to use hook baits that are bullet hard as I get the feeling that these are more difficult for fish to deal with for a range of reasons, not least because proportionately very few anglers fish with such hard baits these days.

Porosity:

This is a bait property which is again related to how effectively your bait ingredients and additives etc can escape from your bait in order to become part of the water so fish can detect them and follow the leaking trail back to its source. Also porosity is linked to many other important areas in bait. One for instance is the ability of your bait to hold liquids such as liquid amino acid mixtures or liquid fish protein or a concentrated flavour. Many bait ingredients can be used to make you bait hold more liquid and egg biscuit and even bread crumbs or ground-up pellets of many kinds can be exploited.

Solubility: This is related to the above and is one of the keys to a great fishing bait, but it is probably one of the least mentioned bait factors while the hot topics may be flavours or protein in baits. The fact is that although nitrogen and amino acids are essential to fish, as found in whole protein foods, it is the water soluble fraction of this protein that does the work of catching fish. If this was not so, then the top fish attractors would probably have zero solubility. Having looked into the solubilities of a huge range of bait ingredients and liquids and how they mix or do not mix together, it is still obvious that even those ingredients termed insoluble as with those stimulating fish oils or hemp oil for instance, these still do not have zero insolubility... The use of fish feed triggering liquid lecithins in baits helps with the semi-solubility of many substances and is especially effective in winter and low water temperatures.

Texture

Bait texture again can have a great bearing upon desired bait function in many ways. Many anglers get the impression that if a bait has some kind of crunch factor then it will be more acceptable than one without. While it is true that many baits have coarse ingredients within them naturally such as in many fish meals and bird foods, crunch factors has much more to it. These materials can aid in food gut transit and growth of fish intestinal villi which means more of your bait will get digested over time thus making it a more energy efficient and preferable food source. Fish are stimulated by sound and sound is very obvious in water! The coarse ingredients you use can obviously improve bait nutritional value too and use of hempseeds, and crushed cockle shell are both proven.

Buoyancy

Bait buoyancy can be the most important final deciding factor in catching any particular fish and is directly related to exactly how your fish feeding behaviour (in the presence of bait) deals specifically with your bait and rig. Even when baits with excellent nutritional stimulation in an innovative form having been pre-baited in a water for months, these may not produce the biggest possibly wisest fish in a water. It may be a surprise to find that after months of trying, using a critically balanced bait instead of a normal sinking bait, or even over-weighted or pop-up bait is the only change necessary to catch the wisest fish...

By Tim Richardson.

You can make homemade dips using many house-hold food items including oils and juices from tinned fruits and canned fish. Pastes and pastes are very under-used items and mix with various liquids to make effective nutritional cheap dips. It is cheaper to make homemade boilies but steam them instead of boiling them for better catches!

Coating your baits in even simple paste or dough bait certainly increases catches. Because most of the stimuli which incite fish feeding are water soluble, it is sensible to get many soluble attractors in your paste for best effect! There are many feeding triggers in fish and using mashed tinned fish like tuna, anchovy or salmon to make paste to go around your hook baits is easy; just mix with eggs and wheat flour or with ground dog mixers to bind!

Many readymade baits have a surface which does not maximise their fish attraction in the water and it is important to break their surfaces to achieve far more takes. By making a boilies or pellets surface more irregular you can improve attraction leakage from the centre of the bait and fool fish into thinking your bait is safe, having previously been tested by other fish chewing on it! Using sharp scissors, knife or baiting needle you can easily improve the catch potential and attraction of your baits!

The act of putting paste on all your free baits as well as around your hook baits can truly produce great catches; it sounds like hard work but that's why it works; just like in any endeavour! This paste or dough bait covering can be anything and put around anything used as a hook bait; do not be a slave to convention! Even using a Scopex flavoured dough bait around a salmon flavoured boilie is different enough to produce great catches even if it is still a relatively very conventional combination.

Making the leap of faith and trying coating pop-up buoyant baits with paste is a very good edge indeed and extremely well proven! The pop-up or semi-buoyant hook bait has no need to be like the paste around it and in fact the more alternative your paste is the better. Coating pop-up baits with paste is a great edge which is little-used by the majority of carp anglers and as you can see, these things just take a little lateral thinking utilising what we are already using.

Many ingredients can be added to a paste or dough to make it buoyant or float and cork dust or granules are one example. Fish can be fooled into taking buoyant baits because they counter-act the weight of the hook and rig material among other beneficial effects. I've caught many big fish by using this approach but using buoyant paste hook bait wraps and often fish can come surprisingly quickly to this method!

It is a commonly held angling myth that fish do not learn, but in truth very many species can be conditioned by angling activities, bait introduction etc and even koi carp can be trained to take baits from out of a keepers hands and be in a particular place in advance of feeding time! If you think carp do not learn just consider that over time when repeatedly hooked by anglers, they do not get easier to catch but harder! It's just the same with hunting of other kinds. For this reason alone it is definitely in your best interests to find out as much as possible how to maximise the impact and effects of your hook baits and free baits because a trap is only as good as the bait!

By Tim Richardson.

1. Fish location is not for the lazy! It's a vital fishing "must do" especially for big fish and is the universal fishing rule number one; you will not catch any fish where there aren't any!
2. Always use a sharp hook of suitable size for your fish, and bait! A sharp hook has always caught more big fish than that old blunt beast of an old pattern hook you find in the bottom of the tackle box even if it was your favourite 5 years ago!
3. A bait that still tempts the fish you are hunting and has not already lost its "edge" through previous over-use which actually repels wary fish instead! Do your own thing; homemade baits are the closest thing to a sure-fire bet of a bait; readymade baits are often a lottery in actual effectiveness; the ones you choose may already have been "hammered" without your knowledge! When it comes to baits, flavors and rigs, adaptability and creativity is the name of the game. Being prepared to take risks and do new things always pays-off big-time in the end! The best baits are the ones that catch on the day after all!
4. Lady luck always helps no matter how much you prepare for your fishing! You might hook the one fish you desire within just 5 minutes of your first cast; or it might take you 10 years!
5. You will need other tackle to enable you to land the big fish you're after including an adequate rod, reel, line and hook link and a strong enough hook not to open-out when the real pressure during the fight reaches its peak, generally on the first run or at the landing net!
6. You will need equipment to deal with the fish once hooked. You will need a big enough landing net for a start. It's no good using a normal 42 inch carp landing net for a 6 or 7 foot long catfish, unless you are particularly skilled at "folding" such beasts into such a net in the dark, on your own at night, in the rain, on a slippery wet bank! (The secret is drilled rehearsal!)
7. If you are a responsible fishermen and care for the future of your sport, then you will realise that the fish are the future. Remember, smaller fish will be the personal best fish in the future. So if you care for your fish and intend replacing it back into the water it lives in (and not cooking it for tea,) then a protective mat big enough to completely remove any danger of damage from contact with the ground is an excellent and essential bit of kit.
8. Suitable unhooking forceps are necessary (as are sharp scissors!) Often unhooking a well hooked fish with your fingers is difficult without causing undue damage due to difficult angles with a barbed hook which potentially might cause damage. Practicing your forceps skills can make hook removal simple and clean so keep them easily accessible. I've seen far too many so-called anglers rushing and fumbling when unhooking fish virtually ripping the hook out of them. This is completely irresponsible and utterly unnecessary and can produce wounds which last for the life of the fish! Just calm the fish down by de-stressing it with plenty of water and wet hands, being efficient, confident and quick. It's like the old dentist joke: “You what - you want 200 dollars for just 2 minutes work to remove my tooth; that's a joke!” The dentist responds by asking: “Would you rather I took an hour instead!?
9. Use of fish care kits with swabs and antiseptic solution are very responsible too in helping heal the hook wound and any scale damage or fresh scrapes, or previous wounds on the skin etc. It is very possible by doing this you will enable the fish to recover from capture much faster, even put on more weight quicker in the future owing to less stress and even potentially save a fish's life!
10. You need a venue containing the species and size of fish you are hunting; it's no good fishing for salmon in a river devoid of them for the past 30 years or for a 30 pound carp where the biggest is 19 pounds!
11. Have all your camera equipment ready for use! When you catch your personal best fish of a life-time, you want the photos to reliably come out right; there's nothing worse when they don't! (No problem; just catch the same fish twice!)
12. If you fish at night take at least 2 torches and always have plenty of spare batteries. Its "sod"s law' that the one night or session when the fish feed like mad is the one you find your torch packs up. (Bulbs blow too!) Head torches are very popular and cheap these days and I also use "glow-in the dark" pencil torches to find my torches (and glasses) at night. I hang one on the bite alarms to indicate the position of the rods on dark nights. The dim light of a pencil torch is enough for landing big fish in the dark without spooking them off at the last minute at the net and losing them because you have a thousand candle-power lantern on the bank or have a 100 light-emitting diode torch on your head! (On some carp lakes in the UK, constant use of such torches make the banks at night look like a scene from close encounters of the third kind or club laser show rather than a natural lake-side environment; expect to see a "ufo" any minute!)
13. If you fish in the heat you need water and loads more of it than you think! You "feel" hydrated long after your body has become dehydrated. Most people in an out of doors setting are amazed how dehydrated they get but this is because they do not realise just how much more active we have to be outside. Everything takes effort, exertion and energy to get things done and just breathing a lot more loses you much more water and not just in hot conditions. Remember you will usually dehydrate yourself looking around and locating fish, getting yourself and your fishing gear to your swim and having set-up your tents, rods and baiting-up with ground bait if desired. From personal experience; you're not much good as a fisherman with a heat stroke and a dehydration headache; playing a big fish with a bad headache is most un-cool!
14. Please be aware that fish when first caught come from water that is generally cooler than the air at the height of summer and they will need constantly cooling down with generous amounts of water. Fish skin and delicate vulnerable tissues as in the gills in such conditions can dry out very quickly and be damaged. So be efficient in unhooking fish and very quick with pictures, and keep fish wet! (Wetting your hands before touching your fish really reduces the heat sensitivity shock on them and covering their eyes with a wet sling or sack is very sensible and can help a fish "settle" on your unhooking mat and de-stress it which is very important! I usually take at least 2 big bottles of water just for one night, so you might imagine how much I take for a 3 or 4 days and night session.
15. A bit more about fish recovery and handling. If it is very hot, keep the fish out of the sun and in the water until the last second while everything on the bank is prepared so the fish is out of the water the minimum time possible. When handling, touch the fish as little as you can to avoid stressing it and utilise your wet unhooking mat to carry it back to the water. It may take some minutes if not hours to get a big hard-fighting fish to recover from a spirited fight. During this time make sure you choose a conveniently shaded cooler margin for the fish's and your own comfort; and be persistent! You may have to artificially work the gills of the fish and wave fresh oxygenated water into its mouth for its energy and metabolism in order for it to recover, which might take an hour or more in very hot conditions!
16. Polarising sunglasses are one of your key bits of kit because they can make you look cool when standing on the bank like an idiot, even though you might have caught no fish, be sweating gallons and look like the morning after your stag night and your gear might have been almost totally destroyed in a freak storm that the previous night! "Shades" are also good for looking for signs of fish such as cleaned feeding spots and impersonating celebrities. In combination with a hat, they even shade your eyes from harmful rays direct from the sun and reflected back off the water, which can easily avoid you a nice headache after a day watching the water, or a tiny little float!
17. If you fish in the winter you will always need more warm dry windproof and waterproof clothing than you think! When your rain or snow-proof stuff gets wet and it's raining or snowing, if you have no way to dry out; you'll slowly freeze! A windproof fishing shelter or "bivvy" with a door with zips that really work all the way down to the ground, can literally be a life-saver just as much as a life-jacket when using a boat! Comfortable anglers catch more big fish because they can focus on catching fish instead of just staying warm! (In any country, when you spend the night outside in a strong northerly wind with a minus degrees Celsius wind chill factor, clothes are not just about comfort, but avoiding hypothermia, so beware!
18. It takes practice to do anything in life consistently successfully. "Beginners luck" is one not so "weird" phenomenon. It is easily explained; often a new fisherman on a water with different baits and rigs, fishing unusual or less popular spots (because he is not familiar with the "popular" ones,) will hit the biggest fish first. (No big surprise there; so be prepared!)

So there you have it; it's easy, there's nothing to catching big fish! When "opportunity meets preparation," big things will happen!

What I mean is, the whole modern bait and tackle industries are supposed to be geared towards providing the modern angler with every "edge". Now the paradox here is these "edges" can eventually become the very reason anglers often do not catch more fish. Fish can very quickly adapt defensively to new "ultimate" and "cutting-edge" baits, tackle and techniques!

One of the most intriguing aspects of fishing for carp especially involves ways to tempt and hook those fish which rarely, (if ever) get caught. Trying a new bait concept, or new ingredients, alternative rig approach, new bait format, or method of baiting for the first time, has produced some of these more unusual catches for me.

It is the more rarely caught fish that tell you when you really have done something different in your approach, bait, rig or all of these (and more!) Some of these fish have a curtain of skin in their mouths. I'm not certain this is a sign that the fish have never been hooked before or not, (or not for a long time,) since I think it may be possible it could grow back given time!

Whatever is the case, when I've landed such fish, they have stood out much more for being in absolutely pristine condition, than for being big. Such fish may not be big, but can be pretty old. I recall the exhilaration and astonishment at catching a carp under 10 pounds from a farm pond in 2005, that I last landed 30 years before at the same weight and it was in immaculate condition with a curtain of skin in the mouth...

Many tackle items are more short-term as opposed to longer-term solutions, without really being intended that way. Some fishing products tend to follow particular sales life-cycles and useful lives. Products which are longer-lasting often have the capacity to be added to, adapted or more easily re-designed to fit new applications, new purposes and fresh requirements. It's rather like the basic design of the legendary much loved "Spitfire" war plane. Although this has a very recognisable outer appearance, it has had so many new "reincarnations" to prolong its functional life in battle situations, it lasted up to 4 decades, even well into the jet plane era!

Fishing baits, items of tackle, associated methods and techniques are no different in terms of functional life at defeating the instinctive or conditioned defenses of carp and their behaviors. A new product's first introduction can generate excitement, even anticipation and elevated demand for it. The period after initial introduction can often be when anglers' demand for a new product is at its highest.

Now, most anglers appear to want the easiest "instant edge" to keep them ahead of the "crowd" (if not the fish.) Sometimes some fishing products certainly "look the part" and if there was a prize for stylish looks they would win. But the true impact of looks as opposed to function upon results is often questionable. It's like those flashy rods with fashionable handles, brightly coloured (or camouflaged reels,) brightly painted floats and other things designed to catch the eye of the buyer. But just how many more fish does a stainless steel bite indicator catch as opposed to one that looks like its part of a shrubbery? (There's a Monty Python joke in there somewhere!) Most of the time, the "real edge" is one you cannot see. The highly refined vibration sensitive part of a bite indicator that can register a "bite" when others may not sound anything at all (being less sensitive.) is one practical example. A new special non-light reflective hook is a another good example.

Carp eyesight up close is obviously pretty good in certain light and water conditions and I've seen carp take a bait in the side of its mouth while hovering in the water on its side, using one eye to study the bait... (They can take baits while almost up-side down too, which is amazing and thoroughly unnerving to watch when you consider its full implications in regards to ideas about "self-hooking" and "self-turning" rigs!)

Constant fish exposure to a new item of bait or tackle as used by the majority of anglers can change results on them dramatically. This is a reality check. What is sold to keep you "ahead" can lose its edge incredibly quickly. In carp and catfish fishing this might mean a genuine edge such as a new rig or bait may only produce dramatically improved results lasting a matter of weeks or months before catches return to "normal" levels.

That is why bait company "field-testers" hate to see their new successful baits marketed, with a consequential drop in their results by comparison to when they were the only ones using it! The basic "hair rig" is another prime example of this principle, where things have frequently gone full-circle even to the point of such rigs resembling the original side-hooking methods of old.

Virtually any part of tackle and bait and fishing activity, like casting heavy leads into your swim or "spodding baits" with a ground bait loaded "bait rocket" etc, can affect fish behavior and responses in negative not positive ways, given time. Even using commercial ready-made baits that have nothing but well-recognized successful ingredients and flavors can cost you fish. It's not that they are a bad thing at all, but the fact is that these can all be associated with danger, due to fishes' experiences of previous captures or simply of being hooked and lost!

On that point, you never really know what you lose; some fish which do not get caught for years may have been hooked and lost repeatedly without the angler realising what has been lost. (I know for certain I lost a 43 leather at Darenth around 2003 but in hind-sight, it's probably best to not know what you lose!)

The tackle and bait industries are forced to give anglers what they want because that's how selling works, right? Well the reality is different to a degree... It is the fishing companies' marketing, advertising and sales departments' jobs, to ensure the majority of anglers use their company's products and some will do almost anything to make this happen as is human nature I suppose. The days of the blatant "hard sell" have been replaced by far more sophisticated indirect and multi-staged techniques of marketing and selling.

This means in the case of the most effective marketing methods, that you probably will not even realise you are being sold to, at all! What I'm getting at, is not the skills and arts of marketing, selling and promotion. Modern companies need them just to survive and keep market share. But I'm referring to a more subtle kind of reader and customer "conditioning" of attitudes and outlooks. Certain articles and advertorials can bias reader's ways of thinking about brands of tackle and baits. It even changes key attitudes and ways of looking at fishing methods and their possibilities and limitations.

This information and how it affects readers has often appeared to manifest itself in limited thinking, limited beliefs and even skepticism among anglers on the bank and negative snobbery about certain brands and methods. This is a shame because to get really good fishing edges, you need to have an open, not closed mindset.

I get the feeling that we are merely touching the tip of the "ice-berg," of what is possible in fishing, tackle, baits, methods and thinking approaches. Many anglers' success is being limited artificially because they feel the need to use what they see in adverts and "advertorials," instead of really considering solving their specific fishing problems their way, using their own original thinking. Often an angler will reach for the nearest glossy magazine for inspiration and copy from that rather than look at their fishing problems from a genuinely fresh angle.

How many anglers row out a very light lead (as opposed to a heavy lead,) 200 yards in order to solve specific problems and be different to the common approach in order to get results? (Terry Hearn is one example.) Such guys are thinking for themselves, not hanging on every word of their fishing heroes! They are actively identifying key problems, thinking and solving for themselves, "doing it their way" and catching incredible results, (but this is possible for anyone!)

Incidentally, on many highly pressured waters, fish will take a free-lined bait and immediately bolt, out of pure fear, just from the action of picking-up something potentially dangerous, although nutritious. Leading anglers will take great pains to ensure that carp have as little reason to treat their baits with suspicion. Some will spend many weeks and months preparing and conditioning the fish by baiting, to the point that they make it look easy when they do catch them!

The most popular baits and methods can become seriously anti-productive for the "average angler." If the greatest edge in fishing is being different, then it is certainly often being under-sold. You could say it even being "over-sold" in terms of practical products that lead to a uniformity of any key aspect of fishing. Sometimes, "touch-ledgering with a center-pin reel or float fishing and the use of fast reactions can produce easy results compared to using "big pit' reels and a conventional "static" approach.

Perhaps it is time that more anglers got the message that "easy fishing success" is not easy at all, but does require extra thought and attention to details, which must be very specific to any problem at any particular moment in time on their water. Constant adaptation in response to ever-changing variables takes thinking and often original thinking is the missing ingredient in success. Often we may just be a hair-breadth's distance from great solutions but stop before reaching the last break-through step...

If most of your fishing problems (and their solutions,) are really to be found between your two ears, then better catches are just a thought away! "Original thinking" in fishing is not necessarily about what you know, but how you look at what you know and apply this know-how in fresh new ways. For example instead of settling for a barrel or round shaped bait on a single hair on a form of "stiff" rig, why not experiment much more?

Look at the "bigger picture" as it were. Remember carp can practice 24 hours a day and 7 days and nights a week to identify the common characteristics of baits and rigs etc most used by anglers and they get very skilled at avoiding them. Carp can get off a hook in a fraction of a second or half an hour or more. They "know" they can do it and how to do it, even to the point of deliberately searching for your other lines to cross to tangle and use as a fulcrum!

A simple idea is usually the best and can spawn further simple ideas. Exactly how your hook baits move in the fishes' mouths is an easy "danger reference point" to alter to make a difference to your catches.

Using an innovative new hook link material such as a monofilament with a braided material coating for example, is something I'd take a look at. It is so adaptable for stiff and flexible rigs. Making instantly changeable "hinges" and stiff and flexible sections, so the bait moves differently in the mouth and making hook turns faster, is easily achieved. Maybe you could also use it in conjunction with an elasticized hook-link material, plastic-coated braid or stiffer "stiff-rig" materials?

Many anglers are now using the "chod" type of rigs in fishing situations that do not necessarily suit those best; when other rig designs can work better. But then again, even where chod rigs are highly successful now, anglers like Terry Hearn will be catching on the next innovative edges, ages before the "herd" ever hear or read about them... It all makes you think huh!?

It is best to solve most of your fishing challenges and problems by beginning with understanding fish and observation of behaviours; not to reach for the tackle and bait adverts first! It takes practice and an open mind, that's all! I remember a time years ago now, when the famous UK Woburn Abbey wels catfish adapted to very intense fishing pressure from anglers by switching-off from all previously successful "conventional baits."

They refusing to take them, relying for their survival upon natural food items instead. Using observation it became clear they were preying upon small zander in the margins of the lake. Therefore when small zander were used as bait, immediate success followed after weeks of struggling using popular recommended baits. Using baits which arouse zero or as little suspicion as possible (ideally with the maximum stimulation) has always been the biggest point about fishing baits (as well as the hook!)

“It is not just what you've got, but it's the way that you do it!” You can get many more fishing "edges" by "reverse engineering" our baits rigs and tackle from the perceived view-point of the "angler-conditioned fish danger reference points." Possibly the most effective ways to uncover edges is not just by methodically refining already existing and currently popular and "relatively" currently successful ideas, rigs, baits and tackle.

Often it is difficult to work out who came up with original ideas maybe about fishing "bivvy" design, rig design, bait design, rod design, bed chair design, or whatever, because so many others copy it and claim it as their own. Also it is a very peculiar fact that a certain "group consciousness" appears to be at work in the creative department of our minds. This is the strange when where a number of people, even in different locations around the world come up with very similar designs and inventions almost simultaneously.

The same phenomenon been proven to be the case with isolated island monkeys too. (I derogatively used to term this the "monkey mentality," of some anglers!) Having discovered the art of using a stick as a tool to pick insects and larvae out of tree bark and wood was a new skill that spontaneously appeared on many isolated islands with populations of that species of monkey.

But what about the potency of creating completely new breakthrough baits, rigs methods, tactics and tackle completely from scratch! Now in fishing this may seem impossible but it certainly is not. The concept of "plucking ideas out of "thin air' is not so insubstantial an idea as it first seems, especially in regard to improving your fishing results. Many anglers were using "the hair-rig" way before it was claimed as an invention of 2 particular anglers and details of it were published. (Even I used it with small fish baits for eels as a kid)!

Einstein could produce ideas out of "thin air" and so did Nicola Tesla, the most world-changing inventor in modern history. His "alternating current" and the electric motor among others world changing technologies he patented have advanced the world and connected it in so many ways it's almost impossible to imagine. Many of Tesla's most cutting-edge and completely revolutionary new inventions were put down on paper straight from scratch; without intellectual development!

Much of the secretive "star wars technology" is Tesla's. He mistakenly gave the leading governments of the second world war era designs, so potent he thought the making of which would end all wars, because use of this technology would easily wipe-out life on earth; ironically enough, by harnessing its own energetic fields! (Unfortunately however, not all leaders or their advisors are necessarily sane; there are plenty of obvious examples throughout human history!)

It was as if the new idea had simply manifested in his head in complete finished form with all the details and practical parts and mathematical formula all ready to be written down. In fact he often miraculously came up with new inventions by having completely new designs appear in complete form instantly in his mind.

In fact many of his patents and inventions are still so ahead of their time, no other scientists can figure out how to put them into reality as science has not "evolved" that far yet! The fact that the light bulb inventor Thomas Edison took credit for much of Tesla's work is a tragedy. Thomas Edison even accepted nationally acclaimed awards owing to work done by Tesla and totally stealing the limelight from Tesla and even trying to discredit him (a foreign Serbian migrant to the States.) Compared to Edison, "Nicola Tesla" is also most a forgotten name in world history - the US government has been forced to attribute many patents to Tesla not Thomas Edison in significant court proceedings!

Thomas Edison was a self-educated scientist and inventor who did things the hardest and most conventional way possible - by trial and error, using methodical scientific methods. His invention of the light bulb famously involved 9999 ways how "not to invent alight bulb!" (Many similarities with fishing baits, but at least 80 percent of homemade baits catch fish regardless of many mistakes made!)

Edison was absolutely enraged by the fact that Tesla could "invent" completely ground-breaking new concepts and practical ideas and inventions in schematic annotated form seemingly "instantly" without the hundreds and thousands of developmental trials and tests he had to carry out. But them Nicola Tesla was a genius of extraordinary stature! And Edison was jealous as heck of him! (Edison became the much applauded and awarded national hero of the scientific "establishment" of the United States; Tesla tragically died destitute in a hotel room, alone in New York City...

Each time you switch on your television consider the red colour you see; Tesla invented it. When you turn on you computer in your house or office without Tesla there would not be the power to sustain it. In fact there would probably be electricity generating stations buzzing away in their millions instead of issuing forth from relatively few power stations, if Edison had gotten his direct current established! Tesla even had proven plans for free communications across the world by harnessing the earth's "free energy..." (J.P.Morgan the financier withdrew support when he realised it was free and not something to provide him with more millions.)

So can you come up with an original fishing idea of any idea completely from scratch? I believe any one can, provided they know exactly what they are trying to solve in very great detail and simply meditate on it. In the case of fishing, it is very difficult to do this when your mind is jumbled full of other peoples' second-hand ideas, methods, techniques, bait ideas etc. What you need to do is identify your greatest fishing problem pick it apart to see where the difficult to solve parts of the puzzle are and simply and meditate on this! I've come-up with many bait and rig solutions just doing this...

This fishing bait secrets author has many more fishing and bait "edges." Just one could impact on your catches!

 

But the leveraging of bait towards this purpose has to be part of a bigger plan. The fact is I'm out of practice so much; I've only carp fished twice in nearly 2 years! I still do not know what it will feel like to hook another fish much less see it on the mat. My thinking strategy, tactics, choice of waters, rigs baits and actual approach to fishing has got to be fresh extremely innovative attract all the "competitive edges" I can possibly achieve on my return to fishing. I will be returning to some very competitive fishing situations with very much sharper, honed skilled anglers and some very difficult angler-conditioned fish!

My real targets are those fish which are very rarely caught, if at all. Many of these fish have adapted to fishing threats by simply "switching-off" to anglers baits, attractors and ingredients and have turned to exclusively eating natural food items. Such fish get big of course just by eating these as the size of the legendary fish in Redmire before the time of heavy baiting schedules and its impact on growth and weight gains (and extreme global warming weather changes!)

It is my certain belief that if bait is presented in the correct format containing stimulators that fish essentially need and eat naturally in their environment, then they will always be catchable. Even if fish simply filter feed on daphnia and brose on algae for their needs, there must be ways to exploit this too... Time will tell regarding these challenges and my results!

Herein the UK we have just experienced a hard winter's fishing especially for carp. The weather was not as mild as last winter of 2006 and 2007. Last winter produced fish from many waters tight through the winter which would usually have "shut-up shop" from around November to early April. I fished a whole winter a few years ago in order to get a "big picture" of fish catches and behaviours compared to presence of reduced angling activity and bait. Again it was a hard winters fishing as it was pretty cold. The lake froze over twice for long periods. March was high pressure weather systems and hard frosts all the way through.

These conditions made fishing very hard. That spring though, the fish were very easy to catch just about the third week of April through to early June. Catches at this time probably equally those for the rest of the year put together! It reminded me of one April when fishing Darenth big lake when over a period of about 4 weeks nearly all the big carp over 40 pounds were caught and the banks were thick with anglers and bivvies! Usually when such pressure hits fish after very little fishing activity, with all its leads flying everywhere, lines tight crossing every swim and a tonne of bait in the water every night; a fishery can often produce very few fish! But sometimes it is very significant in spring, that rising temperatures and fish metabolism and low fish energy reserves combine to create spectacular fishing often for a limited period in spring...

If you have been paying attention to your waters, you will very likely know exactly where most of the fish are situated now which is the fourth week of March as I write. If you have noticed which spots fish have been showing over or holding-up in like marginal snags etc, even though it's very likely few fish have been landed yet, these spots are the places to start your spring assault. I've tried fishing various methods in spring and the application of bait can produce incredible results compared to the average angler who turns up with a bucket of pellets or hemp and a few kilograms of boilies with a popular flavor or flavors, on a weekend.

One particular year, I had great success fishing short sessions from early April through to early June. What I did first was "fish for liners." This means that as fish pass through a swim, they brush the line which vibrates your bite alarm and indicates a fish in the swim. At this stage, while fishing, only tiny soluble polyvinyl alcohol "PVA" bags were used or single baits steeped in stimulators and enhancers. The primary aim at this stage was to identify the carp patrol routes in order to map them in order to more effectively intercept them in later sessions. If you can deliberately intercept fish as they start or end their natural feeding patterns and movements, you can really do well.

I located 2 spots in particular which to were obvious targets to focus regular bait on; each were not fished by the average angler because there was no obvious reason for them to fish there! (I.e. No island, no snags, no weed etc) But what there were hidden factors which made all the difference to results:

1. Lack of fishing pressure, no angler's lines, baits or leads landing there etc
2. These selected had rarely produced fish within the past 5 years and were "un-favoured swims
3. Within just 10 metres were signs of fish feeding activity indicated by a significant "moon crater' effect where loads of spots in the silt had been gradually scoured out by feeding fish over the autumn and winter and spring
4. It would be easy to bait up without anyone observing
5. It would be easy to cast to and then to put back-leads on the lines in order not only to pin line down but to change the line angles so if anglers noticed I had a take, they would think the actual fishing spots were elsewhere in more conventional spots!
6. I could fish these swims from the opposite line angles that most average would use for these spots, which to pressured carp can make all the difference in how they feed or if they will at all there with lines in the swim!

You can probably tell from this description that this was a competitive busy big carp water which was a day-ticket "commercial water." On such waters the ticket cost add up and another is to make every minute count in fish caught per pound spent! (This is one very significant reason to make sure you do not fish conventionally as on many waters such as this, you will not necessarily get the kind of catches that are truly possible!

So I decided upon 2 swims and spots in them to fish which I could fish from the same area but at completely different line angles. (It always pays to have options!) I fished 2 or 3 short evening sessions with single baits over the first 3 weeks of April with no success, but then no-one else had any fish either. (I had yet to refine the winter and spring art of pulling fish down from the top layers by leveraging special ground baits and additive effects etc.) Having introduced about 2 kilograms of baits, (plus some highly soluble dough mixture baits) each session, into my chosen spots without success, it really seemed as if either the fish not feeding on the bait or other fish were eating it. It was also possible the fish just were not feeding on the bottom in these spots yet.

This particular fishery was around 20 feet deep in places and after a cold frosty March it takes time to heat up. (Night temperatures of at least 7 degrees to 10 degrees Celsius make all the difference. In the UK this often means a Southerly or South-Westerly weather system needs to warm the water up and also turn over the water layers to mix them effectively. The problem with such weather is that anglers can absolutely pack waters in spring, also being aware of these conditions too!

After many years working outside as a horticulturalist and when I was fishing so much, I got to know temperatures and "feel" them, including pressure changes and even sense or "smell" favourable weather when carp are going to feed. It's real; this kind of thing also occurs when a blind or deaf person develops highly refined other senses to compensate for the loss of another.)

After fishing and baiting these un-popular spots each within 8 feet of the margins but in totally opposite sides of a swim I sensed the temperatures had risen just a fraction more over the last 3 nights. Added to 4 very sunny days things looked very promising indeed. (I do get excited at this period when the water temperatures are climbing back towards the ambient air temperatures with all those beneficial effects by raising carp metabolism!) I returned back at the lake at 11 pm luckily it was devoid of anglers, which underlined just how productive this day-ticket lake was at the time, (it being about the third week in April too!)

The air was filled with a dense mist; showing just how warm the water had become compared to the current air temperature. Things indeed looked good! But everything had come down to faith in my "alternative" bait design and I still had no clue if big carp were actually eating my homemade baits as opposed to it being scoffed by greedy diving birds (even mallard ducks) and pesky crucian carp which can feed well in cold temperatures! Casting to spots in a swim in the dark in a dense mist is really about practice and as I'd been practicing fishing to these spots for 3 weeks, this was no problem.

It had been my practice to both bait up a broad area surrounding the spots and then in the last week to bait up on the concentrated spots only, hopefully having given the bigger carp a taste or smell at least of the new bait. After baiting up with a very broad scattering of bait around the spots along with a concentrated baiting I settled into my sleeping bag knowing I had done everything I could do in my experience to prepare for this situation.

At 12 o'clock midnight precisely, the middle rod signalled a run and after a surprisingly hard spirited fight considering the still cold water temperatures, my first fish over 30 pound for that year graced the waiting landing net. I returned it immediately and I was simply "over the moon" that my bait worked and had not just been feeding the birds for the previous 3 weeks! An additional bonus was that no-one knew about my spots as yet, nor about this fish. I was well aware it was the first "30" captured that year from the water; and few came out there at any time!

The biggest most experienced fish in this lake had evolved some very nasty habits when hooked. They would first rush at you, or act like a small fish, giving in and coming in response to any pressure on the rod at all. (So you think the rod-tip rattling is from a small fish, and then he suddenly rushes towards you like an energetic "double!") What he's doing is twisting around in the water going up and down in the water layers and swimming upside-down and aiming to roll on the line and tear the hook out.

I saw fish do things like this at another Essex water called "Shotgate" and the biggest fish used to hit the surface sit there and roll on the line although I did catch him, the first time I hooked him I lost him due to this. The second time I hooked what I suspected to be this fish I played the fish with the rod tip help down in the water and he did not get a chance to roll my line at the surface this time! (He went 35 pounds and was the lake record at the time - but "sour grapes" in many carp syndicates require that some catches do not get mentioned!)

The fish in my spring water would swim right at you and the next thing you know, he's hit the bottom and is searching for your other lines in order to get your lines tangled and use this point as a fulcrum to get off the hook! These fish are crafty buggers for sure and these are just tricks I'm aware of on just this one water!

I catapulted out about 30 more baits gradually over the spots and prepared again.

The next fish took a bait about 2 am. This came in rattling the rod tip and generally acting as if it was a "double" running around in tight circles. So I knew this fish was something special, but how special? It came straight in towards me and before I knew it, he was actually hitting the bank at my feet trying to drill into it! This was one clever fish. I heaved on the rod as hard as possible but this fish had weight and strength which surprised me. Added all this was the fact I was using new rods and could not gauge just how much pressure I was or was not putting on the fish. (In the mist I could not see the top half of the rod anyway!)

The result was that in swam outwards on the bottom straight across my 2 other lines which each had 4 "back-leads" on to pin them down just to avoid such a situation - but from the opposite angle! With a sudden gap in the mist I realised the fish was wallowing over the other lines and probably tangled-up and the blaring noise from my other bite alarms across such a silent lake was really distracting! I recognised the fish at once, having caught it twice previously at around 37 pounds. (It was the sixth biggest fish in the lake and was landed about rarely, usually only once a year.) With the fish so close-in on the water surface, I could see it looked really big. It was wide and deep and was a beautiful orange colouration, just then the fish rolled again, the hook "pinged-out" and the fish sank just inches from the end of my out-stretched landing net!

This fish was lost, but many other big fish were to follow over the next 2 and a half weeks while my spots remained undetected by other anglers. The result was more big carp and catfish over 30 pounds in that period, than the rest of the anglers achieved for the rest of the year. It shows what the right "alternative" bait design with accurate timing and preparation really can do and without any exaggeration! It can take far above "average effort" to achieve far above "average results" but I believe that leveraging bait is one of the greatest advantages an average angler like me has. It takes a little bait knowledge about basic principles about how baits homemade and commercial readymade baits really work. Then knowing how to adapt them to suit your fishing situation or to "cover" possible fish dietary requirements is so worthwhile, and literally anyone can achieve catches they otherwise would normally only dream of...

Spring is here; so why not crack some eggs and get rolling!

On very highly pressured waters, where fish have seen "everything" it is often imperative that both your hook-link and main line is as "invisible" unobtrusive and as "natural acting" as physically possible. Your main line had better be strong enough to stand the pressure and abrasions (even at the reel roller and rod rings) when the biggest fish in the lake rips-off with your baited hook and ploughs towards the nastiest snags in the water! Usually such fish will test your rod and line past their limits and quoted breaking strain as the biggest fish normally have had years of practice being hooked and diving for safe snags!

The quality and condition of your rod rings, reel line roller and clutch mechanism can easily lose you "the fish of a life-time," so regular maintenance and attention to detail is essential. It is a massive advantage if you get advance experience of using your tackle at full pressure fishing for other big species. During key moments in a fish when your adrenaline is pumping and it is fifty-fifty who is going to win, knowing exactly what to do in advance and how to maximise the leverage and limits of your gear really matters. (They often help you keep a "cool head" and control any sense of panic or shock if the fish is evidently more cunning or powerful than you've ever experienced previously!)

Fishing "Lac Du Salagou" and "Lac Du Curton" ('Rainbow Lake') in France is best done after having previously tested your gear to the limit and then seriously up-graded both your tackle and "mental approach!"

Other aspects of lines that all can combine and stack the odds of success in your favour are: Exceptionally "low memory," minimal "line twist" and smooth casting properties to hit that "dinner plate" spot accurately at 120 meters away. This distance is often about 40 to 50 metres further away than most anglers estimate 120 metres to be and is a hell of a cast. (In fact such a cast is beyond the capabilities of many an "average" angler, despite "modern distance rods and big line capacity big-pit reels!")

It helps to do 3 decade of long-range beach casting to seriously train-in and hone your range, casting action, motor skills, appropriate musculature, technique and most importantly; your accuracy. (Often applying free bait accurately is a huge factor contributing to success as fish move further and further "out of range of our lines and leads!)

Other bits of tackle you might prefer not to leave at home, include a very sensitive bite detector. Often you can have fish "playing with baits' on and off for hours, without them getting hooked. This is without a fisherman having had any sound other than one or two "bleeps" from the indicator, (especially at range!). When fish are used to shedding hooks every day and night, they get very skilled at it in response to exposure to all the most popular contemporary rigs.

These are supposedly designed to be "self-hooking" self-turning' contraptions to always give you the "edge" and get around the crafty fishes defensive behaviors. If you have ever seen fish get off these rigs with ease in the margins (it might take a fraction of a second, or half an hour without moving-off though.) It could be argued that a truly effective hooking rig providing a truly genuine hooking "edge" is one that fish in any particular lake have never experienced the like of before!

Your fish hooking success includes the design of your chosen hooks and the materials and quality and gauge of metal it is made from. Added to this are decisions you make regarding the rest of the rig and the use of hook-link material and of particular strategic pivot points for rig movement and son. A good example is a version of a "cranked hook" with multi-stranded hook link material where the hook is positioned above and independent of one bait but sandwiched between the top bait and the smaller less buoyant one beneath the hook.

As recent innovation from "Solar Tackle" is the introduction of a "ring swivel" incorporating tiny ball-bearings which make it turn on your line more efficiently than ever before. The great advantage of this is it allows your rig to turn instantly in the mouth exactly in the way your rig design requires for maximum hooking potential. I can personally vouch for the fact that an efficiently-turning rig catches more fish!

Many of the most successful big fish anglers use a handful of very simple rigs for all their fishing, casting, weed, gravel, silt, or bottom detritus ('chod') situations. However, these guys have many hidden attributes that "mask appearances." I've used the same range of rig dimensions and "mechanics" for years. But this has been in various refined ways and in accordance with the individual fishery and swim requirements and using various more advantageous materials.

A simple rig or bait in the hands of one of the most skilled or experienced anglers on a water, equals fish caught! If an experienced angler has all the advantages of high levels of skill in "reading" a water and fish location, he may well seem to constantly "drop straight on fish" and catch them pretty soon after. A great "hidden advantage" of many top anglers is they're often very skilled in the application of bait in order to manipulate and stimulate fish feeding behavior to the extent of controlling fish location when they do feed.

This skill may be exercised over a season or numbers of seasons until the "target fish" are finally caught. It is often an over-looked fact that the biggest fish have the greatest energy requirements and nutritional needs and it makes sense they very often get caught in swims where the largest amounts of regular free baits are introduced. "Beginners luck" can rule in such swims!

But it is obvious to me at least, that after 3 decades of hunting for big fish of many species, that "confidence" is the real number one factor in fishing success. Without it you would not bother going at all. It is the thing that keeps you going back and which leads to most of your learning, feed-back, catches and in fact, personal satisfaction and enjoyment of the sport. When you are confident in anything in life, you tend to think and therefore behave in that way with all its benefits!

Confidence makes you "anticipate success." This leads to you constantly be looking for "cues" and clues of all kinds that bring you nearer to your goals. It is the thing that allows you to stay awake through the quietest most anti-social night hours listening for moving, rolling and feeding fish, (to give away their location.) Confidence makes you try ideas and things that your "mates" will probably call you an "idiot" for trying. Well "an "idiot' is someone who does not learn from their mistakes, whereas the most successful people have by definition made far more mistakes; but they learn from this "feedback" and develop even more confidence! (And their catches put their "mates" to shame!)

Confidence also makes you "pressure-test" every aspect of your tackle; because you truly believe there is no doubt you are going to hook the fish of your dreams. When the rare fishing opportunities you have been waiting for, meet all your carefully refined preparations and personal skills, then you have the highest possibility of achieving your fishing goals! This might be described as "cultivating your own luck."

Be lucky!

The author has many other "edges" to reveal...

One of the funniest learning periods I've had with bait and developing the "bigger picture" of what was happening on a fishery was over a particular 6 week period one summer. I kept a new bait regularly going into a fishery, but it was very soluble and small in size. The rationale with these baits was that the fish had wised-up to fresh baits and were almost only feeding on them when fully washed-out, or leached of all significant tastes and flavours, after about 4 days immersed in the water.

As my baits were so soft they leached attraction very fast and were similar to the safe leached baits but in only 4 to 6 hours. (And they absolutely "hammered this lake as a result.") Even though it was very hard work making and constantly baiting very carefully with them. Also when using them, they only stayed on the rig for about 3 hours before becoming too soft and dropping-off.)

Meanwhile, I calculated that 70 percent of anglers "blanked" on this fishery literally all the time no matter what baits it seemed were used. This fresh and leached bait thing was the major reason why!

Very often the usual behaviour of anglers at this fishery like most other fisheries would be like this: Arrive, set-up the tackle and "bivvy" and chuck out a kilogram or three of boilies straight from the bag, (Or a bucket full of pellets etc,) and soon settle-in to read fishing magazines or get on the mobile phone to their mates. (Use of mobile phones has now become simply a joke at many fisheries!) The next morning out would go more free baits, simply adding to what was already still there. After a couple of days and nights the "angler" would leave, complaining the fishery was "rubbish" with comments like “There's no fish left in it” etc. This may sound familiar. To my mind this is not fishing at all, but sleep-walking out-side... (Why continue to use this "method," when catching fish is so much easier using different approaches!)

Most fishermen seem to be "fixated" by any perceived potential "competitive-edge" they become aware of and cultivating and exploiting this behaviour for maximum profit, is the goal of most fishing companies! Again, it's like some of the best fishing baits. These will stimulate the fish in order to maximise the effects of their own behaviours and instinctive needs or perceived wants "as it were," showing a little of the similarities between fish and human behaviours.

Fishing success is much about using natural behaviours which are usually used in order for defence and survival and exploiting them in ways that improve your chances of hooking a fish. (More on this later; this takes experience and confidence to consistently "integrate" personally and apply in your fishing.) Fishing is definitely not all about becoming "copy-cat facsimile" of the bait, equipment and actions of "high-profile" type fishermen! In fact this could not be further from the "truth" as it is best to be as "different" and individual and as unique as possible as fishing gets more and more competitive!

Now most would agree that the moment the best anglers have "given away their secrets," they have already "evolved" new ones that keep them ahead of the fish and fellow anglers. (That is the mark of true "leading" anglers.) They are frequently the most generous with fellow anglers with their advice and time too! (Often very many more successful ones keep a "low public profile," but with good reason, (there are great competitive advantages in doing this!)

Totally original new products on the fishing "scene," which are actually offered as products available for use for the buying public, are relatively rare. These can carry far more cost and risk to the manufacturer and initial stockists to introduce, than a version of a previously successful item of tackle or bait. For instance, a product may in "principle" be the very best available, but simply perceived as too sophisticated or just less practical in terms of the normal angler's personal skill level. Often with a really effective bait or item of tackle.

It takes new personal skills and sacrifice in time spent developing and learning how to efficiently and quickly use less easy or more sophisticated items and apply them to best effect. (Think fly casting, or use of multi-stranded hook link materials for instance!) The "mass market" of "average anglers" is obviously where most profits often exist. Unfortunately, most of the best baits are just too soft or soluble for practical for use by demanding "average anglers," who have now become conditioned to expect easy quick "instant results."

Therefore the "easiest" and quickest to use baits and tackle are mostly prevalent. There was a time before commercialisation. When anglers had to think for themselves and innovate, even just to get their baits on fish without "spooking them."

But in successful fishing, use of a completely new substance or a far more refined efficiently working version of tackle is a huge "edge." Such a new substance or item can produce the kinds of advantages for "average anglers" that result in amazing improvement of catches instantly, (but usually for only a limited initial period of time!)

New flavours, additives and ingredients used in baits for carp such as "Carophyll Red" "Thaumatin B" and "N-butyric acid" are obvious examples of this point. N-butyric acid is one of the most prominent odours in the realm of flavour components. It belongs to the group successful group of flavour components called carboxylic ('organic') acids. It is a natural substance found in foods like butter and rancid cheese. You can include its effects in baits by incorporating the more enzyme active mature cheeses.

In the UK, this is currently one of the most popular flavourings and is often used in and associated with pineapple boilies and pellets for instance. The funny thing is that by telling you this, you are far more likely to try it; but I'm not selling! What you're doing is simply "human nature" at work. The most energy efficient route is the "direct one," so copying what has previously proven to be successful makes sense doesn't it? (In fishing this is actually a big disadvantage in many situations for many key reasons!)

Thaumatin (A and B) are derivatives of an African fruit and a protein based natural sweetener. It has a phenomenal effect on fish receptors as it is 10,000 times sweeter than sugar. (Talin is another excellent related example.)

Carophyll red is an artificial carotene pigment used to colour bird plumage. However, despite all the controversy over whether it is used in the carp bait additive "Robin Red," the effects on carp of this potent antioxidant are not in doubt by those "in the know."

Each of these were far less well known by anglers, even a few years ago, but each has produced huge numbers of fish since being offered to anglers in individual form, (as opposed to as part of other products!) It's a bit like the impact "Robin Red," the bird food additive. Is has had enormous success since its first use by carp anglers, decades ago. There are few commercial bait manufacturers that do not include it in their range of bait recipes and ingredients.

It is noticeable that very often in fishing, too much of a good thing becomes a big negative disadvantage. This has happened to many flavours on solvent bases which have been over-used in high levels and fish have "switched-off" to them. (This is largely due to their "survival instincts kicking-in" and associating these substances with the previous experiences and dangers of eating such flavoured baits and getting hooked.) This is not new, but it has occurred to many bait ingredients, additives and flavours at heavily fishing pressured waters, over the decades and years. Some baits reach the point where they have no "edge" (or "biological nutritional value") left, with which to tempt the fish beyond initial attraction and levels of stimulation.

It is a fact that for the "average angler" who is the first to use a new ingredient, form of bait or concept of rig design, his initial catches success can truly sky-rocket until the carp "wise-up" to it and before competing anglers get hold of it! "Average anglers" are just that, because what they do is literally what the majority do, especially in terms of how they think in approaching their fishing problems and goals.

In fact everyone is pretty much an "average fisherman" until something changes in him or her and aspects of their fishing evolve beyond the "normal level." Please note that I certainly do not mean to be "patronising" to any fellow anglers here. Even an angler who has developed a tremendous enthusiasm alone is likely to catch more fish than "normal." For instance, he may be keen enough to constantly keep introducing tiny soluble baits to a spot in his swim for many hours or days before actually wetting a line. Most anglers simply arrive at a water, "grill fellow anglers for recent catches and fish location information, set-up, bait-up and cast out!)

Now I happen to consider that the number one skill in fishing is pretty much fish location. Without the experience and personal development of this learnt skill, more often than not you will not be able to "read' a water successfully. This is in order to determine not just where fish are, but to anticipate where they will feed in the proceeding hours or days or nights. (And also it's very much about knowing and exploiting the reasons and factors how and why they will be located in an area or spot in a swim.) But even more importantly today, is the skill in isolating and identifying exactly which spots in a swim where fish will actually pick up a bait, as opposed to ignoring it completely. This skill alone in identifying such precise and often "mobile" feeding spots, sets-apart many "high-profile" anglers!

I'm very much in favour of bait being the second most important fishing ingredient for consistent success. (This is the prime reason I am fascinated by how and why fishing baits do their intended job and how to make them "stay-ahead of the game!") It is the bait that catches the fish, by getting the hook inside the mouth for just long enough and in such a way, that the point penetrates the fish enabling it to landed. (As opposed to a "hook-pull" at the landing net etc!)

Therefore it also makes sense for the third most vital factor to be a trustworthy and extremely sharp hook. On many waters, if you use choose the wrong patterns or apply them to a rig inconsistent with the manner that fish are feeding it will cost you fish without you ever realising it! This can also be in relation to the size of bait used, (among many other factors,) and you will more than likely either not get "bites," or lose fish through poor penetration and "hook-pulls." (Even testing a hook by pushing it into your skin can blunt the tip to some degree if it was truly sharp in the first place!)

The safest way to test a hooks sharpness is to run the point sideways along your thumbnail to see how narrow the line is that is scored in the nail by the side of the point. Trialling different hooks and the results will shock you, even using the many "leading brands and hook designs today! Despite everything claimed about hook design, physical integrity of the point etc; I always use a diamond hook sharpener as it has caught me literally dozens of big fish I"m convinced would not have given me any indication of a bite without its use as the fish rid the hook or ripped the hook out at the highest pressure moment of the fish..

When your hook penetrates your skin with no pressure at all; you're on a winner providing the tip and metal immediately adjacent the point is not too thin for too far! (Yes, I have lost some very big fish due to tips of hooks bending out, but then would they have been hooked without the resulting ease of penetration?) In my experience, the most valuable item of tackle that catches the most fish above all else, is the first 6 millimetres or so your hook. After that, everything else is secondary!

You can now go ahead and list all the rest of the tackle items you consider among the most important... For instance; the correct hook link material for each fishing situation had better be spot-on (its physical and chemical properties and action in water for example. When wet, your line preferably had better be beyond the "quoted manufacturers strength. Wet knot strength is often literally, "the weakest link!'

On very highly pressured waters, where fish have seen "everything" it is often imperative that both your hook-link and main line is as "invisible" unobtrusive and as "natural acting" as physically possible. Your main line had better be strong enough to stand the pressure and abrasions (even at the reel roller and rod rings) when the biggest fish in the lake rips off with your baited hook and ploughs towards the nastiest snags in the water! Usually such fish will test your rod and line past their limits and quoted breaking strain as the biggest fish normally have had years of practice being hooked and diving for safe snags!

The quality and condition of your rod rings, reel line roller and clutch mechanism can easily lose you "the fish of a life-time," so regular maintenance and attention to detail is essential. It is a massive advantage if you get advance experience of using your tackle at full pressure fishing for other big species. During key moments in a fish when your adrenaline is pumping and it is fifty-fifty who is going to win, knowing exactly what to do in advance and how to maximise the leverage and limits of your gear really matters. (They often help you keep a "cool head" and control any sense of panic or shock if the fish is evidently more cunning or powerful than you've ever experienced previously!)

Fishing "Lac Du Salagou" and "Lac Du Curton" ('Rainbow Lake') in France is best done after having previously tested your gear to the limit and then seriously up-graded both your tackle and "mental approach!"

Other aspects of lines that all can combine and stack the odds of success in your favour are: Exceptionally "low memory," minimal "line twist" and smooth casting properties to hit that "dinner plate" spot accurately at 120 meters away. This distance is often about 40 to 50 metres further away than most anglers estimate 120 metres to be and is a hell of a cast. (In fact such a cast is beyond the capabilities of many an "average" angler, despite "modern distance rods and big line capacity big-pit reels!") It helps to do 3 decade of long-range beach casting to seriously train-in and hone your range, casting action, motor skills, appropriate musculature, technique and most importantly; your accuracy. (Often applying free bait accurately is a huge factor contributing to success as fish move further and further "out of range of our lines and leads!)

Other bits of tackle you might prefer not to leave at home, include a very sensitive bite detector. Often you can have fish "playing with baits' on and off for hours, without them getting hooked. This is without a fisherman having had any sound other than one or two "bleeps" from the indicator, (especially at range!). When fish are used to shedding hooks every day and night, they get very skilled at it in response to exposure to all the most popular contemporary rigs.

These are supposedly designed to be "self-hooking" self-turning' contraptions to always give you the "edge" and get around the crafty fishes defensive behaviours. If you have ever seen fish get off these rigs with ease in the margins (it might take a fraction of a second, or half an hour without moving-off though.) It could be argued that a truly effective hooking rig providing a truly genuine hooking "edge" is one that fish in any particular lake have never experienced the like of before!

Your fish hooking success includes the design of your chosen hooks and the materials and quality and gauge of metal it is made from. Added to this are decisions you make regarding the rest of the rig and the use of hook-link material and of particular strategic pivot points for rig movement and son. A good example is a version of a "cranked hook" with multi-stranded hook link material where the hook is positioned above and independent of one bait but sandwiched between the top bait and the smaller less buoyant one beneath the hook.

As recent innovation from "Solar Tackle" is the introduction of a "ring-swivel" incorporating tiny ball-bearings which make it turn on your line more efficiently than ever before. The great advantage of this is it allows your rig to turn instantly in the mouth exactly in the way your rig design requires for maximum hooking potential. I can personally vouch for the fact that an efficiently-turning rig catches more fish!

Many of the most successful big fish anglers use a handful of very simple rigs for all their fishing, casting, weed, gravel, silt, or bottom detritus ('chod') situations. However, these guys have many hidden attributes that "mask appearances." I've used the same range of rig dimensions and "mechanics" for years. But this has been in various refined ways and in accordance with the individual fishery and swim requirements and using various more advantageous materials.

A simple rig or bait in the hands of one of the most skilled or experienced anglers on a water, equals fish caught! If an experienced angler has all the advantages of high levels of skill in "reading" a water and fish location, he may well seem to constantly "drop straight on fish" and catch them pretty soon after. A great "hidden advantage" of many top anglers is they're often very skilled in the application of bait in order to manipulate and stimulate fish feeding behaviour to the extent of controlling fish location when they do feed.

This skill may be exercised over a season or numbers of seasons until the "target fish" are finally caught. It is often an over-looked fact that the biggest fish have the greatest energy requirements and nutritional needs and it makes sense they very often get caught in swims where the largest amounts of regular free baits are introduced. "Beginners luck" can rule in such swims!

But it is obvious to me at least, that after 3 decades of hunting for big fish of many species, that "confidence" is the real number one factor in fishing success. Without it you would not bother going at all. It is the thing that keeps you going back and which leads to most of your learning, feed-back, catches and in fact, personal satisfaction and enjoyment of the sport. When you are confident in anything in life, you tend to think and therefore behave in that way with all its benefits!

Confidence makes you "anticipate success." This leads to you constantly be looking for "cues" and clues of all kinds that bring you nearer to your goals. It is the thing that allows you to stay awake through the quietest most anti-social night hours listening for moving, rolling and feeding fish, (to give away their location.) Confidence makes you try ideas and things that your "mates" will probably call you an "idiot" for trying. Well "an "idiot' is someone who does not learn from their mistakes, whereas the most successful people have by definition made far more mistakes; but they learn from this "feedback" and develop even more confidence! (And their catches put their "mates" to shame!)

Confidence also makes you "pressure-test" every aspect of your tackle; because you truly believe there is no doubt you are going to hook the fish of your dreams. When the rare fishing opportunities you have been waiting for, meet all your carefully refined preparations and personal skills, then you have the highest possibility of achieving your fishing goals! This might be described as "cultivating your own luck."

Be lucky!

By Tim Richardson.