Carp Banter

Welcome to the underwater world…

The Magazine Landing Pages

The Social

YOUTUBE We’re live in 5, 4, 3… Adam

DIGITAL

Mobile-friendly There is honestly nothing worse than trying

All live on CARPology’s YT channel this month

YOUTUBE

TEAM OLOGY

EDITOR Joseph Wright E joe@ toffeepublications.co.uk GUTTED! Another

Carp Charts: our observations in pie charts + tables…

SOCIAL #1 Carp Anglers On Instagram #2 How

The Great Ronaldo!

The Ronnie Rig

Simplicity Is Often Best

If you’re after a refined and balanced rig to present your fake corn on, then look no further than this offering from Mark Pitchers

The Bag Rig That Pulls Back

Bungee Rigs!

‘What’s Occurring?!’

Another month, another round-up of success stories. Caught on Mainline? Then visit their website, submit your catch report and join the elite—just like these anglers!

I’M STILL STANDING

It’s a welcome return to CARPology for long-time big-carp angler, Mark Holmes, as he pens his first piece for the magazine for quite a few years. Well known for  his forthright opinions, our northern pal looks at how carp fishing often takes us to the extreme ends of our emotional spectrum…

Carping Allegedly

In his own inimitable style, Bill Cottam recalls an occasion when things didn’t quite go to plan ahead of the start of a campaign…

No Bullsh*t, Just Good Solid Angling. The Leather: Carthagena Fisheries

Ian Poole tackles a new water, some distance from home, and tweaks an old-school approach as he attempts to trip up some wily old carp…

KEY PART 1: THE LEARNING CURVE

The exciting bit for Pooley—and he’s not overly bothered about knowing which are the most successful baits and rigs…

KEY PART 2: LOCATION AND FINDING THE THE RIGHT DEPTH

During the spring months, for Ian, depth plays a massively important role in the areas he targets…

KEY PART 3: HOOKBAIT CHOICE: UBER CRITICAL

Hi-attract hookbaits during the spring months don’t have to be bright in colour! Ian likes to go the other way…

KEY PART 4: BAITING WITH A FORGOTTEN METHOD

A cunning old school method turned out to be a winning one for Pooley!

The Rotary Letter

This month’s guest Rotarians are Dave Ellyatt (the original Rotarian from back in 2006!) and Ian Chillcott (a contributor since issue 1!)

To My Younger Self

Carp fishing was an enjoyable learning curve for a young Scott Lloyd to negotiate, but there are a few things the older, wiser version would love to have the chance to pass on

Part Three: The Eighties… C Lake Issues And The Homersfield Learning Curve

Brian Skoyles returns with some tales of the unexpected, shall we say, from his halcyon days on Norfolk’s big-fish waters…

Adam Penning's Carp Diary

It’s been another monster carp-packed month for Penners…

One Big Breath Marcel Panne

We chat to freediver Marcel Panne, as he explains what drives his perhaps unrivalled passion for sub-surface photography and videography

Transitions

Questions and conundrums: Jon Schoey takes stock, re-evaluates and turns things around on Horton Church Lake

Bankside Hospitality

Tackling a long session doesn’t have to mean roughing it, as long as you’re prepared. Throw these Bank Life goods from Nash in your trunk and you’ll be session-angling in the most extreme of comfort

Cream Of The Crop

The latest Basia from Daiwa might just be the best ever… Thom Airs has been lucky enough to trial them for sometime now and here’s what he makes of them

T-Shirt Heaven

Kumu never fails to deliver tasty tees—and all of these are as invigorating as a freshly made Americano

Fine Line

It’s super fine for its breaking strain; flies off the spool like shit off a supersonic shovel, and you can buy gigantic spools of it for almost button money. Say hello to Sonik’s new Subsonik line…

Head For Cover

A new bedchair cover from JRC that offers more than you might think…

Keep Cool, Look Cool

Easy-to-wear, breathable and lightweight—Avid Carp’s new clothing collection is a smart choice for the summer sun

Room With A View

A slice of carping history could be yours

Shape Up In Shimano

New Trench Wear items look the business. In a former life, Shimano was a rod and reel company. In 2021, they’re also weaving some of the finest angling attire on the market, from 90s inspired bucket hats to a fresh line up of tees

Stay Clean, Stay Safe

A simple (and thankfully cheap) way to stay safe and heathy on the bank

360 Vision

All angles are covered by this brand-new rod pod from New Direction

Tactical Carp Care

This is what happens when you mix all of Wychwood’s years’ of experience in carp fishing with the very best fabrics and manufacturing processes. It’s one of the most eye-pleasing to us and safest and most fish-friendly carp care ranges we’ve seen

Proper Tidy

Yet more ready-rig perfection from Gemini Carp

Dry Storage

Whether you’re angling on Linear’s B1 in a raging storm or you need to leave a ‘bits’ bag in your boat on the mighty Rainbow, Carp Spirit’s new waterproof luggage checks all the boxes

Freedom Of Movement

Fortis’s garments don’t just tick the ‘looking good’ box— they’re extremely functional too, especially for the mobile anglers out there

Fake News

ESP have got plastic boilies spot-on (think: muted colours, uber-buoyant, Hair-stop recess)

Long-Term Review: Aqua Pioneer Bivvy

Harry Waye-Barker explains why he’s stuck with the same make of bivvy for well over a decade…

Long-Term Review: Cotswold Aquarius Les Graviers Cradle Mat

If you’re heading for the Continent in search of monster carp, Cotswold Aquarius have just the thing, and it comes with a ringing endorsement from none other than Bill Cottam…

A Guide To Summer Carp Fishing

WELCOME TO MY ‘Guide To Summer Carp Fishing’,

More Specifically: Weed

FIRST STOP: LOCATION

Into The Jungle

You tend to see that a lot with snag-fishing. It’s quite common on a lot of lakes in the summer months to find fish held up in snags. I really hate snag-fishing; I just find it too stressful for me, and for the fish. To safely snag-fish, you can’t be in a sleeping bag, so if I do do it, it’s just for day sessions. Or if I’m doing overnights, I’ll bring my rods away from the snag and put them somewhere else. There is no way you can get out of a sleeping bag, out of a bivvy, to the rods, and stop it from getting into snags. Most monos have a 20 per cent stretch factor, so once you realise that, and factor that into the distance a fish can go when that line is fully stretched out, it’s considerable, so I really would implore you if you can’t fish snags safely, please don’t!

The Key Bite Times

With location, in the summer months, there is no more important time to be on the bank than early in the morning. On a day like today, when it’s cloudy and drizzly and windy, then on some lakes you could expect to find them throughout the course of the day, head-and-shouldering or so on—depending on the stock level and how hard the lake is. But if it’s a bright, hot sunny day, and it’s a hard lake that’s weedy with clear water, there are times when the only time you will see them, is in that early morning window, which is typically from first light up until eight or nine in the morning; it depends on how quickly, and how bright, the sun gets. So the higher the sun gets, and the brighter it gets, the quicker, the faster it will nullify that early morning feeding activity. And this is key as well, because although we’re always looking for carp, finding where they are early in the morning is where they will be feeding. That’s where they’ve been through the night… that’s where they’ve been doing their feeding.  So sometimes, you could turn up at lunchtime or the afternoon and find carp maybe basking in weedbeds, or in lily pads or snags, but they aren’t necessarily the places where you’ll catch them early in the morning

Location Round-Up

So just to cap off location: get to the lake as early in the morning as you can, make sure you’ve got Polaroids… certainly Polaroids early in the morning may not be required to that level, because it’s easy, and the fish are on the bottom, and you’re looking for fizzing, rolling, head-and-shoulders, sliders, that sort of thing… but during the day when it’s bright, looking under overhangs, watching fish travelling under the surface, anything like that, Polaroids are essential

Time To Talk Bait

Moving on, let’s look at bait for the summer. Now, obviously sight-dependent… you need to bear in mind whether you’re fishing busy little, or I should say well-stocked club and syndicate lakes, through to the other end of the spectrum where you could be fishing low-stock, hard lakes for big fish. So obviously bait will change hugely according to those. But the one thing that we can be confident of, out of all the other quadrants of the calendar: this is the quarter where carp will come and eat bait, and on occasion, lots of it too

SUMMER ESSENTIALS #4

Mozzie Mesh Back when I was a lot

Avoid The Bright Ones

I do tend to avoid bright hookbaits in the majority of my fishing, all the time. But in the summer, I certainly don’t want to be on them, for two key reasons: one, everyone will have been using them for months since the spring, and any fish that are stupid enough to have been eating them will have been caught on them once or twice, and will be a bit leery of them. But secondly, you have got spawnedout, supercharged fish… you know, males that are charging around, very much sight-feeders. And if you’ve got a bright bait there, they’ll be grabbing it before the more slowly moving, meandering females that’ll be feeding more using their olfactory senses… senses of taste and smell, rather than sight. So I certainly don’t want to be on a bright bait, and again, it’s a good bit of advice if you are fishing a lake that’s got a lot of small fish in it. Ditch those straight away and you will find that your stamp of fish will go up

Trout Pellets

Again, if you’re fishing a lake that is well stocked and you want to get plenty of bites, carp love pellets. Oily trout pellets and so on, are very, very effective, and quite a forgotten method is scolded trout pellets. Get your pellets in a bucket, pour boiling water over them, and you’ll be able to make balls of it that can go round your lead, or catapult them out… oily attraction to the max, and it’s something again, that people don’t use very often. You can Spomb it out, you can put it in by hand… hot, scolded pellet is absolutely deadly

TIDY BOOM

The 360 100% Fluorocarbon Size 11 Ring

TIDY RIG

The Ronnie 100% Fluorocarbon Aquiline Hook -

TIDY STEMS

Stems Only Size 8 Ring Swivel 5mm

100% Fluorocarbon Leader

Quick Change Swivel 44lb - 0.60mm dia. 142

TIDY BOOM

The Low Level 100% Fluorocarbon Size