Beginner tips

[Stock]

I'm relatively new to carp fishing. I've been doing mainly pap gooi with mielies and floaties and a few times with a pva bag and boilies on a hair rig. Biggest so far has been a 9kg carp.
After I've cast my mielie bom, should I continue to feed the area by flinging feed into the area where my bom is? What should I feed with?
Should I feed into the Vaal river which will wash the feed away or only into dams?
Are you tying your own traces or using the shop bought baby shoes ?
What's better spring or mushroom sinker?
Thanks for the help.

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

If the river is flowing then more feed will probably wash away. But if you can find a hole or area where water is not flowing then it wil be better for carp and you making feeding spot as normal. I know someone that make this real sticky mieliebom for the river and mix dip with bom, it seems to work but more for muddies and yellows. Bom does not come off.

Yes I tie my own rigs, just lost to many fish on bad quality bought traces. Baby shoes are ok but rather use sliding rietvlei. Most shop bought have the spring and also they mostly have big size hooks. So I make my own the way I like them.
I prefer the mushroom sinker. You can cast much further with it, but then you have to know how to mix your bom properly and to put it on the sinker properly, otherwise its going to fall off when you cast.

 

[Big Truck]

Morning Stock,

Welcome to Carp Via Papgooi

You will continue to feed the Area everytime you reel in and reload - some guys will put a few boms on the Kol at the Start of the Trip, I just tend to reload at a shorter tempo maybe 20-30 mins when i first get to the Water.

Feed with Bom, or maybe Bom and Mielies.

Feed the River, but not too crazy , remeber that your Dips will Flow down river to hope fully interest some carp down stream from your Hooks.

I tie my own traces , as I am more confident with them and make it to the Exact measurements that the GURU fishing guys on here suggest - 10-12 cm hooklink - either 0.23 or 0.25 mm line 8/10 lb breaking strain. I use awashima 0.25 line for hook links.

For the Skag or Shaft Line of the Trace I use 24 Lb xx line and this part is between 25 and 30 cm long.

I use the Sliding Rietvlei Trace as thats whats most of the "GURU's" use although with either a Torpedo ( rugby Ball type sinker or a heavy Spring if i want more weight on the Trace.
The Guru's Use the Mushroom but I battle to keep the Bom on these , but i am getting better at it.
I found the Baby Shoes Trace is best suited to the Plastic Dart bomb holders ( these get the Rig off the Bottom quickly if you reel in with no fish so less chance of Snagging.

If there are Snags , where you are fishing the River , I would suggest the Sliding Rietvlei but only with the Bottom hook.

I am fairly new to Papgooi Fishing myself , but have learnt alot from being in this Forum - and the Videos that Super Cast, The Bank Angler and Conoflex offer when you buy some of their product.

Next time you are in a Tackle shop ask for a DVD - they are free.

Tight lines




:fishn

 

[Tjooona]

Q: After I've cast my mielie bom, should I continue to feed the area by flinging feed into the area where my bom is?

A: No, you just reload feed when you cast again, the main idea and key to success is to land your casts on the same spot which will then automatically present more feed in the water.

Q: What should I feed with?

A: There are multiple products, the best options I would say would be Boulyn (Green bag), Conoflex (Orange bag) and then also Supercast (Yellowbag), most of them you need to shake the bag before preparing it, the mix is normally 2:1, some of the bags have instructions on them.

Q: Should I feed into the Vaal river which will wash the feed away or only into dams?

A: Yes, definitely feed your spot, what you could also do is to add some "chic chic" to your feed which makes it a bit heavier and helps the mieliebom to reach the bottom quicker.

Q: Are you tying your own traces or using the shop bought baby shoes ?

A: Yes, google the sliding rietvlei trace, most commonly used and also the Vaaldam trace, the baby shoes tends to tangle up at the bottom as the hook links are very close to each other.

Q: What's better spring or mushroom sinker?

A: I would say mushroom, purely because it looks a lot less artificial than the spring, if you struggle with casting the mieliebom then use the spring to help you get feed into the area.

 

[Stock]

Thanks for the help so far.
I've been using mielies and floaties on the hooks, can I also use a hair rig with boilies with the bom ?

 

[Tjooona]

Stock wrote:

Thanks for the help so far.
I've been using mielies and floaties on the hooks, can I also use a hair rig with boilies with the bom ?

yes, the only difference would be the fishing tempo, but if your fishing with hair rigs I assume you are targeting bigger fish anyway.

There are 2 issues which I can think of:

1. Amount of feed will be long gone before your bait is picked up so I would throw 6 - 8 casts only with mieliebom to ensure you have enough feed on the spot, then cast your trace and bait.

2. Use mielie pips on your hair rig, the normal mieliebom feed contains a lot of that so your bait would not seem to abnormal to the fish. Using boilies for example would not seem normal to the fish as there is none of that in the feed except your hair rig with the boilie.. not sure if that makes sense?

If I was you I would leave the mieliebom feed and rather move 100% over to specimen style, feeding boilies and hemp etc then placing your bait right between all of that, at least then the bait and feed matches which should entice a faster pickup.

 

[Stock]

Ok cool will do.
Do you ever use a salt or molasses block?
I've been tying my hooks on with 0.47mm mono is this too thick? The tutorials specify 0.25mm.

 

[Tjooona]

Back in the very old days we used that, we used molasses and also a salt block which farmers normally use on cattle, we would chuck that into the water, make a marker with a 2 liter bottle and just cast in that direction.

You hook lengths all depend on what you intend to catch, in general thinner hook lines work better as they are less obvious to the fish and also tangle en twirl less. This does however mean when you have a fish on you have to really be careful.

Most of the competitive guys use 7lbs line for hook links, and I think the biggest reason is that it works well with the smaller hooks they use. Daiichi 0.8 or 1 hooks are used which is very small and a thicker hook line will nor work when tying the snell knot etc.

Specimen guys on the other hand use a lot thicket hook lines but they do their best to conceal the line by adding heavy tubing etc to get the line to disappear in the silt or at least lay on the bottom.

Sometimes I really wonder if all ths matters, I have fished with many guys doing exactly the opposite of what is deemed to be correct and catching a lot of fish.

For example, we fished in the orange river, I got up at 5am and fished hard, bait presented correct, dips, etc etc... my friend woke up at about 10am, he took his rod which he left there last night... decided not to rebait and used the mieliepips he had on the hooks from yesterday... 10min later he landed a 10.5kg carp... so then you have to ask yoursefl, does it all really matter or is it all down to luck.

 

[toli]

I think in the orange anything is possible, as there is very little fishing pressure, so one can get away with sloppier rigs and presentations compared to water that is fished on a daily basis.

The Carp your friend caught, must have been luck, and it makes one mad if your are doing all the work and your buddy,that just couldn't care less ends up catching the best fish for the trip. I also sit with that problem as my fishing buddy is also the lucky lazy fisherman....

Stock, if you are using 0.47 for hooklink, then what are you using for mainline ?

It advisable that your hooklink is the least breaking strenght so when you have a break off, this fish only end up with your hooklink and not 50m of mainline to get snagged up in.

my mainline is 15-20lbs(depending on venue) and I use 10lbs - 12lbs hooklink, this is sufficient, and I caught multiple carp over 10kg on this, so its not necessary for overkill in freshwater.

If using boilies on a hair, only use one hook and chop some of the boilies into your mieliebom.

 

[toli]

And like Tjooona said,

Pick and stick to one style, Mixing speci and papgooi doents work.

If you decide op papgooi for the trip, just do papgooi.

same with speci, vary scares that one sees good results on mixing the 2 styles.

 

[Stock]

Is there a preferred trace for specimen?
Do I mix hemp and boilies and throw out pva bags to feed or is there a better way?
I noticed some boilies sink and others float, which is better?

Tjooona wrote:

Stock wrote:

Thanks for the help so far.
I've been using mielies and floaties on the hooks, can I also use a hair rig with boilies with the bom ?

yes, the only difference would be the fishing tempo, but if your fishing with hair rigs I assume you are targeting bigger fish anyway.

There are 2 issues which I can think of:

1. Amount of feed will be long gone before your bait is picked up so I would throw 6 - 8 casts only with mieliebom to ensure you have enough feed on the spot, then cast your trace and bait.

2. Use mielie pips on your hair rig, the normal mieliebom feed contains a lot of that so your bait would not seem to abnormal to the fish. Using boilies for example would not seem normal to the fish as there is none of that in the feed except your hair rig with the boilie.. not sure if that makes sense?

If I was you I would leave the mieliebom feed and rather move 100% over to specimen style, feeding boilies and hemp etc then placing your bait right between all of that, at least then the bait and feed matches which should entice a faster pickup.

 

[Jean Claude Vaaldamme]

I would suggest you decide what you want to do, papgooi or specimen.
Go google both and read what its about. Specificly specimen, its not just about putting a hait rig on with a tigernut and a pva bag, bit more work and money involved if you want to be successfull.

Decide what you want to do and then go read everything you can about that, and pràctice it.

Anyone can say that they papgooi. But there is lot of skills involved, and most guys dont even have a clue. Your mieliebom must be the right consistency, there is a skill to putting the bom on your sinker the right way, then using the right traces, hooks, hooklines etc. Bait presentation, using right dips and hook baits. Proper casting on the right spot. Etc etc.

Chose what you want to do and then do that properly.

 

[Barbelman]

Stock wrote:

Thanks for the help so far.
I've been using mielies and floaties on the hooks, can I also use a hair rig with boilies with the bom ?

I fish like this as then I can use the same combo for conventional angling. I just change the hook link. But I use PVA mesh bags, filled with boilies and tigernuts in addition to the mieliebom. I then just hook my hook through that PVA mesh bag and cast out.
I still use the mieliebom together with the PVA, just to get the extra flavors that I usually put on the ball in the water as well.

 

[Stock]

I've decided to stick with specimen. I'm going to Daan se Plek at Bloemhof this weekend. Can someone suggest which boilies and ground feed I should use?

 

[Barbelman]

I do both, nothing wrong with it. If all your rods are specimen, then the action can be very slow to non-existent. Its very easy to blank with day trips if you only fish specimen style. I like to fish at least on rod conventional, just to keep myself awake

I would also like to hear all the secrets regarding the best baits, so I am subscribed.

From my own experience what works for me is Strawberry and Banjo boilies. But I have caught the most with tigernuts in the flavour plain and FX.
I also caught some with pop-ups. Pop-up that works the best for me, not that I've tested much other flavored ones , is Gumtree.
Lately I get lots of action with Gumtree baits, whether its specimen or conventional.