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Dips and specimen carping
- Thread starter Wikkelspies
- Start date
Wikkelspies
New member
Thanks...Very very neat, what are the 4 bait sprays Jacques?
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Guest
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Grape, Pink Sweets, Tjop Tjop, Devilsfork, Almond Supreme
Wikkelspies
New member
Great stuff, thanks a million, I've got a better indication now of what to take along and what not.
Enjoy your day
Cheers Jacques
Enjoy your day
Cheers Jacques
pappi choulo
Senior Member
i remember once long ago reading in an old (afrikaans nogal) book on conventional freshwater fishing that blue soap is an excellent bait for barbel...
...maybe spod can shed some light on this for us?!
...maybe spod can shed some light on this for us?!
pappi choulo
Senior Member
[color=#006600]Spod[/color] wrote:
ah come now! be nice, i'm just kidding!
i think it's "die groot varswater hengelboek" or somehing along those lines...can't remember the author's name though.
ah come now! be nice, i'm just kidding!
i think it's "die groot varswater hengelboek" or somehing along those lines...can't remember the author's name though.
pappi choulo
Senior Member
hi klipperus, i think the best way for you to start is by talking to other anglers, just like you're doing here on sealine! pick a dam (or a couple of dams if you prefer) in your area that you would like to fish and find out as much as you possibly can about the dam. basic things like what size fish you can expect, what other species might be in the dam (assuming you're fishing for carp here), what methods have worked for other anglers, if they will share that kind of info, etc. is invaluable.
then, get down to the dam with a marker float set up and a map of the dam and start mapping the bottom topography. if it's a really big dam you can start by concentrating only on an area that takes your fancy. plumb the depth of the water, figure out what the bottom is made up, how much weed growth is in the dam, any underwater obstructions or features such as holes or bumps or slopes or whatever you find, mark it all on your map for future reference.
now you will have a pretty good picture of the swim you are fishing in, you will know what to expect on the bottom and you can tackle up and choose tactics accordingly. now, let's say you can't find any anglers willing to share a few tips about the dam with you, or maybe you're really lucky and the dam has never been fished before (ha ha).
what i would do in such a case is fall back on my confidence bait, which for me is maize. so i would start by putting out a fair bit of groundfeed in the form of chick-chick, chickpeas, maize and hemp and fish over the top of that with some maize for a hookbait. i like maize, 'cos i am still to find a dam or river where carp will not eat it. so, keeping in mind the bottom topography of your swim (which you have already mapped out carefully on a previous occasion), you can choose the right tactic ie. heavier line or maybe braid if there's lots of snags or weed, bottom baits if you're fishing on a nice clean hard bottom or maybe a pop-up if there's a lot of weed and so on.
once you've actually caught a fish or two you should have a pretty good feel for what you can expect in the dam and you should have a little more confidence. then i'd start experimenting with different baits, such as tigernuts or boilies maybe.
remember, if a dam has never been fished with tigers or boilies, fish might well not recognise them as a food source right from the start, so you may want to do a fair bit of feeding over a lengthy period of time, starting off by mixing some chopped up tigers or boilies (or whatever bait you are using) with maize and other baits that carp are more used to and gradually increasing the percentage of boilies or tigers you are mixing with the maize. this way the carp will be attracted to the maize and hopefully also start trying a few tigernuts or boilies in between and getting accustomed to it.
remember to also start adding whole boilies or tigers to the mix as your feeding campaign gets on, you don't want the fish to get fixed on chopped boilies when you're going to be fishing whole boilies!
eventually, when you are ready to fish, you can still bait up one or two rods with your "confidence bait" and put another rod or two out with boilies or tigers or whatever you've been trying to get the carp onto. that way you don't have to put your neck out and put complete faith in your new bait, so you'll probably feel less inclined to reel in and change baits when a couple of hours pass without any action. (and leaving your baits out even after a few hours of quiet is a good thing!)
that's a pretty short summary, but i think it should get you started nicely.
tight lines,
PC
then, get down to the dam with a marker float set up and a map of the dam and start mapping the bottom topography. if it's a really big dam you can start by concentrating only on an area that takes your fancy. plumb the depth of the water, figure out what the bottom is made up, how much weed growth is in the dam, any underwater obstructions or features such as holes or bumps or slopes or whatever you find, mark it all on your map for future reference.
now you will have a pretty good picture of the swim you are fishing in, you will know what to expect on the bottom and you can tackle up and choose tactics accordingly. now, let's say you can't find any anglers willing to share a few tips about the dam with you, or maybe you're really lucky and the dam has never been fished before (ha ha).
what i would do in such a case is fall back on my confidence bait, which for me is maize. so i would start by putting out a fair bit of groundfeed in the form of chick-chick, chickpeas, maize and hemp and fish over the top of that with some maize for a hookbait. i like maize, 'cos i am still to find a dam or river where carp will not eat it. so, keeping in mind the bottom topography of your swim (which you have already mapped out carefully on a previous occasion), you can choose the right tactic ie. heavier line or maybe braid if there's lots of snags or weed, bottom baits if you're fishing on a nice clean hard bottom or maybe a pop-up if there's a lot of weed and so on.
once you've actually caught a fish or two you should have a pretty good feel for what you can expect in the dam and you should have a little more confidence. then i'd start experimenting with different baits, such as tigernuts or boilies maybe.
remember, if a dam has never been fished with tigers or boilies, fish might well not recognise them as a food source right from the start, so you may want to do a fair bit of feeding over a lengthy period of time, starting off by mixing some chopped up tigers or boilies (or whatever bait you are using) with maize and other baits that carp are more used to and gradually increasing the percentage of boilies or tigers you are mixing with the maize. this way the carp will be attracted to the maize and hopefully also start trying a few tigernuts or boilies in between and getting accustomed to it.
remember to also start adding whole boilies or tigers to the mix as your feeding campaign gets on, you don't want the fish to get fixed on chopped boilies when you're going to be fishing whole boilies!
eventually, when you are ready to fish, you can still bait up one or two rods with your "confidence bait" and put another rod or two out with boilies or tigers or whatever you've been trying to get the carp onto. that way you don't have to put your neck out and put complete faith in your new bait, so you'll probably feel less inclined to reel in and change baits when a couple of hours pass without any action. (and leaving your baits out even after a few hours of quiet is a good thing!)
that's a pretty short summary, but i think it should get you started nicely.
tight lines,
PC
maize is like sardine in the fresh,its an all round international bait. just one thing klipperus,myself and other specimen anglers here in kzn have noticed that since maize has been fished soo much the barbel have really taken on to it. good tigers and quality boilies are the way forward id say....
pappi choulo
Senior Member
ah, you see klipperus, this is a good example of why you should be talking to anglers fishing in your area...i mentioned in my previous post that you would want to know what other species you can expect and this is why...you don't want to catch barbel do you? so momo330 has already put you on the right track there by warning you about barbel when using maize in KZN.
tight lines man.
tight lines man.
Yeah I can see Spod putting a piece of chicken liver on his hair, lol!!!
I always look at my own and my friends' experiences to get an idea of what works, what doesnt, where, when etc.
Barbel at certain dams seem to be alot more sensitive to maize than other dams. For example, there's a dam just north of Naboomspruit, where you dare not use any maize, boilies etc. because you'll get barbel within minutes...but put a fresh tigernut on and you're in with a carp.
But most other dams you can go far with maize, without too much hassle from Spod's favourite fish (barbel, lol!)...
With maize, you should just use it as fresh as possible in the summer months when barbel are most active. You might still get a barbel or two here and there, but the majority of time you will get some carp on it. Apart from tigernuts, I would rate maize as tops!
momo, on the weekend of the carp clinic, I fished a spot 30m from the bank, fed about 2kg maize spread over 1mx1m... no barbel, but had 2 carp on boilies...But i also only used a single boilie + about 10 freebie boilies spread in the area to minimize the chances of barbel getting "wind" of it, haha... it worked this time, phew!
I always look at my own and my friends' experiences to get an idea of what works, what doesnt, where, when etc.
Barbel at certain dams seem to be alot more sensitive to maize than other dams. For example, there's a dam just north of Naboomspruit, where you dare not use any maize, boilies etc. because you'll get barbel within minutes...but put a fresh tigernut on and you're in with a carp.
But most other dams you can go far with maize, without too much hassle from Spod's favourite fish (barbel, lol!)...
With maize, you should just use it as fresh as possible in the summer months when barbel are most active. You might still get a barbel or two here and there, but the majority of time you will get some carp on it. Apart from tigernuts, I would rate maize as tops!
momo, on the weekend of the carp clinic, I fished a spot 30m from the bank, fed about 2kg maize spread over 1mx1m... no barbel, but had 2 carp on boilies...But i also only used a single boilie + about 10 freebie boilies spread in the area to minimize the chances of barbel getting "wind" of it, haha... it worked this time, phew!
i also used maize but only in my feed mixed with a load of other stuff. did the same with just a few freebies and a double hookbait.... and uncle bob was my uncle. im not saying dont use maize,just informing a fellow angler that maize is being taken quiet frequently nowdays by barbel so he shouldne be disheartend when he sees a barbel at the end of hes line.
bloody liars!!!