Moving on, this series has been aimed at those of you out there who either had little or no carp fishing experience and hopefully it has explained the necessary background and techniques required to turn up at your chosen water and catch carp. Having dealt with the major fundamental areas I would like to concentrate on certain areas in greater detail to enable you the angler to recognise items, but more importantly know how and why they are used.
ACCESSORIES
These are items that make life a lot easier for the carp angler both on short or long fishing trips. Some of these items are not entirely necessary but they do form an integral part of the carper's gear.
Tackle Box: Just looking into a carp anglers tackle box can be mystifying with every little item housed in purpose built containers, all labelled and arranged for ease of use. One of the most popular tackle boxes currently available is the System Fox Box, which comes in different sizes; dividers are supplied so that the angler can arrange different sized areas within the box. Also available are eight, four, three, two and single compartment boxes, which fit neatly into the divided spaces. Also available is the flip top four compartment box which is ideal for beads, swivels etc. Spool dispensers, which come with there own labels and rig boards also come made to measure. I personally own one of these tackle boxes and have found it to be totally reliable and it easily holds the vast array of end tackle components I possess. However I am not going to dwell on end tackle construction because it has already been discussed in earlier issues. Other items that are normally carried within a tackle box are as follows:
Boilie Needle: Normally made from plastic or stainless steel, there are numerous different makes about but the basic design consists of a handle and a thin needle like piece of metal, which has a hook shape at the end. Its purpose is to place a boilie or similar type of bait onto the hair. Operation is simple in which the needle is pushed through the boilie, the loop of the hair is then placed onto the hook shaped end. Next push the boilie down the needle over the end and onto the hair, which is then pulled all the way through the boilie. Lastly place a boilie stop through the loop of the hair and pull back until the boilie stop is tight against the bait.
Stringer Needle: Once again consists of plastic handle however this time the needle is not retractable. The stringer needle is used in conjunction with a length of PVA string or tape, which is cut and tied according to the amount of bait being used. To use the needle push on as many boilies as you wish to use, next place the end of the PVA string or tape over the hook shaped end and push the boilies down the needle onto the PVA. It is essential to leave a small gap between each bait too allow the PVA to melt fully.
Boilie Punch: A very useful tool in any carp anglers arsenal as this allows any boilie to be turned into a pop up. The punch consists of a small plastic handle which is topped with a hollow piece of metal for cutting into the boilie, also a small plunger for pushing out the pieces of bait removed and for pushing the foam insert into the bait. Take your hookbait and place the end of the boilie punch against it turn the punch and at the same time exert pressure, as you push into the boilie the plunger will be forced backwards. Do not try to push all the way through the boilie in one go as this will result in the boilie splitting, little by little is the best way with the punch being removed and the plunger pushed home to remove the pieces that have been cut out. Once the punch has gone all the way through the boilie, remove the plunger and insert the correct size piece of foam required into the back of the punch. I have found that wetting the foam first will make it easier to insert and push along. Once the foam is inserted place the punch into the whole previously made until the end of the metal edge rests against your finger. Take the plunger and push downward at the same time withdrawing the punch slowly, the foam should be felt against the finger as the punch is removed. Once the foam is inserted into the boilie small alterations to the size can be made if necessary.
Nut Drill: Most commonly used for drilling a small hole through dog mixer biscuit when floater fishing but can be used for all types of hard bait. Once again made of plastic with metal drill bit. Outer casing rotates around end cap, which is held in place by a plastic clip. To operate place end of drill bit onto dog biscuit or similar type of bait, turn outer casing in clockwise direction until drill passes through, at this point pushing the drill forwards and backwards a couple of times will ensure a nice clean hole for the hair to pass through.
Spin-Doctor Lead: Consists of a 1 or 2 oz lead with a cut out on each side to make the lead spin through the water when retrieved. The spin-doctor is used to remove line twist that can occur if fish are played off the clutch or baitrunner device is activated when towing out bait by boat. To use tie spin-doctor directly to the line, cast out as normal and reel in, one or two retrieves are normally enough to remove the majority of line twist.
Klin-ik/Medi Carp: To me one of the most important items carried in the tackle box. Klin-ik consists of an anti-bacterial - fungal - viral parasiticide liquid solution. Medi Carp is a gel formula carp antiseptic, which provides bacterial and viral protection. Both types are applied to hook wounds, scale loss or other wounds discovered at capture. This is done by administering the solution to the wound and gentle rubbing it in. Care should be taken to ensure that the solution is not applied down the carp's throat, eyes, nose or gills, although not harmful to the fish it may cause some discomfort.
ROD SUPPORTING METHODS
The most common methods are bank sticks with rod rests, bank sticks with buzzer bars or the rod pod.
Bank Sticks: Two bank sticks will be required for each rod. They all come with a standard female thread into which a front electric bite alarm is screwed and for the rear a normal rod rest. A good make of rear rod rest is the John Roberts Mini Grip, which I personally use, they grip the rod very tight even when on steep sided banks. The bank sticks are normally positioned so that the bite indicator is either between the reel and the butt ring or the first and second ring. Bank sticks can vary from 12" to 30"and most are now adjustable. Normally bank sticks will be constructed from either aluminium or stainless steel, if you can afford it always go for the latter as they will last a lifetime.
Buzzer Bars: Considering most carp anglers use a minimum of two rods, normally three and in some cases four the buzzer bar system became the normal progression from the standard bank stick set up. This was mainly down to the need of having to carry six bank sticks with the old system, which was reduced to two using buzz bars. Buzzer bars consist of a T shaped bar which has a male thread and is screwed into the female end of the bank stick, a two rod system is normally fixed with three and four rod systems being adjustable. The correct amount of alarms and rear rod rests are then simple screwed into the female housings on the bar.
Rod Pods: The main benefit of the rod pod is that the bank stick does not require driving into the ground to provide support. The rod pod is self-supporting and is simple placed onto the ground with the legs splayed at an angle to give a very stable platform. The earlier types had a ½ inch hole at either end to house the bank stick and buzzer bars. Modern pods today normally come with an integral stick at either end and in some cases with there own buzzer bars. Rod pods are used when the area to be fished would be unsuitable for normal bank sticks such as wooden fishing platforms, concrete paths, gravel swims, hard sun baked earth etc. Other advantages gained when using a pod is that there is no noise from banging in bank sticks on arrival at the swim and all rods will be perfectly aligned with each other.
CREATURE COMFORTS
During short or long term fishing sessions the basic element of keeping dry and warm is a must in order that full concentration can be applied to fishing and not survival. Being cold and wet will result in the angler getting bored and confidence is eroded very quickly.
Umbrellas: The bare essential for keeping dry even during a short session of only a few hours is a good quality umbrella of the wave-lock design. A popular size is the 50", as this will also cater for a bedchair during the odd one night trip. The wave-lock is 100% waterproof with a very robust frame, an added bonus is that the centre pole can be removed and placed into an additional housing between the two rear ribs, which will give the angler additional room to move.
Bivvies: These are designed for the angler who regularly night fishes and provide a home from home, keeping not only the angler warm and dry but has enough space for all your gear as well. The first type of bivvie was the overwrap which consisted of a piece of waterproof material designed to be placed over an umbrella and pegged to the ground. Nowadays things are a lot more upmarket with items such as the Nash Titan and Fox Easy Dome, which are designed for rapid erection and fold down and this allows anglers to become very mobile in their approach.
Sleeping Bags: Any type of sleeping bag can be used if required, however due to the requirement of rapid extraction from the bag once a run occurs it is best to use a full length quick-release zip design. I have and so have many of my mates been observed jumping around twisting and turning trying to escape from a half-zipped camping bag like something possessed, even worse is dragging the bag into the water during the rush to hit the rod.
CARRIAGE
If a long session is planned it is amazing how much equipment the carp angler carries, luckily purpose made equipment is now available which normally consists of a good sized bergan, this carries the majority of the equipment. Rod holdall which carries both made up and broken down rods, umbrella/bivvy, landing net and bank sticks. Additional items such as a carryall, which is an additional bag for food drink etc, some carryalls are designed to actually fit on top of the bergan. As you can imagine over long distances transporting this amount of equipment can be very tiring. A common solution is the use of a wheelbarrow to transport the gear from car to swim, however nowadays purpose built carp barrows are available that fold flat and can even be turned into a table.