CONFIDENCE
Catches Carp R I C K
G O L D E R
In a very thought-provoking feature, Rick reveals how his once-prolific tactics failed and how he had to take an in-depth look at all aspects of his angling to restore confidence in his own ability.
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MAIN PIC Beautiful sunset, and on the fish too! ABOVE Baiting up one swim really did produce at the time.
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consider myself an experienced carp angler, in fact I’ve fished solely for carp for the past 25 years. However, when I reflect on my fishing time, it’s the last two years that have seen the biggest tactical changes. I really don’t know what prompted these sudden changes – perhaps it was boredom that had somehow crept into my approaches and tactics, and with that boredom came a total lack of drive and energy. Basically, I was turning up and going through the motions in many aspects, but in all fairness, on the waters I was on at the time, the same old tactics worked. It’s especially hard to change when you’ve found a winning formula, but when those methods begin to decline, it is even harder to find another tactic after being in a rut for such a long time. It was the season before last
that things began to change. That summer, my favourite syndicate lake fished very differently. Up until that year my tactic of picking a proven big-fish swim, finding a couple of blatant gravel spots and baiting them up for a few days in advance of a three-night session would have always reaped rewards. This tactic was seldom copied by others, and the simple approach of filling it in and waiting for some guaranteed bobbin bonanza was almost a certain winner. Sure, you had to be fairly sneaky as far as covering your tracks with the other members was concerned but, as in anything, when you have the monopoly on a method it’s generally going to succeed. It did too, and I had several big multiple hits that were solely down to finding one productive method rather than excellent angling and watercraft.
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Confidence Catches Carp Rick Golder
In fact watercraft went out of the window, or most likely got buried under kilos of B5, as the ‘watch the water and find the fish’ method was made redundant. I didn’t even have to be up with the dawn, but could lie in the bag and wait for the screaming alarm as my wake-up call. As far as rigs went, I used the same strong tackle and rigs that I knew worked every time. The Mugga really nailed them, and there was no need for any form of finesse or rig innovation to extract the fish from their weedy home. I flogged the same old rigs on the same old spots as I had done the year previously. It got to the point that the more bait I put in, the more I caught, and I will always recall the day that I slid the net under my present personal
best of 48lb, a mere hour after I had baited the spot with 12 kilos of boilies. This tactic did have its disadvantages, though, and one was the number of repeat captures. This big baiting, coupled with fishing the same old spots, seemed to bring the same old fish time and time again. It appeared that a number of fish piled in on these big beds of bait and returned for more, yet there were a number of fish on my wish list that obviously never fed in this way. I did slightly wise-up to this by fishing one bait a few feet off the baited area, which did work, but I watched with some envy when the other members would bank a fish that I had never had, from up the other end on totally different methods. Mind you I wasn’t complaining,
“ I watched with some envy when the other members would bank a fish that I had never had”
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ABOVE The big baiter! It’s Essential Baits B5 for me.
The Mugga was really nailing them.
BELOW
which leads me on to my next point; I was subject to some complaining from the other members. As I said before, during the early days the big baiting was mine and mine alone, but it didn’t go down too well, in all honesty. I often heard the “It’s OK for you, you get free bait” argument, but I did this long before those days too, and whilst this obviously has cost implications and cannot be done by everyone, how many people would exchange that bit more money for bait in return for more and bigger fish? It did make me laugh though, because strangely I never heard them complain when they landed a fish that was way up on its usual weight, or when they went in after me and, with minimum effort, reaped the rewards from my primed spots. The real downside was that this big baiting tactic deskilled me in many ways. I became stagnant and all my drive to learn went by the wayside. Sure, I was catching well, but I wasn’t looking to the future and had no contingency for when this stopped working or, indeed, when I went to other venues. On many occasions I saw fish showing elsewhere on the lake, but sat in my favoured plot in the knowledge that the fish would surely turn up. So, going back to the summer before last, sure enough, I arrived as I always did, in April, and went over to my favoured spot ready to start the standard bait bombardment – obviously without even looking around the rest of the lake first. This was the start of the change for me; specifically, when my first six casts with a clipped-up marker failed to find anything but a soft touchdown on black, putrid chod. My banker spot simply wasn’t there and with the lake a pea-green colour and rafts of dying brown weed covering everything, I was left at a bit of a loss as to what to do. There was no point in piling it onto a spot that had not been fed on that year. In fact, so it remained, and that spot did not produce a single take that year. It never actually became a spot, because even in late-autumn it remained covered, the usual yellow shine being replaced by a dull brown, as if you were peering into the black hole itself. In true one-dimensional fashion I sat there for a couple of days as I tried to work it all out. Around this time, a couple of the other members had picked swims and sat in them over bait, again, without much success. It was clear that the dynamics of the lake had changed, and the known spots had indeed become last year’s news, leaving those stubbornly fishing them well behind. This was the push I needed and it was clear that things had to change.
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ABOVE Baiting up one swim really did produce at the time. ABOVE RIGHT
Boosting baits was a definite edge. 30lb+ and only 20 minutes after a move.
BELOW
minimum of disturbance, with no marker float thrashing required! When I read that back it’s hard to believe how stale I’d become, especially how finding the fish first had become totally obsolete, and how one tactic had dominated my approach to such an extent. With the transformation well in hand, I began to look at other ways in which I could really raise my game. Bait was one area about which I had no worries. I have no knowledge of bait make-up and, in all honesty, I don’t want to, but I put my faith in those who are far more knowledgeable, in my case this being Mike Willmott at Essential. Whilst we talk at length about fishing, he knows not to talk bait formulation and ingredients to me. I simply asked him four years
Confidence Catches Carp Rick Golder
I started with a couple of new personal rules, and top of the list was to first find the fish (really, this is what we should all be doing anyway), and I cut my gear right down, taking out anything I hadn’t used for a few trips, and packed it all in such a way in order to aid a rapid up-and-move if required. Why this had taken me so long I’ll never know, but with this came a newfound drive. I’m pleased to say this has rejuvenated me, and to this day I can’t understand those on there who can sit in a swim for days on end with nothing happening, or who choose a swim from home, or on the way to the water. With this ‘finding the fish’ tactic came another, almost unfamiliar, action: finding new areas to present my baits. Not only did I fish swims into which I hadn’t pushed a bankstick for years, I also actually learnt the lake’s features and new spots. To arrive at the lake without a preconceived plan was one thing, but the more I learned and moved around, the broader and deeper my knowledge of the lake became. These days, I often walk several laps around until I find the fish, and then with the experience I’ve gained when I find them, I can cast to feeding spots with the
ago to make me a good bait and I haven’t changed, or looked back since. On Mike’s advice, I have modified my bait in recent times by the inclusion of a couple of additives to boost quick attraction. These are Green Lipped Mussel Liquid coupled with a really oily, dark brown additive called Amino Stim. These two, blended together and poured over frozen bait which is then allowed to thaw, definitely give the bait a real kick and have given me some instant bites. Also, this increased attraction can be seen in the slick that comes up after baiting. Another method I now use is the addition of salt to my hookbaits. I witnessed this when a friend took apart one of the lakes I was fishing by boosting his baits with salt. He told me what he was doing as he left the lake after catching his last target fish in a very short space of time, and it’s something I have brought into my own baits, both popups and bottom hookbaits. I have friends who are seriously good anglers, far better than me, and to watch them fish was always a learning experience, and even after a long time in this game, I knew I’d be stupid not to watch and learn as much as I could from them. I think the best anglers are always learning, and in modern-day carp fishing there is ample opportunity to witness the greats in action, be it firsthand or through articles and DVDs.
“ It’s hard to believe how stale I’d become, especially how finding the fish first had become totally obsolete”
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Confidence Catches Carp Rick Golder
Rather than remain stuck in my proven methods, even new ones, I wanted to become far more of an allrounder. Not only by learning different tactics, but also to learn how to look into a lake, rather than just at it. Of all my new-found knowledge, this ‘watching the water’ proved to be the most significant advancement. Gone are my days of sitting in an enclosed bivvy, and it really opened my eyes as to what I had been missing. I think the best anglers are always watching, and once they’ve seen what they are looking for, with that power of observation comes knowledge of what to look for in presenting a bait. I recently took a friend, who is a very good angler, to my syndicate lake as a guest. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to get into his mind as such, and of all that I learned, his focus on watching the lake at all times amazed me. He spent hours staring at the lake and made mental notes of everything, telling me exactly where and when he had seen fish, to which I had been totally oblivious! When it came to spots, I used to look for the hardest, most blatant gravel spots I could possibly crack a lead down on. That was until one day when I witnessed the capture of a big fish by another angler. On landing it he immediately looked into its stained, dark-coloured mouth and declared it to be a “silt feeder”. That was a new one on me, but whilst pretending I completely understood, I stored it away to add that to my own fishing. Sure enough,
on that lake, I had again been doing it all wrong for some time. I’d stuck with my rock-hard, arm-wrenching gravel areas, whilst all around me others were catching from the silt, which logically held the lake’s abundant natural food, unlike the areas I was flogging to death. I came around to that one, but then had a few unfortunate sessions reeling in my perfectlypositioned hookbaits from the silt to find them tainted black and smelling totally putrid. There is good silt and bad silt, except it took me a while to tell the difference! There is a distinctly different feeling with the drop of a lead into silt rather than gravel, and a big line of bubbles coming up on scraping a lead across the silt, often portrays the smelly stuff. Once I knew the feeling of landing on firm silt and was able to discount that horrible sticky stuff, I was able to take this away to other venues
“He immediately looked into its stained, dark-coloured mouth and declared it to be a ‘silt feeder’”
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ABOVE Big Jim with a stunning Dinton silt-feeder.
I modernised my old rigs after finding they stood out like a sore thumb!
BELOW
and gain the benefits of fishing areas of the lake I had never fished before, often producing instant results. This proved to be a success on the other water, where, together with the big baiting, I’d always fished on the gravel; however, this change to actually fishing where the natural food larders were, rather than on areas that I’d created was another significant leg-up. I also learned that these natural feeding areas, such as these silty larders, never seemed to blow as rapidly as the areas I had created by my baiting strategy. This too brought different captures, because that lesson I’d learned about silt feeders was a valuable one and, sure enough, there was a different nucleus of fish that fed totally differently to those I’d hammered on the gravel spots. The next area I looked at was rigs. I’ve never been a really riggy person, but had a few in my armoury that I chopped and changed around depending on where I was fishing, and in what specific situation. I have always sacrificed finesse for strong tackle and good hookholds, and, to that end, it was these hookholds on which I measured my presentation. Like many others, around this time I had been totally focused on the Chod Rig and this had more or less dominated my end tackle arrangement. That said, the waters I was fishing all held heavy weedgrowth, and unless I was fishing directly in this weed I wanted another presentation. One day, I took a look at the sandy plateau I was fishing from the boat. It was midsummer and with the weed up, the water was crystal clear. I had wondered if a Choddie was the best for this situation, but what I saw confirmed that. I could clearly see my hookbait sitting proudly from the bottom right at the back of the spot, but what immediately struck me was how blatant and obvious it all looked. Worst of all was the 6ft length of brown leadcore that ran right through the spot like the M25, and stood out so much I could hardly believe it. It wasn’t right and I went away to put my mind to a better presentation. I went over my old rig board and found a twisted-up, ancient Hinged Stiff Rig, which instantly boosted my confidence. I hadn’t used one in ages, but with a couple of more modern tweaks I knew this was a winner. At the very least it sat away from the leadcore, and if I was fishing big clear areas I could easily drop leadcore completely and use Mirage fluorocarbon instead. Going back to finesse, I think this rig almost looks crude rather than subtle, but its strength lies in its hooking power; it really nails them. Plus, with
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ABOVE The reward for renewing my watercraft skills – 43lb of lovely carp.
By applying a bit of thought I soon turned my winter results around.
BELOW
way – the sure-fire winner is to go on to these venues with a method that will put you one step ahead of everyone else. The good anglers catch fish by their own skills and then move on to another spot and tactic, while others who simply follow are always one step behind. Baits and rigs are the simple part in my experience, it is how and where you fish that are the differences between your normal carp angler who simply accepts results that come to him, and the one who goes on the offensive to excel. To that end I’m sure that it’s the all-rounder with the most flexible methods that stands above everyone else, and that the angler who has many strings to his bow is also the most confident. They say confidence catches carp, and I know that to be true, by my own lack of it on occasions! However, when fishing at my best, as I am sure you will agree, everything seems to come easily, from finding the fish, to locating a spot and then to presenting a bait in the best manner. The true test of one’s ability are the times when these things aren’t going so smoothly but, in turn, these are the times when you can learn the most. I believe a true blank is when you not only catch nothing, you learn nothing either. Some of my most fruitful trips have come during a biteless session, when I’ve found, or thought of, something new that has resulted in a success or new idea for my next trip. All in all, it’s this constant learning that keeps me coming back for more – and perhaps that’s the most valuable lesson of them all. CW
Confidence Catches Carp Rick Golder
new, more stealthy components such as Trip Wire and Covert swivels, it began to look a bit more modern, and I immediately reinstated its use, again, with almost instant success. It proved to be a big-fish rig too, and it seems to trip up the larger fish more often that not. For me, it never seemed to tangle, and with the stiff boom springing away from the lead, I was happy that this rig gave me the best of everything. As the year progressed, my results began to improve. I found new desire and relished the challenge of finding fish and fishing for them. As autumn faded into winter I took another long look at my winter results over the years and at how I could improve them. I had fished the last winters on the same lakes as I had all summer without changing anything. Some of these were difficult enough in the warmer weather, and, sure enough, I never had any consistent results. Generally, I did OK up until mid-November, and then had a chance in March, but seldom did I have anything much in between. The long dark months of December and January were spent blanking, and session after session would pass me by without seeing a sign of a fish, let alone catching any! This is the period I wanted to do something about. I then had a minor brainwave, and for the first time ever I decided to fish a dedicated winter water. I knew just the place too, it was close by, shallow, and, most importantly, it had a fair few fish to go for. I’d had the ticket for a while without actually fishing it, but one look round in earlyNovember confirmed it was just what I was after. I also began to bait it up a bit, just a couple of kilos every three days or so, but this too was another major factor in my changing methods. There is no doubt in my mind that, come the colder weather, regular baiting keeps the fish awake and on the feed, so I carried on with my same bait. However, from November it came
winterised as standard. This was the perfect example, and sure enough I caught fish, but significantly, I caught consistently, whatever the weather. To be fair, this winter venue was an easier proposition than other waters I had winter-fished before, but in the depths of January, to hear the buzzer sound and to bank a few was immensely satisfying. Size-wise, although not a water that was going to smash my PB, it still held six or so 30lb fish up to 36lb, which was more than enough to keep me happy, but they were all old stunners that looked fantastic in their winter colours. It was certainly a new feeling to catch a few over the winter, and by March, when I looked to return to my other waters, my confidence was sky-high with a few fish under my belt, and also with a totally changed outlook on what winter fishing could be all about, and without doubt with increased enjoyment. Looking back, it’s clear that this game is all about learning and changing with that knowledge. I learned the hard way, in that I stuck with things that had worked, but had long since begun to fail, simply by overuse. We all want to fish to our best and attain the best results, but how many times do we actually learn from where we have failed and then instantly apply that to our methods? It’s easy to go on to a new water and either use tactics that you have used before and wait for them to hopefully work, or to simply copy the known approaches of others and achieve similar results to all of them. From what I have learned – and, it has to be said, the hard
“When I looked to return to my other waters, my confidence was sky-high with a few fish under my belt”
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