Catch More Carp On Big Waters!

When you think of your typical commercial venue, you could be forgiven in thinking about small lakes with an island at 20 metres, or even a snake lake where a pole only approach dominates.

There are however, quite a few commercial waters which are considerably larger! Venues like Boddington Reservoir, Barston Lakes and Larford Specimen Lake are all large lakes and the fishing is completely different to that found on smaller venues.



One common theme on this type of venue is that the fish are bigger on average than what you’ll find on most fisheries. This means that your approach will have to change in both the way you feed and the methods you employ to get the most from your match.

As the summer gets closer to Autumn, the fishing can become more of a challenge, for the last couple of months the fish have seen massive pressure from lots of matches and they start to hang away from the bank to find that bit of sanctuary.



While they do tend to move out away from the bankside at this time of year, it doesn’t mean that with some persuasion they won’t venture closer too. As the year goes on, timing and being on the right line at the right time is something that is so important to get right and that is what we’re going to focus on in this feature.

Today I’ve bought the cameras down to Boddington Reservoir in Northamptonshire, to demonstrate the tactics that have served me well on the venue. Boddington is one of the iconic big reservoirs well known for distance fishing, aggressive tactics in the summer months and some very big carp!

Go Long!



With a drop in temperature in recent days I felt that the current trend of fishing the pellet waggler might not have been the best starting option! With this in mind, and a good wind on the water I’ll usually always opt to start on a method or Embed feeder.



It's easy to go too long, too soon, on venues like Boddington though and so my opening gambit would always be between 50 and 60 metres range.

With a single cast to each area until I locate a few fish, I’m not committing to any amount of bait, so when I chuck to a new area, I’ll clip up to ensure I can recast to the same spot when I get a bite and if I don’t get a bite I’ll unclip and cast to a new area.

Because I might need to cast up to 100 metres on a venue like this to find the fish, using the right tackle is so important. Not only are you trying to cast a big distance, you’re also up against a very windy venue too so if the tackle isn’t right, you will fall short.



My rod of choice is a MAP Extremis Distance feeder rod in the 4m length, this is the ideal length to hit the distance I require, that is teamed up with a 5000 sized reel, loaded with 6lb MAP Optimum and a 10lb shockleader.

Feeder wise, a large 42g Embed Method Feeder is perfect for the range I expect to fish today but if extreme range was required, I will change this over to an original Embed feeder which will protect the bait on impact and also enables me to get that bit of extra distance.



This is easily done as the Embed range is fully interchangeable on the stem system so it doesn’t take a second to swap the feeder style over at any point in the session.

Wafters became popular on venues like this one, and it’s no surprise that on the method they’re pretty much the only option I have with me today in various colours and sizes.



The hook baits are mounted onto the hair using a bait spike, with a size 10 hook the ideal size for the big fish we’re expecting to encounter, tied to a super strong 0.21mm MAP Optimum Power hook length.

There isn’t any need to fish light on venues like this one, at times bites can be few and far between so you have to make sure your kit is capable of landing every bite whether it’s a 5lb carp or a 25lb carp!

Feed An Area!



As I mentioned earlier, with the water temperatures still quite warm the effectiveness at fishing at shorter range is diminishing but there is always those days when it can work well too.

The line is a real throwaway, but it can be possible to have this to yourself at times and a run of bites late in the match can see you over the line.

To give myself the best option I always set up a bomb and a waggler rod to tackle this area of my peg, and of course I can still drop the method over the top of the feed if required.



On the bomb I’ve selected a 10ft Generation Pro feeder rod, with a simple bomb rig down to a 15” hook length of 0.21 Optimum Power again to size 12 hook with a pellet band attached.

The pellet waggler features an 11ft Parabolix Pro SUV Waggler rod, ideal for the high average size of carp we’re expecting at Boddington, a selection of wagglers offers me a range of presentations depending on the wind.



The most important thing about this line though is how you feed it, I still like to be positive as you’re not looking for one or two fish to come short later you’ll be hoping for a good run of bites so you need to feed according to that!

On a big open water like this, most anglers go for 8mm coppens pellets and I like these too, but favour this kind of pellet most when catching on the waggler is more likely as they sink slightly slower.



For windy conditions, getting extra range than the other anglers around me and something more suited to the bomb, I bring plenty of high oil 11mm pellets too, these are a real edge and have caught me loads of fish at Boddington in the last couple of seasons!

When feeding pellets regularly at distance with a catapult, I find the MAP medium catapult to be perfect for the job, it's always worth carrying a few spares too just in case of a worn out elastic or two when the fishing is good. 



I like to feed the short line throughout the match, starting off with just 3-4 pellets each time but by the second and third hour I’ll feed a full pouch twice each time, to increase the amount of bait in the peg when the fish are likely to be feeding with more aggression.

The Session



It's always a safe option to go long at that start and that’s what I did today! Loading the Embed Method Feeder with micros with a small amount of boilie crush in the mix, a pink 8mm wafter was my opening hook bait choice.

I didn’t want to go too long though, as chasing the fish around can be necessary at Boddington and by going too long to start with, I don’t give myself anywhere to go.

A comfortable 50 metre cast is plenty to gauge the response, if I don’t get any bites in 20 minutes I’ll wind in and chuck to a new spot either left or right of my original area or a few metres further until I get some signs.



With no bites on the first cast the feeder was deployed on a 55-metre cast and after just five minutes the tip was dragged round and I was into my first Boddington carp of the day, a big old mirror which put up a great scrap around the marginal rocks and at 13 to 14lb, it was a great start to the day.

Another carp followed at 55 metres, but with no bites on the third cast I was soon moving on again, every time I moved, I had a run of bites which told me that the carp were away from the bank initially, but by having those casts short to start with I was never casting over them which can be a disaster.



Getting the distance sorted on venues like Boddington is one of the most important as the tactics are quite simple in general, so always give yourself a ‘best of both worlds’ when starting off, if you know the fishing is going to be rock hard, that is the only time I’d chuck 70 metres plus as a starting line.



All the while I was fishing the method I’d been feeding my short line with pellets via a catapult, with the wind blowing quite hard the oily 11mm’s were getting me greater distance and with the cooler weather I felt the bomb would be better than the waggler on the day.

With a couple of hours of our session left, we decided to have a drop short with a banded 11mm on the bomb, a few liners soon after casting suggested a few fish had found the bait so I wasn’t shocked that the rod was violently dragged round on the very first cast!



When you start getting bites on the bomb it’s so important to keep the fish there and that means double pouching pellets to keep an amount of bait in the peg, you have to remember that it’s quicker for them to clear 5 pouches of 11m’s than it would be five pouches of 6mm’s.



The bites kept coming and the fishing had been excellent, with a drop in the wind I was itching to see if I could catch one on the waggler as the bomb fishing had been really good since dropping on it.

I caught a few quality roach on the first few casts, but it wasn’t long before that classic splash of the float and the line flashing tight on the surface between the rod tip and float saw me into the first of a run of waggler caught carp.



With twenty carp between 5 and 15lb caught in our five-hour session, this session went to show that although the year is getting on and the cooler months are upon us, don’t leave yourself short and keep those summer tactics in your armoury until the frosts arrive.

With plenty of anglers making the mistake of playing it safe, you can have tactics to yourself and on the right day an ordinary match can turn into a red-letter day.