Fishing Tips : Tarnaud

The venue is an old gravel pit with no weed, or menace species to worry about. All brown, green and beige colors match the lake bed.

Fish Location

Fish will normally be scattered or will move with angling pressure, bait application or natural food sources. The important thing is finding a feature in your chosen area. This may be in the form of an undulation, island margin, weed bed, silt pocket or marginal snag / overhang, the fish normally get caught on one of these as opposed to casting into an open flat area. To find the features you must use the trusted marker rod . It is essential you make detailed notes of distances and horizon markers to ensure you can get back on the spot.

It has become apparent that when 2 people fish out of one swim sometimes alot of fish move to the opposite end of the lake. The most succcessful method in order to get near the fish is to prebait 4 areas down the far end and fish those spots in the daytime, moving back to the night spots after a long day… Always bait the nightspots in the morning after you have reeled in to move down the far end. This will give the fish opportunity to move onto your spots without any angling pressure. This method has produced the best results so far!

Marking your spots

You can use a marker rod to find and mark your features or an ‘H’ block marker from the rowing boat using an echo sounder. In any event markers must be removed once you are fishing, nothing worst than loosing a fish due to it getting tangled round a marker line. Most fish are caught in the margins so bankside markers are advised.

Bait Application

For a standard week at the lake, I would recommend the following bait:

10kg boilies, bring a bait you have confidence in, of good quality, at least semi air dried. Marne Valley Boilies are a winner and could be a valuable key to success
10kg mixed pellets, the fish are fed these all year round every year
10kg particle mix, we sell a premixed bucket of hemp, maize, sunflower seeds, wheat, all elements of this mix have caught fish. Hemp is also available.

It is advised to start with 2kg of bait per rod.

Vary the quantity of bait applied per rod. If you are going to introduce a large bed of bait then be prepared to sit on it for at least 2 days before thinking of moving it. It’s always worth dribbling in a few kgs of bait on a few other spots that you are not fishing. This will give the fish confidence to move into the area and feed. Then if you want to move a rod you will be a step ahead and could drop onto feeding fish, think ahead !!

Points for your consideration :

30lb+ hooklink minumum breaking strain, nothing worse than loosing that new PB to a weak hooklink
upgrade line to 18 – 20lb BS
use thick gauge wire hooks, Gardener continental muggas size 4 and 6 are highly recommended
bring 2 landing nets
If your using a rowing boat bring a prodding stick to clearly identify variations in the density of the lake bed
Unhooking matts are provided (sling also supplied only on Tarnaud)
Bring a carp care kit!!!

Fishing in the winter between November and into April

During this period fish will go into a semi hybernation once the water goes below 5°c, so check with me what the water temperature is before setting out so that you are equipped with the best bait for the job. My top hookbait for cold water is maggots. I mix these 50 : 50 with bloodworm pellets, sweetcorn, Vitalin, pure krill groundbait and high levels of liquid amino. This mix is used for pva bags and then a small amount, one handfull, for bait boat top up. If this does’nt get you a bite then nothing will!!!! Although you must put it on the right spot, in the winter carp do not stray too far away from where they are comfortable. I would also recommend zig rig fishing, if you find fish are topping but you are not getting a bite, always worth ago. Also in the depths of winter the fish will sit in a thermocline they are most confortable with, this is not normally on the bottom of the lake and they can be very vulnerable once you discover where they are and at what depth! Always use proper zig components and work the rig every few hours from a metre off the bottom to two thirds the depth, 15cm at a time is normally good. Favourite bait is either black foam for bright conditions or yellow for dull conditions, 1cm cube on a 8 or 10 hook to 10lb BS floating zig line.