Have you ever fished a water, where you know they love a particular flavour of boilie or are known to avoid certain baits? I can recall a lake I used to fish whereby the carp would not touch a certain bait flavour for whatever reason… It was almost like too many of them had been caught on it in the past and they had all colluded going forwards that they would be boycotting that bait! On the other hand, there was a water I used to fish in the winter, whereby the carp adored small, sweet pink wafters. An almost dead cert if you could locate them.
Adapting to changing circumstances and challenges in your fishing is the key to putting more carp on the bank. This became even more prevalent to me during a recent trip to Johnsland fishery in Devon. This is a busy holiday venue, that sees plenty of pressure. I’d never fished it before, but I was confident, having arrived and located fish straight away. My plan was to utilise my normal tactics of presenting to them bait and rigs that I fully trust, and hopefully it wouldn’t be too long before a fish slipped up and I was proudly posing with one of the many pretty carp that inhabit this popular lake.
After 36 hours I was left scratching my head. I swear by the Krill pellet glugged with the Catalyst liquid.
Utilising my Bushwhacker to send out Krill wafters with a mixture of Boosted Krill pellet and corn has seen me consistently land numerous 30lb plus fish on my syndicate waters this year. It was clear fish were feeding and straight off I had found several carp bubbling down in a shallow corner of the lake. These were “old-school” levels of bubbling. The likes of which I hadn’t seen for a long time. Sheets and sheets of bubbles with carp occasionally breaking surface before going back to what appeared to be frenzied feeding on the pellet.
Despite this, my indicators remained motionless. Something needed changing. There wasn’t an abundance of natural food in this lake, so I ruled that out quickly. Sometimes, like us humans, carp fancy something different. I don’t utilise pop-ups for a whole host of my fishing and if I can get a firm enough drop, I will always look to utilise a wafter or bottom bait. It was however on this occasion a tactic that had to be considered.
Cometh the hour, cometh the Miracle Berry! I had a pot of 15mm pink, Miracle Berry pop-ups that had been soaking for several months. Trimming one down into a smaller corn shape and presenting it on a slow sinking Fluoro-Carbon hook link, over the Boosted Krill pellet and Catalyst particle and pellet liquid produced almost immediate success. The result being a complete stunner! At 38lb, this fully scaled mirror is one of the prettiest carp I’ve been fortunate enough to land. The next three fish fell to the same tactic of utilising the whittled down Miracle Berry pop-ups. Sometimes, the smallest of changes can pay dividends when fishing for pressurised fish. The carp here had clearly had a summer of intense pressure, but were still willing to feed, albeit it, they wanted something sweet! The switch from Krill to the tang of Miracle Berry clearly was enough to tempt the fish to take a chance and the results can clearly be seen.
If you are sat behind motionless rods and you think you should have had a bite, have a think about what you are doing and whether any subtle changes can be deployed to nick a fish. Once you crack the code on most waters, the results can be spectacular. I went from blanking to landing one of the most sought-after fish in this venue, all thanks to being minded that what I was doing wasn’t what the carp where interested in. Find what the fish are happy to feed on and you will more than likely get action. The good news is that Spotted Fin cater for all our bait needs and the range allows you to mix things up knowing that you are swapping one quality bait for another. Keeping a pot of Miracle Berry pop-ups in your armoury is definitely something you should consider…
