03/06/2026 - Roving For Carp
This fish was taken less than a foot from the bank in two feet of watrr
In 1946 I given some fishing tackle by my two grandfather's. I was also given a book to read titled The Fisherman's Bedside Book by "BB" I still have a copy in my possession, a copy that has a red leather-bound cover. I treasure this book, which I still often read. One chapter that captured my imagination is Floating Bait For Carp: By Flt/Lt Burton on page 292.
He writes Carp fishing, in my humble opinion, is one of the most exacting and exciting branches of the Piscatorial art. It is always said by most writers on the subject that carp are the hardest fish to catch. In my opinion they are the easiest to hook, but not always to bring successfully to the net. The cardinal point to remember with carp is to be quiet and keep, if possible, out of sight.
These comments were made during the second world war. How true these thoughts are when it comes to catching carp on floating crust or flake.
After the end of the war, we now started fishing further afield, in fact as far as we could cycle. A venue we fished were a group of waters, near Cobham, which held perch, pike, Rudd, roach and carp. It was the latter fish that got our attention, we also put into action FL-Lt Burtons ideas on floating baits.
We would catapult a few bits of crust out towards the centre of the pool, then watch the crusts, as they drifted towards the Rhododendron bushes. Though sometimes the crust would be taken in the open water, but not often. As the crusts started to get in close to the Rhododendrons, we would see carp moving about, occasionally we would hear the slurp of a carp taking a bit of crust, or just see the crust disappear in swirl of water.
We would then sit quietly talking among ourselves for a while, until all the bits of crusts, were gone. After baiting our hook with a cube of crust or piece of flake. A cast would be made towards our chosen spot, if we were lucky the bait would drop on the water close to the Rhododendrons, then drift into the dark secretive areas under the bushes.
Suddenly the silver paper bite indicator would suddenly shoot up to the rod ring. These carp weighed around 2lbs to 5lbs, but a fish of that latter size was very rare. These carp were probably wild carp, we seek today. We never did see any other type of carp, such as mirrors or leather carp.
When we were in our teens we did start to catch bigger fish, I was probably about 15 years old when I caught a carp, of 8lbs from Mereworth Castle lake in Wateringbury It was very private venue, we would hide our bikes behind a hedge some distance away then creep in using a set of wire cutters, to make a hole big enough for use to wriggle through. There was also a pool close to the village of Teston in some woods known as the "Witches Pool". We could by a ticket for sixpence in those days, again floating crust was the best bait.
For the past few years all my carp fishing is done with a cane rod, centre pin reel, holding 12 lb bs line. Bait is a loaf of bread, so I could fish crust or flake, just simple ways of catching fish. There are times when I will use, King prawns, lobworms, or Green lipped mussels.
When we fished at night, we used silver paper as a bite indicator, at night we often we dozed off, suddenly to be woken by a screeching reel. other times we would balanced a penny on the spool of our Mitchell 300's, with a tin plate below the reel, if the penny dropped off on the plate, it was supposed to wake us up?.
The past few seasons I have been fishing several still waters, that are rarely fished by carp anglers, often they reckon the fish are not big enough, or they are not allowed to fish at night etc et. One water I fish, I'm often the only person there, I will spend the day slowly walking around the venue, armed with rod, reel and tackle for fishing a free lined bit of crust or flake.
Often, I will come across a weedy area, creeping close, I sometimes see a carp, no more than six feet away in two or three feet of water. This is when I often bait with flake or a lobworm. When using flake, I will walk back from the spot to another area, I then dip the flake in the water, then it's back to the carp.
As quiet as a mouse, I move into position, then allow the line to roll off the reel, as the flake enters the water it slowly sinks, often within a minute, or even less, a fish will intercept the flake, I set the hook, the water boils in a frenzy, the carp creates a bow wave as it heads for the deeper water.
This is as exciting fishing as you can get, it equals bone fishing the flats. Why not in this new season give it a try, apart from the tackle, I have a small shoulder bag, holding my Jet boiler, a bottle of water, some tea bags, mug and milk. Along with a sandwich. As you slowly make your way around your chosen venue, you will be surprised at what you see and learn.
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