Recently I have been targeting a stretch of a small slow flowing stretch of river. The stretch is shut off with locks at either end which allowed me to fish knowing that whatever I saw would be trapped between the locks and I could fish confident that they aren't miles upstream or downstream. The stretch doesn't have many carp and is also home to lots of bream and a few tench.
To avoid the nuisance species I have been focusing on using tiger hookbaits in the shallow water right in the edges. Leading up to the start of the season I primed a few areas with some hemp and tigers with the hope of dropping in on the 16th and getting a quick bite. Only an hour into the new season on my first trip I nailed a common of around 18lb, at first light each spot sheeted up with fizz which told me that the carp were likely to be visiting the spots regularly. I baited the spots for a few more days and dropped in again.
Fuelled with confidence I returned and dropped rigs onto the spots. After just 15 minutes I landed a nice small mirror around mid double. The night passed quietly and at first light I received another screaming run. The fished rolled before I even hit the rod and I noticed it was one I had spotted a few days before. A perfect linear and one that is renowned for being a tricky one to slip up.
All of my hookbaits were prepped in small pots with a few drops of Betalin and Banana or the c food liquid. This gave me a lot of confidence that my hookbait would be one of the first to get eaten if a carp visited the spot
