Smashing My PB

Neville Barnard Reveals The Tactics He Used To Catch The Biggest Carp Of His Career 

Hunting big carp in big wild waters is my preferred method of fishing but it needs proper preparation and investigation. I heard about a lake that did hold good fish so I started to investigate the possibility of doing a trip. I got as much info as I could but there was very little to go on. As far as I could work out it was more luck than tactics that caught fish at this venue. I also heard that the water level was dropping quite a bit and that also helps if you are going to a place you don’t know. Most of the snags are then out of the water and give you far fewer problems.

- Neville Barnard

When I go to any venue I don’t know I’ll start the sas I always do - basically a particle approach with a ratio of 70% hemp, 20% Hi Protein mix and 10% tigers. The hookbaits are usually tigers, maize, maples or a combination of these baits.

I’ll always flavour some baits just to have something to fall back on if plain does not seem to work. I also like brown sugar and salt in my feed and in this case it was the same; I cook it for 2 hours and then put 2 to 3 cups of sugar and a little salt in it and cook for another 30 minutes. I take a container of feed that I prepare at home just to get the lines in the first few times, and then make fresh feed and bait next to the lake with the water from the lake I fish.

The first thing I do when I arrive at any lake is to go out with my inflatable and look for suitable spots to fish. If the fish show it makes looking for places much easer but on this session I only arrived late and the fish where not jumping or showing themselves so the only info I had to go on was what I saw on the screen of my Humminbird ONIX 8 fishfinder. I quickly made a map of my area and found a blind river forking out from the main old river bed. I used my GPS to mark the spot for future reference and placed my rig on the edge on hard ground. It was winter and the water temperature was only 14.5°C, so I did not feed a lot - just enough for one big carp. One scoop over the bait, and two scoops in circle around the baited area.

MENTAL SIDE , LONG SESSION FISHING FOR BIG FISH