10 Great Tips to Catch More Carp This Summer
Luck is not everything. Try these tricks to increase your chances of reeling in some of your biggest catches!
1. Find a spot for your bait where it won’t be obscured by vegetation
In summer, many carp venues get choked up with weeds. Finding a clear patch can make a difference between blanking and catching your personal best. Using the traditional method – plumbing the bottom with lead is tedious, time consuming, and bottom disturbing.
TIP: With Deeper sonar find the perfect spots to place your baits. Once you find one, pick a target on the opposite bank, mentally mark the direction, clip the line, reel your Deeper back to the bank and then measure the clipped line on your bank sticks to send your rig to the same spot.
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2. Get to know when spawn takes place in your venue
Summer is the season when carp spawn and when they do, they are much harder to catch, as they have other things than eating in their minds. But AFTER spawn they start eating like crazy and that’s one of the best times to go catch them – don’t miss it.
TIP: On a post-spawn fishing session, you can feed heavier than usual, as several hungry specimens can clear 9 kg/20 lbs of feed quite quickly.
3. Target one fish at a time
Once the carp post-spawn feeding frenzy is over, get back to targeting one fish at a time. When carp are not feeding hard, masses of feed lying on the bottom may put them off from feeding in that area at all and make them move somewhere else.
TIP: In summer, avoid overfeeding them – instead present just enough goodies in a mesh bag or PVA solid bag to attract those fish that are willing to feed on your hookbait.
4. Prepare at home and do more fishing when on the bank
Time is limited so doing a half-hour of homework can make your fishing preparation process on the bank much quicker and easier. Knowing how far potential good spots are from the bank you’re on will put you on the right track without the losing time for looking around in your peg.
TIP: Get Fish Deeper Premium to scope out the best pegs and choose potential baiting spots in pegs from home. See bottom contours, depth, place marks for use on the bank with Fish Deeper app, and even measure your selected distances on the app's web version.
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5. Look for cooler water as fish prefer it in the summer
Carp seek three main things: appropriate water temperature, oxygen-rich water, and food-rich areas. If the water is too warm, the level of dissolved oxygen becomes very low, and carp virtually stop feeding. During the hottest hours of the day carp school around holding areas (such as shallows, patches of vegetation) or “in between waters” at the thermocline. Some holding areas can be found with eyes (water lilies, shadows), while others can only be seen as changes in water temperature.
TIP: Deeper sonar has a built-in thermometer that will tell the water surface temperature. Looking at changes in temperature while scanning with Deeper can help identify these spots of cooler water (perhaps underwater current bringing in colder water).
6. Target mid-water carp with zig rigs
In summer carp also sometimes feed in the middle or upper layers of water and presenting your bait in the bottom layer using regular rigs may just not work. Using zig rigs instead, you can present your hookbait at desired depth or even on the surface. One way is to use several fishing rods with various lengths of hooklength and experiment over time by changing them.
TIP: If there's no time or you’re on a light session with just a couple of rods, use the advantage of Deeper sonar: scan your water with sonar to find fish themselves. Then find out at what exact depth they are holding and set your hooklengths accordingly. To do so either check at what depth the top of the arch is and then subtract it from the total depth reading or turn on fish icons and select the option to show their distance from the bottom.
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7. Get into habit of logging your catches
Start logging your catches and weather conditions. Over time such a log will become a valuable tool to give you guidelines in your upcoming fishing. All you need is the means to take notes, current weather information, and scales.
TIP: Easily keep a log with Deeper tools! For logging fish – use Fish Deeper app and mark a catch on the map. There you can select the species as well as leave notes on what bait and rig were used. Moreover, you can take a screenshot of the weather section in the app and add it to the catch log. To get accurate readings on the weight of your catch use Deeper Scales.
Learn more about Fish deeper app Learn more about scales
8. Keep your main tools safe and close to save time
In summertime, spells of fish activity can make into your top fishing moments of the whole year, they start suddenly, and you never know when they will stop. Imagine getting a few good runs, and then breaking off your rig on a recast. Every second counts, so having your main tools at hand is already an advantage. In summer it is easy to lose those tools too after using them – you’re full of adrenaline all you think about is recasting faster. Thoughts about windswept handcloths or baiting needles lost in high grass usually come later.
TIP: Put your go-to tools on the Deeper Tether. Not only you will be able to have your tools at hand, use them and simply drop them without thinking about them, but also you will make sure they stay where you left them.
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9. Try stalking the margins of the opposite bank
After a summer’s night carp tend to move out of deeper spots towards the shallows where they can detect your bait more easily but are also easy to spook. If stalking margins are on the opposite bank, you will want to scan them with a sonar beforehand, making long casts, to find a good spot for your bait.
TIP: When casting at distance or into margins, get a strong high-quality line. We recommend Seaguar. It’s a Japanese PE line of 48 lb braking strength, just to give you that feeling of safety when you're casting Deeper sonar. Always use a strong knot and make sure your line is not wrapped around the tip of your rod before casting.
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10. Make sure you have adequate light and power for long/night sessions
While sunshine may be pleasant for us anglers, in summer, carp really become active in low-light conditions. That’s why doing an overnight session can squeeze out the best results from your limited time!
TIP: Make sure you have enough power. Deeper Power Lantern will give you ample lighting when it comes to low light rigging, retying, and recasting. Just place it, clip it, or attach it with a magnet to use it as an overhead light in your bivvy.
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