How to fishing

Carp is a common name for various species of freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. They have been introduced to various locations around the world, though with mixed results.

Good carp fishing can be found in many different types of water. Many find rivers to provide some of the most challenging, but rewarding, fishing. Being that many rivers connect directly with the ocean, it has been said that perhaps the largest carp in a given river may reside in the stretch between the beginning of the tidal influence and where the salinity becomes intolerable to the carp.

Carp are known to change their feeding habits dependent upon the climate at any given time, wind direction, temperate and phases of the moon are common factors which affect the feeding habits of carp.

Common carp
 The common carp, or European carp, are native to Asia and Eastern Europe. They have been introduced, sometimes illegally, into environments worldwide, and is often considered an invasive species.

Silver carp
 Silver carp are filter feeders, and thus are difficult to catch on typical hook and line gear. Special methods have been developed for these fish, the most important being the "suspension method" usually consisting of a large dough ball that disintegrates slowly, surrounded by a nest of tiny hooks that are not embedded in the bait. The entire apparatus is suspended below a large bobber. The fish feed on the small particles that are released from the dough ball and will bump against the dough ball, with the intention of breaking off more small particles that can be filtered from the water, eventually becoming hooked on the tiny hooks.

Bighead carp
 Although bighead carp reach large size, they are difficult to capture with a rod and reel because of their filter-feeding habits. They may be captured by the "suspension method" used to catch silver carp, or, where legal, by snagging them by jerking a weighted treble hook through the water. Bighead carp cannot be shot from the air like silver carp, because, unlike the silver carp, they do not jump from the water in response to moving boats. However, they often feed near the surface where they can be shot by bowfishers.

Crucian carp
 Crucian carp inhabit lakes, ponds, and slow-moving rivers throughout Europe and Asia. They rarely exceeds a weight of over 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg). They are often caught as a sport fish. 


Grass carp
 Grass carp are strong fighters on a rod and reel, but because of their vegetarian habits and their wariness, they can be difficult to catch. Chumming with corn adds to success. Canned corn, cherry tomatoes, and, despite their primarily vegetarian habits, worms can sometimes be successful baits. They are popular, but wary, quarry for bowfishers where bowfishing for grass carp is legal.
 
How to fishing

Fish hooks are normally attached to some form of line or lure device which connects the caught fish to the fisherman. There is an enormous variety of fish hooks in the world of fishing. Sizes, designs, shapes, and materials are all variable depending on the intended purpose of the fish hook. Fish hooks are manufactured for a range of purposes from general fishing to extremely limited and specialized applications. Fish hooks are designed to hold various types of artificial, processed, dead or live baits (bait fishing); to act as the foundation for artificial representations of fish prey (fly fishing); or to be attached to or integrated into other devices that represent fish prey (lure fishing).

There are a large number of different types of fish hooks. At the macro level, there are bait hooks, fly hooks and lure hooks. Within these broad categories there are wide varieties of hook types designed for different applications. Hook types differ in shape, materials, points and barbs, and eye type and ultimately in their intended application. When individual hook types are designed the specific characteristics of each of these hook components are optimized relative to the hook's intended purpose. For example, a delicate dry fly hook is made of thin wire with a tapered eye because weight is the overriding factor. Whereas Carlise or Aberdeen light wire bait hooks make use of thin wire to reduce injury to live bait but the eyes are not tapered because weight is not an issue. Many factors contribute to hook design, including corrosion resistance, weight, strength, hooking efficiency, and whether the hook is being used for specific types of bait, on different types of lures or for different styles of flies. For each hook type, there are ranges of acceptable sizes. For all types of hooks, sizes range from 32 (the smallest) to 20/0 (the largest).

The hook point is probably the most important part of the hook. It is the point that must penetrate fish flesh and secure the fish. The profile of the hook point and its length influence how well the point penetrates. The barb influences how far the point penetrates, how much pressure is required to penetrate and ultimately the holding power of the hook. Hook points are mechanically (ground) or chemically sharpened. Some hooks are barbless. Historically, many ancient fish hooks were barbless, but today a barbless hook is used to make hook removal and fish release less stressful on the fish. Hook points are also described relative to their offset from the hook shank. A kirbed hook point is offset to the left, a straight point has no offset and a reversed point is offset to the right.

Care needs to be taken when handling hooks as they can 'hook' the user. If a hook goes in deep enough below the barb, pulling the hook out will tear the flesh. There are three methods to remove a hook. The first is by cutting the flesh to remove it. The second is to cut the eye of the hook off and then push the remainder of the hook through the flesh and the third is to place pressure on the shank towards the flesh which pulls the barb into the now oval hole the push then hook out the way it came in.
How to fishing

Don't do what I did and not bother buying the pieces because it looked complicated. Believe me it's not and it feels very rewarding when you go fishing using your own, home made, fishing rigs and even more so when you start landing great fish off of them. It will also save you a lot of money!


What you need:

• Spare line (you should always carry the excess line you have left over after filling up your reel)
• Crimping Pliers
• Crimps
• Beads
• Weight Clip (if required)
• Bait Clips (if required)
• Weight
• Swivel
• Hook

 As with all rigs they are very flexible in design. For the main line (the one you'll be crimping) make it around 20 inches in length.

Start off with the first crimp around 3 inches down from the top swivel.

Next you place a bead along the line. Depending on the size of the crimp you may need to buy both the small and large beads in case a large bead slides over the crimp.

Now you add the swivel but you don't use any knots. Just let it move freely.

Follow up with another bead and then a crimp.

Now move down the line around 17 inches and repeat the process

Finish off with a weight clip at the end.

Once that's done I then add the two lines to the two swivels

Tips:

• In most fishing tackle shop you can buy the crimping pliers but if they have them get the ones which have the tip of the pliers bending over at quite a large degree because these also making great pliers for getting hooks out of fish! 

How to make a "float fishing rig"

Float fishing is the most popular way of fishing around this area by far. Even the professionals float fish whether it be for live bait or just to fish. Most people start off their fishing lives by float fishing and it can be great fun and it very simple to do.

Unlike bottom fishing most of your set-up will be on your actual main line which comes off your reel.
Start off by giving yourself plenty of line off of the reel. About 20 inches will do.
First thing you need to do is add your stop knot. A stop knot is needed to prevent the float sinking to the bottom.


The Pulley Rig

Don't do what I did and not bother buying the pieces because it looked complicated. Believe me it's not and it feels very rewarding when you go fishing using your own, home made, fishing rigs and even more so when you start landing great fish off of them. It will also save you a lot of money!

• As with all rigs they are very flexible in design.

• For the main line make it around 20 inches in length.

• Start off tying on a swivel to one of the ends.

• Now add another swivel and leave it freely on the line.

• Now add a bead leaving it freely on the line

• Now tie on the last swivel and attach the weight clip to one side and the line and hook on the other.

The Cod Rig

This is a nice rig because I've found it doesn't tangle as easily as other rigs do.

Use your favourite bottom feeding rig and then attach the two hooks as shown.
You want to leave around 2 inches between the bead and main hook. This gives plenty of room to slide up the worms.
For the 2nd hook you want the line around 1 inch and on this hook you can tie on some peeler crabs or squid etc.
The other benifit of this rig is you can also hook the smaller fish like whiting etc.

The Pennel Rig

For this rig you have a large hook on the bottom of the line and a smaller hook above.

For the top, smaller hook the simplest and most used method to keep it secure is just to wrap it around the line 2 or 3 times.

How to fishing

Fishing knots are designed to be tied in monofilament line and to run through the eyes and rings of a fishing rod or rig. Fishing line is cheap. The emphasis, therefore, is on compactness and reliability with no interest in being able to untie them. Fishing knots often employ multiple, tightly wound turns. The structure of such knots changes under load – outer wraps are pulled into the knot and the inner line becomes outer wraps.

The challenges fishing knots, of keeping line connected to a hook and joining two lines, are as old as fishing itself. Any fishing knot will create weakness in a line, but a correctly tied fishing knot will maintain far more line strength. The fishing knots below are each designed for a particular use and matching the knot to your needs and its application is just as important as trying it correctly. Learning a new know takes patience and practice. Some knots may seem as challenging as applying for a home mortage but with a simple cheat sheet you can tie fishing knots like a master. We highly recommend printing a few of these out and adding them to your tackle box - it's never as easy to remember that new knot technique when you are on the boat or in the surf fishing.

There is one small hitch encountered by many first time knot-tiers. Their expert instructors seem to assume that their fellow fishermen are familiar with the Surgeon's Knot, the Bimini Twist and the like. But long before I moved into the field of knot-tying, I was content to join a line-to-swivel, swivel-to-trace and trace-to-hook via a Simple Loop Knot, where the loop is made only perhaps 25mm long - just long enough to pass over the hook and swivel. How to fishing

You should replace your fishing line at least once per season. If you fish frequently, you may have to change it even more often. If you replace line incorrectly, you may have problems with line twist. Here's how to do it right.

• Look at your spinning reel from below so you can see up the rod through the guides to the tip, and turn the handle as if you are retrieving the line. Note the direction that the bail rotates around the spool. Most spinning reels rotate in a counter-clockwise direction.
• Examine your supply spool, and find the end of the line (the lead). It may be secured by tape. Orient the supply spool so that the lead is at the top and the label is facing you.
• If the lead is coming off the spool in a counter-clockwise direction (i.e., if the free end of the line were an arrow, it would point to your right), you want to place the supply reel on the floor label side up. Otherwise, you want to place it on the floor label side down. If your spinning reel turns in a clockwise direction, you want to reverse this.

Using a line conditioner to treat your filler spools prior to filling your reel spool will help the line wind on your reel better with less twist. Regular use of a quality line conditioner before and after fishing will protect your line and help it last longer and give you longer more accurate casts.

To avoid loops when you fish, keep tension on the line whenever you are reeling. If you need to, hold the line between your thumb and finger in front of the reel.

If you do get a lot of twists in your line, take the lure off and just let a lot of line out behind the boat as you go. This will take the loops out.

If you don't have a boat, just take off the lure and tie your line to a post. Walk away, spooling out line behind you. Now have somebody cut the line free so you can reel it back on, but be sure to keep tension on it with your fingers.

Take the old line to a line recycling bin. You can find these at most tackle shops.

If you are using braided line, make sure you put cloth tape or a layer of mono on the reel first. Otherwise the braid will slip around the spool and you won't be able to set the hook.

If you're a real tight-wad, you might want to take the old line off onto a different spool, then re-spool it on back wards. That way the used part is down by the bottom and fresher line is up where you use it.

To attach the new line to the spool, you can tie a regular square knot, but make sure you get the knot snug against the spool so it doesn't slip. First aid tape on the reel spool really helps with the slippage problem.
Closed-face reels don't hold much line, so make sure to unscrew the cover now and then to check how much you've got on there.

Run the new line through an old phone book to keep pressure on the line and free up a hand (particularly good with braid!). How to fishing