Science Equals Success

Many years ago, in fact 2001 to be precise, I sat in the lobby of a hotel in Bucharest in Romania with some of the carp world’s most influential carp anglers discussing carp fishing strategies, and boy, was that a game changer for me! One of those anglers was none other than Frank Warwick who had just completed a chapter in the book, “Carp by Tim Paisley & Friends”. I made the mistake to lend the book to someone who managed to lose it, but if you can lay your hands on a copy, read it carefully. Frank’s chapter was about the effect of pH levels of a water body and how to manipulate your bait to act as a magnet for your target fish. We went through two pots of coffee and almost chatted through the night. Poor old Tim Paisley kept dozing off, but the discussion was so intriguing that I just could not go to bed. Frank started messing around with a digital pH device and checked the pH level of the lake he was fishing in. He opted for a hookbait soaked in a flavour on the opposite side of the pH spectrum and all of a sudden his catch rates picked up so dramatically that he made a study of it.His results were astonishing. Would you believe that over a 24 hour period a particular body of water could have up to a thousand minute pH fluctuations? You better believe it! Well, this made me think, so together with my current fishing partner and brilliant photographer, Ferdi Delport we undertook an experiment at Roodekoppies Dam. We took all our feeding particles and added silly amounts of course salt to it, mixed it thoroughly and spread it over a wide area over our selected feeding area. The result was that 12 hours later we had already surpassed our best ever session at the lake by more than 200%. This was the start of me refining my strategy to such a degree that the more I refined it the results just ended up getting better and better. Let me explain: SELECTING THE RIGHT DEPTH OF WATER Well it is sometimes more difficult than it sounds as I like to look at the contours of the lakebed first. At Roodekoppies I like to search for the end of a drop-off and then look at the flatter area behind it. Then I start looking for anomalies. What anomalies you might ask? Well the Roodekoppies lakebed is covered in gravel, but there are loads of small silt pockets. These silty areas are not deep and after careful investigation I realized it is not a horrible smelly silt and as soon as I discovered bloodworm on my hook point, I was hooked on these silty spots. With the water level at around 60%, I found the perfect spots in 7m to 8m deep water, and although many anglers reckoned I should rather target 6m water, the features made the decision for me. DO I MASS FEED OR SCATTER? There is a general belief that one should mass bait on a lake like Roodekoppies, but I can safely say that it is better to spread your feed over a wide area. If you fish four rods, I suggest an area of at least 50m x 15m with your chosen bait spread over the entire area. My reasoning is that I want the fish to pick up the baits one by one, thus occupying themselves with picking up bits all over the place. Pre-occupied fish are easier to catch as they feed more confidently, but more so, I can catch a carp and its mate would carry on feeding without being disturbed. I like to fish 3 of my 4 rods inside the pre-baited area and one rod just off it - it has been a method that has stood the test of time over more than 3 seasons now. Location is key and once you get them going, keep scattering the bait at least twice a day. WHAT DO I FEED? Roodekoppies is quite uncomplicated when it comes to bait. My go-to is 10kg of freshly cooked maize (seeds starting to split open), 10kg broken maize (soaked in a cooler box with 12lt boiling water for 3 hours), 2kg of Tiger nuts (cooked) and 5kg of cooked hemp seed. Strategy remain unchanged for as long as it produce results. I cook all the particles separately before mixing them together. All the particles are mixed together in a big container before I add 3kg coarse salt, then I give it a final mix before I take the lot out to feed over the large area. I never add any form of preservative to the particles and firmly believe in the power of fresh bait. I prefer to make the effort in washing the ingredients before I soak them, and then cook them in a pressure cooker to ensure they are properly cooked. Once my feeding spot is prepared, I take the time to set up my camp properly - a neat and organized camp is a safe camp. Yet another fish well over 10kg. MOUSE TRAP My method of mousetrapping differs from most as I have been incorporating a handfull of cut and chopped boilies over each hookbait before I add one scoop of particles over the top of it. My choice of boilies since last year has been Mainline 50/50 Fruitella mixed with Essential IB - 20mm baits chopped in half with my Korda Boilie Cutter. I do not feed a lot, but believe one handfull of boilies gives me an edge over anglers who use only particles. During my last six Roodekoppies sessions this method has accounted for an incredible 204 runs with 203 fish landed. I was not the only angler to capture of all these marvellous creatures as I always have partners who enjoy the fun with me. The Korda Loops & Booms thats been working so well for me over the past few months. Home cooked tigers on both the spinner rig and loops and booms rig “spiked” in the Outrageous Orange Goo. The proof is in the pudding they say. Nailed in the middle of the bottom lip. Notice the putty on the rig. RIGS AND LEAD SYSTEMS I have written many rig articles over the years and for the last two years I have been using two versions of the Korda Spinner Rig, and lately the amazing Korda Loops & Booms. A stunning Roodekoppies Carp for me and Thomas de Wet. Recently I fished with Petri de Wet while filming the 18th Season of Hier Gaan Ons Alweer and during the 3 days of filming, we had no fewer than 119 runs and landed all 119 fish on the faithful ready-made Korda Loops & Booms with the Size 4 Krank hooks. Hook Baits were XXL Tiger Nuts with the head trimmed off, 5mm drilled out and orange high-density foam inserted and 4mm protruding from the top of the tiger nut. The foam acts as a sighter on the one side and changes the tiger nut into a critically balanced bottom bait on the other. Lead systems these days are so easy. I almost exclusively use a Heli-Safe lead system on a 750mm length of 50lb Korda Kable leadcore and as you gathered I use a helicopter set-up with the no-trace bead about 5cm from the lead. Not just does this system cast further than any system I have ever used, but it is also tangle-free and I can opt to either drop or save the lead. I like to save the lead if there are a few snags and grass around. The feeding strategy works so well that I sometimes get bites within minutes after dropping the bait, like this beautiful Roodekoppies carp. SPIKED HOOK BAIT These days I never soak my hookbaits - I prefer to use a freshly cooked tiger nut, coat the hookbait in my personal favourite, Korda Outrageous Orange Goo, and drop the bait minutes later. I will never use bottled, pre-flavoured tiger nuts as I am not a fan of preservatives and heavy flavours. I prefer to SPIKE my hook bait with a coating of Korda Goo or LL Signature Series Dips minutes before dropping the bait in the water as the flavour is dispersed through the entire water column, leaving a very subtle-flavoured hookbait ready to strike. SUMMARY To summarise, the use of salt changes the pH value of the water I am fishing in, and the use of a fruity-flavoured hookbait acts like a magnet for the fish as it zooms in on my hookbait in an area with an opposite pH. Give it a go- you will be pleasantly surprised.