The Overnighter

We’ve all heard the phrase “Doing a quick overnighter”. However there is a lot more that goes into one of these sessions than simply arriving at a chosen venue, casting out three rods and hoping for the best, STEFAN OLCKERS TALKS US THROUGH A TYPICAL “OVERNIGHTER”. A 12kg common to start of the session. Most anglers spend their weekends at the bank to get away from the stressful working week, but my fishing predominantly consists of single overnight sessions during the week. It’s important to use a bait that you have confidence in, my choice falls on the ever consistent Scopex Squid. I prefer to spend my weekends with the family and girlfriend, and to be completely honest, actually only do about 4 weekend sessions per year. A typical session would be from 5 in the afternoon till 10 the next morning, which means I do have those extra couple of hours in the morning that most people might not have. The venues I fish are also close to home to ensure that it is only a couple minutes’ drive to get home and shower and go to work, if necessary. Another 9kg common on the Key Cray wafters. Due to the limited time spent on the bank when doing a “quick overnighter”, the most important thing is preparation. This means ensuring that your tackle is ready, your rigs are tied and your bait is ready to go. Often times I will wrap my rods up to the correct distance the night before, to ensure that I am able to cast each rod onto the spot with maximum efficiency. By doing this it gives me enough time to get everything ready before the sun goes down. I will have my bedchair behind my rods, with my gas bottle and bait bag on either side, my landing net will be next to the rods and the unhooking mat will be at the ready. Let’s not forget the waders that are in front of the bedchair, as there is nothing worse than getting your feet and legs wet in the middle of the night, then trying to get them dry and warm long after the fire has burnt out. Before going to bed I would visualise my plan if I got a bite: I would get up, grab my headlight on top of my bait bag, put on the waders, pick up the rod and get the landing net ready. Another common finding the key cray wafters irresistible. During this time of visualisation it is important to make sure that there are no obstacles in the way. The last thing you want is to face-plant in the middle of the night! Pre-baiting is a big part of the preparation period and is a vital part of turning a one fish session into a 5 or 6 fish session. Pre-baiting does not mean going to the lake every day and dropping multiple kilos of bait onto one spot for months before you go fishing. Sure this tactic could work for some, but for most of us this would not be time or cost effective. The idea behind pre-baiting is to get the fish used to finding food in a certain area. The last fish for the session came in the shape of this 11kg common. Most carp are creatures of habit and will follow similar patterns of behaviour. If they find good food in a certain area or on a specific spot, they will revisit that same spot to see if there is food there. This means that pre-baiting on a budget will also bring great results. By putting in only a couple of spombs or 100 or 200 grams of boilies on a spot every second day will ensure that there is some food signals coming off the same spot over a prolonged period of time, which in turn signals carp that there is always food available if and when they want to feed. Pre-baiting is like fishing without actually fishing - you are pulling carp into your area without fishing for them, raising their confidence and giving you an edge when you go down for your fishing session. Recently I did an overnight session at a venue close to home, which meant I had the chance to pre-bait effectively. My strategy was to put in some bait on the Monday and the Wednesday before my session on the Thursday night. I only fed 500 grams of homemade boilies mixed with Nash Bait Scopex Squid boilies on each trip. When the Thursday came I only took with me 1kg of this mix and ended up using everything. There’re always a few lights shining when fishing urban waters. This session I was only fishing with two rods, and after getting the second rod out it was only 10 minutes before the first rod ripped off, resulting in a scale-perfect common of 12kg on the nose. After checking the hookpoint the same Key Cray wafter went back out on the spot. Twenty minutes later and that same rod made the R3 siren sound. The moment I got that common in the net the other rod was away. This one was another common just over 9kg, falling to a pink Citruz popup on a hinged-stiff rig. Throughout the night I managed to land 2 more commons, one of 6kg and another 9kg, both falling victim to the Key Cray wafters. As the sun started to appear over the horizon the next morning, the right hand rod bent into action. This was a powerful 11kg common that gave a proper account of itself every time it got close to the net. Playing the fish in such clear water meant I appreciated every moment of the battle. After landing it my total carp landed was 6 for a single night’s fishing. A solid hook hold on this boilie muncher, it is very clear that the fish were feeding positively. This session was a clear example of the effectiveness of pre-baiting with only a single kg of boilies. Clearly the fish felt confident in the area as they were used to the free boilies that were scattered around the area, leading to a confident feeding spell. You don’t need weeks on end next to the water in order to catch a few carp. Ensure that you do the basics correctly, prepare sufficiently, give the fish some food, and most importantly, enjoy every moment that you have on the bank! A 12kg common to start the session only a few minutes after getting the last rod out.