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"Muddy Holes" By Dave Kyte

As the man made lakes and small natural fisheries known as muddy holes" proliferate so more and more anglers are deserting the traditional venues such as rivers and canals for easier pickings. Never has it been so simple for the young angler to bypass the apprenticeship of tiddler snatching and reading a water to find fish. The rewards are great, with most of these fisheries offering abundant carp to double figures.

Start with a strong through action rod about 12' and a fixed spool reel with a smooth drag system, line of about 8 lbs.BS, a hook link of 6-7lbs and a barbless hook between size 16 and 6 depending on the bait size. Carp are very varied in their diet and maggots sweet corn, pepperarmi, luncheon meat, worms and dog biscuits will all do the job, but before you start fishing walk round and check the swims. Look for fish holding features such as reeds, lilies, overhanging trees and also for signs of fish rolling or splashing. Anything that may give you a clue as to where the fish are.

The two most popular tactics are either to float fish with the waggler or use the "Method".

Crystal wagglers, which can not be easily seen by the fish are probably the best float for general use, with two third of the shot locking the float and adapter in place and the remainder strung shirt button style down the line. Feed the ground bait in "little and often" to build the swim and get the fish coming to you but watch for changes in the feeding depth of the carp.

If you are spraying in maggots the fish will be in the upper layers of the water, taking your bait on the drop but if you are feeding sweetcorn they will be grubbing about in the mud so always think about what's happening to your bait and the fish.

The "Method" is a carp tactic that comes into its own on venues with a large head of carp, but which also contains lots of small roach and rudd. It is a basic bolt rig with a ball of groundbait moulded round a cage feeder and a short (7-8") hooklink off the feeder. The hook bait is then hidden in the ball of groundbait along with a few freebies of the whatever is on the hook and when the fish come along the groundbait ball is broken up and the free offerings are snaffled up, along with the hook (hopefully).

Obviously both these methods have a lot of refinements that help to put fish on the bank and these will feature in other articles soon, but the best key to success is to "look, listen and learn".