Redmire Taught Me Old-School Carp Fishing Methods Still Do The Trick | Chris Haydon

Be honest, how many times have you been floater fishing this year? How about actual float fishing for big carp? For many, including OMC's Chris Haydon, the answer is not at all. That was until his first visit to the historic Redmire Pool, where these methods made the difference between catching and blanking…

We’ve all been there — the temperatures have gone through the roof, and it seems like fishing for carp in the daytime becomes an impossible task. All they seem to want to do is bask on or just below the surface, tuck away under trees or in weed, and often in the shallowest water, where feeling a ‘drop’ is practically impossible.

This scenario was certainly what I was faced with on my first visit to the iconic Redmire Pool earlier this month — a once-in-a-lifetime trip I was desperate to make the most of.

For those who don’t know too much about Redmire, this small and intimate tree-lined pool is steeped in UK carp fishing history, having produced record-sized fish totally naturally in the past. There’s a lot to take in when you visit this remarkable place, but it’s important to remember the stock these days is totally different. They are smaller, and there are a lot more of them — not too dissimilar from a lot of the club lakes many of us visit week in, week out.

With this in mind, when I began walking around the famous pool, I found carp very quickly, and there was a noticeable abundance of them near the surface and down at the shallow end of the lake.

As our family party of five began to decide on swims, it would have been easy to pitch right up down in the shallows, but my experience on most lakes is that fish often vacate these really shallow areas at night in favour of deeper water. So, assuming that was a similar routine here, I positioned myself in the middle of the lake so they would pass me on their route down to the dam end from the shallows each night.

It took just one night to realise this wasn’t going to be the case on this trip. As I sat taking in the spooky Redmire atmosphere, the eerie silence was broken by the sound of fish crashing all night long down in the shallow end. They may have dropped back a little, but certainly not into deeper water — actually, they were still a little to my right.

So the next day, after a very quiet night on the rods, it was time to get stalking. Now, I could have just used my standard carp rods and rigs for this, but after baiting a few areas at the shallow end and getting the carp feeding, one thing became obvious — it wasn’t just shallow, but super shallow! We’re talking not much more than a foot and a half of depth in places. From the huge clouds of mud erupting from the fish movements, it also became clear the bottom was very silty. Not ideal circumstances for avoiding disturbance and achieving effective presentation.

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FLOAT FISHING FOR BIG CARP

It was always my plan to try and catch one of Redmire’s smaller resident carp on the float — more so to say I’d done it than anything else — but as it happens, this was arguably the most effective method you could use in such shallow and silty water.

Having a float attached to the line top and bottom with float rubbers, with little weight down my line, meant I could cast at the mud clouds — or over them — and slowly draw the float back without the fish having a clue I was even there.

The Heist Travel Rod turned out to be the perfect tool for this style of angling, and coupled up with the 1 of 1 Reel and 15lb Dancefloor, I had a bit of power if needed, but still the finesse to cast the float correctly. The length of the Travel Rod also meant I could get in under all the trees and into the tightest swims Redmire had to offer. Proper stalking!

For bait, I used something that has become a bit of a favourite of mine since release — the Paella Jaw Paste. Super easy to mix to the consistency you want by just adding water or Paella Gravy. I’ve already caught some nice carp and cats using the paste, and in the coloured, silty water of Redmire I thought it would be perfect for the carp to focus in on. All I did then was mould this around a size 6 Cassien Hook, trying to keep the point showing, but also making sure the paste was remaining soft enough to strike off the hook — it is a fine balance.

In preparation for my float fishing, I baited all the likely-looking areas in the shallow end with a few handfuls of iScream and Paella Pellets, and simply rotated them based on evidence of carp feeding. I can tell you — they got on the pellets quick!

It wasn’t long before I was at the end of the lake with carp tails and mud clouds all over the place. I flicked out my paste towards what looked like the back of a bigger fish, it tailed up, the float slid away — and I struck. A monumental surge followed as the fish, with nowhere else to go, powered off down the lake at speed, and as I clamped down, the hook pulled. Doh! At least I knew I could get bites though.

After re-baiting I tried the area again, and this time with more success. The float slowly slid away and again I hooked a fish that powered off down the lake. This time, however, I managed to turn it, and before long a 10lb Redmire common carp was in my net. Far smaller than the one I’d lost, but still a welcome capture.

Following a move of spot, I caught another small Redmire common very quickly on the same float and paste tactic — but went on to lose several more, all to hookpulls! Something was happening. And this is where the experts of float fishing for big carp would have caught far more than me.

One of the issues with the float is knowing what is a bite and what isn’t — particularly in this scenario where you have a lot of fish, some sizeable, in very shallow water. In this instance, fishing your float significantly over depth so it lays flat on the surface, and waiting for it to cock fully, then slide under, can make a huge difference. Fishing my float sort of half-cocked meant I was likely hitting into false indications, potentially leading to foul hookers. As the fish I did land were all well and truly nailed in the back of the mouth.

Another potential error — and it sounds ridiculous — is I arguably had the fish feeding too well. With mud and debris flying all over the place as fish hunted down the pellets I put in, the likelihood is the fish were not feeding by sight at all, making it very difficult for them to deliberately suck up your hookbait. More likely, they were frantically sucking at everything in the area — the attraction and stimulation was that high. Certainly something I will keep in mind for my regular carp fishing on silty lakes. Maybe a little less is more?

Regardless of the losses, there was certainly a magic to float fishing I hadn’t felt in my carp fishing for a while. It was pure excitement. Bubbles coming up next to the float, the intimacy of watching events unfold, and being able to react very quickly with no noise at all. This is a real art form that many of us need to spend some time remastering. If I’d dropped a lead and Spinner Rig in amongst them, sure, they might have stayed on, but the likelihood is they would have spooked — and I wouldn’t have hooked them at all.

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CATCHING THEM OFF THE SURFACE

As the week went on, I began to see more and more carp on the surface, and the first noticeable thing was that these were considerably bigger fish. Getting them feeding was tricky though — these pressured fish had obviously seen all of this before.

At first, I tried what I would describe as “mugging” them. Essentially, this meant casting bits of free-lined crust towards cruising or sunning fish. Other than one curious big common, who managed to suck a corner off my bread crust without engulfing the whole lot, they wanted nothing to do with bread at all. It was time to feed some mixers and floating pellets.

I’d like to think surface fishing is an area of carp fishing I’m particularly good at. Despite its common frustrations, I find if you are persistent enough, you can usually inspire something to happen. So that was what I decided to do — keep feeding mixers to get them feeding at a close enough range where I could cast at them with a very light float and catch one.

A lot of anglers believe that the best conditions for surface fishing are flat calm, hot days. But let me tell you — the fish at Redmire were most confidently feeding off the top when there was a slight ripple on. The downside for me as the angler is that this makes presentation terrible. But my answer was simple — I just had to get enough fish feeding in one spot, cast beyond them, gently reel back and hope the take was almost instant. Leaving a rig out there meant a big bow in the line, and a hookbait moving totally unnaturally in comparison to the free offerings — and the carp can spot this a mile off.

Tackle was essentially the same as I float fished with — you don’t always need dedicated kit, and to be honest the Travel Rod is so versatile you can literally use it for anything. Hook was the same — I know the Cassien has the strength required to hold fish in weed and is sharp too, so I wasn’t going to let a few losses bother me. My hookbait obviously wasn’t going to be paste, but a big juicy iScream Match The Hatch pop-up instead — and they really do match a dog biscuit/floating pellet well once trimmed down.

To say I was smiling on the final day of my trip would be an understatement — this switch to surface tactics worked. It was by no means easy, but certainly rewarding. I went on to bank the three biggest fish of the week at 19lb 6oz, 24lb 12oz and 27lb 12oz. And guess what — no losses at all! The frustrations on the float, therefore, could almost certainly be explained by feeding behaviour.

I of course had all the usual torment that comes with surface fishing too — countless near misses, what seemed like a thousand recasts, and fish feeding anywhere but near the hookbait — but the three I managed to hook and land made all that worthwhile.

On the busy waters we all visit nowadays, chances for this kind of fishing are rare, I know. But if the opportunity does arise, make the most of it. The carp don’t see it every day, they let their guard down, and you’ll experience a whole new thrill. There’s lots to learn with these methods — they both are true angling skills — but stick with it, go old-school, and the carp of your dreams might not be too far away.