Choosing a swim / Identifisering van 'n hengelarea
13 December 2011 MORE ARTICLES
I have seen so many young anglers driving up to the edge of the water, slamming the vehicle's doors and jumping to the opportunity to throw everything out on the ground as soon as possible without taking into account the noise they are making, in the process communicating to the carp: "Hey, we are here!" I know you are glad to go carp fishing but keep the noise down the best you can. You have not explored your swim yet and you dont know what’s lurking in the margins. Park a distance from the water and contain your exitement. There is still a lot of work lying ahead before actually choosing your swim and setting up camp.
Some get to the lake and immediately identify the most comfortable area to park the vehicle and pitch the tent. It seems to them that there is carp activity as the fish shows by surfacing and/or jumping and the anglers are happy... but are the carp keeping in the swim or are they in the process of moving on? You first have to establish this.
Spend some time walking around the available swims where you can. The comfiest swim is many times not the best swim you could have chosen. Silently and slowly approach the margins with some polaroid glasses and inspect the areas around the swims. Look what structures are visible and try to observe where carp surface or jump. Have a look in the shadows falling over the water from trees standing on the bank. Carp may be resting there on sunny days or feed on natural food they’ve found. Take note of the movement of carp to see if they are moving on or staying in the same area more or less. If the carp stay in an area you may come to the conclusion that the have found an area with food and that they might stay in the swim longer; this is a good swim to fish.
If there are long grass or trees on the bank keep behind it and observe from there. Keep the sun to your side or in front of you so that your shadow don’t fall over the water and spook carp in the margins. Many anglers have caught carp up to 26kg’s within several metres of the bank in shallow water of less than 1 meter. So be patient and don’t look over the fish in the margins as it is very easy to do so. Look at the incline of the bank in an effort to identify how steep the incline into the water is. It will give an indication if it could be shallow or deeper near the bank.
Generaly choose a swim with different structures to fish. A tree in the lake, lilly pads, a patch of reeds or an island will be good visible structures but some can be difficult to fish safely (I will discuss fishing this types of structures in a later article). If such structures are not visible, it is time to get on your boat with a fish finder to search for underwater structures. Map the structures you find on a GPS device for future reference. Take a short fishing rod along with braid and a weight and drop the weight to the bottom to feel the bottom for open hard spaces where you can place your baits. You will immediately feel if the weight has dropped into silt or on a harder bottom. An old river bed, plato or gravel bed is mostly nice safe productive structures to fish and the chances of getting snagged is minimal. The edges of grass patches may also produce some lurking carp. Rather invest in a good fishfinder with a colour screen which will display different structures properly and even show you if the bottom is hard or if you are in a silty area.
When you have decided on a swim with the best potencial it is time to set up camp and bait up. In the next article I will talk to you about setting up a comfortable camp for Trophy Carp Angling.
Ek wil graag voorstel dat jy 'n dam identifiseer waar jy alles kan insit om sukses daar te probeer behaal. Indien daar verskeie damme in jou omgewing is kan jy probeer uitvind watter een tradisioneel die groter karp lewer en daar begin. Dit help nie mens hengel die week een dam en die volgende week 'n ander nie. Leer die dam behoorlik ken sodat jy identifiseer waar die karp rond beweeg en wat die "paaie" is wat hulle swem. Doen bietjie 'bundu bashing' en loop deur die swims en kyk wat daar aangaan. Benader die oewers versigtig en kyk wat naby die oewers rondswem. Mens kan in kleiner venues soms gou die areas identifiseer waar die groter karp rondhang. Karp kan soms met amper spesifieke tye tussen areas beweeg en sal mens soms agterkom dat jy in 'n spesifieke swim tye kry wanneer die karp meer aktief is as ander tye. Byvoorbeeld: By my plaaslike venue vang ek die groter karp meestal in die nag by die inloop want hulle beweeg deur die groot inloop die dam in en uit gedurende die nag. Gedurende die dag het ek nie dieselfde sukses daar nie. Daar is ook 'n area in die ou rivierloop wat 'n draai maak waar die groter vis in die dag baljaar in die vlakker water net bo die kant van die rivierloop waar die kos uitspoel. Dus het ek 2 suksesvolle areas geidentifiseer wat ek tydens die dag en nag kan hengel.
Die voerstrategie en die regte rigs vir die omstandighede en waar mens dit plaas is uiters belangrik. Ongelukkig verskil dit van venue tot venue. Dit is maar trial en error tot jy die meeste sukses begin behaal. Gebruik die basiese rigs beskikbaar soos die bottom rig, helicopter rig (vir silty areas) en die blowback rig (die mees suksevolle rig vir bykans alle tipe aanbiedinge). Moenie snaakse rigs probeer wat jy op die internet teëkom nie want dit gaan jou verwar. Indien jy 'n boot gebruik kan jy ook 'n combi-link probeer aanwend met bovermelde rigs.
Nou ja, al wat ek verder kan sê is dat jy deur 'committment' 'n suksesvolle strategie kan uitwerk vir 'n venue en dit kan jy net langs die water doen. Kry vir jou 'n verkykertjie om struktuur en potensiële areas wat verder van die oewer voorkom deeglik te "scout" vir aktiwiteit. Dit kan jou dalk net gouer op die regte area bring waar 'n ou grote sy rugvin vir oomblike by die water uitsteek en rimpelings veroorsaak. Dit het al vir my gewerk.
Wanneer jy 'n swim met potensiaal geidentifiseer het is dit tyd om kamp op te slaan en die rigs in die water te kry. Tydens die volgende artikel gaan ek gesels oor hoe jou kamp daarna kan uitsien om gemaklik vir Trofee Karp te hengel.