03/06/2026 - Roving for Carp
In 1946 I given some fishing tackle by my two grandfathers'. I was also given a book to read titled The Fisherman's Bedside Book by "BB" I still have a copy in my possession, a copy that has a red leather-bound cover, I treasure this book, which I still often read.
One chapter that captured my imagination is Floating Bait For Carp: By Flt/Lt Burton on page 292. He writesCarp fishing, in my humble opinion, is one of the most exacting and exciting branches of the Piscatorial art. It isalways said by most writers on the subject that carp are the hardest fish to catch. In my opinion they are the easiest to hook, but not always to bring successfully to the net. The cardinal point to remember with carp is to be quiet and keep, if possible, out of sight.These comments were made during the second world war. How true these thoughts are when it comes to catching carp on floating crust or flake today
After the end of the war, we now started fishing further afield, in fact as far as we could cycle. A venue we fished was a group of waters, near Cobham, which held perch, pike, Rudd, roach and carp. It was the latter fish that got our attention, we also put into action FL-Lt Burtons ideas on floating baits.
We would catapult a few bits of crust out towards the centre of the pool, then watch the crusts, as they drifted towards the Rhododendron bushes.Sometimes the crust would be taken in the open water, but not often.
As the crusts started to get in close to the to the Rhododendrons, we would see carp moving about, occasionally we would hear the slurp of a carp taking a bit of crust or just see the crust disappear in swirl of water.
After baiting our hook with a cube of crust or piece of flake. A cast would be made towards our chosen spot, if we were lucky the bait would drop on the water close to the Rhododendrons, then drift into the dark secretive areas under the bushes, where if we were lucky, the silver paper would suddenly shoot up to the rod ring.
These carp weighed around 2lbs to 5lbs, but a fish of that latter size was very rare. These carp were probably wild carp, we seek today. We never did see any other type of carp, such as mirrors or leather carp. When we were in our teens we did start to catch bigger fish.I was probably about 15 years old when I caught a carp, of 8lbs from Mereworth Castle lake in Wateringbury It was very private, we would hide our bikes behind a hedge some distance away then creep in using a set of wire cutters, to make a hole big enough to wriggle through.
There was also a pool close to the village of Teston in some woods known as the "Witches Pool". We could by a ticket for sixpence in those days. Again, floating crust was the best bait.
Cane rod centre pin reel with a loaf of bread.
With a new season on June 16th, forget bivvies, bite alarms etc, Follow my example and go back to the 1960's when carp fishing was so more enjoyable. For the past few years, I have been going back in time of my youth, we had good tackle, no weighs on the line just a hook, a simple way of catching fish. Our baits were lobworms, potatoes, bread crust, brown bread and honey paste.
When we fished at night, we used silver paper as a bite indicator, often we would often doze off. Suddenly we would be woken up by a screeching reel. Before electrical bite indicators were available, we would balance a penny on the spool of our Mitchell 300's, with a tin plate below it, if the penny dropped off on the plate, it was supposed to wake us up?.
The past few seasons I have been fishing several still waters, that are rarely fished by carp anglers, also they reckon the fish are not big enough. One water I fish, I'm often the only person there, I spend the day slowly walking around the venue, armed with rod. reel, landing net with a loaf of bread. All I need for fishing a free lined bit of crust or flake.
Often, when I come across a weedy area, I get down on my hands and knees to move in close to where I think there will be a carp, often, no more than six feet away in two feet of water. Creeping away to another spot, I will bait with flake, having dipped the flake in the water to ensure it will slowly sink., then it's back to the carp again on hands and knees, there are times when I get down on my chest, then pull and slide as quiet as a mouse, into position, with gentle swing I allow the line to roll off the reel, as the flake enters the water it slowly sinks, often within a minute, or even less, a fish will intercept the flake. "As I set the hook, the water boils in a frenzy", the carp creates a bow wave, as it heads for the deeper water. This is as exciting fishing, as you can get. It even equals bone fishing the flats.
Why not in this new season give it a try, apart from the tackle, I have in my small shoulder bag, my Jet boiler, a bottle of water, some tea bags, mug, milk, often a sandwich. As you slowly make your way around your chosen venue, you will be surprised at what you see, learn, and how enjoyable it is.
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