In December 2003 we stocked the lake with some 2000 lb of fish, mostly small carp up to 1 lb 8 oz, the rest being skimmers to 2 lb and roach from 2 oz to 1 lb. You will catch here on pole, waggler and feeder but for a simple fun day with plenty of bites the short pole is ideal. Fishing short means you can often loose feed accurately by hand and it makes it easier to control the rig and hit bites.

The Carpa Porth float pattern in 0.5 gram size is a good starting point but it pays to have a bigger one ready as well to cope with changes in conditions. A heavier rig will take the hook bait down to the feeding fish when you are getting lots of bites quickly and it will be easier to control in windier conditions or where the undertow increases.

Starting off on double maggot will get a bite quicker than most of the other baits and that is good for your confidence. If you soon get bitted out then use the pellet, corn or meat to be more selective and pick out the carp.	Pellets will catch plenty of fish either banded or using a soft hooker, but for a nice mixed bag try using dusted meat, corn and maggots which are likely to catch the carp and the silver fish too.	Coating the meat with a fishmeal or pellet based groundbait when tackling pellet waters is effective because when fish are used to pellets it makes the meat more appealing.

For pleasure sessions I would advise using line diameters of 0.13 mm for durability but be prepared to try a 0.10 mm diameter trace if the fish are not queuing up to bite. Elastics don’t need to be too heavy - you could easily cope with a grade eight switching to a ten if the fish are biting immediately and you are really bagging. Size 16 or 14 wide gape hooks are also ideal. If the float is being pulled by the tow, go with it, you will probably find most bites come a few feet down tow’ of where your feed entered the water.

The small stockie carp in this lake are typical in that they can give frustratingly ‘iffy’ bites by staying in the same place with the bait in their mouth. They don’t move off and give a positive bite so be prepared for some ‘bristle dancing’ antics. I find it helps to have a decent amount of bristle showing above the water to read the bites.You should find that the Bodriggy carp will feed readily at the shorter range especially if there are empty swims beside you. I managed this 40lb haul in next to no time, get down there this year and you can enjoy more of the same.

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