Fishing for carp among the branches

Many carp anglers who fish in dam reservoirs avoid places with flooded trees standing in the water. Leon deliberately catches carp even among the branches and in addition with a ping-pong ball set…

In dam lakes, carp sometimes swim very close to the shore, and anglers are not aware of it at all, because the fish just don't show up. Most often this happens in places, in which there are trunks of flooded trees in the water. It even seems to be the rule, that there are many nice carps among the branches and trunks. But the problem is there, that when fishing in such a place with the classic method, it seems impossible to haul a carp.
I used to only fish there, where most of my fellow carp anglers were looking for happiness in the dam lake, sometimes 70 meters, and sometimes even i 100 meters from the shore. I was afraid, that when taken briefly, the line will not withstand a sharp jerk, that every bigger carp will break it like a thread.
However, it is worth trying to fish among the branches and trunks of trees standing in the water, because regular bites are almost guaranteed there. There is only one small but – before picking up a fishing rod, the line is usually already hooked to something. Even if we kept the stick up, the escaping carp will catch some obstacle with the line anyway.
Following the fighting fish in the boat is also out of the question, since it is rather impossible to control the escape of a carp jammed over long distances. Even, if we manage to come to the fish, we'll see soon, that even a few meters of ordinary monolithic line has incredible extensibility, and the end of such a fight is usually fatal.
Despite this, I was successful, thanks to the braid, the advice of friends and your own thoughts solve this problem almost one hundred percent. So let me tell you, what this method is all about.

Solution

The necessary equipment is a free spool reel, strong rod with a length 3,90 subway and parabolic action, braid with strength 25 kg and a few pieces of silicone tube.
Besides, I also use a pontoon with an electric motor and a good fishfinder.
The soul of the whole method, however, are floating "pilots". I mean through-the-hole ping-pong balls, each with a piece of hardwood glued on it, anti-twist silicone tube. This tube should protrude approximately one centimeter on both sides of the ball.
We need two balls for one fishing rod. Stop the first of them near the leader, however a little higher, than the actual depth of the fishery.
Thanks to this, the final section of the line enters the water vertically, and thus does not get stuck.
Ball number two should be stopped roughly in the middle of the line between the tip and ball number one.

Ping-pong balls hold the braid above the roots. The bait lies at the bottom between the obstacles. The whole set must be transported on a dinghy. During the haul, both balls move towards the hook and do not interfere with the fight with the fish.

Loose line!

You need a friend's help to put out the bait. Place the rod on the supports and engage the slow spool of the reel.
One of the anglers goes out on a dinghy with bait and the first ping-pong ball, the other one stands near the tip and holds the second ball in his hand. At the time, when the second stopper comes off the spool and passes through the guides, The angler standing on the shore releases the ball, opens the bail and, holding the line, releases it in a controlled manner from the spool. When the angler on the pontoon swims away enough distance and finds a “clean” spot with the echo sounder, lowers the leader with bait into the water, sets up the first stopwatch and lures you with a handful of boilies.

Water ball

The angler on the bank then engages the free spool and attaches a light bite indicator to the taut line (he cannot drag the first ball under the water with his weight). The braided line is always "suspended" just below the surface, so there is no possibility of catching on obstacles. The proposed by me set "works" also in the wind, both close to the shore, and even in the distance 150 meters.

When taking a bite, we immediately grab the rod in our hand, we press the fingers of the other hand to the spool and make short ones, but a brute force. Spool idle should be engaged at the beginning, so that the carp can pull the line freely. No worries – the carp will not go anywhere, and it will only make small circles in one place. The first ping-pong ball still keeps the line perfectly vertical, the fish cannot be wrapped around the tree trunk. In the meantime, both anglers get into a pontoon or a boat and begin to follow the escaping carp. After reaching the second ping-pong ball, wind a loose line on the reel.

We activate the brake only after winding the line up to the first ball directly above the fish. At this point, we make direct contact with the carp. While one of the anglers is still following him, the other stretches the stick to the breaking point. The brake should be tightened quite tightly, so the carp cannot pull too much braided line. Sometimes the fish bends the stick to the handle and the braid rubs against tree trunks.

When the carp stops escaping, immediately pick up the stick and quickly select any slack. The weight is mounted on a thin side strap, which breaks off immediately, when the lead gets caught on some obstacle.

Force

We tow the carp by force. No worries, everything will run smoothly! If anyone is careful, that any large fish should always be towed gently, he had definitely never fished with braided line in his life. From the moment, when I started fishing with a braided line with a tight brake, I have never pulled a hook out of the mouth of a carp before. Perhaps that's why, that I use large and strong hooks, and competitive carp have exceptionally hard mouths.

W 1994 In the last year, I caught a lot of fine carp among the flooded trees using the method described. In a ten-day trip for twenty-five stuck carps, I picked only one.