Carps often like to change their places of residence. Once they forage very deep, other times in the shallows. Angler, eager to catch these fish, also should change the fishery from time to time.
Feeling, that I'm fishing in the wrong place, intensified on the second day of my fishing weekend. The day before, when I appeared at this post-excavation lake, a light west wind was blowing, the sun was shining, and my place, in which I previously caught a few large carps, it literally smelled like fish. The water conditions made me very optimistic and I was careful, that at night, taking carp is certain. Unfortunately, the night passed without much impressions, it was already approaching noon, and I still didn't have a single nip. True, early in the morning, in place of, in which I was fishing, large carps were jumping out of the water, but could it be any consolation? I was almost sure, that the carps only swam below the surface and were not at all deep 9-11 meters, so there, where my lures lay.
I was wondering, shouldn't I have moved the lures somewhere else. The thought of relocating didn't seem very encouraging to me, especially since I took a lot of equipment with me, and even put a little tent on the shore. However, the prospect of spending the rest of the day waiting for a carp to be taken in a completely inappropriate place also did not smile.. Where were the carps?
After all, I knew the shape of the bottom and the depth of the fishery inside out (I once examined it thoroughly with an echo sounder). The shore zone of the lake was quite narrow, and the bottom fell steeply. A few meters from the shore it was already over nine meters deep.
I thought to myself, that if the carp were circling anywhere near the shore, maybe I can spot them while diving with a mask and a snorkel. After all, nothing stood in the way, to take a refreshing bath, and find out by the way, what is happening in the underwater world at any given moment.
Diving in search of carp
I rolled up both rods, I put on my fins, mask and went into the water. What my lake looked like under the water? The steep bank ended narrow, a meter-long strip completely devoid of vegetation (probably due to the breaking of waves in windy weather). Then it started about three meters high, steep bottom slope zone, heavily overgrown with water vegetation reaching almost to the very surface. The vegetation belt, however, was not uniform and there were a few small "holes" with a sandy bottom. At the border of the occurrence of vegetation, I was able to observe flocks of general cargo, and when I was swimming over one "bald" hole in the vegetation, connecting with a small corridor with open water, for a moment I flashed three nice ropes. A few hundred meters away, swimming, of course, along the shore, I noticed two carps emerging from a break in the vegetation. So the carps were in warm coastal water! And me, with the stubbornness of a maniac, all the time I was fishing at great depth and in much colder water.
I made up my mind right away, that after leaving the water I will fish in the shallow coastal zone.
But how do you give the fish a bait in this underwater thicket?? There was no question of casting the line, because the bait would immediately fall into the vegetation, and this in turn wasted any chance of catching a carp. About thirty meters to the side of my fishing position, I discovered a hole one meter in diameter in the aquatic vegetation. This "clearing" was connected by a narrow corridor with the open water zone. I found this place very promising and I decided to put one of my lures there.
I decided to cast the second fishing rod four meters away, to give the carp a chance too, which would eventually start feeding in deeper water. Since I was already wet anyway, I decided to go out with the bait in my hand and put it on the bottom of a sandy basin among the vegetation. I went ashore, put a new protein ball on the hair rig, freewheel was engaged, I swam over the chosen spot and sensitively lowered the bait to the bottom. After a while the protein ball rested in the very center of the sandy clearing, while the sinker is on the border of vegetation.
For sure, that the line will not scare the carp, I pulled it a little to the side and pressed it lightly into the weed. Thus, the carp floating over the underwater hole had no chance of hitting the line, at least until he finds the bait.
There should also be groundbait near the bait.
Wanting to bait just as precisely, how I put out the bait, I swam over "my" clearing again and dumped some protein balls and corn to the bottom.
The bait was lying there, where i wanted, the fishery was baited – all that's left for me, is to wait patiently for a carp. After changing the fishing spot, I was more than sure, that I will have them soon.
But experience told me, that sometimes a lot of time must pass, before the carp finally takes the bait.
First bite
The electronic bite indicator beeped, when it was almost dark. After jam, the seven-kilogram carp lunged towards the open water, and after a few minutes it was in the landing net.
The next morning, I had two more carps (both after 9 kg). There was not even a nib on the bait lying at great depth.
The change of the fishery undoubtedly determined the success of this trip, The ability to adapt to the situation by the water was also important. In this particular case, locating carps was not only about determining the site, but also depth, where the fish were. Although my two lures were only four meters apart, and between them was a groundbait "carpet", no carp decided to swim to the deeper bait.
Are the deeper parts of the water still too cold for carp at this time of the year??