Korda Underwater - Norton Disney

Speak to most carp anglers and they would say that Wafters and Pop Ups are probably their go to baits on a session. A lesson learnt quickly in this Korda Underwater was how wary the fish were to pick up a bait that sat clear of the bottom, or was critically balanced, with several fish confidently feeding on the loose boilies, and immediately stopping as soon as they saw any movement from the hookbait. 

A swap to a bottom bait (10mm Mainline Cell boilie) topped with a glugged wafter, so there was little if any buoyancy in the hookbait, resulted in the carp feeding more confidently with many fish picking up the hookbait rather than steering clear of it, as they were on pop ups and wafters. 

No matter, how much you perfect your rig, there is always a chance that a carp will eject the bait, as clearly seen by the Korda Underwater team as several carp were able to pick up the hookbait and blow it straight back out.

In a normal situation, you are unable to see what's going on under the surface, so you need to make sure you have a rig that will reset perfectly ready for the next take. This was clearly shown by Tom having his rig picked up four times with no bites, before the fifth carp was nailed. 

Another lesson that become quickly apparent was how easily fish could identify the leader against the lake bed, and this would result in confidently feeding fish becoming spooked as soon as they got close to the rig. Even though Tom & Dan were using a transparent clear leader, on the camera it was clear to see the leader a it was a straight line of colour, which against the lake bed looked completely unnatural.

Therefore, by flecking the leader with a marker pen it starts to closely match the flecks in gravel and little bits of black stone on the bottom, making it much harder for the carp to identify the rigs. 

Although, the Korda Underwater focuses on the carps interaction with different rigs, it was quickly clear how changes in feeding brought more fish into the peg and got them feeding more confidently. When baiting with spods/spombs, the bait is much more compact on the bottom and in these instances the carp were much more careful when feeding. Whereas, when catapulting and the bait is more spread on the bottom, the carp were much more confident in picking up with the loose offerings. 

Not only that, the noise created by catapulting drew fish into the peg and even on occasions where there was still plenty of bait on the bottom, by catapulting more bait over the top, the fish would wuickly come back to the feed area to investigate. 

Choice of hookbaits is absolute key when carp fishing and most of the time anglers will rely on a bait that they are most confident in. During the session, it was clear that the fish could definitely identify pink colour hookbaits, with many fish homing in on this flash of colour even from the back of the swim. 

The team tried different coloured hookbaits such as "match the hatch" colours to the feed, and other colours such as yellow, but the carp very rarely would swim up to even investigate the hookbait let alone take it. So in clear water situations such as the Turners Lake at Norton Disney, they be sure to add a flash of pink to your hookbaits. 

sDespite Heli Rigs and Lead Clips Rigs having been used to land several big carp in both the UK and Abroad, the performance of both of these rig set ups in front of the underwater cameras was eye opening, with both set ups resulting in a bite to fish ratio of less than 20%, with several fish picking up the hookbait and being able to quickly eject it before the weight of the lead could take effect. 

In the case of the heli rig set up, it seemed that the rig would keep pushing back aginst the leader, meaning a carp would need to come in from the correct angle to get hooked. Although a lead clip keeps the rig attached more directly to the lead, it was still not aggressive enough to result in every fish being hooked with several carp getting away without being hooked. 

To address the issues highlighted by the lead clip and heli rig set ups, a big change was needed! Therefore, the rig needed to become a bit more spiteful, so that the fish would be able to get hooked as soon as the hookbait is picked up. Therefore, the teams first change was to move to an inline lead with a shorter 3 inch hooklength of 15lb boom. This means the fish will feel the weight of the hook even quicker then the heli rig and lead clip set ups.

Another addition was to include a shot on the hook. A tactic normally seen with pop ups and wafters but this time with a bottom bait and to ensure that the hook could turn and reset a D-Rig using a straight pointed Korda Longshank X was the chosen hook arrangement. Lastly the addition of an anti tangle sleeve ensured that the hooklink was kep straight and in front of the lead at all times. 

It did not take long, for the rig to get thoroughly tested, and to the teams amazement, the next 5 pick ups resulted in 4 fish hooked. A much better ratio compared to anything else the team had tried! The key aspect of this rig is that it gives the fish no opportunity for the fish to spit the hookbait out, as the second the rig is in the fishes mouth it is contacting flesh, as everything is sitting tight. 

The team have even tried this rig on different waters since the conclusion of filming with Tom Stokes managing to land three fish in one session from a notoriously hard water with one of the carp being a fish that hadn't been caught on the bottom for over 4 years!

So, if you are fishing a clear spot on your local venue, then be sure to give this rig a go as well as some of the lessons learnt from this Korda Underwater, that will be sure to transform your carp fishing and ensure that you start hooking more fish.