Floater Fishing for Carp
Mind you, fishing with boilies isn't the most exciting form of fishing known to humans — especially if your bait is sitting out there, untouched and unmoved, for 36 hours or more. There are ways of enjoying yourself more! For my money, there's nothing to beat floater fishing. For this, you'll need either chunks of floating crusts pulled from a big, fresh, unsliced loaf or, more commonly, one of the commercial brands of dog biscuits. Pour boiling water over these to soften them up before going to the waterside, and perhaps flavour them with an aerosol. The choice is yours, but don't overdo either the boiling or the flavouring.
Situate yourself upwind and begin to catapult out pouchfuls of biscuits, say six to ten at a time. Watch as the wind drifts them down the lake. The chances are that in anything like a well-stocked water, you'll soon begin to see swirls, bow waves, even heads and lips, as the biscuits are devoured. It pays to wait just a little bit while the carp build up confidence and perhaps follow the trail of biscuits closer and closer to you. This means that your line control will be easier.
A float controller helps add weight for casting and also allows you to mend the line as it is blown off course by the wind. It also helps signal a bite at long range when you're not sure if your biscuit is the one that's been taken. On some waters, floater fishing like this is every bit as efficient as the boilie and bolt rig hard on the bottom and, as you can guess already, it's a darn sight more fun.
It is also exciting to fish close in with a float over a bed of particle baits like sweetcorn, maggots, casters or hemp. Choose your pitch carefully, possibly under overhanging trees, next to reed beds, or anywhere you see signs of carp behaviour. What you'll probably begin to witness is a build up of carp feeding activity in the area you've baited. Perhaps the water will color up. There'll probably be some bubbles. Your float will begin to rock and stir as the big bodies move the water beneath it. This, believe me, is thrilling, and you're well keyed-up by the time your float slides across the surface and disappears into the murky water. So, you see, you don't necessarily have to spend a week on the water before catching your first fish.
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