I thought long and hard about what title to give this piece, although, I should add, my even bigger dilemma was whether to put these thoughts “on paper” at all. Perhaps these few lines will explain why.
Today’s social media suggests that a fishing session can only be successful if we catch fish by the dozen. To me, however, this gives a completely distorted picture of real carp fishing. I’m also well aware that in today’s fast-paced world everyone wants to catch lots of fish – and in as little time as possible. That is perhaps entirely understandable, yet I believe that, unfortunately, this is where we have to make compromises.
Summer big-carp fishing calls for a completely different mindset from the rest of the year. Many people think the key to success is heavy baiting and highly attractive boilies. Don’t get me wrong: this can work in a match or in any other situation where the goal is to catch lots of fish. In practice, however, it often proves to be the exact opposite, because the two approaches pull in completely opposite directions.
Just think of Kovács Lake in Tokaj, which I don’t think needs any introduction. I recently spent a few days there thanks to an invitation from a friend, and what I saw there also gave me good guidance for my own approach. Many say it is “easy” to catch a big carp on this water, since it has an excellent stock of fish. There are no nuisance fish, no bullhead catfish, not even small carp. The lakebed isn’t very varied either, with no major drop-offs – you just drop your rig in with the bait, and the big fish comes. Reality, however, often looks quite different. It isn’t unusual for someone to spend four days on the bank and still finish the session without a single bite. A team fishing nearby had put in nearly 10 kilos of bait (boilies and pellets) in just two days, and still came away with only one or two carp. When I asked what justified such a huge amount of bait, the answer was simple: “Because that’s how everyone fishes here.” That sentence stayed with me for a long time. Does a tactic become good just because many people use it? I thought about the fact that I had put in barely 1.5 kg of C1 over three days, yet I managed to catch several carp over 25 kilograms.
One of the reasons for this is that in summer the carp have access to a huge amount of natural food and – as the example shows – a huge amount of food introduced by anglers. That is exactly why, at this time of year, the most heavily flavoured or most eye-catching boilie is often not the best choice. The bait’s nutritional content, digestibility and food value are far more important. Big, experienced carp often look for genuine food value rather than intense flavouring, which is exactly why I like to use SBS 20+ range boilies in warm water.
If we fish in the right spot, choose a boilie with the right composition and bait sparingly, we can achieve excellent results even in a relatively short time. The emphasis lies not in the kilograms of boilies thrown in, but in the quality of the strategy.
In big-carp fishing, success is almost never down to chance. It depends far more on knowing the water, understanding the behaviour of the fish and making deliberate decisions – and choosing the “right” boilie for the water can be the secret weapon.