Exploit Carp Feeding Modes For Big UK Carp Catches!
Posted on May 10, 2008
Filed Under Sports |
Top fishermen know that by exploiting the way your target fish feed at any time of day or night or time of the season, they can reliably improve their catches and keep catching more consistently than the average angler. This is one very significant bait and rig subject which is neglected by the majority of anglers. In fact fish like carp change their mode of feeding all the time even over a 24 hour period or in an instant and you can manipulate and induce changes in feeding to catch far more fish!
It is well-known that jokers and blood worms have often been banned as baits from various fisheries because they impact upon the feeding behaviour of fish so much. Many species of fish and in particular the Cyprindae genus of fish, have many adaptations which help them switch between modes of feeding to exploit the higher profitabilities of one mode over another, depending on which forms of food are available and where they are located in the water or bottom sediment.
You may have watched koi or goldfish sucking algae off the sides of a pond. But carp can also feed by filtering tiny items from the water, while moving and even while stationary. The position and concentrations of natural foods like algae and crustaceans called zooplankton or daphnia fluctuate depending on sunlight angle and intensity, temperature and water mineral and oxygen concentrations among other time and seasonal variations. The successful use of very fine ground baits is one way to induce the filter feeding type of modes whilst on the way to the angler inducing feeding on larger food items such as boilies for instance.
This kind of feeding or similar can be used to further explore the potential of your hook baits and free baits as food items even before your bait is actually touched by a fish. You might have seen a fish suddenly dart towards a bait after having started gulping in water first to taste your bait more efficiently using taste buds in the pharyngeal cavity in the gill area. Fish also use gulping in a snapping motion in a mobile pump feeding) or static position to filter feed and particulate feed and carp and bream do this much of the time in turbid lakes; lazy of what!
Carp actually derive very significant nutrition by filter feeding as this is the primary mode of feeding used especially in turbid lakes. It is a great advantage to use this mode to good effect, and I have had outstanding success for bigger carp fishing over ground bait and forms of more soluble boilies and pellets forms over deep silt in smaller turbid lakes; where catching filter feeding carp can be very difficult with more conventional approaches and large baits and pellets etc. This method of feeding exploitation can drive fish into a feeding frenzy even though no solid bait has actually been consumed yet!
Bass and trout and even carp, bream and fish like crappie roach and barbel all filter feed to different degrees. This finely adjusted feeding is achieved using what is called the branchial sieve structures which are adjusted in order to energy efficiently exploit more abundant nutritious food particles and natural organisms. Carp can even suction filter feed at least an equal head length away from its head which is similar in energy and movement efficiency as a sheep seen feeding on grass on its knees although fish use far less energy in general movement compared to terrestrial animals not supported in water.
Not all attention should be placed upon the chemical sensing of food items as with carp as other sense may also predominate including sight and even electrical lateral line detection of the tiny movements in the water of zooplankton! In the case of bait size, the diameter of the fish’s mouth is not always the limiting factor in certain feeding details, but in fact the diameter of the throat where chewing of food takes place. Small items are more natural to feed on for carp for much of the year round except at times when larger nutritious items are abundant such as fry in spring and molluscs like larger snails in the autumn etc.
The fine filter feeding mode predominance found with carp in lakes especially is really a reflection of the most dominant abundance of smaller food items available throughout most of the year such as fluctuating populations of fly larvae, tubifex, daphnia, and other benthic organisms as well as algae etc from which carp drive essential amino acids, and pigments like cantaxanthin etc. Many anglers say smaller baits are better for catching carp even though this species and many others become conditioned to eat large boilies, pellets and particles of 20 millimetres and over. But the fact is the smaller baits are more easily consumed for less energy cost compared to many larger ones and the fact that far less anglers presently use tiny boilies on their hook rig is a bit beside the point here.
If you look at the success of captures on small pieces of baits fished over crumbs of baits or fine particulate ground baits saturated with nutritional liquid food additives with added blood worms, maggots, sweetcorn and hemp seeds etc, you can see distinct advantages because it taps into more of the fishes ranges of natural modes of feeding. It is no surprise that fishing tiny hook baits makes sense for big fish even those with huge mouths, when their most efficient and predominant modes of feeding involve the gulping, filter feeding and particulate feeding modes, as opposed to chasing down prey fish for example (although carp do this too.) When you match up the primary feeding modes of your target fish at that time of season to the ground baits, rigs and hook bait characteristics and sizes you choose using a bit more expert knowledge, and your fishing success can be truly multiplied for life…
By Tim Richardson.
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