I am having a banner year of carp fishing and I credit that to learning to fish the margins. In carp fishing lingo, that means fishing close to shore where the shoreline drops off. It doesn't matter whether I am fishing the Blackstone River or most of the carp ponds in the state, I am now catching most of my fish quite close to shore.
I was fishing the Blackstone River last night and I was simply using a flip cast to get my rig out about 15 feet in front of me. I landed several good sized mirrors to 18 lbs. That spot where the shoreline dropped off was where the fish were hanging out. A day before I did the same thing while fishing Scott's Pond in the morning and Roger Williams Park in the evening. That day I had 6 fish from 10-20 lbs. fishing very close to shore.
My tip here is try to avoid that long cast that often lands in dead water. Prebait the margins and then fish it close to shore. In addition, get some wild whiskey maize on that hair rig.....very hot stuff right now. Learning to fish the margins has been my ticket to some great success with big fish this year!
This is really a great piece of advice, especially this: "My tip here is try to avoid that long cast that often lands in dead water." It is tough to take control of a patch of water at range. But, it is very possible to take control of the water right in front of you, especially if you have a good groundbait and are fishing for at least 6 hours or so. Chum up the area, and hopefully you can draw them in and put a few on the bank. Much more productive than blind casting, especially if you are at a new venue that that you don't know well. This is great advice and should help all of us put more fish on the bank.
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