Match your bait to the temperature.

An article in the Angling Times (April 8th 2003) by Van Den Eynde star Mark Sawyer explained the importance of monitoring water temperature in relation to the baits and approach an angler uses. Mark features in many articles in the popular angling magazines using a thermometer to measure the water temperature, which gives him a guide as to what approach he will take.
The article in the Angling Times shows him tackling a reservoir in Oxfordshire, a well stocked water with carp the target. Here is his story :

Angling Times 8th April 2003

So what bait are you using this weekend? With temperatures rising the carp, tench and bream on the move, we join Van Den Eynde’s Mark Sawyer who lifts the lid on exactly what bait you’ll need to bag up on your next session....
Words by Mark Sawyer
Pics by Mick Rouse


As I scanned my peg trying to visualise what lay beneath the surface of the water, tiny pin-prick bubbles could be seen popping on the line where the ripple began to calm. Something very special was happening. For months now I’ve tackled commercial carp venues longing for the moment when the fish would wake from their slumber and I could get more than half-a-dozen bites in a five-hour session. It’s been a long, hard winter, but this was the switch-on….fish were on the move and hungry, and I was going to have to adjust to the change to cash in.
According to my thermometer lying in the margins, the early morning water temperature had risen to 10°C- hardly Mediterranean, but it signalled a move to a new bait attack.
I’ve spent the last 10 years carefully studying fish behaviour and how they react to certain baits in certain conditions. From that I’ve created an imaginary bait chart - a guide to what to put on the hook and feed in summer and winter temperatures.

Here’s how I see it:

	5 degrees and under: When the water temperature gets cold the fish are dormant and you really should be very careful with anything you put in. Blood worm and joker come into their own, along with pinkies and bread. Corn and maggots can be fished but ONLY as a single bait
	10 degrees: This is the first time I’d use pellet, but they’d be smaller variety probably in 3mm or 4mm - something with a decent food content. Maggots would also come into the equation, and I’d be prepared to feed half a dozen a cast. Again corn is a consideration, and I’d even feed a few grains at this temperature. A few small balls of fishmeal ground bait can also make a difference - choose a mix with some protein, as fish are starting to build themselves up now.
	11-14 degrees: Meat - I only use this when it warms up, as meat has a high fat content. Unless the water temperature is rising, fish will find it difficult to break down and the bait will be too filling, paste can be a killer right now - you can also switch to larger pellets.
	15 degrees: The magic mark - fish will eat almost anything….. and lots of it! There will always be some exceptions to this set of rules when the fish just do their own thing, but in general stick to these guidelines and you will get more bites.

As for choosing one bait that dominates the commercial fisheries once the temperature has hit the magical 15 degree mark, then I’d have to go for paste. Why does it reign supreme for carp? Well, it’s big it smells fantastic to fish, and contains all sorts of goodies.
If you didn’t realise, paste is of a similar base mix to the boilies used by carp lads, except of course it hasn’t been boiled in water to toughen it up. The main reason specimen hunters boil there bait is to put a skin on it, and make sure its longer lasting and small fish proof. I’m sure they would have better results if they were able to leave it in a more natural condition, although wrapping paste around a boilie has become popular with big-carp anglers.
You’ll see from my set of rules that meat - the pleasure anglers favourite - doesn’t figure until the water gets above 11 degrees.
Once it gets to that figure you can use it straight from the tin in cubes, chunks, or finely chopped for feed. On hard - fished waters, you can also give it a twist by flavouring it with something from your kitchen curry powder or soy source; sweeten it with a sugar solution, or use one of many liquid flavours from your local tackle shop.
The final consideration with bait after size, texture, flavour and feeding, is how much does it weigh? Many anglers don’t give this any thought but it can make the difference between a bag - up and a blank.
When I was researching pellets for Van Den Eynde, I used a tank full of carp to see how they reacted to the bait - there was no point marketing gear that didn’t work.
I discovered the lighter the pellet, the quicker they would disappear. Yes carp would eat the heavier, denser pellet, but not until they had wolfed down the other stuff first. Maybe that’s why paste works so well…. It looks like a few soft pellets that have broken down at the bottom.
There is a flip side to this theory though. If you spray soft pellets up-in-the-water and then put one on the hook, your bite ratio tumbles as the pellets fall so slowly the carp almost seem to inspect them for your hook. To counter this you must feed a heavier bait that falls though the water quickly, giving the carp less time to inspect the feed, and consequently forcing them in to more mistakes.
Today I’m on peg 83 at Boddington Reservoir, Oxfordshire its on an in- form swim or densely stocked water. Even though commercial fisheries have a large head of fish, at this transitional time of year shoals can still be localised, so it pays to follow the match results in Angling Times to find the hot areas.
I’ve started off on the pole at 12 meters, fishing full depth at about six foot. The tackle is really very simple and is kicked off by a 1.5 grams Preston Dura float which has a long carbon stem to assist with stability and a thick nylon tip that is visible and buoyant for big baits. This is shotted with an olivette for a bulk weight three- quarters of the way down the rig, and I’ve got one single NO 8 as a dropper. As for a line, its straight through 0.14 diameter to a wide gape size 14 hook, capable of taking different- sized pellets.
I’m fishing the bait just off bottom, not because I think the fish are up-in-the-water, but because there is a heavy tow which is causing the rig to drag into the boulders on the lake bed.
As it’s 11°C, I’ve upped my feed to a sprinkle of 3mm VDE carp pellets every put-in, and I’m presenting a Juicy Pellet on the hook. It’s a bolder approach than winter, but far from an all out assault.
Third drop and I’m into a fish-it’s a typical Boddington carp of around 2lb. With the sun glistening off it’s chestnut flanks you could be forgiven for thinking it was summer. But the water is far from baking hot, and I mustn’t get carried away with my catapult and ruin things before they’ve got going.
After several hours of feeding little and often with the pellet, I’ve got about 25lb in the net, so to discover how switched on these carp really are, I’m going to play with slightly larger baits. A check on the thermometer reveals the water has warmed to 13°C, so there is half a chance they’ll show some interest.
I’ve rigged up a method feeder in conjunction with Ringers Bag up carp mix, and hair-rigged half a boilie wrapped in paste. It’s a substantial offering, but would they be willing to feed on such a big bait?
Within a minute of casting just beyond my pole line, the quiver tip was twitching, indicating carp banging the feeder. Moments later the rod buckled and the Baitrunner screamed as the fish bolted for freedom.
They were having it big time. After that, it just got better and better in the afternoon sun. By the time I headed for home I was closing in fast on 100lb.
I didn’t top-up the swim with extra balls of groundbait, neither did I load the feed with particles such as pellet or corn. It was just a plain mix with one large bait-the perfect combination for a warming reservoir.
So next time you hit the bankside, make sure you’re switched on to the ‘switch on’, if you get it right, that next weight might just be a ton-plusser!

Mark Sawyer:Angling Times April 2003.