Carp Centre

Everything you need to know, all in one place. Touch up on the essentials or learn about a new technique to add to your carp game, it’s all here.

The Essentials

Everything you need to know to get started catching carp. Baits, rigs, techniques and more all explained.

Points Mean Prizes – Get More from Your Hooks

Hook sharpness is quite the hot topic at the moment, and for very good reason. The hook serves as your primary point of contact between you as an angler and the carp. It’s importance should not be underestimated. When I think back to some of the hooks I've used in the...

Baiting Up

For novice carp anglers, or those simply trying to improve their catches, navigating the various tactics which can be used to bait up can be somewhat daunting. There are a range of different baiting up tools out there, being able to incorporate them…

Locating The Carp

They say that location is key when it comes to carp fishing, no matter how big or small the venue is, if you’re not on top of the carp you could be waiting hours for a bite. For larger venues, it’s typically worth leaving the gear in the car and doing a few laps around the lake, keeping your eyes…

A Brief History of Carp Fishing – Why Is It So Popular?

For centuries, carp, and particularly carp fishing, has enthralled and captivated anglers throughout Europe and Asia. From the supernatural beasts lurking in holiday lakes across France and Thailand, to the mystical enigmas, residing within…

Lengthen the Life of Your Bait

Air-drying boilies… What’s it all about and why do anglers swear by the value it provides? There are a number of different reasons why air-drying your baits can be of benefit, let me begin with the most important of them all. To put it simply, air-dried boilies are...

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Canal Carping: An Overview

When looking across all age demographics, it’s no secret that carp fishing is one of the most popular outdoor activities. However, with a finite amount of carp lakes out there, where should you as an angler turn when you don’t want to fish overcrowded waters, a common...

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Advanced

If you’re a seasoned carp angler looking to improve in specific areas, this is for you.

Carp Fishing in France: How to Plan For Success

As travel restrictions ease across Europe, you may be thinking about planning a trip to a carp water in France. After all, what could be better than a few days of fishing for large carp in the sun? This article is aimed at providing you with advice on how to select a...

Trout Pellets for Carp Fishing: What’s It All About?

As with any other branch of angling, in carp angling there are particular items of tackle and bait that get discussed more than others. Often this is because there are conflicting opinions that surround such items on how, if it all, they should be used. I’m sure that...

A Guide to Fishing Overnighters: Night Fishing For Carp

Fishing overnighters is a unique experience and can be one of the most productive ways of fishing. Throughout the hours of darkness, carp will give away important snippets of information which you can use to gain the upper hand. They can commonly be heard crashing or...

How to Make Your Own Cork Ball Pop Ups

There are plenty of off the shelf pop ups available on the market, and a visit to any tackle shop will certainly present the angler with a wide array of colours, flavours and sizes to choose from. There are occasions however, where something a little bit different is...

A Basic Guide to Freelining for Carp

Like many, my fishing is frequently governed by a limited amount of time. Plenty of us have busy lives and simply slot in fishing where we can. For me, this means travelling light, staying mobile and moving around lakes and rivers trying to find fish and only then...

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Catching Carp in the Margins

Catching carp in the margins is one of the most exciting and productive methods, perfect for the short session fisherman. I've arrived at lakes in the past, carefully baited up a few marginal spots before catching some fantastic fish in a relatively short space of...

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The Big Carp Paradox

Last year I started fishing a brand new lake… Unfortunately, this article isn’t the one I was intending to write when I first set out my new fishing adventure, as I sit down to write this it feels as though this venue has well and truly kicked me in the proverbials....

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Seasonal

As the seasons change, so should your carp fishing tactics.

Spring

Spring can provide some fantastic sport, particularly as angling pressure is relatively low. Get out there and take advantage of it!

Locating Carp Through Spring: Top Tips & Tricks

As the spring season develops the changes are dramatic both above and below the surface, the world comes alive before your eyes and swims that were open and barren become lush and green. The fish’s activity levels begin to increase significantly, as the water...

Seasonal Carp Angling: The Best Rigs for Spring

Spring is my favourite time of year to be fishing; I am always incredibly keen following the winter period, which coincides perfectly with improving weather and the carp being at their most catchable. In this article I will cover my rig approach to the spring period,...

Carp Angling in Early Spring: Some Great Advice

Spring is my favourite angling season, as the long awaited thaw begins and snow drops start to pop up through the frozen ground, bringing with them a sense of optimism and excitement at the year ahead. Days get progressively longer as the sun’s angle increases across...

Make a Quick Start: A Guide to Starting on a New Fishing Venue

Starting to fish on a new venue can be intimidating; each water will present a new challenge, which keeps things interesting but also forces us to learn and improve as anglers. In my article on selecting a venue, I discussed at length the things I consider when...

Surface Fishing for Carp: Spring Fishing

At the time of writing this, we’re witnessing the very first signs of spring. It’s early March, and a mild spell of weather has made everything happen sooner than expected. Each year mother nature decides exactly when the season starts and ends but one thing you can...

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Seasonal

As the seasons change, so should your carp fishing tactics.

Winter

Don’t be a fair weather fisherman. Get out there with our tips and enjoy some of the best sport possible, even if it is a little chilly!

Clothing for Winter Carping: What You Need

To some, winter can seem like a rough time to be out on the bank, I’ve had countless people (usually not anglers) express confusion on my love of being out by the water in the cold. Preparation is the key to good angling and this is even truer in the winter months....

Liven up Your Winter Fishing by Using Maggots

Maggots make for an exceptionally effective carp bait in winter. Here we run through exactly how to make the most out of them. As the temperature drops, the carp’s metabolism starts to slow. This has two consequences; they eat less and are far less active. Despite...

Winter Carping on the Maggots: Stay Warm and Keep the Bites Coming

The winter can be a majestic time to be out on the bank. Especially those bright, sharp days when it takes forever for the sun to come up, when it does, it lights up the surroundings with a magical glow. It’s common knowledge that carp fishing can be very tricky...

5 Tips for Locating the Carp in Winter

So it’s now officially winter. The nights are drawing in, you had to scrape the frost off the windscreen of your car this morning and your surface fishing exploits are quickly becoming distant memories. Whilst plenty of anglers are now packing away their gear for the...