Spodding

[Smart Carper]

Spodding should not make a lot of noise as the spod hits the water if you are doing it right. Plus it is a well know fact that carp are drawn to the noise of pellets and ground bait hitting the surface of a lake so why not a spod.
I have often had mr marker float dragged across the lake by carp feeding under the marker float as I hit the float with my spod. In summer it is not unusual for the spod to be pushed out of the water by carp desporatly trying to get the food out of the spod.
Its a great tool when used well it does not always work every where and its not a tool just to dump tons of bait in all at once. Like match anglers its best to start little and often and see how the swim develops.

[Dan77]

Good tips, thanks fpr the read

[HEWY]

Good tips mate. I think spodding is really useful in most circumstances and if done right does not make a huge splash to scare off the fish. I often use the spod on the canal if im fishing for bream works well as long as you dont over feed the swim.
@PDM i think your views of us "bivvy boys" is slightly deluded, if you actually took the time to understand that there are many different types of fishing then you wouldn't come across pompous in your posts. As for using match angling tactics on a speci water...I dont think this would work out all that well, any fool can fish floating pole at 16m n bag over 200lb of stockies, I used to be one them lol. I just dont understand why people come on and pick apart a useful piece of information.

HEWY

[barbel master]

Originally Posted by >((PDM))'>

Good post Dan,

But to be just a little controversial, surely this kind of approach is only used by the bivvy anglers who think the only way to fish is by moving the entire contents of your house to the river bank and stay there for days on end while the fish recover from the endless bombardment of spods hitting the water. It would surely be impractical to expect carp to munch thier way thru pounds of bait before finding your hookbait, for an afternoon session in mid summer..

Ok, so I'm not a carp angler but I have caught a few, and all without ever feeling the need to cart an artic load of equipment to the bankside and stay there for days on end ( or untill my giro is all spent). I once fished an evening session on Waverney Valley Lake on the pole, the baliff though i was mad, but ended with 130lb of bream and carp after 5 hours during which time the guy in the next peg with his bivvy/tv and chimney coming out of the top caught nothing.

IMHO you would not go far wrong in taking an example from the match results on carp waters and using some of their methods to improve catches (200lb+ in a five hour match must have something going for it). I have found that specialised match tactics have worked fine for me during short pleasure sessions on a variety of waters including some older natural and not overstocked lakes when used in moderation.

Spodding should be reserved as a tactic for long multiday sessions and not as a general means of introducing bait to a tight area for a short session, far better to use a clipped back method feeder ( i have modified my line clip for use when big fish can be expected, I will post details if anyone is intrested)

If you were tackling up in a peg and someone came along and chucked in 20 x 1/2lb bricks you would probably think your chances of catching were ruined for the next few hours, and yet this is exactly what you are suggesting.

I am not a dedicated carp angler as you can tell , but believe every method has its day and it wasn't made too clear in your article as when spodding may be of benifit (if at all) and personally I feel its far better to use a feeder and cast acurately knowing that every cast resulting in a bite means a new load of feed goes in, the faster the bites the faster the feed goes in and vice versa, as opposed to the spod which loads in feed which may or may not be needed. Always remember you can put more feed in, but its dam difficult to get it back out ;)

Paul

i agree with everything you said.

[the bish]

ok all
fistly i am a bivy boy and i fish some large lakes and small lakes.
linear being one and it is the way down there on the complex commonly known as the oxford way. i do spod as some spots are at range and with large carp residing in the lakes they do need a fair amount of feed and if a shoul of them turn up they can get through kgs of feed.The way i spod is around 10/20 spods to start,if iam on them will top up with five more after every take. I do not fill it in and the reason being i may want to move if the carp move to another part of the lake. Spodding a sloppy mix over zigs is a great tattic in the summer months. My spod mix is the same all year round but if i find myself on small lakes i introduce a method mix to bind it all and catapult balls out.

my spod mix
1 kg of crushed hemp@ £ 1.00/kg
2 kg of standard hemp@ £1.00/kg
1 kg of mixed size pellets @ £3.00/kg but put these in last do not want a mushy mess.
1 kg of groats @ £0.85p/kg
1kg pure fishmeal @ £2.00/kg
A spod mix of 6kgs @ £8.85
will change this if the need arises