I'm a traditional carp angler.....

....said the old fella who I go talking to at Snitterfield reservoir, after a suggestion by myself that surface fishing is always worth a try at this venue the tactic was instantly dismissed even though there was about 6 carp cruising just below the surface.  I half expect a cane rod and piece of peacock quill fished lift method style just by some lily pads, but no traditional carp fishing apparently is to sit behind bite alarms, big test curve rods with boilie baits fished on the bottom.

I'd have thought his admission that the reservoir isn't really a carp fishing venue and the fact he blanks more often that not but does get a few runs in a day session would make him change his tactics or switch venues.

Anyway back to the fishing, with my favorite peg occupied I settled in peg 33. I was fishing with a small method feeder on both rods with enterprise fake casters as bait. The intended species was the Crucian carp and this reservoir holds some good'uns. I usually fish the evenings but such a busy weekend that was ruled out. The reservoir looked much lower then when I fished it a few weeks ago with much of the weed beds exposed.

I've never really used fake baits before but fellow local blogger Danny Everitt was having some decent results I thought I'd have a go. The method groundbait contained some hemp and was fished just up the marginal shelf. Crucians we all know can be such frustrating feeders, I usually float fish with reasonable success but a mini bolt rig style set-up should reduce the frustration, not really cricket I know.

The fish fish to fall for the fake casters was a small crucian, great so they work then and I manged another 5 or 6 crucians of similar size.

However it seems every other fish like then too as I caught bream, roach and tench too. The two roach were just a tad over a pound in weight, hmm might have some merit this method to single out the bigger fish as I didn't catch any proper tiddlers.

Not a big crucian today but the method has given me confidence and I'm going to use it again.