SCOTT LLOYD has a 6th sense ability to find carp wherever he goes and he explains how to home in your watercraft skills to help you catch more carp.

Before I start talking about watercraft, I think it is important to ask yourself what powers you. What gives you that drive when you are fishing? Is it big carp, old ones, scaly ones, lots of carp, or is it a case of just liking to relax. For me, it is rare and big carp. The idea of holding one in my arms makes me determined to push myself to the extremes in order to achieve that. 

Once you know what it is that drives you, channel everything through that. With every thought process, think to the reason why you are there. Think like your prey, where would you be right now. Wonder what they are doing, think all the time where that carp is feeding, how big will she be, how dark will it look. 

When you know what drives you, do your background research. For me, like I said, it is a particular carp, so I make all the effort to research any background information on that fish. Find out the times of year it gets caught, the areas it favours and even the way it gets caught can come in to play. 

(Describe what makes you thick and channel everything through that.)

Work out what banks receive certain winds. Have a look on google maps at aerial views of the lake, which may reveal certain features such as bars and humps. Check the weather before you go but don’t let the weather dictate where you fish. Take it in to consideration and if it is a new wind then it will be worth checking out, but letting your eyes tell you where to go is vital. 

If you can’t finish the fish, then weather will often give you a starting point. The birds will also give the game away a lot and quite often I rely on the bird movement to tell me where the carp are. Any erratic movement, screeching or panic, if they are not fighting it will quite often be carp underneath them. 

The fish are not going to be jumping out the lake all the time to show you where they are. At this time of year especially, a lot of the activity will be at night, so picking your area without seeing carp may be vital and the birds will help you with this. 

If the geese or the swans are taking off and landing all the time and it is flat calm, watch underneath the flight path as if there are fish undeath they will spook and cause a disturbance. 

On the subject of birds, you may have noticed coots diving on your spot, when they pop up all startled. This is often carp and I think this has been written about a few times. One thing I would say though is that unless they are being a real nightmare, don’t grab the spare rod to cast at them and scare them off. I have noticed more and more recently from watching birds diving from a tree, the carp are never too far away. I think they like that disturbance and will often come to investigate. 

They are living in harmony with each other and everything that lives in and around that lake is looking for food. I have watched carp feeding while the coots are diving and have certainly caught a few fish while it has been going on too. I am using rigs that will always re-set anyway, so if they do pick it up it will still be presented. 

Something that people may be able to relate to is on park lakes where people throw bread. If there are carp present, how often are the carp feeding with the birds? They do, they are used to feeding with each other and although a sudden movement such as a big bird flying over them out of nowhere will startle them, when the birds are in the water it doesn’t scare the carp.

(Watch and study the birds, they will often tell you what the fish are doing.)

Watching the water and reading it is so important. If you are lucky enough to see fish showing, understanding the type of show is important too. I think that there are a few different ways the carp will show, and they will all tell me different things. First one is the classic head and shoulder, just gently lifting up through the water, getting to the gills and back down again. For me, this is a feeding show, cleaning out their gills while feeding in the silt. It is worth listening to the sound of this, as if they are doing it in the night, you want to know how they are feeding out there. 

Another type is where they will roll, with a small sighting of a head and flick of a tail. I think that these are up in the water shows, so maybe fishing zigs is worthwhile if they are feeding on something like a hatch. 

The other one is when they are leaping out randomly all over the place and I call these happy shows. It may be a pack of fish moving on a fresh wind and they are just happy to be there. I always note the type of show and relate it to the weather conditions, trying to build an understanding what they like to do depending on the conditions. 

Angling pressure is also key. If the lake is busy at one end and empty at the other, quite often the fish will be where the lines are not. Angling pressure plays a huge role in the carp’s movements, they don’t like being fished for so if you can find a quiet area, it will often hold carp.

Tree climbing is something that I also do a lot. I know not everyone can do it and you have to be safe while doing so, but it is such an edge. Not for just looking for fish, but also for finding spots. I can see where the fish are feeding, as new areas will pop-up and they can be really close in. 

(Always looking for fish and study what they do in certain conditions.)