I'm fishing a lovely lake in stunning countryside and have been lucky to get amongst its inhabitants up to around the 20lb mark.

There is known to be 3 thirties in there (I've seen one of them), so I want to change my tactic on one rod to try and avoid the crowd and increase my chance of hooking one of these fish. It doesn't sound like they have been out this year yet either

To start I plan on keeping it really simple - two 15mm bottom baits on a hair, size 6 hook about 10mm seperation, presented on a 7 inch rig with a kicker and the last bit above the hook stripped back.

I'm hoping this will keep the smaller carp away so that bait is in the water for longer to increase the chance of one of the bigger ones finding the bait.

Bait will be fishmeal boilie fished over a spread of matching boilies.

The lake is quite shallow with some weedbeds but quite murky so finding the bigger ones to fish at isn't really possible

Any thoughts/recomendations on what other rig options or baiting approaches there might be to try and single out one of the bigger fish?

Cheers

The one that worked best for me was the stiff hinge - no chance of it entirely ruling out the smaller fish but I felt it had a significant effect.

In reply to Post #1
One rod on the baited spot, the other just off it.

In reply to Post #1
Trust me, using double 15's is not going to slow down the smaller fish. We're catching bream regularly on double 24's on my lake, there is no stopping them!

In reply to Post #1
Fish all the areas that other people don't.
Walk, and walk some more, find them, Good bait and a simple, sharp rig, watch, learn, move.
You will catch the better ones I'm sure. Just give it a bit of time & effort

Chod!

In reply to Post #1
Hinge stiff would be the one I would try. Definitely not smaller fish proof (I've caught plenty of small carp on this over the years), but it does have a reputation for catching the bigger fish

Thanks, so popped up a few inches off the bottom rather than what I had in mind?

Not a rig I've used for years, but do remember how effective it was back then for popping up tigers

In reply to Post #1
I'd make the hooklink length 9". As others have said, big baits won't necessarily deter small fish but I'd definitely go to double 18mm if you think a bigger bait will help. Maybe up the hook size to a 4 but that's up to you.

Also, as others have recommended, try something completely different and use a stiff hinged rig.

Yeah I'm going to try a stiff hinge tomorrow night. Prefer that to a chod that it isn't really necessary.

The little ones do like a popup just of the lake bed so something bigger and a little out of reach could work 👍.

Thanks

Withy pool rig tends to get the big uns in my experience and this statement was backed up by the owner of a French lake

In reply to Post #1
It is not only the rig that matters 😛

Start fishing alternative spots and/or change baiting up strategies.
If you would be spooning today, I would use a boilie only approach, sticking them out.
Create a feeding area where the fish are swimming from bait to bait.

Personally, I prefer a bit longer rig for big fish... 10 inch+

In reply to Post #1
How big is the lake and what is the stock?

In reply to Post #13
Maybe an acre of fishable water and a lorra mid doubles.

Once you have a fish you need to move because everything else has moved on, so this is trying to keep the rig in the water longer and trying to be selective with what picks up the hookbait.

There are definitely favoured swims/spots that I'll try to keep away from, but I've decided to really hone in on catching one of the bigguns before the ticket renews. So I've got summer, autumn and winter to get one 🙂

In reply to Post #14
What about 24 or 30mm hookbaits on a rig with a long hair 🙃