Daiwa Sports Ltd

Being able to carp fish accurately can make the difference between catching one or two fish and bagging up. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few years fishing in carp matches when the fish have been under maximum angling pressure. With everyone competing against each other, it’s often the anglers who are able to accurately and quickly bait a small spot, and then consistently cast to it every time that win through.

Start by finding a spot with the marker.

However accuracy isn’t just important when I’m match fishing, imagine you’ve arrived at your chosen swim and spent a little time with a marker rod locating what looks like a good spot to fish. Maybe it’s the back of a small gravel bar, a hole in the weed or up close to the snags on the island. You cast your baits tight to the marker and as it’s starting to get dark settle down for the night. A short while later the buzzer is screaming, and after a short fight a nice fish is on the bank posing for a photo. Perfect, but now what? It’s pitch black, how on earth can you cast back to the same place.

There are a couple of techniques I use that allow me to consistently cast and get a tight spread of bait to exactly the same spot, any time day or night. In this first article I’m going to look at what is known as walking your lines out. It’s a straightforward method, as you can see from the step-by-step guide below.

Basically after locating your spot with a marker, you cast a lead close to it and then clip up and wind in. It’s important to make a note of something static on the far bank horizon, which you can then use to line up your cast with each time. Then using a bankstick or a peg to hold your lead in place you walk your line up the bank until you hit the clip. Mark this spot with a stick, and then whenever you need to recast or clip up your spod rod it’s just a case of walking them back out the distance between the peg and the stick.

Walking your lines out - Step-by-Step guide