Accurate Carping - Part 2

In the first article I outlined how having found the spot I want to fish using a marker rod I clipped up and then used the technique of walking my lines out to accurately mark the distance. However this isn’t always the perfect method. It’s not always practical in tight swims that don’t have much bank side space; it doesn’t give you any way of calculating the exact distance you are fishing and you have to repeat the process on each session. Therefore I often use a technique I call the tent peg method, which solves all these problems and is just as easy to do.
I’ve provided a guide below, however before we continue you will need to roughly know the length of your rod in yards, a simple conversion table can be seen below,

Rod Length (ft)
Rod Length (yards)

11
3.7

12
4

13
4.3

Step 1 – Lay your rod on the floor and push a peg into the ground at each end.
Step 2 – Wrap your rig, marker or spod securely around one of the pegs.
Step 3 – Start to pass your line around each peg until you reach your clip.
Step 4 – Then tie a stop knot in the line next to the clip.
Step 5 – Now wind the line back onto the reel, counting how many times you pass either of the pegs as you do so.
Step 6 – To calculate the distance, simply multiply the length of your rod in yards (see above table) by the number of times you passed the pegs. I make a note of the swim, feature and distance in my diary, meaning next time I fish the peg I can easily cast to the same spots.