There are no real secrets or surprises to playing carp. People may wonder how I put big weights together but it is all about being confident in the gear I use and knowing what its limitations are.

Let’s look at how I subdue carp on the pole. The first thing to understand is that fish react to pressure. The harder you pull, the harder a fish will pull back, so for me the ideal is to use a softly tensioned elastic. When I hook a carp on the pole I simply keep the pole tip low to the water and assess the size of the fish. If it bolts off on a run the last thing I want to do is make it panic any more than it is doing. So that rules out trying to show it ‘who’s boss’ by pulling back hard.

I want to gently, but assertively, control the fish and kid it into the landing net. I have heard all kinds of crazy theories about playing carp on the pole, and I want to stress that it definitely isn’t a good idea to lift the pole high in the air. As I said, steady, gentle pressure with the pole kept low is the key.

On hooking a carp I usually try to get the pole onto a roller behind me and steadily ship back. Usually the carp will start to come, the elastic doing its work properly. I do this because I want to try to move the hooked fish away from the hotspot as soon as possible to prevent other feeding fish from being spooked.

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