68 • IYCF Issue 293

Improve Your Carp Fishing

We all put sweetcorn in our loosefeed, but why do so few of us use it on the hook? Ian Russell aims to change our perception of this great winter bait

Hook up with sweetcorn

Words Mark Parker Photography Mick Rouse

Differently coloured Avid Corn Stops are used on each of Ian’s rods

IYCF November 26 – December 23, 2014 • 67

T SEEMS many carp anglers are unable to see the wood for the trees when it comes to sweetcorn.

When you bear in mind that match anglers consider it one of the best winter baits you can use for carp, and that carpers have been putting it in spod mixes since time immemorial, why does no-one fi sh it on the hook?

One angler who has managed to take off his blinkers is Ian Russell.

For years Ian used corn in spod mixes or the odd plastic kernel to ‘tip off a boilie’, but only in the last few months has he tried switching over to a 100% corn approach. And he’s recorded some superb catches as a result.

“As a consultant for Avid – Preston Innovations’ carp brand – I started doing more and more shows with the likes of legendary matchmen such as Tommy Pickering and Des Shipp,” said Ian.

“When you are in the company of such greats, you can’t help but listen to what they are saying and then using their ideas in your own fi shing.

“They’ve used bomb and corn tactics for winter carp for years, yet it seems that pigeons learn quicker than us carp anglers; we totally ignore corn as a hookbait!”

Not associated with dangerTo fi nd out more about Ian’s corn tactics for big lumps, we joined the 53-year-old Twickenham-based rod on the banks of his local water, Thorpe Lea, near Egham, Surrey.

For years, particles such as hemp and corn have been the backbone of most spod mixes. This has meant the carp have been slurping down gallons of kernels, but because it is never

on the hook, experience has taught them that it is perfectly safe to eat.

How many times have you baited a clear margin, only to quietly peer into the water some time later, to see that nearly every scrap of loosefeed has been eaten, and the only things left are a handful of boilies and your boilie hookbait?

“Carp have seen and, more importantly, been caught on boilies all their lives,” explained Ian.

“By just using corn, on both the hook and as the loosefeed, the fi sh have no reason to fear it.”

The other great thing about corn is you are able to feed loads of it, creating a really big, bright patch of eye-catching particles in the swim, without the fear of fi lling up the fi sh.

When it comes to the bait itself, Ian thinks any corn can work – frozen or tinned – but Sonubaits F1 corn is unbeatable.

HIGHLY VISIBLE

Carp anglers use corn

as loosefeed so Ian

Russell says it makes

sense to use it on

the hook too

If Ian wants a cloud of attraction he will

add F1 groundbait to his corn for spodding

If bream are a ‘nuisance’ Ian spods

just pure corn and water to add weight

Any corn will do

but Ian is a fan of

fl avoured kernels

70 • IYCF Issue 293

Hook up with sweetcorn

Ian starts off the rig by pulling off around 10

inches of 15lb Captive coated braid material

The Rig Kicker is pushed on to the hook. It is

essential the line emerges from the front

Next, he uses his nail to remove around 4 inches

of the coating to reveal the soft braid beneath

Next, a small rig ring is threaded on to the hook

and fi xed in place using a simple overhand knot

Ian fi nds longshank hooks give a better bites-to-

fi sh ratio than more standard wide-gape hooks

Finally the rig is completed by tying a loop in the

tag end of the hooklink to create the hair

1

6

2

7

3

8

How to tie Ian’s corn rig

“It sounds like a blatant plug, but F1 fl avouring has been specifi cally designed to target F1s and carp, as it is a sweetened fi shmeal,” Ian told us.

“In cold water, when the fi sh are torpid, combining the strong visual element of a large bed of corn with a powerful fl avour will get the fi sh moving and feeding.”

Use it plain or fl avouredYou can, of course, use anything on your corn. Strawberry, curry powder or krill are all great fl avours. The beauty of corn is that it is a bait you can use with total confi dence straight out of the tin or with additions, making it your own.

To boost its attraction even further, Ian combines his corn with F1 groundbait, which he also mixes using the fl avoured water from the tins of corn.

When this mixture is spodded in, the corn kernels will fall relatively quickly to the bottom, while the groundbait creates a large fl avour cloud in the mid to upper layers. This cloud acts as a beacon for the fi sh as well as helping to pull them down to the bottom where the bright-yellow corn will catch their eye.

Ian’s tackle

� Rod: Avid 12ft DSK carp rods

� Reel: Avid Carp 12000CC reels

� Mainline: Avid 18lb Trap Line mono

� Leader: Avid Pin Down leader

� Lead: Avid 2.5oz Distance Swivel lead

� Hooklink: Avid 15lb Captive coated hooklink

� Line aligner: Avid Rig Kickers line a ligner

� Hook: Avid LSK size 8 hook

� Hookbait: Korum Supa Soft Floating

Imitation corn and an Avid Floating Corn Stop

� Loosefeed: Sonubaits F1 sweetcorn

Ian’s not shy with bait.

He spods out a whole

tin after each fi sh

Improve Your Carp Fishing

IYCF December 23, 2014 – January 21, 2015 • 71

To attach the hook to the hooklink, Ian ties it on

using a conventional knotless knot

Ian baits the rig using two kernels of soft fake

bouyant corn and tops it off with a Corn Stop

To help the rig’s hooking effi ciency when the fi sh

picks it up, he threads on an Avid Rig Kicker

So that the bouyant corn hookbait sits correctly

in the swim, he adds a small Stotz to the hair

4

9

5

10

Fishing with cornIan uses a safety clip set-up as weed can still be a problem in winter so he likes a rig that is able to eject the lead if needs be. Added to this he uses 18lb mono, again to combat the weed and any other snags that might be present.

The rest of his rig is relatively standard – 15lb coated braid, a Rig Kicker line aligner and a size 8 longshank hook. The hook is tied with a small ring on the shank.

“A longer hook and kicker means there’s more chance of the hook turning and grabbing. I use a rig ring, rather than silicone, because if the rig gets picked up and ejected, the silicone can get blown up the shank rendering the rig useless. The rig ring allows the rig to reset itself, meaning it is always fi shing.”

On the hook, Ian hair-rigs two pieces of

fake corn, which he soaks in F1 liquid, and tops it off with a buoyant Corn Stop to create a small tower of yellow on the deck.

When feeding corn, Ian is looking for several bites in a day, not just one or two. He starts his swims with a whole tin over each rod, then after every fi sh another entire tin is spodded out. This might sound a lot, but Ian reckons after every bite you’ll need to re-bait anyway as a big fi sh will have probably eaten most of the loosefeed.

The rigs always go out naked – no PVA bags or other additions – as Ian looks to solely rely on good rig mechanics.

And the tactics have proved so devastating that on a recent trip to Kingsmead Ian banked nine 30-pounders, topped by a 47lb fi sh. Not bad considering he was using a bait most carp anglers only regard as loosefeed!

This is the stamp of fi sh

Ian has been attracting

to his corn-only tactics

TOP TIPSome fake baits have no smell so to give you more

confi dence in them try soaking

them in any fl avour of your

choice. Ian simply uses the liquid

from the F1 corn tin for a consistent

approach. The longer you soak them the better

Ian’s corn rig is

simple to tie and

highly effective