The original range of carp floats ( Corn,
Mag, Marba,
Marca and Meat), arrived from a
single match I fished in the summer of 1998, namely the Kamasan final at
Woodland view. Because I new nothing what so ever regarding these types of
water, it was like starting match fishing all over again and the only way to
learn new methods i.e. tackle /bait etc. is to ask. So ask I did and knowing
Ritchie Hull reasonable well, who arguable, at the time was regarded as the best
Stillwater Carp angler in the U.K. The float patterns turned out brilliant
and the Kamasan Final?, well !!. I'll put that one down to experience.
Tip Material
As my forte is canal fishing, you can understand that to hang a sweet corn up in the water on my fine nylon or wire tip floats would not work. Ok, you may get away with luncheon meat. But then another problem arises the amount of liners you get on these fish filled waters. With fine bristles and carp frantically feeding (oh the joy of drawing a flyer) the bristle would not be above the surface very often. So for the majority of carp fishing, only balsa or thickish cane would do the job.
Stems
So with the bristle sorted (balsa or cane) I now had the stem to deal with. As I fish boat invested canals I tend to use mostly wire stems. But a 5lb Carp thrashing about would at the very least separate the wire stem from the body . So the only materials left were carbon, Glass fiber or Titanium all giving strength and flexibility.
Balsa Bodies
Now with the bristles and the stems sorted its down to body shapes and this always leads to some very good discussions, because all anglers have there favorites and I'm no different. I have now split this range in to three categories i.e. "General" "Pasties" and "Specials". All patterns have been designed with this in mind. So that is were it all started, a nice simple range catering for virtually all aspects of pole fishing on the many carp pools now dotted around the U.K.
TIGHT LINES
Regards.
Mick Bassett
M.B. (Handmade) Carp Specials