Water acts as a selective filter. If a white light is suspended above a tank of water that was 100ft deep the colours from the white light would be filtered out selectively (one-by-one) as one descends. It is gradual. There is no abrupt interface. For example, most of the red is gone from the light after 10 feet. Some of the orange is gone after 10 / 12ft, less of the yellow is lost, etc. At 25ft most of the orange is gone. At 35ft most of the yellow is gone. This continues through the spectrum until all that is left is violet light and that fades out after 100ft ish. Now take into account that most of our lakes are full of dark green algae, which acts as another filter, scattering the light waves even further. So, at the bottom of a lake the colour of your bait is NOT what it appears at the surface. Your brightly coloured new bait looks a strange shade of grey in the middle of a deep lake, and in just 10ft of water its colour has started to change. The only highly coloured baits that you can rely on 100% of the time are flourescent. The only non florescent colour is violet. Please be very careful with bait colour.
The science of sound
Sound travels faster in liquids than in gases because molecules are more tightly packed together. In fresh water, sound waves travel at 1,482 meters per second (about 3,315 mph). That’s well over 4 times faster than in air! In layman’s terms this is the blink of an eye. How many times have you set up on showing fish, made a bit of commotion and seen the fish disappear to the middle or the opposite side of the water. Carp rely upon sound waves to communicate with each other and to locate food. The reason that carp are able to find the smallest of food items like shrimp, snails, bloodworm and other creepy crawlies can be rounded down to a couple of main reasons.
1. The carp’s ability to taste its food.
2. The carp’s awesome ability to detect the smallest of sounds.
Weberian Ossicles
The carp’s ability to hear sound is made possible by the ‘Weberian bone structure’ which is unique to the Carp species.
The Weberian apparatus functions by transmitting auditory signals straight from the gas bladder, through the Weberian ossicles and then straight into the labyrinth structures of the inner ear. The structure essentially acts as an amplifier of sound waves that would otherwise be only slightly perceivable by the inner ear structure alone. With the added function of the swim bladder as a resonating chamber, signals are amplified to noticeable levels giving Carp excellent hearing.
So the next time you’re on the water, smashing it to a foam with your marker, or crashing around in the margins with your bank sticks, or throwing your tackle down and running about like it’s going out of fashion, remember- you have just given yourself away! You have succeeded in making you’re session more difficult than it needed to be.
There are no magic baits – no short cuts. Your ability to catch carp consistently requires training, commitment, knowledge and determination. Do not go with the flow and stay away from the pack. How many of the alpha males on your local water are catching carp consistently? Wisdom gained from years of experience can’t be learnt overnight, but you can help yourself by doing things correctly. Time on the water, a carp-bait and good location are all important. However, it’s not spooking fish by being noisy which will make or break your carp fishing journey. Keep the noise levels to a minimum and you may just catch the fish of a lifetime.
Understanding the fish you are catching - Carp fishing by the Crafty Carper