Rob Sutton PVA the dissolving edge!

Pva… The dissolving edge!

Over the last few years the use of Pva products has become a major part in carp fishing. In the last few months, with the poor weather conditions that we have been experiencing trying something different to what everyone else is employing you might just have the edge and bag the odd fish.

It is terribly frustrating in the colder months as most waters don’t seem to produce the goods. Trying something new and experimenting with different ideas is another step closer to success.

Pva has been around for a long time even before I was born, for over twenty five years Infact! There were many famous anglers of the time, Rod Hutchinson for example who’s writings covered the use of pva and how it was the perfect edge for setting a trap around your hook bait, the perfect solution for getting winter bites. Ever since then pva has become a massive part in fishing and is used by most carp anglers today.

Solid Bags

When I first started carp fishing I was shown how to use solid pva bags and since then I have had some great captures on them! I noticed that using this tactic produced for me even on some really tricky low stocked venues. I began to experiment with the solid bags by fishing them over spodded areas, casting them to showing fish, but the main tactic I found to be the most successful was to fish the bag just as a single, when I didn’t want to cast a marker out to disturb the fish!

This proved to be a good ‘one’ bite tactic and has caught fish for me and for a lot of people on most venues. I say ‘one bite’ tactic because if you ever turn up to a venue you haven’t fished before you can cast a solid bag out and leave it without making a lot of disturbance.

On most venues the majority of anglers start off their sessions by casting out a marker float and spod. That can make enough disturbances to spook the carp out of the area, but by using a bag on each rod, you only have to cast out once and you can be more than confident as you will have a nice pile of food around your rig on the bottom.

The use of solid bags also leaves you with a perfect rig presentation. This means the rig cannot tangle in any way whatsoever unless you tie the pva bag up in the wrong way! When you have tied the bag up, you can actually cast it into weed or choddy type bottoms that may affect your presentation if you were fishing in a normal way! The pva bag allows you to do this as your hooklink is secured by the contents of the bag and the point off the hook isn’t exposed.

Keep it simple!

For most of my pva bag work I have found using an in-line lead of some description perfect, Richworth’s or Korda flat pears are ideal for this, I usually start with the 2oz versions or maybe a bit heavier depending on the distance that I am fishing. I find that any in-line lead will work for bags and they are my preferred choice as they sit really nice on the lake bed. Also, when the carp actually picks your hookbait up the lead is lifted on the heavy end causing the hooking arrangement to be more aggressive! My Hooklength choice is very simple, using something very subtle from anything from 15 to 25lb. For most of my bag work I would use very short hooklengths, normally the length of a cigarette lighter, say around two to three inches. I think this can make a big difference and hopefully fool the carp in to getting caught! My hooking arrangement is also very straight forward using a wide gape hook tied knotless knot style. A tiny bit of shrink tube is then added and a small rig ring on the hook.

There are plenty of pva bags that you can buy in the shops today from some top companies. Over the last couple of months I have been using all the Richworth pva range to very good use and unlike most pva that can some times fail to dissolve in the low water temperatures, The Richworth pva bags, string and mesh bags have proven to be completely reliable!

Richworth have been known for the quality of the bait that they do as you can see in lots of magazines and catch reports, but not only do they have that, they have all bits of terminal tackle that you may need which includes hooks, beads, shrink tubing, ready made rigs and lots more! This could add more detail to your rigs and make them more affective!

Solid Bag Mix

I prefer to have lots of flavours and many different food items put into my solid bag as possible. This gives the fish chance to search around and will eventually confuse the carp in to getting caught! To start the mix off I would open one of the Richworth bags and place my Hookbait into one of the corners. This ensures that the rig is secure when the bag is filled up. Also, you will notice that I have threaded the point of the hook through the side of the bag. This will make sure that your rig stays secure when you cast out and also won’t catch up on any food items in the bag when filed. Some crushed K-G-1 boilies are then added, which make a great addition to the mix! The next step is to add some Salmon Supreme and K-G-1 multi stim pellets. I would then add some micro Halibut pellets to the bag which give off plenty of oils in the water to boost attraction! The next ingredient to be added would then be some Cotswold Bait Creations pva friendly mixed particles. I have found using some form of particle based ingredient very effective when fishing with pva bags! It is something different from what everyone else normally does because on most occasions I see a lot of anglers using mostly pellets and boilies in their bags! The last item to be added to the bag would then be some very smelly blended salmon oil to add further attraction to the mix! To finish the bag off, tie some pva string around the top and make the bag in to a round ball shape by folding the two bottom corners in with abit of saliva. The bag is then complete and ready to go!

Hookbait Choice

I have recently been using bright pop-up baits such as the Richworth Squid and Octopus in pink and Salmon Supreme in red. Over the majority of winters that I have experienced many of my good angling friends have caught well using pop-ups, using solid bags. I think if you are going to cast a bag out on it’s own in to no mans land, the use of bright colours can be very effective as it gives you the same affect just like a single hookbait. This is very effective at all times of the year but can work a treat during the colder months! However, if I decided to chance my tactics and make the decision to fish over a spodded or baited area, I would choose to fish small food based hookbaits. I have found using barrel shaped boilies or pellets to very effective. It is something a bit different to using boilie type baits and it matches most of the food items in the solid bag. I think this adds more confusion for the carp and leads it to eventually picking your hookbait up!

Pva Mesh

Over the last few years pva mesh systems have become extremely popular. I would say it has got that popular because every angler I know carry’s a few tubes around with them each time they go fishing. The majority of my fish captures in recent years have fallen to using golf ball sized mesh pva bags and I can tell you that I would never go fishing with out some in my bag! Mesh bags can be used in so many different ways by just hooking the bag on the hook and casting it straight out, to the most advanced of threading the bag down your Hooklength which is where the pva ‘stick’ comes in.

I have recently been using the pva net tubing another fine product from Richworth, this anti-ladder quick melt system is the perfect pva for casting small bags and sticks as its strong, reliable and dissolves very quickly!

Mesh bags have proved to be an excellent baiting tactic as you can make the bag into any size you require, therefore you will be able to judge how much food you wish to put in to the bag. I would mostly use small sized bags over a spodded or baited area because I have to be confident that I have got some food around my Hookbait just to give me that confidence that all carp anglers need! On some waters small bags can work better than larger ones, or it could be the total opposite but that’s fishing and you need to experiment with small things such as this to catch the fish.

The Pva Stick

The pva stick is very similar but usually has very little food items in it. You can put food items in it but the stick is mainly there to give you some form of attraction around your Hookbait and can be a great edge in the winter. The stick also stops your hook from getting caught up in any weed or stuff on the lake bed that will affect your presentation and would make it pointless fishing! Richworth have recently developed some great bag and stick mixes for this type of fishing. They are highly attractive and are great for stick type fishing.

So mainly with the small bags, I would probably use more food items for fishing on baited areas or even casting to showing fish for abit of confidence that there is food near the Hookbait! With the stick there is mainly attraction to draw the fish in to the area that you are fishing which again can be used to cast to showing fish or you could put it out on to a baited spot but you have to make that decision!

Mesh bags and pva sticks are a great way of keeping your rig ‘tangle free’ on the bottom! What I mean by this is, when you cast your rig out into the lake because you have got that extra weight on the end of your rig, the bag or stick actually keeps the rig straightened out when it hits the water!

The Stringer Approach

Pva stringers are where it all started back in the early 80’s as they were used by a lot of anglers At the time and even today they are still very popular indeed. This was where famous angler’s such as Rod Hutchinson brought to everyone’s attention how effective pva was and the fact that leaving some attraction around your Hookbait was a very effective tactic. Visit the banks of any popular venue today and you’ll see how popular pva has become, the exposure in the monthly magazines over the last few years has seen numerous pva articles detailing various methods and approaches. Despite this, the good old pva stringer is perhaps the least used of all pva methods and one that perhaps gets over looked by the majority of anglers.

The use of pva is a great way for fishing as you can leave a group of free offerings next to your Hookbait! Again it’s another great edge for you at this time of year and will leave you with a lot of confidence! Good look with your fishing!

Rob Sutton.

All the bits for my Pva bag rig.