‘Big carp fishing near me’, this phrase is likely to go through every carp angler’s Google search bar at some point in time! Most carp anglers want to catch the biggest carp possible. That’s what gives us the buzz, the excitement when that bobbin pulls up tight. It's what gets us up early on a February morning when it is freezing cold and drizzle is in the air. It's what drives us to do what we do week in, week out. Of course, there are other reasons why we go such as the love of the outdoors, the freedom, but ultimately one of the biggest driving factors is that pursuit for big carp!
Carp anglers can be a secretive bunch, keeping their cards close to their chest when it comes to the location of big carp lakes. So how do you find big carp fishing close to you? There a few ways to locate lakes that can possibly hold big carp.
Firstly, there are many day ticket lakes located all around in the UK and European countries. These are possibly the easiest way to go and catch a big carp. Day ticket lakes can be a single venue or possibly a complex and you pay in advance or on the day for the duration of your stay. If you go onto Google and search for ‘Big carp fishing near me’ you will pretty quickly have a list of day ticket venues relatively close-by to you and I’m sure many will contain some big carp. Of course, there are pros and cons to day ticket venues. The pros being there’s no prior commitment, you can just turn up for one day, pay your money and go somewhere else the next day so they can offer you an element of freedom within your angling. There’s no vetting process, anyone can turn up and fish these style of venues. They are run on a first come, first served basis so no long waiting lists. Cons of these style of venues are they can often be pretty busy and they can become pretty expensive if you are fishing them regularly.
Option number 2 for catching big carp is becoming part of a fishing club. Angling clubs are great and can be found countrywide and similar to day ticket waters can be found through Google searches or word of mouth. Clubs are inexpensive as you will pay your yearly fee then you can fish the waters which are part of the club as much as you like. Many clubs have lakes in multiple locations so there will possibly be different venues for you to fish. Fishing clubs are generally reasonably priced due to having a high volume of members but this can mean that the lakes can become very busy on weekends and bank holidays, especially in the spring and summer months. Another slight downfall is that clubs can often have lengthy waiting lists and you can have your name on the list for a fair while before a space comes up for you to join. Once you have a ticket clubs are great as they have a real community spirit and you will soon start to see the same faces week in, week out and quickly become friendly with like-minded people and possibly gain some new information from others that could lead to other big carp waters near you!
The final way to fish for big carp is to become a member of a syndicate. These venues are similar to clubs but often have much fewer members but higher yearly costs due to the lower number of members and usually they have only one location and more times than not only one lake. Syndicates can often be harder to get a ticket for as there’s normally a vetting process and often you have to be recommended by a current member, this coupled with long waiting lists can make syndicate waters more of a wait before a ticket becomes available.
The three options above are the best ways to locate a venue to enable you to catch big carp near you! You may be lucky and get straight onto a syndicate but it usually goes in order of fishing day tickets or a club and then joining a syndicate. The great thing is there’s three options there to go and catch big carp, anyone can get out and do it with a little research.