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How to fix common carp fishing mistakes

Adam Penning shares his insights to prevent you making these basic carp fishing mistakes!

by James Furness |

Updated on13th April 2026 at 9.11am

Whether you have been carp fishing for decades or have just started, there are some mistakes that Adam Penning sees happen time and time again. From poor bait presentation to tackle errors, they will prevent you catching carp.

In this guide we show you how to fix the most common carp fishing mistakes, so every session counts and more fish end up in your net.

Problem one: Being in a rush

Picture the scene. You arrive in rush hour – the same as most of the other anglers on a Friday night. Time is seemingly short. The pressure forces you to choose a spot and get fishing as quickly as possible. You can hear the tick of the clock in your head as you fall into the panic of getting into the ‘right swim’.

Some pegs are already taken, adding to the stress and, even worse, you might only have until 10am the next morning to make it all count.

Solution: Stop and think about it

By all means ‘bucket’ a swim, if permitted, but don’t fall into the trap of getting fishing as quickly as you can. You’ve got a swim, so relax and go for a walk. Do a lap. Do another lap. Are you sure you are in the right place?

Very often the fish will start showing into darkness, so instead of setting up all your gear and rooting yourself to the swim, why not wait and play a longer game?

Only this week I had a correspondent on social media asking me how to cope with exactly this situation. He accepted my advice, took his time and waited until the fish showed, then he moved on to them in darkness and caught a belting mid-twenty common on an adjustable zig.

The lesson is obvious – don’t let panic rush you into making poor decisions!

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Don't be in too much of a rush to setup!

Problem two: Applying too much bait!

Again, this is very common to see. Once established in a swim, out comes the marker float and off comes the bucket lid. The longer the session, the more bait that is applied. The logic behind the process often being that the more bait you put in, the greater the likelihood of a big catch return.

In reality, this is rarely the case and, furthermore, the process tethers the angler to the swim, taking away the essentials of adaptability and mobility – the latter being a vital component at any time, but particularly in the spring.

Solution: Fish for a bite at a time

Ask yourself how many fish you could realistically catch on your session and also how many do you want to catch? In reality, for most anglers, avoiding the blank and bagging a single carp would be a really good result, especially on more testing venues.

Why not try to achieve this instead of going ‘all or nothing’? Fishing for a bite is always my chosen preference – just concentrate on getting that one carp into the net and then try to build on it afterwards.

Literally all my biggest catches have come this way – I’d struggle to recall one where I heaved it in and then reaped spectacular results.

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Only 12 boilies were needed to fool this thirty...

Problem three: Tactical confusion

The modern angler is faced with the dilemma of what to apply tactically on a session. The options are vast. Pop-up, wafter, bright, dark, stiff, supple, long, short, boilie or particle? And so it goes on.

Many are chasing their tails in a spin of confusion that doesn’t cultivate confidence or effectiveness.

Solution: Simplify your approach

Instead of blindly following the latest trends and fashions, try and get your choice of rig and bait down to just one or two at the most. Concentrate all your efforts on getting into the right area and deploying an untangled rig with a sharp hook and good-quality bait to the area of activity.

Stop lugging around that bucket of 30 different tubs of pop-ups. Stop carrying a whole tackle shop of terminal tackle items. Streamline your approach and it will rapidly declutter your mind. This process WILL lead you to more carp.

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One of Adam's most successful rigs

Problem four: Fish blindness

The angler who once went fishing to be with nature, the lake and the carp, is now disconnected from the whole experience by allowing themselves to be surrounded and indeed engulfed by electronic media.

This results in the angler becoming totally detached from what should be a proactive, ongoing and participatory interaction with the lake. The end result is an increasing number of blanks and a hollow sense of meaninglessness – what was it all really for?

Was it just to be somewhere quiet so that you could ‘doom scroll’ without limit? Surely we want it to be a richer experience than that?

Solution: Turn it all off!

We all use our phones too much. Sometimes they are a necessary tool but beyond that, try putting it down and disconnecting yourself from the electronic matrix.

Pay some serious attention to your surroundings and actually concentrate on what is going on. This one single action will result in you not only enjoying your time on the bank more, but also in more carp gracing your landing net.

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DONT GO FISH BLIND!

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