Carp glossary
Every carp fishing term you're likely to hear on the bank, explained in plain English. Search or jump to a letter.
A
- Abrasion resistance
- How well a line stands up to rubbing on gravel, mussels or snags. Important for mainline and hooklinks on rough lake beds. More →
- Alarm
- See bite alarm.
- Anti-eject rig
- Any rig designed to make it harder for a carp to blow the hook out once it has taken the bait, often by using a stiff or kinked section near the hook. More →
- Anti-tangle sleeve
- A short rubber or plastic sleeve that sits over the swivel and kicks the hooklink away from the lead to reduce tangles. More →
B
- Back lead
- A small weight slid down the mainline after casting so the line lies on the lake bed instead of running through the water to the rod tip.
- Bait boat
- A remote-controlled boat used to take rigs and bait out to a spot. Banned on many fisheries.
- Bait spoon
- A long-handled spoon for placing bait accurately in the margins or at short range. More →
- Baiting needle
- A needle with a latch or hooked tip used to pull the hair loop through a boilie or other hard bait. More →
- Bank stick
- A metal pole pushed into the ground to hold a bite alarm or rod rest. Used in pairs instead of a rod pod. More →
- Bar
- A raised ridge on the lake bed, usually gravel. Carp often patrol and feed along bars. More →
- Barbless hook
- A hook without a barb. Many fisheries insist on barbless or micro-barbed hooks because they do less damage. More →
- Big pit reel
- A large reel with a wide, shallow spool that casts further and holds more line. The standard reel for most carp fishing. More →
- Bite alarm
- An electronic device the line runs over. It sounds and lights up when the line moves, telling you a fish has taken the bait. More →
- Bivvy
- A carp angler's tent, designed to go up quickly and fit a bedchair. More →
- Blank
- 1. The bare tube a rod is built on. 2. A session where you catch nothing.
- Bloodworm
- Midge larvae living in the silt. A key natural food for carp.
- Bobbin
- A simple bite indicator clipped to the line below the rod. More →
- Boilie
- A ball of bait made from a dough of flours, eggs and flavours, boiled to give it a hard skin so small fish can't eat it quickly. The most widely used carp bait. More →
- Boilie stop
- A small plastic stop that holds a bait on the hair. More →
- Bolt rig
- A rig with a heavy, fixed or semi-fixed lead, so a carp pricks itself on the hook and bolts, setting the hook. Most modern carp rigs work this way. More →
- Braid
- Line made from woven fibres. It is strong for its diameter and has almost no stretch. Some fisheries ban it as mainline. More →
- Bread punch
- A tool that cuts neat pellets of bread for the hook. Used for margin and small-fish carp fishing.
- Bubbler
- A carp feeding on the bottom sends bubbles to the surface.
- Bucket
- A bait bucket. Also the bucket used to mix spod mix or groundbait.
- Buzzer
- An old name for a bite alarm. More →
C
- Cast
- Sending the rig out with the rod. Also the distance you've reached.
- Chod rig
- A short, stiff rig with a pop-up that slides on a leader, so it settles on top of weed or silt. More →
- Chopped boilie
- Boilies cut into pieces. They release more flavour and spread differently from whole baits. More →
- Clip
- See lead clip or line clip.
- Clipping up
- Putting the line in the reel's line clip after casting to a spot, so every cast lands at exactly the same distance. More →
- Coated braid
- Braid with a stiff plastic coating. You can strip the coating near the hook to make that section supple. More →
- Commercial fishery
- A fishery run as a business, usually well stocked with carp. Often has strict rules on bait, rigs and kit. More →
- Common carp
- A fully scaled carp.
- Controller float
- A weighted float used in surface fishing. It gives you casting weight and shows bites. More →
- Cradle
- A raised, padded frame for holding a carp off the ground while unhooking it. Safer than a flat mat and required on many waters. More →
- Crayfish
- Signal crayfish live in many UK waters and eat soft baits. Hard or hardened hookbaits survive them better. More →
- Crimp
- A metal sleeve squeezed onto mono to form loops or hold rig parts. Used on some stiff rigs.
- Critically balanced
- A hookbait trimmed so it only just sinks under the weight of the hook. It behaves naturally when a carp sucks at it. More →
D
- Dead spot
- An area of the lake bed with little food or life, often silty and smelly. Usually poor for fishing. More →
- Distance sticks
- A pair of sticks set a known distance apart. You wrap line round them to measure out the same distance for every rod and spod. More →
- Double
- A carp of 10 lb or more but under 20 lb. Also two baits on one hair.
- Double-line
- A loop formed by doubling the line before tying a knot, for extra strength. More →
- Drag
- The mechanism on a reel that lets line slip under pressure, so a fish can't break you. More →
- Drop
- The feel of the lead hitting the bottom through the rod. A sharp thud means a hard bottom, a soft one means silt or weed. More →
- Drop-back
- A bite where the line goes slack because the carp has swum towards you, so the indicator drops. More →
- Dumbbell
- A barrel-shaped bait. It stays where it lands instead of rolling down slopes. More →
E
- End tackle
- Everything at the business end of the line: lead, swivel, hooklink and hook.
F
- Feature
- Any change on the lake bed or in the lake that might attract carp: bars, plateaus, gullies, weed beds, snags and margins. More →
- Feature finding
- Mapping the lake bed with a marker rod, a lead or a sonar to find good spots. More →
- Figure-of-eight loop
- A loop knot often used at the end of a hooklink. More →
- Fishmeal
- A bait base made from fish. Very effective in warm water, but harder for carp to digest in cold water. More →
- Fizzer
- A carp feeding hard on the bottom releases streams of tiny bubbles. Those patches of bubbles are fizzing.
- Fluorocarbon
- A line that is denser than water and hard to see underwater. Used for mainline, leaders and hooklinks. More →
- Free-lining
- Fishing with no lead at all, just the hook and bait. More →
- Freebies
- Loose bait put out around the hookbait. More →
- Freespool reel
- A reel with a lever that lets line run off freely when a fish takes. You switch back to the main drag when you strike. More →
G
- Glug
- A thick liquid attractant that hookbaits are soaked in. More →
- Gravel
- A clean, hard lake bed that carp like to feed on. Feels like a sharp, juddery drag on a lead. More →
- Gravel pit
- A lake formed by flooding an old gravel working. Usually deep, with lots of bars and features. More →
- Grinner
- A strong knot used to tie line to a swivel or ring. More →
- Groundbait
- A crumbly mix of crumbs and fine particles packed round a feeder or thrown in as balls. More →
- Gully
- A trench or channel in the lake bed. More →
H
- Hair
- The short length of line the bait hangs on, below the hook. More →
- Hair rig
- The standard carp rig, with the bait mounted on a hair instead of on the hook. More →
- Hanger
- A bite indicator that hangs on the line between the reel and the alarm. More →
- Hard bottom
- A firm lake bed, such as gravel or clay. More →
- Head torch
- A torch worn on the head, used for night fishing. A red light setting keeps the lake dark. More →
- Helicopter rig
- A set-up where the hooklink spins on the leader above the lead. Good for tangle-free casting and fishing over weed and silt. More →
- Hemp
- A small seed that is a classic carp particle. Must be properly prepared. More →
- Hinged stiff rig
- A pop-up rig with a stiff boom joined to a short, stiff hook section by a ring. It flips and catches hold quickly. More →
- Hook hold
- Where the hook has caught in the fish's mouth. Treat it with antiseptic after unhooking. More →
- Hookbait
- The bait on the hair.
- Hooklink
- The length of line between the swivel and the hook. More →
I
K
L
- Landing net
- A large triangular net for landing carp. 42 in arms are standard. More →
- Lead clip
- A clip that holds the lead and is designed to release it if a fish snags or the line breaks. More →
- Leadcore
- Braid with a lead core, used as a heavy leader to pin the line down. Banned on some waters. More →
- Leader
- A length of heavier line or material between the mainline and the rig. More →
- Leaf litter
- Fallen leaves on the lake bed in autumn. Can hide a bottom bait. More →
- Leather carp
- A carp with no scales, or almost none.
- Line aligner
- A sleeve over the hook eye that kinks the line so the hook turns into the fish's mouth. More →
- Line clip
- A clip on the reel spool that stops line running out once you've hit your distance. More →
- Line lay
- How the line sits on the lake bed between the rod and the rig.
- Liner
- A false bite where a fish swims into the line. More →
- Loose feeding
- Throwing or catapulting free bait.
M
- Mainline
- The line on your reel. More →
- Maize
- A large, hard particle that carp love. Must be prepared before use. More →
- Margin
- The edge of the lake close to the bank. Carp often feed very close in. More →
- Marker float
- A buoyant float on a marker rod, popped up to mark the spot you've found. More →
- Marker rod
- A stiff rod with braid, a lead and a float, used to map the lake bed. More →
- Method feeder
- A frame feeder that groundbait or pellets are packed round. The hookbait sits in or on the bait. More →
- Micro-barbed
- A hook with a very small barb. Often allowed where full barbs are banned. More →
- Mirror carp
- A carp with a few large, irregular scales.
- Monofilament (mono)
- Single-strand nylon line. It stretches and is the standard carp mainline. More →
- Mussel bed
- Patches of mussels on the lake bed. They hold food, but their sharp shells can cut line. More →
N
O
P
- Palomar
- A strong, simple knot for tying to swivels and rings. More →
- Particle
- Small seeds, nuts and pulses used as carp bait, such as hemp, maize, tigers and chickpeas. More →
- Particle bed
- A spread of particles fished over with a hookbait. More →
- Particle preparation
- Soaking and boiling particles so they are safe for carp. Tiger nuts and other nuts must be prepared properly. More →
- Peg
- A numbered fishing spot on a lake. Also another word for swim.
- Pellet
- A compressed bait, often made from fishmeal. It breaks down and releases flavour. More →
- Plateau
- A raised, flat area of the lake bed, larger than a bar. More →
- Pop-up
- A buoyant hookbait that rises off the bottom, held down by the hook or a weight. More →
- Pop-up hook
- A hook with an out-turned eye, made for pop-up rigs. More →
- Pop-up rig
- Any rig designed to present a pop-up, such as the chod, Ronnie or hinged stiff rig. More →
- Putty
- A soft, heavy tungsten paste moulded onto the hooklink to pin it down or sink a pop-up. More →
- PVA
- Polyvinyl alcohol, a plastic that dissolves in water. Used for bags, sticks, mesh and string. More →
- PVA bag
- A bag of PVA filled with pellets or crumb and attached to the hook. It melts on the bottom and leaves a tight pile of bait round the hookbait. More →
- PVA mesh
- A tube of PVA net. Used to make sticks and parcels. More →
- PVA stick
- A narrow tube of bait in PVA mesh, threaded onto the hook. More →
R
- Range
- How far you're casting.
- Receiver
- A handset that picks up signals from your bite alarms so you can hear bites from inside the bivvy. More →
- Rig
- The combination of hook, hooklink and attachments at the end of your line.
- Rig ring
- A small metal ring used on chod, Ronnie and hinged rigs. More →
- Rig tube
- Tube used to make or protect rig parts.
- Rod licence
- The licence you legally need to fish for freshwater fish in England and Wales. One Environment Agency licence covers both countries. It is separate from any fishery ticket. More →
- Rod pod
- A free-standing frame that holds rods and alarms. Used on hard banks or platforms. More →
- Ronnie rig
- A pop-up rig with a swivel on the hook shank. Also called the spinner rig. More →
- Run
- A bite where a fish takes line from the reel.
S
- Safety clip
- See lead clip. More →
- Session
- A fishing trip, from a few hours to several days.
- Shelf life
- A boilie with preservatives that keeps without freezing. More →
- Shock leader
- A length of stronger line at the end of the mainline that takes the force of a hard cast. More →
- Shrink tube
- Plastic tube that shrinks when steamed. Used on rigs to make kickers and stiff sections. More →
- Silt
- Soft, fine material on the lake bed. Can be good feeding or smelly and sour. More →
- Sinker
- A hookbait that sinks, such as a bottom-bait boilie.
- Slack line
- Line left loose so it lies on the bottom, less likely to spook fish.
- Sling
- See weigh sling. More →
- Snag
- An underwater obstacle that could trap a hooked fish, such as a fallen tree or roots. Never fish so close that a fish can reach one. More →
- Snag ears
- Plastic arms on a bite alarm that stop the line flicking off when a fish runs. More →
- Snowman
- A hookbait of a bottom bait with a small pop-up on top. More →
- Spawning
- Carp breed in late spring or early summer. Many fisheries close while it happens. Leave spawning fish alone. More →
- Spinner rig
- Another name for the Ronnie rig. More →
- Spod
- A rocket-shaped container for casting bait out to a spot. More →
- Spod mix
- A mix of particles, pellets and crumb for spodding. More →
- Spomb
- A spod that stays closed in flight and opens when it hits the water. More →
- Stalking
- Finding fish in the margins and casting to them, often with one rod and minimal kit. More →
- Stalking rod
- A short rod for margin fishing. More →
- Stiff rig
- A rig made of stiff material that doesn't tangle and resets after being picked up. More →
- Stringer
- A few baits threaded onto PVA string and attached to the hook. More →
- Surface controller
- See controller float. More →
- Surface fishing
- Fishing a floating bait on the top for carp feeding there. More →
- Swim
- The area of bank you fish from, and the water in front of it. Also called a peg.
- Swinger
- A bite indicator on an arm that fits under the alarm and moves up or down with the line. More →
- Swivel
- A metal link that lets the hooklink and line turn without twisting. Connects the rig to the leader or mainline. More →
T
- Tail rubber
- A rubber sleeve that pushes onto a lead clip's tail to hold the lead. Pushed on lightly, it lets the lead come off if needed. More →
- Tench
- A fish often caught by carp anglers, especially in spring.
- Test curve
- How stiff a rod is: the weight needed to bend its tip to 90 degrees. 3 lb is a standard carp rod. More →
- Tiger nut
- A sweet, crunchy particle that carp love. Must be soaked and boiled before use. Banned on some waters. More →
- Tight line
- A line wound down tight to the lead so bites register quickly.
- Tip ring
- The last guide at the end of the rod.
- Tubing
- Weighted rubber tube over the line near the rig to keep it on the lake bed and protect fish. More →
- Twenty
- A carp over 20 lb. A thirty is over 30 lb, and so on.
U
W
- Wading
- Walking into the water. Banned on most fisheries.
- Wafter
- A hookbait that is critically balanced or very slow-sinking, so it lands gently and moves naturally. More →
- Water craft
- Reading a lake and its fish to find where and how to fish. More →
- Weed
- Underwater plants. They give carp food and cover, and they're hard to fish in without the right rig. More →
- Weigh sling
- A padded, water-filled bag used to weigh a carp safely. More →
- Whip finish
- A knot finish where the line is wrapped round itself, used on knots like the knotless knot. More →
- Wind
- The direction and warmth of the wind affect where carp feed. Fishing into a warm wind is an old rule that often works. More →
- Winter carp
- Fishing for carp in cold water, when they feed less. More →
Y
- Yearling
- A young carp in its first or second year.