Tom Stokes - Heli Safes In The Autumn

During the autumn, you’ll often find the carp heading to those deeper bodies of open water, often in the silty zones as they look to harvest the last of the natural food. Typically, you’ll tend to find these areas can be a lot dirtier or softer than the spots you might look to fish in the summer. With this in mind, it’s important to tailor your approach to ensure you’ll be presented.

Heli Safes, for me, are my go-to lead arrangement all year round, but in the autumn when fishing to these silty zones, they really come into their own, enabling your rig to sit above any debris or on top of the silt.

You can position your top bead accordingly, simply, the softer the bottom, the further I will slide the bead away from the lead. In most cases, I will leave a gap of around 6-inches from the lead to the bead, usually, enough security for that rig to present on most silty areas.