With the water at its warmest right now, carp are feeding in the upper layers and this point didn't escape me when I won a match using 6mm Fin Perfect feed pellets to catch 84lb of mainly ghost carp.

The match was a Thursday nighter at the popular Orcherton Fishery near Chorley.
 I started off feeding quite aggressively, flicking in three or four pouchfuls of pellets at regular intervals, to create a splash and to attract carp into my peg.
Once the fish arrived it was a case of cutting right back and kidnapping fish. Sometimes feeding nothing but simply 'slapping' the rig on to the surface was enough to initiate a bite as the fish homed in on the noise.
I caught most of my fish at 14.5 metres but eventually had to go to 16 metres to keep the odd one coming.
The fish fed at their best when there was a ripple on the water, and when the ripple died off the fish became harder to tempt.

When it becomes flat calm I tend to lengthen the line from pole tip to float, sometimes by as much as a couple of feet, as the rig, fished out beyond the pole tip, tends not to spook the fish.
I used a 4 x 10 Preston Pink dibber, which has a wire stem, to cope with the choppy conditions,and I used a 0.15mm Power Line hook-length, finished off with a knotless knotted PR36 hook in a size 18, with a micro band tied to the hair to accept the pellet, which was the same as I fed, a 6mm Fin Perfect feed pellet. Elastic-wise, I opted for a Preston 11H, utilising a Pulla Kit, so that I could dictate terms.
The shallow approach works well and I don't tend to mess about with the feed pellets. I often use them straight out of the bag, as their hardness makes an attractive splashing noise when they hit the lake surface.
It's like sounding a dinner bell to carp!