Catching tight to islands with the pole on commercial fisheries isn't as difficult as some people think. And using SonuBaits Fin Perfect Mix 1 and Fin Perfect Pellets as the basis for your attack, you'll soon catch more now the really warm weather is here.

On arrival at a peg within pole range of an island, the first question that I ask is: Where will the feeding fish be? The answer is that they are feeding tight to the far bank, grubbing about in the clay where the water meets the land, often in places where there is barely enough water to cover their backs.

Carp like to feed up on these shallow ledges in the middle of summer because the water is warm. Natural food such as worms, slugs and insects falls into the water from the grass above, and, importantly, the fish feel safer here than swimming in open water. Even a single blade of grass entering the water represents a form of cover to a carp.

In essence, the fish tell you where they are. Carp can never hide their presence for long and tell-tale signs are bow waves, swirls and odd sightings of fins. So this is where you must go to catch them, and my basic rule of thumb in these situations is to fish as close to the mud on the far bank as you physically can.

If you position your float too far away, and here I am talking a matter of only inches from the far bank, you will get fewer bites. I’d say that the perfect depth for this kind of shallow, far bank fishing would be around a foot of depth. As long as the water is warm, the fish will be happy to be in such shallow water. This method works best from April through to the end of September, but it can also work in other months provided you pick your days and the conditions are right.

On most commercials fish respond to pellets better than any other bait - after all, pellets are what they are reared on and see this bait as very much part of their natural diet.
When I am targeting carp in the middle of summer I think Sonubaits' Fin Perfect 4mm feed pellets are hard to beat.
I like to make up a base mix of groundbait, using the fishmeal-rich Fin Perfect Mix 1, and include some feed pellets in the mix.
When I start fishing, the first thing I do is put a  small Prestons Carp Pot on the pole tip, filling it with my Mix1 with pellets, and fishing with an S-Pellet, or one of the new Paste Pellet son the hook.
The float is set so the bait just touches the bottom on the far slope, tight across in just a few inches of water.
I ship across and from a  few inches above the surface, turn the pole so the pot of feed drops into the water with a plop. I then position the float bang in the middle of the ripples caused by the feed, and wait for a bite. It is vitally important that you position the float in the middle of the feed EVERY time, as this is where the carp will come to.
The plopping noise, caused by dropping the bait from a few inches above the surface, essentially rings the dinner bell for the fish.
Let’s run through the sort of tackle you need to develop your skills at this style of fishing. For a start the pole needs to be long enough to cope with the challenge and generally 12.5 to 14.5 metres will be enough for most situations you will come across.
I use my Preston Innovations Genis 12 with a Prestons 13H Hollo elastic through the number three and number two sections. This is a medium-strength hollow elastic that is great for catching fish from a few ounces up to lumps over 10lbs. It is very forgiving yet has plenty of power, too.
In a swim around a foot and a half deep, I tie the rig on with about four inches of line from the elastic connector to the pole float. The float is a PB10 Durafloat, which has a coil spring side eye, for added durability when fishing in pegs where carp may try to take you through marginal vegetation.
With other types of float you stand a chance of the side eye being ripped from the float, rendering the rig useless.
The rig line is 0.15mm diameter Preston Powerline, which is strong and reliable, and the rig is finished off with a size 16 PR28 hook.
If I was on a  venue where the average size was, say, 8lb, I would step up to a Prestons 15H Hollo elastic, but I would also step up the hook size to a size 14 PR28. I am a great believer in matching the strength of elastics to hook sizes. I cannot stress enough that balanced tackle is the key to bigger catches and fewer lost fish.
One final word on the rig. It is shotted with a simple bulk of three No 10 Preston Stotz. These are the business for this kind of fishing.
That’s because they are a cross, if you like, between a shot and a styl weight. Due to this design they grip the line better than a shot because of their increased surface area, and they do not fall off the line when you are catching a lot of fish.