Dear Spug

I am pretty new to fishing; I have been on occasions but I have never really had the money to really make a go of it. I now have a job and a half-decent wage, and want to start going regularly. I have the majority of the gear I need and soon I’m going to a local fishery for a day session. I just want to know, because of the cold weather, what is the best approach to take in terms of bait and rigs, and also which features should I be aiming for when placing my bait, to maximise my catching chances.

Cheers,
Kieron McDonald, Stoke.

Hi Kieron

Thanks for the question, and welcome to carp fishing!

With the onset of the colder weather I think it is fair to say that most people believe that carp metabolism slows down and their desire to feed and digest food slows down accordingly. Some lakes seem to shut off completely, but I feel that most fish will have a feed through the colder months, although maybe not every day and not necessarily in big quantities, so they are catchable and we have to change our game plan to suit. In terms of bait I would definitely cut down the amount I put in, probably tending to use PVA mesh bags containing just a handful of crushed/chopped freebies, perhaps with a glug poured over it while actually fishing. It gives perfect presentation and just a mouthful of bait. If I felt the need to bait up the spots that I was going to fish, then this would be done as I left the lake, or 2-3 days before I was going to have a go for them. At this point I would probably bait with no more than 50 offerings and just use the PVA bags when I fished. My hookbaits would be smaller than I would normally use, probably around 10-12mm, and I would refine my rigs to match them, i.e. smaller hooks, etc., just making everything a lot more subtle. With regards to features, I would watch the water and look for signs of fish jumping, bubblers, etc., or from where other people were catching them. If I drew a blank on the observation front I would stick to my baited spots, which would be the slightly deeper water so that my baited areas would not be cleared out by the bird life.

Hope this helps, and be lucky.

Spug