Dusting off the cobwebs with a bit of winter action.

Edwin Woodhams' story of Christmas time carping.

As you all know winter carping is a bit difficult at the best of times and getting a bite can be quite a challenge, especially if time is limited and you can’t get on the lake at the right time for a bite. However, there are a few things you can do to stack the odds in your favour of netting a winter carp or two. Firstly, being on the water for key bite times, which, in winter, can be quite short and tend to be at dawn, dusk and in the middle of the day when light and warmth are at their greatest. In addition, timing your sessions with the weather can also help, with big low pressure systems from the south-west typically being good conditions for a bite as the warm wind increases the temperature of the water and stirs up the naturals hiding in the silt. Also, pre-baiting will massively increase your chances as long as you use appropriate baits, more of which later!

High attraction but not
overpowering baits were on
 the menu for these fish.

Anyway, Adam and I had been struggling for a bite in the last few weeks so, with the Christmas holidays imminent, we decided to pull out all the stops for a few bites. Living locally to the lake, Adam was able to go down and do a bit of pre-baiting, over about a week, on a few deep marginal spots - which we had caught from previously. The bait used was a mix of Vitalin dog food, hempseed and sweetcorn – all baits suitable for use in winter, unlike for example, halibut or trout pellets, which have a high oil content and as such are difficult for carp to digest in cold conditions and so fill them up for long periods. This actually works against you and defeats the object of pre-baiting. The aim is to get the fish wanting your bait and then recognising it as a good source of food – being consistent and getting a routine in order helps you achieve both these necessities for pre-baiting,
Adam even baited over Christmas day!

So, enough of the theory, how did the actual fishing go? ‘Quite well’ didn’t really sum it up, especially over winter and on this particular lake! Getting down to the lake before sun rise, we soon had the rods out to the prebaited spots and sat back to wait. Adam had typically forgotten his brolly and water-proof over trousers so he wound in and marched off home to get them before the forecasted downpour was due. It was only ten minutes before Adam arrived back in the swim – still quite dark - when my right hand bobbin rose steadily to the rod and I lifted into a fish. Though being in the middle of winter, it made a good account for itself. The fish turned out to be perfection in miniature as I slid the net under a mirror of about 5-6lb. Despite this fish being one of the smaller residents - since their stocking only a few years ago, the growth rates are incredible. It was caught on a rig I've had a bit of success on lately, that being the butterfly KD rig.

One of many fish from
 the last stocking.

The 'butterfly' presentation
of the KD corn rig. 

I reckon its success lies in the odd shaped bait that the fish aren't used to ejecting. I hope to meet that little chap again in about a decade’s time, when he’s put on a bit of weight – If he keeps growing like this, there’s nothing stopping him getting into double figures, easily! As the weather subsided for a minute or two, Adam had the chance to safely re-cast his rigs without getting drenched. His solid PVA bag of Ace baits’ black ice pellets and Marukyu JPz hookbaits went out safely on the spot he had measured up tight against the far margin. And his other rod had a tiny PVA mesh bag nicked on the hook. The bag consisted of liquidised boilies, crushed fast breakdown pellets and a liberal dosing of Nash baits’ Scopex squid In-juicer – though it is not PVA friendly, it does not melt the bag quickly. That small bag then complemented a blatant pop-up rig with a strawberry ice cream hookbait soaked in the said In-juicer. My rods, on the other hand, were flicked out with the KD rig on the right and the other with a couple of the JPz on the hair of a simple bottom bait rig.

The bait that produced the 2
biggest fish of the day.

Both rigs were accompanied by little mesh bags of a mix containing a blend of CCMoore’s live system base mix, pellet Ultramix and liquidised bread. All of which was dampened down with a fair bit of hemp oil and whisky – the alcohol content helps to disperse the oils and flavours. It really works, just ask a chemistry teacher!

My winter stick mix -
all tied up and ready to go.

All we had to do now was wait for the magical call from a twitchy bobbin and the song of a bite alarm’s bleep or two. Again, not long after we had settled down for the second time, the downpour began. We waited a bit more. And then even a bit more! Recasting fresh bags at regular intervals to keep a fresh smell in the water was one of our trump cards as too many people seem happy to sit behind motionless rods! At around 11 o’clock, Adam registered a quiet bleep of the alarm that soon turned into a wary bite. After a mediocre battle with a sleepy common, I netted Adam’s first fish of session. Like many of the fish in this lake, Adam recognised it immediately and told me it was a fish called Dumpy. There was no need to explain to me why! He then, amongst wrestling with it on the mat, proceeded to explain that it wasn't actually a particularly fat fish either.

Descending order;
Spike's twin
and Dumpy.

I guess, like people, some are naturally stocky or lean and some are long or short. The fish was left in the net for a short period to recover and also due to the rain making unfavourable conditions for photography. However, whilst in the net, Adam received a very odd bite on his furthest rod, which took about a minute to materialise into something that definitely wasn’t a liner. After a strong tussle, the draw cord of the net was carefully passed under another common, known as Spike’s twin. Thankfully, it had stopped raining so we got the fish out of the net for their short moments of glory before they were allowed to go home.

Spike's twin weighed in at 15lb 9Oz and Dumpy was 10Lb 4Oz. Adam seemed surprised when I read out the weight of Dumpy as he looked in his log book and noted that it had lost a considerable amount of weight, even though it being winter. He genuinely believes that a log book has not only allowed him to keep an eye on the fish’s habits, but also improve his general understanding of fish and angling as a whole. Though before we could look though his book properly, my JPz pellet rigged rod roared off resulting in a near fully scaled mirror that weighed about 13lb.
Three fish in three quarters of an hour – not bad for a winter session but also highlighting the fairly short bite times typical of winter. The rest of the day session passed without any further events, other than significant quantities of rain!

Don’t forget to check out the accompanying video soon and get out there and catch some winter carp! Keep an eye out too for a pike video and article too!

By E.Woodhams - Carp Mad Men