After my surface attempt was failed, I was determind to try and catch my first carp of 2006, on Sunday 8th January.

I decided that my best bet for a fish would be a local 'runs water' which holds carp upto around 13lb.

The conditions were quite cold and overcast with what i considered low light levels and chilling easterly wind. The water is usually quite cloudy, and the clarity of the water on the particular day, showed that the carp were much less active, which is not suprising considering that they are cold-blooded, and have been experienceing quite a few frosts.

I opted for a swim known as 'The Pipe' which gives access to a number of features.

On the day, I had my mate with me, and decided to put his bait right into the bay where the wind was blowing. The depth was around 5 feet within just a couple of feet of the bank, and was hopefully going to sneak out a carp that was following the wind (They very often follow the wind in there, as there is very often a wind on the water because it is very open).

1.Check the depth, and lower bait to suitable spot...

2. Introduce small amount of bait around hookbait...

I then walked back round the bay and put the rod on the rest, and setup his hanger with a semi-slack indication setup, whereby there was just a couple of inches of slack line to be taken up before the line would tighten and pull the indicator up.

I opted for two approaches on my rods:

1. A 'roving' single hookabit that I would cast to different areas and depths every hour, in the hope of finding a feeding fish.

2. Fishing the bottom of the marginal shelf with a small particle bed and particle hookbait.

A few hours passed and my companion recieved a few inches movement, however nothing came of it. I recieved the occassional bleep but nothing specific, and even a roving hookbait and stringer approach proved unnssuccesful. We persivered with the boilies hookbaits, and also tried counterbalanced baits with pop-up foam in the centre, but still nothing.

We also tried small PVA bags from PCI, known as the 'Ready Bags'; ready made small PVA bags of pellets, a winter-luxury to save tieing up bags with cold hands, you can just hook one on!

Fishing 'The Pipe' at a local runs water

We also tried fishing a bay where there was little surface wind in the hope of catching a carp off the surface, however I was doubtful due to air and water temeprature being cold, and low light levels. And unfotunaltly we did not catch.

The six-hour session was soon over, and am I now left as little bemused:

Temperature?

Inactive/Non-Feeding Fish?

Low Water Level?

Bait Location?

I cannot really decide which if any of the above are a factor of my blanks - that's winter for you.

Hopefully I will end my blank soon with my first 2006 carp!