WINTER FISHING

[DEANO]

I fish a loal tarn which is hard to fish at the best of times and with the dreaded cold weather coming fast i was wondering if anyone has any tips.

[Andy Thatcher]

How many do you want ?

 

If you are determined to get a fish out of this tarn ? Eh what is a tarn ? Anyway here are a couple of methods.

 

Use single hookbaits with NO freebies and recast every 2 hours until you have covered your swim. Guess what you do next time you visit ? Bingo different swim until you find them. If you haven't got the confidence to use just your hookbait use a very small pva bag with pellets of the same flavour/type as your hookbait. For example I would use Essential Shellfish B5 hookbait so use the pellets from the same range. I'd rather use a pellet made from basemix etc than the usual trouties when it gets cold.

 

If you see any movement that might be a fish cast to it, immediately ! Just this little rule has caught lots and lots of carp for me.

[Julian]

I’d agree with all that Andy says.

 

When doing winter sessions I often leave one rod on a likely spot with a little bit of bait, and have a single dipped hook bait that I re-cast on the hour with the other.

 

During the winter I find you are trying to present a bait that they simply can’t refuse, and as they are quite a curious species I find they will often sample things just for the sake of it, thus if you can present something a little different (i.e. don’t just stick to boilies) you are increasing the chances of their curiosity getting the better of them.

 

During winter I’ve had massive success fishing two prawns on a hair rig, and like Andy says, just keep casting about to you get a result.

 

Julian

[Steve Burke]

I don't target carp during the winter but I do pick up quite a few when perch fishing, especially with deadbaits. I have to go up to 5" baits to avoid the carp on one water!

 

Of more practical use, I catch many more carp on worms fished in midwater than on the bottom. I'm talking about several feet off the bottom, not just the typical few inches of a popped-up boilie.

 

Interestingly, when out in the boat in winter I've seen a lot of carp in midwater and relatively few on the bottom.

 

When fishing in winter I've found for all species that the colder the weather the bigger the bait to be a good rule. This goes against accepted thinkin, but friends have since also come to the same conclusion. For further details see my article at http://anglersnet.co.uk/authors/steve05.htm.

 

Finally, I too agree with Andy about recasting at least 1 rod on a regular basis. The fish move around a lot less on most winter days and, as they usually won't move far for a bait, you've got to get your bait to them. I also find that a strongly smelling bait often works well in cold weather.

 

[ 07. October 2002, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: Steve Burke ]

[Rogerb]

Steve,

 

The link to the article gives a HTTP 404 File Not Found error.

 

When you say that Carp will not move far and you have to get the bait to them – just how close, is it yards or inches?

 

Regards.

Roger.

[Steve Burke]

Hi Roger, I got the same! Any ideas Elton or anyone?

 

You can get to this piece via the Angler's Net home page. Go to articles, then right at the bottom click on last year's articles. This will take to an author index. Click on my name and then Fishing Frozen Rivers. To save all that I've copied the relevant section below.

 

However, it's well worth looking in the articles section as there's over 100 interesting pieces in there.

 

"Nearly every book or article I've ever read states that you should use very small baits in cold weather. Naturally, many readers follow this advice and the odd fish is caught. Eventually just about everyone is fishing identically, which means of course that nearly all the fish reported are caught on small baits, and so the myth is perpetuated! Let me assure you that, on most cold days, you'll definitely catch a whole lot more with bigger baits!

 

I once spent three whole winters fishing just for chub, both on rivers and also on a stillwater. On the latter I could fish two rods efficiently, and so I was able to carry out several controlled experiments. One was on bait size, and it soon became apparent that big baits were definitely better in cold weather. Interestingly, the reverse was true during very mild spells when large baits were often picked up and dropped, whilst particle baits such as maggot and caster produced a string of fish. I'd stress that these experiments weren't confined to just one water, and a number of other members of the Chub Study Group were able to independently confirm the results.

 

Indeed I feel that the idea is likely to apply to every species and not just chub. For instance, my former fishing partner, Nigel Witham, once asked my advice about big river roach. These days he'd not need my advice as he's developed into a better roach angler than I'm ever likely to, but at that time the teenage Nigel had yet to catch his first two pounder. The weather had been bitterly cold for some time and there was cat-ice in the margins. I suggested that he fished a section from which I'd had a roach of just under 2½lbs that summer, but that he choose the next peg up, which was somewhat slower. I also recommended that he fished a whole lobworm as bait. The result? A monster of 3lbs 4ozs!

 

I believe the reason for this preference for big baits in cold conditions is that the only fish that survive are those that spend less energy in finding food than they get from eating it. Those that don't, for whatever reason, simply die. In summer, food is everywhere and so the fish can afford to use more energy, as it doesn't take much to find lots of food, both big and small. In winter, the few food items that are available are scattered far and wide, and it therefore makes sense for the fish to have one large meal if they can, rather than go chasing about for a series of small ones. That's not to say that the fish won't eat small baits in cold weather - it's just that they won't move very far to take them.

 

This is why it's worth thoroughly searching out your swim in cold weather by moving the bait a yard, or even a foot if it's very cold, every ten to fifteen minutes or so. A good way of doing this if you're legering is to use a link leger made up with AAA or even BB shot instead of the usual SSGs, and take one shot off each cast until you find the fish.

 

Being cold-blooded, fish will also eat less in cold weather, and therefore it pays to cut right back on groundbait, especially on the larger items. For instance, if you normally use mashed bread, substitute it with liquidised bread or fine breadcrumbs instead. In other words, as the fish won't eat much now, make sure that what they do take has your hook in it! Flavourings are particularly good at this time of year, as pioneers such as Archie Braddock, and more recently Matt Hayes, have shown. In fact Archie Braddock has been experimenting for a great many years, and I'd recommend every angler reads his book "Fantastic Feeder Fishing", which contains several chapters about flavourings.

 

I've found myself that strong-smelling baits are especially effective in cold weather, and I'm particularly fond of whitebait and flavoured bread. Perhaps these work so well because the smell rouses the fish out of their torpid state. It's always dangerous to compare cold-blooded fish with humans, but I know I'm far more likely to be roused out of a warm bed by the aroma of bacon and eggs than by the smell of cornflakes!"

 

As to how far away I think it depends on how active the fish are. If they're almost comotose think in terms of a few inches. On days when the fish are moving about a few yards is fine.

[Elton]

Steve Burke:

Hi Roger, I got the same! Any ideas Elton or anyone?

Try it without the fullstop on the end

 

http://anglersnet.co.uk/authors/steve05.htm

[Steve Burke]

Whoops!

 

As Elton will gladly confirm I'm thick when it comes to computers!

[pokey joe]

Some waters fish better in the Winter than the Summer .I have a water close by that produces more carp through the colder months than the warmer ones.I think it is down to the huge amounts of natural food dying off slightly when the colder weather comes.

Trickle in a small amount of bait into a couple of likely looking holding areas,do not think that they vacate all there Summer haunts when the weather gets cold,they dont,remember the shallows are the quickest to warm up during the heat of daytime.

[garry.w]

I also favour larger strong smelling baits in winter. try bright attractor pop ups near dying weedbeds as carp still hang around these in winter and dont forget floating baits i have had carp on floating crust in february