With winter well and truly under way and temperatures dropping rapidly, everything slows considerably. What was once a bustling hive of activity from morning right through the night, slowly becomes an almost torpid and deathly quiet scenario on many bank sides. Birds have been busy building up their reserves as well other nocturnal animals preparing for the very worse winter conditions, as in nature, risks for the survival of life cannot be chanced. High on the agenda for every living animal is food and when severe winter weather strikes this can be a daunting task for any creature to collect especially as most natural food larders are hard to come by. It’s a reason why we as humans should ensure that bird feeders are erected so that we can give nature a helping hand. Fish, on the other hand are not so lucky as they are not (except by some anglers) seen as animals that need to be fed. They don’t exactly roam people’s gardens do they.

In the warmer months and with anglers spending constant time on the bank, our baits i.e. food items, that we sometimes use in abundance to catch our quarry, becomes a regular food source that carp thrive on. The nutritious ingredients within most baits helps both weight gain and muscle repair as well as general health but as anglers begin to dissipate, what was once a regular food source becomes rarer and rarer. With this in mind, I like to use this scenario to my advantage or at least that’s my theory.
Over the years I have had regular success by keeping bait going in all through the winter but when I mention bait, I don’t mean kilos and kilos of the stuff. Some may believe in piling in bait in really cold water conditions but it’s just not for me. I’ve never had any really good success by using that method unless of course we mention highly stocked carp waters that contain a particular strain of carp. HNV baits have been successful for me or full blown milk baits such as DT Baits cold water mix has made some winters for me seem a lot easier than others although milder winters certainly help with carp angling success.

Keep rigs simple with small bags of high attract food items.

Cold water temperatures for successful carp angling are not exactly brilliant but watch out for when we have changes of a few degrees or more, or those sunny days when we are due more sun for a certain amount of time than what we had been accustomed too.
These days can be rather more productive, especially at venues that have a shallower coverage of water with margins generally keeping a slightly warmer temperature than other parts of the lake. Also keep an eye on water colouration but try not to get it mixed up with water foul movement or you could have rods positioned on a spot that hasn’t seen a fish, simply bird life, in which you are wasting you time. Depths of around 3-4ft are generally what I target through the winter however this could be margins, plateaus or bars that have shallower depths surrounding them.

Despite what you hear, carp can remain almost dormant at times mostly through severe cold weather spells but I’ve found that to be on lower stocked venues that don’t have other carp to start a feeding reaction. This is one of my theory’s as to why larger carp in lower stocked venues can be difficult to catch through the winter so personally I tend to stick with higher stocked runs waters. It’s also a misconception that these venues are easy through any time of year but at times carp can carp be difficult to catch anywhere in winter, needing a certain amount of skill and thought to catch them. I cannot emphasise enough how mobility is my number one key at this time of year. Everything stays on my barrow except my brolly if it’s windy or raining and my chair (although sometimes I leave that behind) and sit quite comfortably on my barrow.

I also tend to fish for liners too and if I haven’t had a liner or a bleep within two hours I’ll up and move to the next spot so just keep moving until you find them. The majority of the time you’ll find most venues to be almost void of anglers which is great as you have the run of the place, so take advantage of this and trickle in small amounts of baits into likely spots such as reed beds that have died back and overhanging trees. I’ve always found that areas that held carp in summer usually do in winter so ignore those at your peril. Keeping on the move will not only make your capture even more rewarding but will also keep you warm too as there is nothing worse than sitting freezing your nuts off surrounded by green walls or sacked up in a sleeping bag. Always take hot drinks with you in either a flask or if you have a stove then great but alcohol or cold drinks are a big no no!

IF ITS NOT WORKING CHANGE SOMETHING.
If it isn’t working, change something whether that be hook link, hook size or bait colour but don’t just sit there expecting the bait that you did so well on in the summer to be just as effective. Although it may very well work at some point you can without doubt make it happen the majority of the time by changing something. I can not emphasise just how may times I’ve caught something by changing something small like the colour of a topper from white to yellow or even black or by scaling down my braided hook link from a 12lb breaking strain one to an 8lb monofilament. You’ll be surprised at what you can land providing you’re fishing safe (not near snags) as fish even big fish are much more lethargic when caught in cold water conditions. A couple of winters ago I caught a 32lb mirror on an 8lb hook link and size 10 hook when I was struggling for a bite and with that change of tactics saved me a blank and provided me with a cracking winter fish.

                                                    When it all goes right there are chunks to be had! 30 odd pound mirror.

So, don’t just sit there and hang up your rods, get out there and do it…

good luck JT
PS You can contact me via any of my media pages such as Joe Turnbulls carp angling page on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Be lucky }=