3 – STAY MOBILE

Once you have found their winter haunts you may be able to settle down a bit but until then, I’m afraid, it’s the mobile approach all the way. The fish will not be as keen to travel as much as in the warmer times and will often inhabit very small areas of the lake. I need to be fishing where they are to be in with a shout and finding them can be problematic. If I can’t see any signs it will be necessary to move around until something happens, either a bite, liners or, maybe, just a sighting or two. With groundsheets, overwraps and all the other cold weather paraphernalia to pack up and carry it is all too easy to sit there and wait. It takes a certain determination to be prepared to up sticks in the cold, but do it you must, at least until you have located their winter areas.

4 – DEEP WATER

I know a lot of advice given tells you to head for the shallows when it is sunny but that has not been my experience at all, especially during early winter. I have found that, by far, the most likely places to find them in the cold are the deepest areas. These areas always seem much more attractive if there is some cover nearby. This may well necessitate fishing totally different swims. The best winter holding area I have ever found was 22ft deep with a steep sided bar at the far side. I was almost vertical and I think it offered security, shelter from the worst winds and access to nearby shallow water in which to warm up on sunny days.

On waters that consist of only shallower water I would look at snags, or another form of cover as my starting point. I would always, however, follow any signs that the fish may give you in preference to fishing blind.

5 – LOOK FOR THEM AT NIGHT

In my experience winter carp are far more likely to give away their whereabouts during the hours of darkness. On Horton the fish would often show after midnight in areas that, only a few hours before, had appeared lifeless. These areas were where they would be bubbling the following day and with a hookbait in place there was a realistic chance of a bite. It was always worth a move or recast onto these spots as a cast during daylight, onto the fizzing would usually see an abrupt end to the feeding.

I used to purposely turn up at around ten in the evening to make swim choice simpler and set the alarm for 1am in case a move was required. I caught quite a few of the lake’s prized residents in this fashion having observed fish showing elsewhere in the small hours. Moving in the night definitely puts you a step ahead of most.

6 – BE UP FOR IT

I think winter carping should be seen as a campaign. Any clues, such as sightings, can be carried through to your next session, but to spot these clues you must be out there, whatever the conditions. Many anglers only grace the banks during a mild spell with South-West winds. I have more confidence during spells of high pressure. Sunny days and freezing cold nights have been good conditions in which to angle for me, but the long and short of it is that a bite can occur in almost any conditions, provided the lake isn’t completely frozen. I have bagged up on the end of freezing cold North Easterlies and even caught from under the ice so no session is entirely hopeless. Even a blank can be seen as a chance to introduce some bait.

Those that need to be catching regularly may want to change to an easier venue. Personally I am happy to fish through the winter for the chance of one really special capture, although during more recent winters I have moved onto waters that offer a more realistic proposition. A lot of the big fish waters have a rock hard reputation in the winter but I’ve never really worried about that. Plenty of lakes produce very little simply because nobody is fishing them. With a bit of luck and some keen observation you might just locate that holding area that nobody else has found.

When I say be up for it I don’t just mean having the motivation to go. Being up for it also means being willing to watch the water, complete a few circuits each day to find them and generally putting in just as much effort as you would at any other time. The night’s are long and obviously most people will use a radio, social media or some other entertainment during the extended darkness but you still need to be switched on to avoid camping throughout the winter.

If you fancy embarking on a winter campaign, do it and see it through. If you aren’t really up for it you may well be better to hang up the rods, stay at home earning some brownie points, recoup and start again in the spring. However, if you are then you should try your utmost to enjoy it for what it is. It’s a challenge and just one fish in a trip can be seen as a result so don’t beat yourself up if it’s you’re struggling. There is much to appreciate when out on the bank in the cold so make the most of it.

7 – RING THE CHANGES AT DIFFERENT RANGES

When fishing blind, in the absence of sightings, I’ve found it can be a good idea to fish the rods at a variety of ranges. There is normally more room to spread them left and right so I can cover large amounts of water. Once any pattern emerges such as captures or liners I can then put all the rods at the right range. I also keep altering hook baits until something produces. The third rod that many waters allow after November can be used to try something different such as a stringer, PVA bag etc. Just one capture on something outside the norm could be the catalyst for many more.