Have you ever caught a carp from under the ice, by design? Shaun Harrison certainly has!
by Shaun Harrison
I had invited Elie Godsi along to ‘The Inner Sanctum’ for the afternoon to fish as my guest. After the long walk to the pool, we were both disappointed to find it frozen over apart from a small bay in the northwest corner. I decided to set a rod up and give it a couple of hours.
I was able to drop the rig eight feet out into the lake and onto a ledge in around three feet of water. A bright red, critically-balanced whisky boilie was delivered to the lake bed and left in isolation under the ice. J
ust an hour later I was playing a carp from under the ice. 
The size of fish in these conditions is pretty much immaterial but for what it’s worth it turned out to be a mid-double.
This fish definitely gave me a much bigger sense of achievement than a lot of the larger carp I have caught over the years, particularly as it came from under the ice.
Time To Think Back home in front of the fire while filling in a few extra details into my diary, I had started to think about this capture along with my previous ‘extreme captures’. It was then that I realised I have now been fortunate enough to hook carp in four different lakes while fishing for them under the ice – as well as catching several others while lakes have been half frozen. The more I think back, the more I begin to realise that fishing a partially-frozen or, indeed, a fully-frozen lake has actually been more productive per rod hours than in usual cold-water conditions. Could it be that the most frustrating times of the year, when the lake surfaces go solid on us, could in fact be one of the best times to actually catch ourselves a winter carp?
The Big Freeze The few times that my fishing has coincided with the last mild day before a massive freeze or the day before the first major frosts of the winter have, on several occasions, resulted in multiple catches of carp.
Carp feed intensely prior to a long, cold snap. I am positive they know way before we do when the weather is going to change.
‘Many anglers would have you believe that the carp retreat into the deepest water for the winter period… this is a total nonsense.’
Ice Angler Let us get back to ice fishing! Having winter fished for so many years now, I must admit to struggling more during the mild winters than I ever did during the coldest. When fishing between freezes I have always found the carp to be so much more predictable than they are during long, mild spells. This didn’t used to make sense to me, although I guess it is a simple case of the fish switching off for longer periods and feeding heavier when the water temperature allows them to move around again.
Now, for some reason – be it a safety thing or not – carp are attracted to any band of light/dark water. I have caught so many winter fish over the years on the crease of a constant wind (ripple/calm join), that it is now one of the major things I look for on otherwise barren waters. Similarly, carp love to have cover over their heads and, again, this gives them a light/dark comfort zone. Yet the most remarkable aspect I have found is the carp’s attraction to the edge of the ice band on a semi-frozen lake. For example, casting as close to the ice as you are able will bring more consistent results than fishing to recognised features.
Having experienced this a few times since, I know that they will feed in the most unlikely of spots so long as there is a dark band of ice there. Long, cold, freezing nights are usually accompanied by bright, blue-skied days. If the surface has frozen during the night, you are likely to find the carp in very shallow water indeed. With a weak winter sun shining down, the ice works like a greenhouse inasmuch as it warms up the water underneath.
Obviously, the shallower the water, the quicker it will warm. If you combine this shallow water with a direct, afternoon sun and a little cover, such as overhanging branches etc, then you can be almost certain the carp will be there. This is exaggerated even more if you have old reed stems in the same area. The reeds warm, the water warms and so on.
The Comfort Zone Many anglers would have you believe that the carp retreat into the deepest water for the winter period, emerging the following spring when the water warms again. This is a total nonsense. Give me shallow water along with a little cover any day.
There is a local pool that I used to fish and I used to struggle to find the carp. That was the case until it froze. I remember walking around one winter’s day when it was totally frozen over. I got to the top of the lake, and was amazed to find the two largest carp in the lake, in no more than two feet of water under the ice in this tiny pool. What is more, they were feeding.
This was to become a major turning point in my future winter fishing.
Those carp were in the shallowest water because they wanted to be there. Angler pressure hadn’t put them there. The The other end of the lake had depths down to around 15ft and that would have taken an awful lot of warming through. That day saw one of the biggest pieces of the winter jigsaw puzzle fall into place.
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