Words and pictures by Laurence Evershed:
During the colder months I use a completely different approach to the rest of the year for a few simple reasons. Throughout the winter there are only two main rigs I use, one is a zig rig and the other is a very simple pop up rig.
The concept behind using these two rigs for the majority of the winter is simple. During the winter months the water temperature drops dramatically causing the carp to become torpid (this means the move a lot slower and there whole body slows down this causes them to eat less and see less effectively).
Within this time the carp spend most of there time in groups in the mid- layers of the lake not really doing much so this brings me to the reason for using the zig rig in the winter because they are torpid they will sometimes be unwilling to drop down to the bottom to feed so the ‘zig’ lets me have a rig in the zone where they feel most comfortable.
The reasoning for the other rig is that because their body is running at a slower rate I believe they will also feed in a different way to the summer. In the winter I think they feed slower taking one mouthful at a time and rising up away from the bottom between mouthfuls. This means that a pop up rig will be more effective firstly because it is risen off the bottom so they are more likely to see it and secondly because of the way I tie the rig only wrapping around the hair five times the hook point is always presented towards the
flesh of the carps mouth as they rise up from the lake bed another thing I do is use a very large peace of putty more than enough to weigh down the bait this is because it will pull the hook in to the carps lip.
The other main thing I do on both rigs I use bright baits for instance my favourites at the moment are Magnum White and the Ultrabrite fluorescent yellow Ghurkka Spice ones also glugging the hook baits is always a massive edge and the longer they are glugged the better (so put yours in the glug now for next winter!!).
Thanks
Laurence Evershed
