Blogs

Winter carping – keep ringing the changes.

Jimmy Greaves famously said “Football is a funny old game” and those words could so well have been pointed towards carp angling.  Winter carping in particular can be a prime example for throwing up unpredictable outcomes during those long dark winter months.

I love my winter angling, always have. I have tried to analyse this on many an occasion when I am sat there with painfully cold toes and fingers that don’t want to set about packing the frosty gear away. Over the years I have justified my winter angling by telling people I love the fact that it is just me against the fish a lot of the time rather than me trying to slot into a decent area amongst lots of other anglers as can be the case during the summer months.

Something for the week end Sir? (more rehydrating)

I have written at length in the past regarding re-hydrating boilies, giving them a drink, softening boilies and so on. In fact it is very rare for me to feed dry boilies on any water that has seen any amount of pressure as I know I can improve their effectiveness with just a little bit of extra effort.

Extra Care When Handling Cold Water Carp

This is a subject I never see covered anywhere despite mentioning it in several of my articles in the past, but it is a vitally important issue which can’t in my mind be repeated often enough.

Carp are cold blooded. This means that the carp is the same temperature as the water it is living in. This affects the carp’s metabolism greatly and is the reason your bait choice is so crucial during the winter months but this is another subject for another place. Humans are warm blooded which  means we are warmer than our winter surroundings.

Colour Coding Rods - I need to know at a glance which is which.

I posted a picture elsewhere on social media which created a fair bit of discussion when I showed it as many seemed surprised my rods are tipped with different colours near the handles. So why?

So you want to catch a carp over the Christmas period?

With the festive holiday looming and many of us with a few days away from work commitments the thought of escaping to the great outdoors with the carp rods to unwind after possibly over indulging on the food and drink is somehow rather appealing.

Sorting the Bait as we Approach Winter

As the cooler weather is now starting to set in it is time for my annual Autumn sort out of my tackle and bait but particularly the bait. From past experience I know that some of the baits that catch me a lot of summer fish will now stop working as effectively with the lowering of the water temperature. Yes, the carp will still eat them but certainly not with the same gusto as they did a month back. There are many reasons for this but on the whole they won’t be seeping out anything like same sort of attraction or stimulation to the fish that they did before the drop in temperature.

Accurate Casting in the Fog.

During this time of the year it is normal to get heavy mist and fog falling. This happened last week whilst fishing Brocard Large Lake in France and after catching a gorgeous looking common I could no longer see the silhouette of the tree line on the far bank to be able to re-cast accurately.

Barbel and Absolute Seafood - My way.

The Absolute Seafood came about from my want of a good fishy type bait in the Quest Baits range but not containing much in the way of bulk oils and fat. I wanted a bait that would leak out its attraction quickly and would be very easy for the fish to digest particularly during the cold. 

Four double figure barbel in four very short evening sessions

The conditions on the river had been superb for catching Barbel on the Trent right from last week-end yet alas things conspired to keep me away. How I wanted to get out last Sunday after the long awaited rise in river levels but other things had to be done. I was desperate for a picture of a carp laying at the side of a bag of the new ‘Magnum Duo’ for something I was working on so Sunday saw me getting a bit of carp gear together and venturing over to a water I had not cast into for 10 years or so. It can be a tricky place but time wasn’t allowing me to travel too far so I took a gamble.

8 x mini Spombs and 6 x pouches of the Magnum Duo scattered loosely in the area in front turned out to be the right approach. I was lucky, my 3 hour session rewarded me with what I wanted and it was lovely to re-acquaint myself with one of the Rosehip Pool fish. It had fallen to a bait right on dark on the Sunday evening so a pleasant end to my week-end escape from the office.

Big Barbel ground bait cage feeder mix

It has become a daily question both in emails and phone calls about my feeder mix I have been using for the barbel I have been catching, so hopefully this will make things clearer.