Winter Common for Stuart
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Winter Carping
The title in itself is daunting (for me anyway). I think it's fair to say that I've never given winter carping much thought and certainly never set out my stool with a full-on, well thought out campaign. But this winter is going to be different. Like the next man I've fished one-off days and have encountered the coldest of sleet and rain, but never a night session. This winter will see me executing 'little and often' baiting tactics and looking at how best I can tackle the cold and long drawn out nights. I think that's possibly the toughest part about winter night fishing. There are so many items available these days to help shelter from the cold, but those long dark nights are a mystery in themselves. When the winter really bites, the dark starts to creep in around 4:30 -5:00 and then releases itself from around 7:30 the next morning, that's nearly 15 hours of sheer darkness! How the hell should you deal with this?
Crazy as it seems, but if you've got young children it can be a doddle. I work hard and spend the time I'm not working at home with the family. Okay, the boss may be the one who gets up in the night with our youngest, but it's this poor sod who also has to be awake so I can pretend I'm asleep! Seriously though, it seems these days I never get enough sleep and when tucked up in my bivvy as warm as toast this is my time to chill and catch-up on my zzzzzzzz's. The other night was no exception. I set up camp by 6pm and settled down in the bivvy. By 8pm I was sound-o and apart from a couple of liners I stayed that way until 7am in the morning.
If you can't sleep, then you've got to take something along with you to entertain the mind. Whether it's a tiny portable TV, a radio, a book or for me it's a pad and pen to scribble down my thoughts and theories.
I think the main upside for me when winter carp fishing is the quality of the fish caught. They seem to have recovered entirely from spawning and of course being fooled by the fair weather anglers who have left the bankside to dream about next seasons adventures.
You could sometimes be fooled into believing that these winter fish have never been caught. But let's face it, it's hard going. The bites and runs aren't as frequent as summer fishing and the whole venue seems so much more barren. But you can learn so much more in the winter.
The weed has gone in most venues so the discovery of contours, holes and hiding places is so much more apparent. I'm now settled on a venue that I'll be fishing pretty much exclusively for the next two years and working out 'what's what' is my key agenda. Whilst others are at home I'll be plotting schemes based on my findings. I'll be establishing a new bait into a safe bait by leaving half a kilo spread over a few newly discovered spots. The fair weathered anglers on my venue seem to use the same bait and have been quite successful on it. My plan is to introduce my bait over the 'anti-social' months so as when the spring has arrived it'll be my safe bait and freebies that the carp have confidence in.
Many of the anglers on my venue fish the same tactics, in that they'll use a single hookbait and throw out 10-20 freebies. In my book it stands to reason that eventually Mr. Carp will associate their hookbait and 10-20 freebies as a potential danger sign. Now I'm not saying that Mr. Carp could win this year's mastermind, but how many times do you think he's going to be caught on the same bait and surrounding set-up? Yup, this winter will see me establishing a safe bait in safe surroundings in established hot-spots discovered whilst fishing in a weed-barren environment.
It's the same the whole world over, the more you put in, the more you take out. I'll also be setting myself targets in order not to become despondent. If I look to have one fish every four trips, then anything in between is a wonderful and well earned bonus.
That's another point to remember when winter carp fishing and that is you have to earn what you catch. Think about it; in the summer months these fish are active and searching for grub, if they decide to take yours rather than your fishing partners and you're both using exactly the same rigs and baits and fishing in exactly the same spots, then was that luck or was that skill? In winter, it's a completely different story, you've got to work for what you get, and you've got to pit your wits against the weather conditions, the inactive movement of the fish and more importantly the internal mind thump who's asking you “what the hell am I doing here in the first place?” Take on all this and still catch a carp, then you'll certainly have earned it.
I think you need to set your self benchmarks and objectives. If you're objective is to catch a carp every session then I'm afraid you're not going to last long on the water's edge. But if you're objective is to catch a carp every fourth session and in between garner as much information to give you the edge when the fair-weathered anglers come back to play and to establish yourself a safe bait and hotspot then you truly will be a winner.
My campaign has started this winter, my baits are going in and by next summer I'll be well and truly on my way. My Winter carping campaign started a few weeks ago where the beautiful common in the picture above was taken on my new bait. The other night I blanked, but hey, I've got three more sessions in which the odds turn against me!
Winter carping can teach you so much, get yourself out there and set yourself those objectives and more importantly - Good luck!
Carp Angler
