Early Season Tactics for Big Carp

Roy with an 18kg specimen

All anglers are waiting eagerly for the first sunny days, when the temperatures are going upwards and the lake shows more and more fish activity. The warmth of the sun is responsible for more carp movement and often you can catch them fairly easy on these mild days.

A few tips that can be effective during the early time of the season

Fish often don’t respond to heavy baiting when the water is still fairly cold, so it is often better to fish PVA bags and single hookbaits. Bait that has gone in can’t be taken out, so be very careful with free offerings.

Don’t feed too heavily when the water is still cold, a PVA stringer is ideal

Always try to fish from the bank where the fist sunlight falls. This side of the lake will warm up faster and on a lot of occasions the majority of the fish will be hanging around in that part of the lake.

A big Koi carp can be seen in the margins

Don’t ignore the margins

Most of my early season captures are hooked just a few feet from the bank, right in my own margin. Bait up with small quantity of bait, ie, a handful or two of Maximum Action pellets and fish for one fish at a time.

Don’t spook the fish – keep well back from the rods

I prefer to use smaller hookbaits, 10mm, and fish them snowman style. Quest Baits now sell 10mm boilies and even provide pop-ups in the same diameter.

Even when the temperatures are rising, the water is still cold, which means the fish are not really digesting the baits very quickly and often they are not enthusiastically on the search for food.

Roy relaxes with a hot brew as he waits for a run

Another good tactic is using bright pop-ups, again placed just a few feet from the bank. The water is in most cases very clear early season and the visual aspect can provide you with a big advantage.

Another good fish for Roy

Keep away from the water’s edge, sitting some way from the rods. The clarity of the water makes it easy for carp to detect possible danger when shadows are cast on the water.

Another thing that’s very important; maybe the biggest key to success, are slack lines. It’s unbelievable how easy fish can detect them. Often I have been watching fish approaching the angler’s territory and you could see them spooking before they even came close to the baited areas.

Early season common for Roy

The tips I’ve offered have helped me to put many good carp on the bank, so please take advantage of them, and make the perfect start to the new season.