WINTER CARP FISHING ADVICE BY JERRY HAMMOND

When fishing during winter, for me personally the worst part about it all is the fact that it seems now that lakes will freeze over every year. As I write this now my lakes, and many more all over the country have had a lid on them at some point over winter. 

Thinking back to last year I’m sure they were frozen for around five weeks and a lot of anglers will be happy with that and be thankful that they can have a break from the cold, but there are still so many anglers out there gagging to give it a go, and why not, it can be productive as I've learnt over the years. 

Right up until the lakes freezing over, on my own syndicate water the fish were still very active, and over the last few weeks the odd fish were still getting caught. I had a great little session myself taking two fish from a silty eleven-foot area rich in blood worm, one of the fish being a 40.4 common that has already made my winters efforts worth it. 

As we all know, every lake is different, and because of that my approach will vary depending on where I’m angling. Below is just an outline of what I now base my winter fishing around. 

By the way, these are my thoughts to what I think happens, and it is only my thoughts so take from it what you will. 

Firstly, I believe that as the temperatures start to drop, and the days become shorter, then the carp are naturally alerted to this as a sign to feed up for the winter months. The most natural food supplies come in many different forms, but one that that they will gorge themselves on, is bloodworm. And In the Autumn months, and well into winter the feeding signs are evident, with the tiny bubbles that are seen popping on the surface, and the odd fish head and shouldering as it flushes out its gills full of silt. 

So, with this in mind, I would pay particular attention to where the silt areas are. Normally the gullies between bars have a good build up of silt and are a good starting area, so if these areas are deeper (and they normally are then at this time), then the fish are in the deeper water. It may be that the silt beds are in the deepest part of the lake so I would watch for the feeding signs. 

As the surface area cools down, the fish are triggered into their winter feed, and will drop on to the silt beds. But as we move into deep winter and the water temperature plummets, I’m sure they find these deeper areas uncomfortable, and the ones that do stay in the deeper water are the ones that for long periods of time become dormant. I've noticed on my own lakes that some carp will be big at the start of winter, but come the spring they have lost a fair bit of weight, and in their first captures they are covered in mucus, clay and silt - a sign that means they've not moved about too much that winter.  Those that get caught during the winter and at the end of winter, were very active, clean and in great condition. 

From experience I've found that in the depths of winter the fish will rise off the bottom to a depth that they are comfortable in and drift about at that depth. If they are in, say 16ft of water, they might be happy at 5ft below the surface and if they drift over an area at that 5ft depth I’m sure they will feed as its no effort. They can stay like this right up to the early spring until the water once again warms and the lakebed becomes alive before they will drop back down. 

I've had great success late winter on the Zigs and not a hope in hell on the bottom I wonder why? A little bit of proof in my thinking was a few years back. I was fortunate to get out in a boat on a large lake, with an echo sounder. It was late December and bitterly cold and we drifted around before eventually we came across some fish. These fish were high in the water, only 5-6 feet under the surface in 16 feet of water, and a fair few fish were in this group. Not too far away from where they were drifting about, the lake swallowed up to a big plateau area, and I had a feeling if we baited this area they would feed on it as it was around the same depth as the fish.  To cut the story short, we baited up for a few weeks, with a fair amount of bait, and started to fish this area at the beginning on January. The wind chill was -. My alarms froze solid one night but the fish fed and we caught from that swim for a few weeks - I would say really until they moved off from too many captures, but the action for that time of year was unreal, and the fish were crapping out the bait. 

I now think looking back, that had I fished zigs to them in the deeper water I’m sure I would have caught them, so much so that my approach now is somewhat tailored to the above as it’s always in my mind, and without doubt I will definitely be fishing zigs from February onwards. 

So, there are my thoughts on the behaviour of carp during winter. Rightly or wrongly, at least I have some sort of plan. 

All the best & tight lines, 

Jerry Hammond