10 steps for winter commercial carp fishing

03 November 2009 10:37

The first frosts are on their way so to help you beat the cold we’ve picked the brains of winter expert Giles Cochrane - he’ll keep bites coming...

WINTER is a testing time. As the weather gets cold and fish become lethargic it is easy to start struggling.

At least that’s what can happen if you don’t alter the way you try to catch fish. The fact is that if you react to colder conditions you can still keep the bites coming, as top winter angler Giles Cochrane has discovered.

Giles is one of Britain’s top matchmen who specialises in catching fish at commercial day ticket venues.

To help you keep catching as winter arrives, we’ve managed to twist Giles’s arm into revealing his top 10 winter fish tips.

Here are the secret tactics he relies on when the going gets tough...

 

1- FISH LOCATION

There is an old saying in angling that it’s better to fish for one hour in the right location than five hours in the wrong one.

In winter this is even more vital as fish tend to shoal tightly together and often group up in areas offering sanctuary from angling pressure, such as dead or decaying weeds, reeds and islands.

Giles explained: “Lots of anglers automatically target really deep water in winter - this is wrong!

“My favourite swim depth for winter fishing is around four feet, but fish will still feed in very shallow water, of 18 inches to two feet, if this offers them a quiet area away from angling disturbance.

“When the fish are lethargic and are not feeding heavily they often quickly move into areas offering sanctuary.

“I look for swims that aren’t heavily fished, I feed lightly and create minimal disturbance.”

 

2- WEATHER CONDITIONS

Climatic conditions, especially the wind, can have a deciding affect on where fish will shoal up in winter.

During mild conditions, brought by south-westerly winds, many carp follow the breeze and will congregate near the bank of the lake where the wind is blowing into.

However, when the wind turns northerly, or worse still easterly, the carp will group up in the calmer areas of the lake that are less affected by the chilling wind.

Unlike many anglers who seek the deepest water in high atmospheric pressure conditions (frosts and clear skies), Giles believes carp feed in very shallow water after a few frosts.

However, when low-pressure fronts arrive (overcast, rain and southwesterly winds), carp prefer slightly deeper water where the pressure and temperature are more stable.

 

3- WAGGLERS Choosing the correct float when you’re waggler fishing becomes even more vital as the weather gets colder. There are several things to consider when picking a float for winter fishing. Firstly, always pick a float that is heavier than you think you will need. This the most common mistake made by anglers. If they are fishing at around 25 yards, they tend to select a float that will just about reach. Then, if the weather changes or the wind increases, as it often does when there are no leaves on the trees to act as a barrier, you will have difficulty casting back to your spot. Giles recommends using a much heavier float than is needed to cast the distance you’re fishing. This extra weight allows much easier casting and if you overcast you can always draw the float back. Giles always uses loaded MAP insert waggler floats, which have around 80% of the float’s shotting capacity built into the base of the float. The float is locked by adding a number 6 shot either side of the float. The main beauty of loaded wagglers is they cast superbly and are very stable in flight. This is because the bulk is at the base of the float, allowing it to fly through the air like a dart. This helps to improve your casting accuracy. Another important consideration when waggler fishing is the length of your float. Floats that are designed to carry less shot are usually shorter whereas heavier ones are much longer. The advantage of using a much longer float is that it will be more stable in windy or choppy conditions. Also, as a waggler is attached to the mainline at the bottom end only, the longer the float the further under the water your mainline will be. This will help to stop the float being dragged out of the swim by the heavy crosswinds that we often see in winter.

 

 

4- FISHING THE LEGER

Fishing with a leger bomb is a great way of getting bites in winter as it allows you to present a single, static hookbait with very little disturbance.

Giles bomb set-up is very simple, consisting of a tiny eighth of an ounce bomb free running on his mainline. This is stopped from slipping down onto his 0.20mm (7lb 7oz) MAP Carptek Hit and Hold Margin line hooklink by a small snaplink swivel.

The rig is capped with a size 14 eyed hook, attached via a knotless knot. However, Giles has some key bomb fishing tips that he believes make a great difference to his results.

“The hair must be kept short as species like chub become increasingly difficult to connect with.

“Fish with the bend of the hook just touching the bait,” he explained.

Bait wise Giles uses either corn or meat: “Corn is very effective when with the straight lead and a good tip is to use very small grains of corn and a large hook,” he continued.

“Carp are reluctant to take a big bait at certain times of the day but a small bait will get some attention.”

When it comes to spotting and connecting with bites Giles uses a very unusual technique - he uses the quivertip itself to hook the fish.

“Bites tend to be very positive if you use a small piece of corn, but I always fish with the quivertip bent around as far as it will go without moving the lead on the bottom,” he explained.

“This is the most effective bolt rig available and often results in drop back bites from bigger carp.”

 

 

5- JOLLY GREEN GIANT CORN

During winter, Giles often starts a session by fishing with the waggler float baited with sweetcorn.

“Corn is one of the best winter baits around as it catches just about everything that swims, even after a sharp frost,” he said.

“Another huge advantage of sweetcorn is its so cheap.”

The tin of Jolly Green Giant corn the Giles was using cost just over 50 pence and he reckons will last him at least four sessions, if not five. That’s a bait bill of less than 15 pence a trip!

But when it comes to fishing Giles doesn’t use something just because it is cheap, the fact of the matter is sweetcorn is also a fabulously effective hookbait.

Obviously corn is a visual bait that increasingly stands out as the clarity of the water increases in winter.

But Giles also believes it works for several other reasons: “Corn is quite lightweight and sinks slowly, it is excellent for fishing over light weed or silt.

“Unlike livebaits, like maggots and pinkies, corn won’t bury into the silt after sitting on the bottom for a few minutes,” he said.

Finally, TINNED corn tends to be extremely sweet, an aspect that all fish, with the exception of true predators, cannot resist.

 

Hooking corn through the top (above right) avoids twisting the hooklink when retrieving the rig.

 

6- HOOKING CORN

Giles hooks his sweetcorn through the dome of skin at the top of the grain. This makes it less prone to spinning and line twists which can weaken the hooklink and cause the loss of a hooked fish.

“I always use eyed hooks and I tie them on using the knotless knot,” said Giles.

He also prefers a hook with a crystal bend as he finds the corn sits better than it does using a round bend pattern. A further consideration regarding a sweetcorn hook is the gape.

“I favour a fairly wide gape hook to prevent the corn flying off on the cast,” explained Giles.

“The other advice that I would give when fishing with corn during the colder months is to only fish single grains.

“There are anglers who swear by double corn but avoid it if you can. It is a bigger bait and you will miss a lot of bites from smaller, or shybiting fish, like skimmers, chub and roach,” he continued.

 

7 - FEEDING CORN

 

 

Feeding is the key to any successful approach but it is even more important during the winter, when bites are at a premium.

“I feed just two grains of corn to begin with (see pic above) and then wait for any indications of fish. It is surprising how quick this method will work but only if you keep the feed to a minimum,” Giles said.

“Carp will back away from any quantity of bait introduced into the swim and skimmers are even more selective. This tactic of drip-feeding very little will encourage the fish to investigate and just two grains every cast will be more than enough.

“When the swim starts to liven up there is a tendency to introduce more bait and this is usually where the bites stop.

“Stick to the very little and often approach and do not be tempted to give them a pouchful of bait - it could instantly kill the swim.”

 

8- MEAT

Meat is a very effective winter bait but until recently, many anglers remained convinced that carp would not feed on meat during the colder weather.

This myth is now slowly being disproved and some big weights of carp have fallen to meat baits, even when there is ice in the margins.

Once again though, winter ace Giles has fine tuned his approach and uses meat with a twist of garlic: “I fish meat with a straight lead and hair-rig and my favourite brand is Spam with Stinky French Garlic.

“Ideally, if there has been consistently high barometric pressure then the most effective area will be the shallow part of the lake, such as tight to islands.

“However, if the barometric pressure is low or dropping, then the bottom of the shelf is a better prospect.

“Open water is always a safe bet but the depth at which the fish can be located will depend on the air pressure on the day.

“In low pressure I go for swims around the four feet deep mark, if it is high pressure I’ll look for the shallower water.”

 

9- FEEDING MEAT

 

 

Feeding is, again, the most important aspect concerning the use of meat baits.

If large cubes are used, the distance at which it can be fished gives the angler far more opportunities to explore a wider area of the lake.

“I have always advocated using 8mm pieces of meat that can be fired a fair distance with the catapult.

“Similar to my corn approach, two pieces of meat, fed at five minute intervals will arouse the interest of patrolling fish such as carp, bream and chub,” said Giles.

“It can sometimes pay to feed nothing when the water temperature is very low.

“Carp are likely to back away from a significant amount of any bait during the colder months.”

 

How to hair-rig meat

Thread a one inch cube of meat onto a baiting needle, being careful not to split the meat cube.		Hook the point of the baiting needle over the hair loop.
Gently push the meat cube off the needle and onto the hook’s hair.		To avoid the meat coming off on the cast trap it in place with a small length of uncooked spagetti.

 

10- IGNORE MAGGOTS AND CASTERS

There is a common belief that fish do not eat bigger baits when the water is cold and the reason that some anglers have never had much success with meat and corn is because they have convinced themselves that fish do not eat them.

“Maggots and casters will work through the winter, but neither of them can compete with corn,” Giles revealed.

“Carp love the stuff and as long as it is fed sparingly then there is no reason why you shouldn’t catch fish all day.

“Confidence in what you are doing will always play a part, as long as you have the patience to stick it out and keep to the game plan you will usually catch well.

“Leave the maggots and casters at home and follow my basic steps to fishing corn and meat - you WILL be surprised at the results.”