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River carp

M

Matt J Smith

Senior Member
Just joined a new stretch of the river loddon which has produced a fair few carp in the past, thinking of going for 24hrs on Saturday with boilies and pellet as my thinking being that they maybe more inclined to feed in cold conditions with possibility of picking up chub and barbel if they're feeding. Anyone had any success with river carp in sub zero temps also would it be worth prebaiting in anyones opinion?Any replies gladly received
 
Matt,

I think you will struggle in these conditions mate. Water temps will be very low and the carp and barbel most likely wont be feeding; if they do it will be on small items and for a very short period. You may get lucky, but i'd be thinking about chub, grayling, roach, pike or perch.

Paul
 
Matt J Smith said:
Just joined a new stretch of the river loddon which has produced a fair few carp in the past, thinking of going for 24hrs on Saturday with boilies and pellet as my thinking being that they maybe more inclined to feed in cold conditions with possibility of picking up chub and barbel if they're feeding. Anyone had any success with river carp in sub zero temps also would it be worth prebaiting in anyones opinion?Any replies gladly received
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all i can add, is good luck, don't overfeed.
 
Cheers for the replies, not a definite yet weather dependant if I can get off the drive! but meant to get slightly milder, yeah was thinking of handful of loose on margin rod and same mid river fingers crossed will warm up a tad if not will have to wait till it does!
 
Matt J Smith said:
Just joined a new stretch of the river loddon which has produced a fair few carp in the past, thinking of going for 24hrs on Saturday with boilies and pellet as my thinking being that they maybe more inclined to feed in cold conditions with possibility of picking up chub and barbel if they're feeding. Anyone had any success with river carp in sub zero temps also would it be worth prebaiting in anyones opinion?Any replies gladly received
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Hi Matt, I had a couple of mid doubles early this year in the cold spell last winter, they do feed but their feeding window tends to be a short lived one.
IMO best times of day being late morning and dusk.

Absolutely no way would I put any prebait into the river.

Simply grind up a few hook bait boilies fairly coarsely, put into pva bags about the size of an egg yolk, use strongly scented boilies.
Personally I wouldn't use any pellets of any description unless as a hook bait only, basically a good scent trail and a well positioned hook bait and bloody good luck is what's needed.

"Thinking of going for 24hrs on Saturday."
You aren't by any chance apart of the care in the community scheme (newly released) are you??:eek::D:D

Regards this weekend coming, looking at the weather forecast, there maybe a reasonable chance of a bite on Sunday but Monday offers better prospects, IMO.;)
And of course location is absolutely paramount because they tend not to move overly far.
 
As Paul says, I really do think you'd be better off targeting other species at the moment.

In my opinion, you'll be on a hiding to nothing if you fish for river carp in these conditions.

Having said that, best of luck if you do give it a go and I hope you prove me wrong.

Stu
 
"Thinking of going for 24hrs on Saturday."
You aren't by any chance apart of the care in the community scheme (newly released) are you??:eek::D:D

haha yeah they had enough of me and let me go! Shall probably take your advice and either have a go for other species or sit in a nice warm pub for the day! Until slightly warmer weather arrives hopefully this side of Christmas,with regards to going Monday as i work in the building the only way I will be off is if it's bad weather:rolleyes:

Thanks again tight lines To all who make it out
 
A good friend of mine who used to do a lot of river carping caught quite a few fish in conditions like we're having at the moment, I think as long as you've worked out where the fish are the you're in with a good chance of a run. I've found the same with canal carp, as long as the canal isn't frozen! Basically, don't bother unless you're pretty sure you'll be dropping onto fish, and like Colin says, very small pva bags or singles are the way.... Good luck!
 
Fishmeal pellets and boilies are virtually indigestible to fish in cold conditions. They still eat them but become clogged up and stop feeding for long spells. If you want to add feed then make it highly digestible such as bird food mix or milk protein based.

Personally, I'd use a non fishmeal boilie as described above with just a few broken in a pva bag.




And wear thick socks!!
 
personally matt i would have a go for the pike but thats just my opinion, but then again i dont mind handling pike as im not a big girl,

do you fish the farnham stretches? im sure you are the infamous "matt the chub" could be wrong but worth a shout!

tight lines fella!
 
Anyone still having a go for a winter pig ?
Having found some likely locations I'm about to start a concerted effort to find a winter fish or two now I'm recovered from two bouts of man flu over Christmas :(. Lost some valuable fishing time but now I'm keen to get back at them, especially after speaking to one chap on the Thames yesterday who'd had a 30lb common overnight.

General concensus is that they should be easier to tempt than their still water cousins at this time of year but I'd never had one after October, here's hoping they are where I think they are.

D.
 
Good luck Duncan, we had 6.5C on the upper thames after perch last week. Enough to stir some carp into feeding i reckon.

Paul
 
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I know of a bloke I use to fish with who's had them out of the pangbourne area when he couldn't fish the lakes as they had lids on and had three in a session, guess if you can find them they gotta be hungry at the mo as unlike lake fish they're using more energy this time of year which means they gotta eat I suppose! That was using just few freebies on a stringer
 
That's the theory Matt, makes a lot of sense.

Have narrowed things down to just 3 or 4 swims which will all see a bit of bait and I'll fish them in rotation. I've done my homework and these spots are close to known holding areas in the Summer and Autumn so I'm confident the fish won't be far away. Deep holes close to manmade structures, walls, bridge & pier supports and slack areas out of the main flow should, I hope, be where these fish are wintering. Out this weekend to coincide with the rise in air temps.

D.
 
For the colder months a few moons ago had a few in or near marina's, other places of interest were in dormant water mill races or proximate to bottom of side weirs during lower flows where water was not spilling over them (hope that makes sense). Sounds like you've done your homework, good luck n enjoy...

Cheers, Jon
 
Main river ( Thames ) hoofing through. Unable to fish a couple of my baited spots so ended up on a mill pool off a back water - nothing doing. Conditions scream barbel so may have to change tack especially with the weather set to get milder from mid week.
Will keep baiting the swims when I'm sure it's not a waste of time and will washed away.

D.
 
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Finally got my first winter fish off the Thames on Wednesday morning on a quick session before work.
16.10 mint common. The windows of opportunity have been very small this Winter but nice to finally get one by design.

IMG_2440.jpg


D.
 
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