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Winter tactics.

Simon Archer

Simon Archer

Senior Member & Supporter
I generally don't fish much after the clocks go back. I work outside all week and if the weathers been poor during the week, the thought of sitting by the bankside at the weekend/evening isn't that appealing. However, this year I'm going to try and give it a go a little bit more.

My normal summer tactics on the rivers I fish (Upper Trent and the Dove) are, a feeder of either groundbait and/or high oil pellets/Hemp on an upstream rod with a matching hookbait, then with a straight lead with a boilie/large pellet wrapped in paste on the downstream rod with paste inside a gripper lead as well. I'll sometimes loose feed bait over the top of both lines, but not always. I wouldn't consider myself as someone who feeds a lot of bait.

The upstream rod is mostly fished mid river, with the downstream rod fished to an inside feature but sometimes on the same line as the upstream rod.. Obviously things change swim dependant, but this is how I generally fish both lines.

With regards to fishing in the colder months, what should I change to take the colder weather into account ??
 
I'm the opposite - pack up the carp rods from first frosts and do more rivers / days in winter.

In clear rivers / consistent levels / rivers fining down a big block end feeder . . .at least 2pints of maggots (red and white mixed for a typical 4hr sesh) . . .Size 6 hook with a mag aligner (fake maggot threaded onto the hooklink and up over the eye and shank of the hook) and 4-5 maggots on the hook. Love maggots - best winter bait IMO and most cant be arsed to use them (expense / hassle)

For floods / rising water a big heavy gripper lead and the stinkiest glugged boilie on a hair rig (usually dosed with Baitworks scent from hell) and half boilies on a PVA stringer and/or clipped to the lead in a PVA mesh bag . .

Normally fish both rods with the same method . . .probably because I'm a lazy carp angler!
 
Depends on the height of the river. If conditions are low and clear and the water is cold, then look for depth. Avoid swims with boil’s and breaks in the rivers flow.
Look at deep steady paced water and pay attention to the weather more because you need to pick your days based on temperature increases. 1 or 2 degrees going in makes all the difference.
Best time to go in winter is after a few good frosty nights then followed by an air temperature increase and a good down pour This will stab a river with warmth and colour at the same time and switch em on like a light.
Some of my best days barbel fishing have been after a string of frosts and a great big down pour.
If you’ve got a river that’s really pushing through try and catch it on the rise in winter in most* circumstances because the water going in is often warmer than the temperature of the river itself.
*The exception of course is melted snow. If that’s filled up the river I’d not bother going personally.
Bait is imo less relevant and as Chris mentioned above…. His approach sounds a good way to go to me. I tend to feed less and because I’m always on the hunt for colour in the water during winter I tend to stick to smelly big single baits.
If it’s absolutely piling through then this can be really good for locating them because they will be sitting in slacker water.
 
I agree re maggots, my best sessions for quanitity of fish have been in winter , as Chris says, planning and preperation, it is IMO vital that you read the weather conds and if you can ,do not take pot luck. Chris again is bang on re a warm flush though in the middle of a cold snap.
Choose your swim. I have found a deeper gulley to the side of the main flow will be where the fish congregate , and in the right winter conditions the Barbel will be tripping over themselves to get to a Maggot Feeder, it is like somebody has switched on a light for them, and can be frantic. I just use a half dozen wrigglers , red and white mixed on a standard maggot clip hair rigged to a size 10 ,fished below a standard large maggot feeder , works for me, oh, and the hooklength can be whittled right down to about 9 ins, the Barbel are not shy when filling up with protein bait like Maggots, the downside is that sometimes, at least where I have used the above rig, Grayling could be a nuisance.
The above rig, with a ten lb flouro hooklength is all I have found is required, not subtle, not complicated.

As far as quantity of bait is concerned I never use more than a pint 😋😋😋 for a max five hour session ( Yorkshireman, deep pockets and short arms ) once the Barbel have found where your feeder is, they will root around in that gulley and in my experience stay there so long as there is enough bait to be found, although I doubt you could over feed them in such conditions, so using more will not do any harm .

I have never really had any big specimens in winter, perhaps 8lbs tops, with most fish being in the 4-6 lb bracket, but the quantity more than makes up for size.

David
 
Totally agree with Richard’ s advice and I usually try to target my visits, when there are favourable conditions, fishing for other species when not. As you are probably already aware Simon, on the rivers you are targeting, you are fishing for one bite, so don’t put too much bait in. Good luck, they are catchable 👍🎣
 
I’ll offer a different approach, as mentioned on the recent pellet thread I find them just as effective in winter in relation to other baits although I do agree maggot is a good bait also. A few weeks ago when the Wye had a few feet of extra water on I was struggling (apparently the water temp had dropped) but a switch to a single 6mm pellet produced 4 fish in short order so an interesting alternative to large smelly baits.
 
Conversely Simon - I work inside and the prospect of sitting on the bank in the cold and wet is immeasurably appealing, in so many ways. If conditions are good then so much the better. 😀
As for tactics, my single boilie approach differs only in the variety of boilie used. I hand feed very little (less in winter) anyway. As for maggots; it's not just the expense/hassle, but availability too comes into play.
 
Richard Parsons said:
Conversely Simon - I work inside and the prospect of sitting on the bank in the cold and wet is immeasurably appealing, in so many ways. If conditions are good then so much the better. 😀
As for tactics, my single boilie approach differs only in the variety of boilie used. I hand feed very little (less in winter) anyway. As for maggots; it's not just the expense/hassle, but availability too comes into play.
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Dedicated beer / bait fridge in the garage is the answer . . .! Always have a few pints 'on ice' during the winter so I can grab and go when the weather window dictates. Anything starting to turn gets converted to caster although most of the time I riddle off any excess dead ones and freeze the rest for spring carping spomb mix assualts!
 
Chris Belcher said:
Dedicated beer / bait fridge in the garage is the answer . . .! Always have a few pints 'on ice' during the winter so I can grab and go when the weather window dictates. Anything starting to turn gets converted to caster although most of the time I riddle off any excess dead ones and freeze the rest for spring carping spomb mix assualts!
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Would you use dead maggots for winter, or only live?
 
Chris - that does indeed seem to be the way forward. I've not yet progressed to a cellar fridge/freezer - but it's probably well overdue.
 
In winter I've found that maggots will keep in a cold garage for a fair while, as long as they're deprived of oxygen. Have been thinking of using a pellet pump this winter, either with the maggots directly in it or ... still in the plastic bag they're bought in, open, with the mouth of the bag draped over and around the top of the pellet pump main body. You can give them a 'breather' every now and again but it'll be trial and error, dependant on garage temperature.
 
Maggots are not a problem to get hold of, our local tackle dealer always has them in stock. I've also got the beer/bait fridge in the garage from my match fishing days, so I'm sorted. I'll look to give them a go in the coming months.

Would Hemp be of any use ??

I know in the match world it was considered a summer bait, but it's more widely used in matches nowadays.
 
Anthony James said:
Would you use dead maggots for winter, or only live?
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That's a great question and for barbel one I don't know the answer to as I only ever and have ever used live - only ever used dead to supplement mixes for carp with live maggots, the benefit being that not all wriggle off and bury themselves in the silt etc so you're effectively fishing 'longer'. With moving water this is perhaps largely irrelevant so perhaps I should give deads a go. I know I've had fish when the chub and dace knocks prior have probably sucked the live ones off the hook well before the final wraparound (the barbel presumably taking a single line aligned, inert plastic maggot) so maybe it makes sense. . . .
 
Terry Simner said:
In winter I've found that maggots will keep in a cold garage for a fair while, as long as they're deprived of oxygen. Have been thinking of using a pellet pump this winter, either with the maggots directly in it or ... still in the plastic bag they're bought in, open, with the mouth of the bag draped over and around the top of the pellet pump main body. You can give them a 'breather' every now and again but it'll be trial and error, dependant on garage temperature.
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That is a good idea - have heard they can stay in 'stasis' for a while and then magically revive themselves elongating their 'fresh' lifespan further. Have been considering buying a vacuum sealer used in sous vide cooking (Gerry on here is an expert on these) for boilie and for the same reason . . .no reason why maggots couldnt be suffocated en masse Nazi style and bagged up in advance . . .sounds fun!
 
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