UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

I arrived at the lake as the frost was finally fading in the lovely sunshine. After a biting -3°C last night, the temperature was due to rise to around +13°C, with dropping pressure and a gentle southerly breeze—much more like the warmer conditions forecast for the next few days.

There was only one day angler and one night angler fishing when I did my first lap. Strangely, both swims that had been on my shortlist were now taken, and in truth, I hadn’t nailed anything down for this week anyway. In situations like this, I go with my gut and pick the area that feels most comfortable—somewhere I believe will give me the best chance.

I eventually settled in a swim called Duck, which I felt was perfectly placed to intercept any carp drifting out of the sanctuary area. With the colder conditions of the past week, I was sure that’s where they’d been holding up.

I flicked the marker out towards the horizon point I’d chosen after spending a couple of hours last night identifying potential winter spots on my Fish Deeper app. I use the internet version at home and the phone app on the bank—both are excellent.

Once I’d located the spot, I spombed out around 3 kilos of Nutrabaits boilies and solubles, mixed with Jurassic Particles hemp and buckwheat. For the rods, I opted for Castaway PVA solid slow-melt bags packed with pellets soaked in hemp oil, finished off with a white Blank Saver hookbait.

The night passed without a single bleep. I’d had a couple of knocks late afternoon and hoped they were liners signalling carp movement, but by morning nothing had materialised.

Lying there overnight, I thought about switching one of the hookbaits—seemed pointless running both rods identically when things were slow—but I still wasn’t sure which direction to take. By 12:30 hrs, I decided to stick to the original plan and simply top the swim up with more bait.

At 14:30 hrs the left-hand rod produced a bream. I recast with a fresh bag, but the strong crosswind sent it miles off course, effectively turning it into my right-hand rod for a few hours. Later, at 16:30 hrs, I recast again—this time absolutely perfectly. The evening conditions looked more promising by the minute, but the carp clearly hadn’t received the memo. The night passed without a single sound from the alarms.

At 06:05 hrs I made a brew and pondered where it had gone wrong. The pressure had been rising and falling by 10 millibars each day, the rain was heavier than forecast, and despite a warm night something had clearly put the fish off feeding. Seven anglers were on—not loads, but more than previous weeks. I couldn’t put my finger on any single factor.