UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

Trip 1 Carp Fishing – 2026

This session was meant to take place last week, but a sick child put a stop to that. After spending two hours looking for signs of carp and finding nothing, I decided to settle into a swim I have confidence in and enjoy a bit of comfort. Starting that way puts you in the right mindset and gives you something solid to build on. The conditions looked very encouraging: 10°C during the day, 8°C at night, overcast with patchy sunshine, and a nice drop in pressure. Unfortunately, I would be home by the time it reached 983mb. For the next three nights it was forecast to sit consistently around 1012mb, which I actually prefer.

I like consistency rather than sharp rises and drops over a short period. My own head doesn’t enjoy those fluctuations, and it does make me wonder how they affect carp individually—because, like us, they must all respond differently. I settled on a swim called Gap.

I had spent some time the previous week looking for potential new winter spots and had marked a few out, including rediscovering this one, which had produced a good few carp for me many years ago. Tight lines and be lucky!