Winter is Coming

It's approaching that time of year again when the carp go on a massive feed before the Winter sets in. September and October are, in my opinion, the best times of the year for a number of reasons.

21lb 13oz on new bait, September

Firstly, the carp should have fully recovered from this years spawning and will now be at their natural weights. Any weight gain for next year will be made in the next few weeks as the carp prepare for the winter and begin to develop their eggs for the next years spawning. Over the next 6 weeks the fish will be feeding hard and can be caught over large beds of bait. Most of the weed has died or is dying back make natural food abundant in open water. If you can compete with the naturals with a good quality boilie you could have some excellent results.

Boux carp caught Mid-October at 49lb 14oz

Now is the time that I start to reduce the size of my boilies from 18 mils down to 15mils or even smaller. The water should be getting cooler so I never over flavour any bait at this time of year and I will be working towards reducing the fishmeal content and oils down to zero as winter sets in. Also I stop using  particles and pellets and go to a boilies only approach.

Another October English carp at 24lb 12oz

I am off to Old Oaks this weekend with David Keep of Angling Lines, and although the usual approach for this water is particles and boilies, I aim to stick to my principals with a boilie only approach. The boilies we will be using are provided by Quality Baits in the new HG All Seasons and the ever faithful Patshull Park with a new combination of flavours and essential oil. I have been putting the new baits through their paces over the past fortnight resulting in captures of carp on all of my 4 trips, each lasting no more than 3 hours.

November and they are still on the feed

Shortly after returning from Old Oaks I will be preparing for a trip to Brocard with Jim Kelly. This should take me through to mid October so hopefully I will have a few decent weeks of fishing left before the cold days set in.

Paul Cooper

For more field testing tales click herePaul Cooper 2013 Fishing Diary