Happy Wednesday Everyone! Hope you are all having a great week! We are going from strength to strength here at Cally’s Carpy Customs releasing more new products every week to cover a whole range of fishing! This week we have a discount on Ronnie Rigs, make sure you check them out!
This week I am going to talk about Carp Fishing in Autumn! This season is just like marmite, you either love it or hate it. These months divide the opinions of carp anglers as the carp tend to slow down due to the temperatures but they are already heavily fed from the summer months so can prove a tricky time to catch. Although if you do catch in autumn you have a better chance of beating your PB’s due to the carp stocking up for winter. First little tip, check the quieter venues, often these have had less pressure over the Summer and can provide some of the best fishing in the Autumn… More about that later!
When Is Autumn?
Autumn normally covers the months of September, October and November. In 2022, Autumn runs from from 23rd September to 21st December. With varied weather during this time bringing in spells of sunchine, rain, wind and colder nights this can help carp fishing and be a great time to get on the bank!
My Top Tips for Carp Fishing in Autumn
Autumn can be a rewarding time for carp fishing if you prepare correctly. Here are some tips and advice to increase you bite rate and hopefully help you land more carp!
1, Fish Location
In Autumn carp are alot less active compared to the summer so locating where they are hiding is a must! Change your mindset from summer and stop jumping in those favoured pegs and replace with a lengthy walk around the lake and watching for signs of feeding carp. If you can’t find any signs then some advice is to try areas like snags, deep margins or any area which is deeper in general as this is where the carp may hold up in preperation for winter.
To find these spots you can either use a marker rod or a deeper. The advantages of a deeper are you can find fish activity and use this technical approach to locate the carp quickly!
2, Watercraft and Carp Movement
Leading on from locating fish, my own carp fishing greatly improved when I self taught myself watercraft by watching videos and learning from others. Apart from looking for signs of feeding carp there are a few other scenarios to look out for when fishing on a lake.
For me wind direction is a key factor in where the carp will hold up. If a cold wind front is in I tend to like fishing off the back of the wind as this is where the water is warmer and more likely to hold carp. If it is a warmer wind front then I follow the wind and will jump in a peg where the wind is blowing into. This may not be pleasant for you but the carp fishing can be immense! On top of this is the carp movement. Spend a lot of your time with your eyes locked on the water. If you are there for a 24hr+ session build yourself a picture of where the carp are moving. Normally every lake has it own way the carp react often being in one space at night and one in the day. Building yourself a plan of where the carp will be can often result in more and quicker bites on sessions!
3, Baiting and Hookbait Approach
Autumn calls for a change in baiting technique as the carp slow down and prepare for winter. A general rule of thumb is to stop using any pellets which are high in oil or fishmeal boilies as carp take longer to digest in the colder months. My advice is to look at pellet contents and look for a low oil coarse pellet or swap to a bird food based boilie. In my own fishing I tend to pre soak all my boilies in Autumn to increase attraction during the colder weather. I then change into more natural baits during November and December using maggots, chops or sweetcorn as these provide a greater nutritional value to the carp and can often increase you bite rate!
One technique I do like to use is a piece of bouyant corn with 8-10 maggots connected using bait floss. This is a great technique to trick those wary carp!
4, Carp Rigs for Autumn
In autumn I tend to scale my tackle down to allow me to fish quieter and stealthily move round the lake. I keep my rigs simple, and fish nice slack lines to help with not spooking the carp which will increase bites! I also scale down my lead often going for a 1.5/2oz lead to keep disturbance to a minimum.
My rig choices for winter are a Ronnie Rig with a long boom for pop ups and a Slip-D rig for all my bottom baits. The reason I use a long boom in the winter is to account for the softer lakebed due to the increased silt and falling leaves.
If the lake your fishing is particularly weedy of full of debris then a chod rig may be your best options to allow the lead to plunge into the weed/debris and then present a pop up above. I provide a leader that uses a Chod Safety system which come ready built with the chod rig on, simply just connect to your mainline, add the lead and you are ready to fish!
5, Moon Phases
Take this how you will but I believe in moon phases bringing larger carp especially a full moon or new moon. Although this may sound odd there is a positive correlation between moon phases and captures on England’s largest carp.
Summary
Thank you for taking time to read this weeks blog! Autumn can be a great time for catching PB’s and achieving your goals if approached in the correct way. I have loads of tips and techniques which may help improve your catch rate in Autumn. In summary I would advise the following:
– Keep your rigs simple
– Use natural baits
– Scale down your tackle
– Observe the water
– Locate the carp
If you have anything you would like to speak about feel free to use our website Online Chatter, DM me on Insta or Facebook or ping us an email!
Have fun if you get out on the bank this Autumn and I would love to see your catch reports over on our Facebook Page!
Take care and Tight Lines!
Hi there, thanks for the info. Had one of my best seasons carp fishing ever up to late September and really struggled there after. Looking for some tips on Autumn fishing came across your blog, will try out your tips next season. I don’t fish in cold weather due to a COPD.