Hello Carpers and welsome back to another installment of my blog, sorry it’s been a long time since my last post! Here at Cally’s Carpy Customs we have spent a lot of the winter preparing for our first full year with loads of exciting and innovative carp fishing products being tested! Stay tuned on our Facebook Page for more info!
Spring is finally on the horizon and with the water temperature increasing and becoming more stable the carp will begin to come out of their winter inactivity and start to transition in preparation for their annual spawn! Usually around April/May they spawn and in readiness they stock up on well needed nutrients and food to get them over the usual 2 week spawning period.
Below are my top 10 tips for bagging more carp in the Spring!
1, Simplify your Rigs!
One of the most asked questions (which is, in my opinion, unanswerable) is what is the best rig for carp fishing? Now with changes in trends and every company looking to bring out the next rig in fashion, talking about rigs can be a right minefield. However I have a simple answer! Stick with what you know…
A correctly tied simple rig with good hooking potential will catch you carp at any time of the year. I like to stick with the same rigs all year round and only use 3 different rigs in my fshing for different baits. My advice is to use a Standard Hair Rig or Blowback Rig for bottom baits, a Slip-D for wafters and a Ronnie Rig for Pop-Ups. I have caught thousands of carp on these methods and will continue to for years to come!
2, Locate the Carp
On arrival to a lake I would always recommend locating the fish and dedicating time to finding where they are holding up at certain times of the day. Although the temperatures are increasing and the carp are starting to move more, sometimes this is not always the case especially in early spring. With this habit of holding up over winter, carp sometimes hold up together in spring so finding one may mean you find more!
If you set up on the carp and after a period you realise they have moved on then don’t be frightened to move. Keep your eyes locked on the water and look for signs of feeding carp. A tip is to feed a couple of spots on arrival and then revisit after a period of time to see if carp have been feeding. Especially good in the margins…
3, Upper Layers in the Sun
Most anglers believe that surface fishing is just for the summer as the carp sit on the surface milling around whilst catching a sun tan… This is not always the case. Carp tend to seek the warmer water in spring which can often be the upper layers on a sunny day. I always carry some floaters in my kit in case the opportunity comes around to nab one off the top.
Alternatively, Zig fishing can be another great way to sneak a carp or two in the spring. As I said before carp tend to rise through the water column in search of warmer water so an adjustable zig can be a great way to locate which layer of water they are in!
KEY TIP: Know where the sun rises and where on the lake will get the sun first, often this is where the carp congregate early in the morning which can nab you an early bite!
4, Liquids & Glugs are KEY!
In spring I 100% use liquids and glugs in all of my bait. I glug my boilies and hookbaits, enhance my spod mix and even spice up my highly digestible micro pellet when fishing PVA Bags. Liquids can help draw carp into your swim and keep them there for longer. In spring the carp are looking to feed more proactively so increased levels of enhancement really help your chances of catching.
5, Bright Hookbaits
In my bait bag throughout the spring I always carry some tub of high visibility pop ups or wafters. I am a team member at CC Moore and honestly believe in the Northern special range. I carry Pink, Yellow and White Pop-Ups/Wafters in my bag at all times which have been enhanced with CC Moore’s NS1 liquid. Carp fishing is all about confidence so find a hookbait and colour you like and trust and you will increase your chances of catching!
6, Look in the Margins
As I said previously in this blog, carp in spring are searching for the warmer water. This an often be found in the shallower margins as the water here warms up quicker. My little tip is to try these areas in the late afternoon as this is when the margins will be at their warmest.
7, Follow the Wind
If you haven’t guessed already from all my other tips, the warmer water is the place to be in the summer. I like to work out which way the wind is blowing and follow the wind. Naturals are blown with the wind and tend to create a great feeding area alongside it being the warmer water which is a no brainer.
8, Smaller Hookbaits
From my experience I tend to get more bites in the spring, especially early on in spring, on 10/12mm boilies/pop ups or wafters. As they come out of their winter slumber a smaller high attractive bait can be a way to trip up a wary carp!
A great alternative hookbait in the spring is sweetcorn. Known as one of the most popular carp fishing baits, sweetcorn is highly digestible to the carp and offers that high visibility hookbait that I spoke about earlier.
9, PVA Mesh Bags
Throughout the spring I like to increase the amount of bait I introduce dependant on the water I am fishing. However in most of my fishing I use PVA Mesh Bags as a way of getting a small pocket of highly attractive baits around my hookbait. On my site we sell these in Crushed Boilie and Pellet which I always have in my bag to try and enhance my hookbait area.
10, Lake Knowledge
Knowing a lake can really help with catching you more carp. Over the winter and moving into spring I like to map out the lake using my deeper so I can start to find the shallower bars, deeper areas and general changes in depth where I think carp will move onto thoughout the year.
Alongside side this, information on catches can be found everywhere now with the use of the other members, internet and social media. Do some research and speak to other anglers about the lake and start to build yourself a picture of how it fishes.
SUMMARY
As the temperatures start to rise the carp will begin to feed more heavily and this offers a fantastic chance of landing several carp, use our simple but effective spring carp fishing tips for success on your next session.
If you want any other advice or have any questions then feel free to message me!
Until next time, tight lines and wet nets!