December to mid

All species feed well in the spring but the two that really start feeding are carp and tench. Carp and tench of course are catchable all year round but without doubt they do lie up for some undetermined period during the winter, usually from mid-December to mid-February. Carp will be caught covered in leaches that have attached themselves to fins, gills, eyes and mouths as they lay on the bottom not moving far. However, it may be just me but despite catching a lot of tench over the years in December and January I have never seen one that was badly infested by leaches, just the odd one or two, certainly nothing like the amount carp get, and pike of course. Perhaps tench do not taste so nice or whatever they do, they do not do the same as carp during this time. Is it possible that they do not lie up at all or is it that they bury themselves completely in the silt so the creepy crawlies do not get to those important little places, who knows. Without a doubt though, the leaches are an irritant and when the water starts to warm up and they get going again both carp and tench on most waters get very active for short periods of time consistently rolling and leaping, presumably to throw off the leaches. I have seen them roll themselves on the bottom, swim up through the water and roll heavily on the surface, repeating this action over and over again. Are they feeding, well no, not really but it gets the heart going. I prefer it in fact when they are not showing, then I know they are down there feeding. My favourite spring month is April. March can be a very unpredictable month with periods of feeding activity interspersed with periods of a return to the winter stupor. May can be good but as the month progresses the carp and tench begin to turn their attentions to spawning, depending on the weather, and become very poor in condition and are very vulnerable to damage and disease. When carp and tench start to show an inclination in reproduction I prefer to leave them to it for a week or two. In April though, I have found you cannot go wrong. The carp and tench are feeding well, are in superb condition and can be at high weights. Often the bigger, less often caught fish get caught at this time, especially tench. Some of the lakes I have fished over the years have produced tench of a size that were just not known to be in there. Not overweight spawny fish but lean long muscular fish in superb condition that look like they have never been caught before. It seems that these big females spend the winter laid up and the summer in thick weed, thus in the old traditional season rarely if ever got caught. So to catch these spring beasts you obviously need a water that is open during the spring period. I find the best ones are ones that have not had too much pressure during the winter so the fish are less wary and have lost a certain amount of their summer caution. This rules out the day ticket heavily fished waters that fish exactly the same whatever the time of year. Carp especially are very visible at this time of year and can be attracted into the margins, as can tench, by sensible baiting. At this time of year I like to use the various types of tiny dissolving pellets available now that are made up of crushed hemp and various crushed nuts and beans. Kevin Nash does one called ‘micromass’ and Rod Hutchinson does one called ‘formula magic’. They come in various flavours but I prefer using the basic unflavoured ones leaving the natural attraction to work. The idea being these small pellets dissolve in a small area quickly and the flavour leaks out into the bottom silt/mud. Then introduce very few loose offering of whatever you wish to use a hookbait and the single hookbait over the top. The flavour in the bottom attracts the fish, they then find the few loose offerings, and your bait, and think that is the source and, hey presto, you’re in. The problem is, it is difficult to present the right feeding situation at any more than 10yards so it is very much a margin tactic. Even using PVA bags at distance the pellets spread out too much and the effect is lost. To ensure the right situation in the margins is not easy by introducing the bait by hand so I either use a small PVA bag or a spod. I like the spod as, one, it is cheaper and two, you can use damp ingredients as well. Also you can see the contents drop down through the water right onto the spot, confidence boosting stuff. The key is to use very little free offerings over the pellets and despite how much action you get, refrain from introducing more loose feed. The flavour from the pellets will be working better and better as time goes on, getting the fish into a real frenzy of frustration. I have seen as many as ten carp shoulder by shoulder tearing up the bottom for two or three hours over just one spod full of pellets. If you are on a short session just lasting a few hours or an overnighter, I have found the best way to get a quick take is to use a pop-up hookbait. The downside of this is that it is so obvious that the carp, or tench, soon learn. Yes, this does work for tench as well. On one pit, a few years ago in April, I went out to catch some big tench it held, and where the fishing had been slow to others, using these tactics, I had three sessions catching 12, 9 and 14 tench up to 9lb plus in the daytime. The hook bait for those sessions was the humble piece of corn. If you have a nice deserted lake, one way would be to set up several of these areas and keep going round and round taking a fish from each, this works very well with tench which are a lot less easily spooked than are carp. A lot more interesting than sitting on a chair in what will still be cool weather waiting for them to come to you. A period of nice sunny weather or a very mild wind will get carp especially up in the shallow areas of the lake, as the shallows will naturally warm up quicker than the deep water. From the advantage of a convenient tree you can watch your quarry and its behaviour. A pattern should quickly emerge of what they are up to; usually a circuit will become apparent with them every now and again dropping down to browse on certain spots. For some reason carp will pair up or go round in groups during April and for days on end the same carp will be seen with its same mates. This makes targeting individual fish a lot simpler as they will also visit the same areas of the lake for days on end as well. The spots where they choose to browse can be pinpointed and whilst they are not there, and you are not fishing, they can be baited. Either the pellet ploy can be used or, in these situations, just a few boilies and a few trout pellets could be all that is needed. Because these spots will be shallow, the carp will be a lot more cautious, so be stealthy, keep down off the skyline and try and get a bait in position before the carp turn up. Over several days you will have noticed an approximate time of day when the carp arrived, they will stick to this routine if undisturbed. It’s a great way to wind others up who have been sat in their bivvies for days on end with no action to turn up, creep into position and half hour later wander round to ask for them to take the pictures. Try to be nice about it though and offer them a can of beer or you will make few friends. On one lake I fished a few years ago, I was struggling to get a take from a carp during March. I was catching plenty of tench, good ones as well with all of them over 5lb, but for some reason the carp were elusive. As April arrived the lake water level rose by a couple of feet after a sustained period of rain. This meant that 80% of the lake was now unfishable so I was forced to desert my usual area and fish at either end of the lake. One end was what I called the dam end, as the bank cut straight across like a dam, although it was a gravel pit so it was not a dam. However in one corner of this dam was a fishable swim, being slightly higher than the surrounding land. From here a short cast was possible to the edge of some bushes that were in the water off the adjacent bank. A longer cast was also possible to an area of hard gravel that in summer was always unfishable due to heavy weed. At the other end of the lake was what I called the shallows and was what looked like the inlet end to a natural lake with an area of reeds and bushes in very shallow water opening up into a small bay about three feet deep. The water was clear and it was possible to see the bottom right across in the right light. Again, there was one swim that was dry to fish from covering this bay. This was my first full season on the lake and I had not had the opportunity to fish either of these areas the previous summer, and summer swims they seemed to be. I could not imagine the carp getting in the shallow water under the snags or in the bay in the cold April water temperatures. However I was forced to fish one of these swims due to the high water, I certainly was not going home again, so putting on waders I walked round the flooded lake, thigh waders were only just adequate enough in a couple of spots. As I got in behind the snags I was amazed to see two good sized mirrors lying up only a foot below the surface. Then as I got to the other end of the lake, I was even more surprised to find half a dozen carp milling around in the bay, again in around three foot of water. I chose to fish the snags as night was approaching and, having never fished the area, I knew a few casts would be needed to get the baits in clear areas as a lot of dead blanket weed was on the bottom. The obvious spot was to fish into a gap in the branches that was clear of weed but that meant that when I got a take it would go straight into the snags, bye bye carp. I was sure I would get a take from that spot but I wanted to land a carp, not lose one, so I found another clear spot a couple of feet off a branch and several yards up the side of the snags. From here a carp would run up the lake into open water, by making sure the baitrunner was at its loosest setting, this was ensured, I hoped. So I cast to this spot with a single bottom bait over a spod full of pellets and chopped boilies. I was even more amazed when casting to the other open water spot that the whole area was totally devoid of weed, wherever I cast, all I found was hard bottom. Therefore I wasted no time in launching a large ring of chopped boilies on a PVA stringer out to the area, I chose to use a pop-up on this rod as I was in effect, fishing in a devoid area and the pop-up would be the first bait taken by any carp coming past. I marked the line on this rod and lined the cast up with an electricity pylon beyond the end of the lake to ensure any recasts would land in exactly the same spot after dark. The weather was cold and drizzly with a slight easterly wind blowing towards me. I was not too confident but about 8pm I had a sharp fast take on the rod by the snags. I was on it in seconds and clamped down and hauled the fish out into open water in one swift movement. Once in open water, the now obvious carp was fighting well before, after a few minutes, rolling into the net. It was a fat looking mirror, undoubtedly one that I had seen in the snags earlier. I quickly weighed it up at just over 21lb before putting in a sack in one of the flooded swims further up the bank. I recast again with a bottom bait but seemed unable to feel the thud of hard bottom. I left it for half-hour but then I received a short take on the same rod but all I pulled in was black rotten weed. I guessed the carp had caused some old weed to drift over the spot so I changed this rod to a pop-up as well. Over the next hour I received two takes on the open water rod, both resulting in upper 5lb tench. Things quietened down for a while but around midnight the snags rod was away again and, again after clamping down and another good fight, I netted a long looking leather carp. Obviously another 20lber. It weighed 23lb 6oz and was in lovely condition, this was turning into some night. The leather had gone through the other line so I had to re-cast both rods. I also put another half spod full of pellets out to the snags. Half hour later I was lying there on the bedchair when I heard a buzzing noise, I quickly realised that I had forgotten to turn the buzzer for the open water rod back on, and line was tearing off the baitrunner. Quickly rectifying the situation I was soon engaged in a titanic battle with a powerful carp. After an age I netted a mirror with a huge tail, hence the fight, even though it was only 17lb odd on the scales. I took some quick pictures of it with the flash before putting it back and recast using the clip for accuracy. The action slowed down after that, taking just one more 5lb tench from the snags in the early hours. As dawn slowly appeared I had another fast take on the open water rod, again a good fight and I was convinced that I had another carp on but after a while I netted a big tench. Big it certainly was, looking well over 7lb. I had it in the landing net after unhooking it and was about to get the weigh sling when the snag rod tore off. Again a clamp down and haul fight before I netted another long mirror. So with carp and tench in the net and rods everywhere I just chuckled to myself. Surrounded by water and mud I just could not believe the action I had received. Sorting it all out finally I weighed both tench and carp at 7lb 7oz and 20lb 14oz respectively. As it was virtually light I took pictures of the tench and the three carp before putting them all back. I recast both rods and began to sort everything out. Half-hour later the snag rod was off again and I pulled in a tench around the 5lb mark. The tench had gone through a load of weed so when it was in the margins I leant down to remove some of the weed that was attached to the bomb, as I did so a pike of around 18lb appeared and grabbed the tench. This I did not believe but as I picked up the rod the pike let the tench go, the tench was left with gashes on it so again I tried to clear the weed. However as I did so, the pike returned for its breakfast, this time taking the whole tench inside its mouth and after a short scrap the hook pulled out of the tench and pike and tench disappeared into the depths. What a day!That however was the end of the action and I received no more for the next two hours when I packed up. I went back round to the snags before I left. The water over the spot where I was fishing was coloured with suspended bits of weed and debris floating around. The pellets, only one and a half spods full, were really doing their job. I’m sure if I had been able to stay longer more carp would have come to that spot. So that session I think, really illustrates what can be achieved in spring with a little bit of understanding of the fishes behaviour at this time of year, and understanding of baiting situations. Even the open water spot was a feeding situation created by accurate baiting and making sure the only whole boilie was the one on the hair thus guaranteeing that was the one that was taken by the fish when they turned up. Later in April the same year on the same lake, I again found several carp in the shallows end of the lake. One of them was without doubt the biggest carp in the lake, recognisable by its extreme length, a fish around the 26lb mark. I had caught this fish the year before at 24lb so it was the one that it was swimming around with that really interested me, a short wide fish of perhaps 25lb. From behind a tree and some dead reeds I kept very still and to my delight both fish came in right to the margins almost at my feet and started browsing on a small area of clear sand. I watched them for a while and soon noticed they were making a circuit round the bay then out into the main lake before appearing at my feet from under an overhanging tree. The next time they went out, I introduced some pellets and some chopped boilies. I was about to put a whole boilie hookbait in when they returned. To my surprise both carp immediately started feeding on the chopped boilies before swimming off again. Within a minute they were back and really started tearing up the bottom, the pellets releasing their smell. This time when they went off, I quickly lowered a hookbait in ensuring the leadcore leader was flat on the bottom along the margin, to the rod that I held in my hands a few yards up the bank behind the reeds. From this lower angle I could not see the carp but could just see the water being displaced as they hovered over the baited area. Minutes past and I was not sure if they were still there and was about to get up to see when the rod came alive in my hand and line was ripped off the baitrunner. I stuck and connected with one angry carp. The fight took place totally in the bay and I could see that I had hooked the long mirror rather than the other one, the fight was protracted but it soon rolled into the net. On the scales it was slightly heavier than when I last caught it going 25lb 4oz. It was a lovely fish all blacks and dark browns and I was well happy to catch it though maybe not quite so happy as I may have been if it had been the other mirror. As I slid it back it powered off out of the bay, a huge bow wave behind it. Again a good illustration of taking advantage of the carps behaviour in spring. Look for them in the margins when the water begins to warm up. Remember, what is still cold to us is relatively warm to them. Bait up sparingly but accurately and be quiet, and the result will come. Next time I will look at the changed behaviour of carp and tench during the early summer and how we can take advantage of it.

Have fun!