Hello an welcome back to my blog, this time I will be discussing my tips and tricks to increase your catch rate in the coming months. We all know that winter carping is one of the hardest times of year to get a bite let alone bank a fish but i hope this will give you a few tips to help solve this problem.
Top 5 tips to increase your catch rate:

1) If possible fish a local water - Fishing a local water is a real advantage; visit it as often as possible. Watch the water and if you see a carp keep it to yourself. If you see a couple of fish show in a certain spot then pay extra attention to this area as they are likely to be in and around this area, this could be because the water is deeper than the rest of the lake, there might be more natural food and the water might be warmer from a moored boat or this could be where the sun spends most of the time which warms the water up quicker and the carp are attracted to these spots, so do you homework and checkout good looking spots.
2) Find the fish - This is one of the most vital things to do when fishing in the winter but it is also the most difficult part of winter carp fishing as the the fish tend to be very localised. Finding the fish is crucial to success the fish will not move to you in the winter. Putting out a bed of bait and hoping to attract fish will not work on most waters. If you find the fish then the results that can be had are amazing. The way to find this fish is to spend alot of time at the water looking for jumping fish, bubbles where they are feeding or other signs of fish but you could also ask other people that fish the lake and see what the catch patterns are like, such as time they are being caught, location on the lake, rigs and also bait they are using. All of these will help you catch more fish.
3) Get the bait and baiting situation correct - Far too many people ruin their winter chances before they even cast out by putting too much bait in whilst they are fishing. In the winter the fish don't want to feed as much as they are not using up as much energy as in summer or spring, this means you need less bait. I like to use a high attract but also high nutritional value bait that is good for the fish and keeps them coming back for more, In the winter I use Mainlines Hybrid as i think its an excellent bait for that time for year. I tend to put in around 50 baits at the start of a session over a large area to hopefully intercept more fish than if I fished a tight patch of bait and then i fish bright pop-ups over the top to draw the fishes attention if they are in the area. A top tip is to soak your hookbaits in Korda's goo as this increases the attraction and appeal to the carp in the area at the time.
4) Don’t be put off by the conditions - I have spent literally thousands of hours keeping records and trying to find feeding patterns. I have come to the conclusion that there are no patterns.On mild days with a south westerly I have often felt confident and not had so much as a beep, whereas on freezing cold days, when it is a real effort to make yourself go I have had multiple catches.If anything I have found cold frosty days, with no wind, to be slightly better. Sometimes when a water is just starting to freeze can be a could time, is it that the fish know and are having a little nibble to tide them over?
5) Use rigs you are confident with - If you use rigs that you are confident with and have caught fish in the past as you know that the fish can be fooled by this rig, on tip though is to scale down as much as possible so I will use the smallest hook and lightest hooklink I can get away with for the fish I am catching and this also means matching the hook to the bait I am using. I like to use Korda's supernatural personally with their new krank hooks as I want the hook to turn as quickly as possible when its sucked in. So keep it simple and don't over complicate the rigs just because you have seen other people doing it, just adapt a rig you like and you will be fine.
Anyway that's if for now so tight lines and keep fishing.
The Eastern Carper
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