STEVE’S WINTER POLE TIPS

TRICKLE IN YOUR FEED

When pole fishing, rather than dump-potting bait as I would in the summer, when winter arrives I much prefer to trickle-feed very small amounts of bait.

You see, I believe the best way to attract fish in the cold is via bait falling through the water, as the fish will see it and follow it down. This might mean feeding as little as 3-4 maggots every two minutes, just to try and pull fish into the swim.

You can always tell when this approach is working, because when you trickle bait in you will get an indication on the float, and this tells you there is a fish in the swim.

USE LIGHTER FLOATS

I am a massive believer that in the cold carp, in particular, feed by sight as much as anything else.

It’s for this reason that a slow-falling hookbait produces more bites. You, see I am totally convinced that carp sit up off the bottom and will follow a bait down before taking it.

This is, of course, where light floats come into their own as they allow me to achieve the presentation I require.

As a guide at this time of the year I will think nothing of fishing a 4x10 float in 6ft of water, as I know that by doing so I will get more bites.

PLUMB UP CAREFULLY

Plumbing the depth is important at any time of the year, but never more so than in the winter. I will always plumb my peg extensively, looking for any potential underwater fish-holding features.

Examples of these are any sudden depth variations – such as depressions in the bottom or at the bottom of shelves. A brilliant example of this was a peg on Snake at Makins Phase 3 which used to have a deep hole.

Now this hole was barely a metre across and only 6iins deeper than the surrounding terrain, but it used to fill up with fish in the cold.

If you didn’t know it was there it would have been so easy to miss.