Steve Ringer’s 10 simple steps to keep catching after the first frosts
It’s a time of change on our commercials as the first frosts arrive… here’s how to outwit the fish
GET ready… winter is on its way! Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom, though. Some of my best days’ fishing have come after the first frosts of the year have arrived on our stillwaters.
Okay, not every swim is a winner at this time of year, but find a shoal of carp, skimmers or roach and you can enjoy a red-letter day.
The preparation should start before you even put a bait in the water, and you need to get your brain working before you limber up your bagging arm.
It’s vital you think about the conditions, how the fish behave in the colder months, and how you can adapt your tactics to suit.
Here are 10 simple pointers to help you on your next session…
1 DON’T BOMB THEM
One thing I can never understand is why anglers turn up at their swim in the morning and then have 10 or more casts to work out where they are going to fish.
This can kill your swim before you’ve even started. If you think about it, the water is cold and clear and the fish aren’t really feeding, so there’s nothing worse than repeatedly casting a bomb on top of them.
I’d say that every time you cast out before the start you’ll be spooking fish and pushing them out of your swim. At this time of the year my first cast will be when the whistle blows and the match starts – that’s how important I believe it is not to disturb the swim before the off.
2 WORK THE WHOLE SWIM
Carp, in particular, have a habit of shoaling up once the water temperature starts to drop and, as a result, location becomes key. While in summer the carp will come to you, in the cold you have to go to them! The way to do this is to cast
around into different parts of your swim looking for the fish.
If I have a cast with no bites or indications then my next cast will always be to a different spot!
It’s rare that carp come to bait in the cold, so I see no point going back to a spot that hasn’t produced on the very next cast.
3 LEAVE A SAFE ZONE
Whether fishing rod and line or pole I am a massive believer in trying to leave what I call a ‘safe zone’ within the boundaries of my swim. This is basically an area of water that I leave alone for the fish to settle in for at least four hours of a five-hour match.
Carp are easily spooked in clear water and, when this happens, they tend to look for quiet areas where they can sit out of the way.
As a rule, the longer you can leave your safe zone quiet the more fish there are likely to be waiting when you start fishing it. Ideally, your safe zone should be situated well out the way, either to the sides or at the far boundaries of your swim.
4 FISH SLACK LINES
Any trick you can use to minimise spooking carp at this time of year is a real bonus and will often reflect itself in your keepnet’s contents at the end of the day. When fishing the tip it’s great to see line bites, because it means there are fish in the swim, but there’s a downside – every fish that hits the line is potentially spooked and one less I can catch!
On smaller commercials I am a massive believer in trying to fish with slack lines so I have not got a bowstring-taut line running right through the middle of my chosen swim.
I like to have my quivertip virtually straight instead of with the usual slight bend. Don’t worry about not spotting bites, they’re still easy to see. The
tip tends to pull around and if I get a drop-back it’s signalled by the line falling back towards the tip of the rod.
5 FEATURES HOLD FISH
Many anglers struggle to know where to fish at the moment, but there’s a golden rule – features hold fish! I’m talking about aerators, bridges, rush beds and even trees that have fallen into the lake.
The exceptions to this rule are islands. Unless you can find very deep margins around them they tend to be too shallow for fish to sit against, and are best avoided.
However, if they are fringed with rushes and have a decent depth they will hold fish.
I always like to start fishing just off features to try and pick off a ‘mug’ fish or two. After that it’s all about getting as tight as you can to
If I had to pick one bait for winter fishing for carp then without doubt it would be sweetcorn.
Over the years no bait has caught me as many carp in the cold, and I think that’s down to its colour and visibility.
A lot of commercials go clear in the cold, therefore corn really stands out and gives the carp a bait they can home in on.
I would go as far as to say visibility is more important than smell in the cold, hence corn really does take some beating. these features to get bites.
7 TIME THOSE BITES
I know I have said this a million times before but I can’t stress enough how important it is to use a stopwatch to time your casts and your bite times too!
I have a saying at this time of the year, which is that the more often you cast, the fewer fish you will catch. Potentially, every time you cast out you are spooking them!
In fact, I would go as far as to say that when you are fishing for just a couple of bites then the longer your feeder or bomb can remain in the water, the more chance you have of getting one!
It’s for this reason that I always time my casts so I know exactly how long my bait has been in the water.
In the extreme cold I will often have casts lasting in excess of 30
minutes. As well as timing casts, I time the bites too and if you do get a run of fish it’s surprising how often there will be a pattern.
At Boddington last winter, 18 to 21 minutess after casting out was without doubt the optimum time for getting a pull – strange but true!
8 SMALL FEEDERS
You may have now guessed that one of the most
important aspects of fishing in the cold is trying to avoid spooking fish! With this in mind I will always use the lightest feeders and bombs I can get away with. The lighter the feeder or bomb, the less disturbance it makes on the cast.
There’s nothing worse than crashing a great big feeder on top of fish that aren’t really feeding.
Instead of using a 28g, largesized Hybrid feeder, for example, I will drop down to an 18g Mini Hybrid. That way, not only is the feeder a lot lighter, but it’s far smaller too.
The same thinking, of course, applies to my choice of bomb, I will use one that is just big enough to reach the required spot.
9 TRY A POP-UP
There is a common misconception that in the cold carp spend a lot of time on
the bottom, when in actual fact nothing could be further from the truth.
You will find they actually spend most of their time sat up off bottom, in the warmer layers of water.
When the weather is really cold – and this happens quite often, I’ve found – the fish won’t go down to feed so the only way to target them is through fishing with popped-up baits.
This might mean fishing a bomb and a long hooklength to try and put your bait at the same level the fish are sat at.
On the bait front then my number one choice would always be popped-up bread.
Being bright white, it really stands out in clear water.
Fluoro pop-up boilies are also well worth a look – loads of fish get caught on these in the cold.
10 Wait for a proper bite
My final piece of advice is one of the best, and comes straight out of the Ivan Marks school of fishing – when you are fishing the feeder or bomb, sit on your hands!
Line bites can be common on commercials as carp shoal up, but there is nothing more certain to spook a shoal than constantly striking at liners.
Therefore, as Ivan said, it’s much better to sit on your hands and wait for a proper bite than spook the fish.
It’s also worth pointing out that carp tend to hook themselves, so bites are very positive – if you are in any doubt, then simply wait a second or two extra for the bite to develop before picking the rod up.