10 TIPS TO KICK OFF AUTUMN WITH A BANG
With air and water temperatures starting to fall, you need to tweak your approach to keep your spools spinning as autumn begins...
LOOK FOR LOW PRESSURE
Study the weather forecast and look for big bands of low pressure or, more importantly, drops in air pressure, and try to time your sessions around these. Obviously, this type of weather is good at all times of the year, but it always produces stacks of big fish around the country in autumn. If you spot any weather fronts boasting air pressure below 1,000mb, pull out all the stops to get to the bank, even if only for a few hours.
FEWER PARTICLES, MORE BOILIES
Right now the fish will be looking to pack on condition ahead of winter, and will mainly be seeking out boilies and the rich array of nutrients that they contain.
Even a small group of fish can easily clear up 3kg-4kg of bait in an hour or two, so don’t be shy about putting it in. If you need to keep costs down, bulk out your feed with larger particles such as tiger nuts and maize.
MATCH YOUR HOOKBAIT AND LOOSEFEED
In spring and early summer bright baits that grab the carp’s attention work well, but fish become wary of them, and something more subtle is needed. Now is the time to start matching the hatch – using the same flavour and colour of bait as hookbait to those that you’re loosefeeding, whether it’s a bottom bait, wafter or pop-up.
TARGET THE DEEPER, SILTY AREAS
Deep, silty areas maintain a more constant temperature and will be warmer as the chilly weather begins to arrive. The opposite is true in spring, when shallower spots warm up quicker.
The carp will feel less on edge feeding in the deeper troughs too, after several months of being targeted on the firmer, shallow gravelly areas.
FOLLOW LUNAR CYCLES
Many waters fish really well around certain moon phases, with the king of the lake often slipping up on a full moon or a new moon, both of which can be really productive. As it happens, there’s a full moon this week and, better still, it’s a Harvest Moon, which is one of the most productive periods in the entire carp fishing calendar!
CAPITALISE ON SHOWS
Seeing a couple of fish show in the same place at this time of year can be a real shortcut to success. They might be in a completely different area to where you expect them to be, but with shows being far fewer now than earlier in the year, one or two sightings can be a big bonus and pinpoint a prime new area the fish are feeding over.
GET YOUR ROD-TIPS DOWN
As the weed breaks up and dies in autumn, it will float to the surface and start drifting about. If you fish with your rod-tips high then the weed can gather on the line and drag your leads out of position.
For this reason, it pays to put your tips under the water and let the weed drift over the top.
SEEK OUT THE NATURAL LARDERS
Another side effect of dying weed is that the last beds of natural food can become exposed, food that the carp struggled to get to earlier in the year.
Water snails, leeches and bloodworm will be dropping out of the rising weed and burrowing into the silt for protection. The carp know this, so if you find a clear spot in an area that used to be very weedy, it could be a new feeding hotspot!
DON’T NEGLECT ZIGS
Although deep, silty spots are a better overall bet now, carp will still crave warmth, and so will move into the warmer layers on sunny days. These are usually a few feet below the surface where the temperature is less affected by wind. If you split the water layers into three sections, the upper part of the middle third is a good place to start. So, if it’s 12ft deep, 8ft is a good bet to begin with.
FISH FOR LINERS
As carp become less active, if you leave your hookbait sat in one place for the whole session the chances of fish encountering them are slim. Keep your eyes peeled and recast at least one of your rigs to a different part of the swim every hour or so, looking for line bites. This allows you to cover a lot of water and will increase your chances of placing a hookbait in front of a hungry carp.