Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Matt Bingham
Pinpointing where the fish are sat is key to cold weather success. Matt Bingham explains how to find them by dobbing
Dobbing with bread
The rules of fishing change drastically at this time of year.
In warmer months, you can often get away with piling in the bait wherever you fancy and there’s every chance an active carp will find it sooner or later.
Once the water chills, that way of working goes out of the window. Fish become more lethargic and move around the lake much less.
The onus is now on the angler to locate where they are holed up. You have to go to them. Fail to locate the fish and you could be staring down the barrel of a blank. Discover their whereabouts, though, and the sport could be the best you’ve experienced all year!
So how do you locate carp that aren’t showing themselves regularly like they did in the recent warmth of summer?
Analysing the finer details of your approach can put you in the driving seat and help you make educated decisions when deciding where and how to fish.
Matt Bingham believes there is an art to finding the fish and past experience has shown him that your peg selection and rig choice need to be absolutely bang on.
“The fish in commercials are less willing to swim around looking for food, but if a hookbait lands slap bang in the middle of a shoal then it will still be taken,” said Matt.
Avoid the obvious
Fish love to sit in cover at this time of year, but they won’t do it at all costs.
Rather than putting a rig close to the far bank no matter what, Matt believes it is the depth that requires serious consideration.
“If it is only one or two feet deep close to the far bank or island, the fish are unlikely to feel comfortable in such shallow water.
“I use my plummet at the start of the session and aim to find 3ft- 4ft of water. Wherever I find that is where I’ll fish. More often than not it is halfway down the slope,” he said.
Rather than finding just one spot with that depth he plumbs up left to right in his peg to look
for a straight line with the same depth.
This enables Matt to place his rig in one spot and then move it elsewhere to try to locate the fish, safe in the knowledge he is fishing at the same depth.
Cut out the bait
Working out how to feed is often one of the biggest quandaries for any angler, but Matt says it’s easy in winter – cut it out completely!
“The fish don’t really want to feed and the more loosefeed you introduce, the less chance they will take your hookbait.
“Loosefeed is used to draw fish in, but with this style you are going to where they are already.”
Bread is the only bait that Matt uses at this time of year. A 6mm or 8mm disc of punch sinks extremely slowly, which gives fish sat at all depths the chance to take it. Half a loaf of thick sliced bread is enough for a full day on the bank. Regular lifting and dropping – the process known as dobbing – is important because a moving hookbait is more likely to be snapped up.
The edge of the shoal
If you find a shoal of carp or F1s in the winter then it’s sure to be pretty big! Place a hookbait in the middle of this group and the float will most likely go under instantly. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing.
“If you hook a fish in the middle of a shoal it will spook all those around it. They’ll move off and you’ll struggle for the rest of the day. It is much better to lay in your rig and not get a bite straight away, inching your way left or right until the float eventually dips after a brief wait. This is likely to put you on the edge of the shoal and, when you hook a fish, it is less likely to spook the others.”
Tunnel Barn tonic
Matt’s favourite complex – Tunnel Barn Farm – is full of fish, but the cold weather means they are by no means easy to catch. Peg 3 on Canal Pool at the Warwickshire complex is a renowned hotspot, but where the fish are sat in the peg changes from day to day.
The plummet was soon put to work and after a few minutes he found a line across the swim with 3ft 6in of water. This was located several feet off the far bank cover in open water. His rig was laid directly in front and remained motionless for five minutes. He placed the rig a couple of feet to the left and then continued to make these small movements. After several switches and half an hour of inactivity, the float finally buried and a big F1 was netted. A couple more came before the bites dried up.
“I’ve no doubt that the fish are still in the area but the commotion will have unsettled them and they’ll have moved slightly. It’s time to search the swim again,” he said.
Moving to different spots kept the bites coming on a bitterly cold day and by the end of the session he had placed over 60lb in the net.
“If I had introduced loosefeed or fished in water that was too shallow, then this wouldn’t have been possible. The fish might not be at their hungriest, but if I had to bet my life on a tactic that would produce in the depths of winter then this is definitely it.”