High-viz baits for winter carp. Dr Paul Garner reveals his tips
Dr Paul Garner explains why you need a stand-out hookbait
ON WELL-stocked fisheries there is no reason why you cannot expect to catch carp right through winter – they can be the most reliable of fish in the cold.
Catching consistently means revising your expectations. Forget about ton-up bags. A handful of bites is what we are looking for, so piling in bait isn’t going to work.
I base my winter carping around getting one bite at a time. I will cast around the swim looking for fish, and may even move swims several times. I want a bait with enough attraction to ensure a carp can find it. This means bright baits, strong flavours and little parcels of feed – almost the opposite to my summer tactics.
WHY WAFTERS?
My winter hookbaits have to have some buoyancy. I’m not a great fan of pop-ups, as I find that lethargic carp can find them more difficult to pick up than bottom baits, but a wafter hookbait is easy for them to suck up. This comes back to the carp’s reactions being dulled in the cold. A slow-sinking bait will be sucked further back into the mouth, giving more chance of the hook going in too.
I like 12mm hookbaits in winter and find that these balance well with a size 8 or 10 hook. If they are a little too buoyant then I pinch a small shot on to the hair.
MAX-ATTRACT FEED
A lot of anglers will rely on a single hookbait in winter, but I like to add some additional attraction with a tiny PVA stick. This is no bigger than a boilie, but not only brings more bites, it also cuts down on tangles on the cast too. Make sure the PVA mesh that you are using is designed for winter use – otherwise it will take ages to melt and could cost you bites.
The aim of the game with my stick mix is to maximise the attraction without feeding the fish. No whole baits are put in the
stick, everything is ground up to a coarse powder, or is already tiny, so that the carp can’t fill up on it. You can buy readymade stick mixes, and these are a good starting point, but it is easy enough to make your own.
I start off with a handful of my chosen boilies and grind these into pieces. Next in goes a pinch of rock salt, and finally a few 3mm pellets. A few squirts of flavour can be added, but don’t over do this as it will be released very quickly into the water.