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- Feb 19, 2019
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Where do the starving Carp go on those Commies that have so many fish they have to eat or die and will eat everything.?
It's a mystery.
It's a mystery.
Medley isnt too bad for bleak these days compared to some stretches around here. You couldn't float fish maggot effectively in high summer due to them but by September you can sometimes can whereas elsewhere it's usually into October before they slow down. Obviously hemp is the way to avoid them but sometimes it is nice to be able to fish maggot early doors when sometimes you have to wait for hemp to start working. You can usually get a maggot on the feeder mostly through them there even in high summer though whereas even that can be impossible on some stretches let alone on the float. Makes me laugh when people say a big bulk of shot will beat the bleak as whilst it often helps there are days that a oz plus feeder won't go through them let alone any sort of shot!Spot on; fished team matches in summer at Medley in the past when the instruction was not to feed the waggler line for the first 5 to 10 minutes, so that those next to you who did would pull all the bleak in.
When they are bad I'm sure they come to the splash of the float as well even without feeding, many a time ended up lowering pole rig with a big olivette straight down under the pole tip so as not to make the slightest disturbance and give myself a chance of the bait getting down. .
As to where they go in the winter I suspect that as you say they don't go anywhere,. A mild day especially with a bit of colour in the water can get them showing again
Fished a place like that last winter. Gin clear with visibly nothing in it (you could almost see every inch of it) other than pods of carp that just mooched around the lake not really interested in anything. I did get one but that was the only fish caught on the whole place on the day so was bizarre how they were expending that much energy without feeding. The place used to have F1 that you'd always catch however cold but if they are still in there now they must be very good at hiding!I remember fishing a small lake/pond that had lots of small carp in, this was before commercials it was Cold and the lake was clear and all the carp were in a big shoal swimming around the pond not feeding.
Was often the same on what used to be my local Slough Canal.I remember a match on the L[angollen Canal the water had gone gin clear (winter) and as we looked into the water you could see the bottom right to the far bank
I thought what a waste of time this is going to be, all in shouts and over I go with bread punch to see a silver flash under the water and the float go under the fish were there but you couldn't see them on the dark bottom of the canal until they showed going for the bread punch.
I think it’s because they still have to work as hard as they do in summer,being tidal, but manage with a lot less natural food. They do run a series of winter matches on the Yare so there must be a few fish that don’t migrate to the boatyards. I think the big autumn salt tides are often driven by storms that you don’t get in summer.That's something that's always puzzled me, why do fish move up some rivers in winter. The Yare and the river Hull are both tidal, so why is it only winter when they tend to move up river? I mean if it's to escape the bracken water, you get big tides right throughout the year, yet they don't migrate until the back end. There's no warmer water to attract them either, any info anyone?
In the depths of winter I’m not sure it makes much difference but if there’s the slightest hint of heat from the sun then the surface of a lake and shallower water will warm up that tiny bit quicker. A mild breeze will have a similar effect. It could, feasibly, kick start a short feeding spell. Same thing applies to the margins. In my commie days they were always worth a try last knockings.I prefer the deeper swims on the couple of commercials I fish in winter, talking 7' instead of 3.5', but I'm told that sometimes it can be the opposite and shallow will out-fish deep. Makes me think there's a lot of variables involved in that though.
That's something that's always puzzled me, why do fish move up some rivers in winter. The Yare and the river Hull are both tidal, so why is it only winter when they tend to move up river? I mean if it's to escape the bracken water, you get big tides right throughout the year, yet they don't migrate until the back end. There's no warmer water to attract them either, any info anyone?
Not surprised Zerkalo. That chub looks like it’s starving. I hope not but, it looks like it’s gone too far. Let’s hope it sees spring.On the small river I fish, it's weird that morning is just as productive, if not more so than the evenings it seems at the moment, odd really when you think the water would be warmer in the evening, but the middle of the day can be a lull at all times of year but slightly better when it's overcast and low light. The sun does not even make it onto the pool in midday in winter due to trees surrounding but a blue sky can be the kiss of death. Summer evenings on the other hand are spot on, maybe I just need to fish it more around 4-5pm this time of year to really be able to tell, but first light has been brilliant.
This is more true for bigger fish but I'm also sure when the small fish don't show, they are so ravenous when they do, they have simply left the pool I fish rather than not feeding. In fact, in the two years I've been fishing there, it was only really the once for a few weeks this year that suddenly it was full of small fish. I have mentioned before though, I do like that the fish tend to move around there as it means I don't catch the same fish all the time. As happened when I caught the same shabby looking Chub 4 times in 2 sessions earlier this year, put me off fishing there for a while but pictured below.
View attachment 91027 View attachment 91028 View attachment 91029 View attachment 91030
One image of the four has been flipped vertically but you can see the same spot under its pectoral fin in each picture.
A lake my old club had at Thorpe was stuffed full of small carp, commons and mirrors. You could catch them all day in the summer, up to 4oz, and have 50/60 lbs easily. Took my son there for his first go at fishing, whip to hand , he had over 70 in about 3 hours. Come the colder months they disappeared completely, you could catch bigger carp over 4lb, but no small ones at all.