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You need to be looking now mate - they'll be starting to visit the winter areas already and those early signs can make or break a winter campaign. If you can, I'd be baiting those areas too (and keep that going all through winter). There is no point starting baiting in winter as you've already missed the boat and their metabolism will have slowed. If you keep it going in from autumn, they'll keep feeding. Regards fishing in winter itself, be ready for long periods of inactivity. They will show you where you need to be, but the levels of activity are very low, and it often comes in the dead of night (1 - 3 AM). When it gets dark at 4 or 5 PM that can seem like a very, very long wait (by 8 PM it feels like midnight!). Every pit is different but I've found areas of consistent depth near (not in) the deepest water can often serve as winter holding areas. Keep your eyes on shallower water when the sun comes out, especially if there are reed beds about. It's worth trying to find out about past winter captures as the holding areas usually stay the same year-on-year in my experience. Don't expect too much. Sometimes you can be bang on them but at the end of the day their metabolism slows so they simply don't need to eat much. That said, imo they will feed for a short period every day so if you can find where that is, you can sometimes set you watch by the takes. The hardest thing about winter is staying focused as the hours pass by with no signs whatsoever. Just one single sighting can make the difference between a great campaign and a whole winters blanking, so you absolutely need to keep those eyes open and just keep going. Good luck.

Agree with Yonny but one thing I would add is watch the weather like a hawk. Even the smallest spikes can be a window of opportunity and on my winter water between 11:00-15:00 is always good when the winter weather is a bit milder. I’d also add that at least one of my rods would be on a zig,if allowed on your water. Good luck work hard at it and hopefully you’ll have a few. 😬😎🎣

We do a bedchair buddy that would suit your needs. As not to sound too biased on here, there are other companies that have them available too.

Whilst this isn't aimed at the original poster, it is definitely worth choosing the venue most carefully for winter. The only water I've happily fished right through and caught from regularly was a shallow pit 6ft max. Like snowmanstevo has said 11:00 - 15:00 was bite time bang on, so I'd fish days only arriving mid morning, back home by 4pm. It was a 25+ acre lake and the fish grouped in the central couple of acres in amongst the flocks of wildfowl, careful observation and you'd see head and shouldering just behind or in the flock itself. I had 3 in 20 mins whilst trying to tell a guy that it was usually difficult, he must have thought I was trying to put him off. Winter felt like the best time to be there tbh. The deeper gravel pits where you've got good depth to say 20ft the fish are much harder to catch and the fishing starts a good month later in spring than other shallower pits, that's just my observation anyway. IMO you want to be focusing on the West bank initially as it gets the first sun, also reed beds as said previously. This shallow water advice relates directly to the zigs advice for deeper water I guess.

To be fair I had to check which brand nige was with so it isn’t really a plug unless you know lol

I think it's fair to say that implication comes from the UK carp angling fraternity, not just this forum.

I know the odd one has come out the mill Jan/Feb but its like a miracle not the norm lol I was in Oak in January and in the night the wind swung from West to East, as soon as that happened I got a load of liners one after the other. Speaking to a guy who moved into West End Point, he got a load of liners 20 mins after me, so they were plenty still moving about and reacting to conditions. I think that 20ft depth thing on the Mill tallies up with the slow start on other waters nearby - such as Kingy, its a good 4 - 6 weeks behind neighbouring waters for the spring switch on. The Heron and Island fish OK right through don't they as does Beedles in Leics, but thats Syndi now.

They will have been pre-occupied on naturals through Oct - Nov on a typical gravel pit no doubt as the weed drops and the bugs end up congregated in the silt troughs, frustrating to the max. Good advice so far - try those zigs for sure 👍

Yes yonny back again with the advice I needed to hear as the last few sessions I have noticed that the fish tend to show them selves in the same two swims but I just thought it was coincidence but now I'm starting to think that this could be where they are going to hold up being they have been showing there for the past month or so but no one's managed to catch any and my friend was in the swim where they where showing over the weekend but didn't get a beep so could defo be worth trying the zigs!! And with the water temp ive been thinking about it wrong I always thought that because the bottom layer doesn't go below 4c so that the lake doesn't completly freeze so always thought the deeper the better but this could of been where I've been going wrong! But thinking about it now the lake has slowed down so I thought they were pre occupied on the naturals before they die out but now I'm pretty sure that they've been up in the levels and from what I've heard on the bank no one's using zigs all fishing on the bottom which is probably why no one's been catching!! And you guys aren't wrong about it being hard to stay focused and accept the blanks as this is what normally makes me give in but I'm more hungry than ever and with the help from you guys I'm sure I'll get one! Also my lake has a lot of coots can I use them to my advantage in anyway or ignore them?? Cheers guys 👍

Sorry Yonny there was no criticism intended of this friendly, experienced and often well informed forum. Perhaps I should have used the term “general consensus in carp fishing” instead. The logic being applied in the raw maize discussion seems to be:- although there is no direct evidence, one can imagine a situation in which expanding maize can harm a fish therefor it is better to err on the side of caution and not use it. To which I say, if that logic holds up, then that logic should be applied consistently. You asked for an example so I suggest the use of salt. Carp cannot exist without salt, so the argument goes that extra salt in bait or in the environment helps to replace that needed by the carp and is therefore attractive to them and beneficial to their health. I can find no evidence of carp in a normal lake suffering from lack of salt. Of course it has to be the right kind of salt and Himalyan rock salt seems to be de rigueur for carp fishing. However, there is plenty of evidence of too much salt being toxic to most forms of life. It is easy to imagine that too much salt can cause harm to a fish but how much is too much? Therefore, using the logic we have already established, we should avoid the use of salt completely.

Good call mate. As water gets colder it gets denser so the coldest water will be on the deck, particularly in the deepest area. Some believe this is part of the reason the feeding spells are so short - because it's physically uncomfortable for them to feed on the deck due to temps. Obviously zigs can come into their own in this case.

The tempest creates a gap between the 2 skins doesn’t the hide? off to check * yes it does*

Example please buddy? The same logic is applied to all particle baits. Then we have boiled baits which unlike particles are highly digestible (assuming you're using a half decent one), and pellet which break-down in minutes. Naturals such as maggot and worm are digestible, only the skins pass through.

I don’t think anyone could knock you for promoting your living,mate. 😂😂😂

Yea mate agree 100% kids gone school Mrs going work I’m going down the canal with the dog looking for some new spots. I’d normally have been 2hrs into my shift by now 😂😂😂 Think it’s all over soon tho mate a return to work is imminent 🙄🙄😂😂

With all due respect you don't know how much the maize will expand and how quick once eaten !! Some will be crushed by the carp so the tough outer is broken ,how do you know what effects the digesting acids in the carp effect the maize ? Placing maize in water to see how much it expands is NOT what happens when eaten by carp. Surely your better off playing it safe rather than risking unknowns .

Always surprises me how quick tigers dry back out too & dehydrate , back to an unprepared state .

May as well stevo .... Mick had some of his best fishing , while off for the same reason . There's no substitute for time on the bank & no better way to recover.

There seems to be a clear implication on this forum that the use of raw maize should be avoided because, despite any clear evidence to the contrary, it can be imagined that the maize can expand in the gut and harm the fish. I do understand that argument but why isn’t the same logic applied to other aspects of carp bait?