Advice on winter carp fishing

[Jordz611]

Hey guys just wondering if winter carp fishing is pointless on a mile long canal will 3 basons the canal has no boats on it but a lot of treee coverage I have been on the  bank at bottom bason few different pegs recently and nothing I am using mainline pop ups soaked and flushed boilies and stuff. But still nothing any advice I am going to walk to canal tomorrow to see if I can loacate the where abouts and bait it a little 

[crusian]

52 minutes ago, JordanNW said:

Hey guys just wondering if winter carp fishing is pointless on a mile long canal will 3 basons the canal has no boats on it but a lot of treee coverage I have been on the  bank at bottom bason few different pegs recently and nothing I am using mainline pop ups soaked and flushed boilies and stuff. But still nothing any advice I am going to walk to canal tomorrow to see if I can loacate the where abouts and bait it a little 

Hello Jordan

I have never fished a Canal for Carp , but my knee jerk reaction to your question would be to forget it during the Winter ; wait until Spring / Summer , and get on your bike and cycle up and down looking for signs .

Hopefully someone who has Canal Carp Fishing experience will come along , and answer your question properly .

😃 

[...]

10 hours ago, JordanNW said:

Hey guys just wondering if winter carp fishing is pointless on a mile long canal will 3 basons the canal has no boats on it but a lot of treee coverage I have been on the  bank at bottom bason few different pegs recently and nothing I am using mainline pop ups soaked and flushed boilies and stuff. But still nothing any advice I am going to walk to canal tomorrow to see if I can loacate the where abouts and bait it a little 

Hi Pal, 

This is something I will be doing this year, but not during Winter, I'll start pre baiting in March, got about 4 spots on 2 Canals, will bait every 2 days for the entire month. 

Canal carping will be new to me, but there are loads of lads on here with Canal Carping knowledge (do a search in top for Canal) you will see other threads. 

Thanks

[salokcinnodrog]

10 hours ago, JordanNW said:

Hey guys just wondering if winter carp fishing is pointless on a mile long canal will 3 basons the canal has no boats on it but a lot of treee coverage I have been on the  bank at bottom bason few different pegs recently and nothing I am using mainline pop ups soaked and flushed boilies and stuff. But still nothing any advice I am going to walk to canal tomorrow to see if I can loacate the where abouts and bait it a little 

Welcome to Carp.com. 

The best bet is spend more time looking than fishing! 

Or as its winter and they are unlikely to be showing themselves, work your way along, fishing spots from one end to the other. 

The basins might be the areas the carp are hiding in, they are usually a little deeper and with cover, but there could be other areas. 

 

You are probably, to be honest, better to wait until the spring to start fishing it unless you do the working your way along, a whole day fishing an area until you find fish. Until spring they are not likely to move far

 

[yonny]

11 hours ago, JordanNW said:

Hey guys just wondering if winter carp fishing is pointless on a mile long canal

It's flowing water so the fish will feed all year round. If you can find them you should be able to catch them. I'd personally not bother if I didn't know where they were, even in summer.

[kevtaylor]

14 hours ago, JordanNW said:

Hey guys just wondering if winter carp fishing is pointless on a mile long canal will 3 basons the canal has no boats on it but a lot of treee coverage I have been on the  bank at bottom bason few different pegs recently and nothing I am using mainline pop ups soaked and flushed boilies and stuff. But still nothing any advice I am going to walk to canal tomorrow to see if I can loacate the where abouts and bait it a little 

I've heard of canal stretches that fish very well in winter, the key however as always is as Yonny says location, find them first, pointless fishing in hope alone, gotta find the fish first mate, could well be in the boat basins, under snags, thick reed beds etc etc

I've not done much canal carping but had a few mostly off the surface many years back - good luck👍

[ouchthathurt]

I love getting on the canals, always approaching them with the same basic game plan mate. 

firstly, location is the most obvious thing, however it's surprising how often it is skipped over. Often, canal carp are not as pressured as their lake brethren, so can be easier to see and pin down. I would start with a prebaiting campaign. But with the current weather, I would probably lay off for a few weeks until the milder weather comes around. Although canal carp are more active and feed in colder temperatures than lake carp in my experience, they will still slow down and feed a lot less in the winter. My start would be with hemp/particle/corn/pellet with a few boilies added. Keep it going in initially to attract all species. As much as I want to stop other species in their tracks, I won't go straight for boilies until I know carp are visiting regularly. Flowing water carp (river/canal) tend to be very nomadic, especially in stretches where there are little in the way of cover or features to hold them, this is where I would attempt to create a reason for them to visit a chosen spot time and again  using bait. Once I was happy I knew carp were hitting the spot regularly, I would do away with pellet and corn etc and wean them into boilies to deter the nuisance species and target the carp better. 

Although flowing water carp are less pressured, they can be spooky - catching one carp off a prebaited spot can spook the others and they often drift away, so I try get as many spots going as possible. Then I can leapfrog the carp on the move and be set up waiting as they reach my next spot. Good thing about most canals is you can follow the carp along the bank. 

More of my successes come from sections with lots of features and bushes etc, boats and marinas are good places to try. Get a mountain bike and some polaroids and go searching. Carp are always gonna drift from one section to another, unless something holds them. Lock gates, weir pools etc. I find once i am on fish, they're catchable, the trick is to find them first. Find them,  feed them, catch them...

Rigs wise, I tend not to get too riggy anyway, I believe location and quality bait is key anywhere, especially on a canal or river. Long casting is generally not an issue, so I tend to go for strong and simple gear. My main line is .35mm Shimano technium, (got 20lb b/s on testing it myself) with leadclips or inlines as a lead arrangement. Hooklinks are often just mono or a tough coated braid. Simple knotless knot to a strong size 4 hook. I'm an avid leadcore user, (although if I use leadcore, then I use helicopter rigs as I think they’re safer)  although I'll also use rigtube as happily. I want something tough and abrasion resistant, not all techy and complicated. If bottom debris and crayfish are an issue, then pop ups would be my choice, if I can present a bottom bait without any problems, then I'd go for that first. 

Backleading to prevent boats/kayakers etc catching my lines is important as well as keeping my gear on the path clear so walkers/cyclists don't run it down! I like to keep light and mobile so I can keep moving onto fish if my present spot isn't producing, before finding a night spot in a quiet stretch to do an overnighter. - this I bait regularly to keep the carp interested. Somewhere a little less snaggy and more open for fish safety reasons after dark. It's ok fishing locked up in the weedy/snaggy bits in the day where you can be on it and in control quickly but at night, I want it a bit more risk free where a run off a clutch won't cause issues. The carp will leave the snags and explore more at night anyway, so you make the best of both worlds. 

Finally, if you can rake the swims of crud and bait them, then try it - if all you do is clear a load of litter off the canal bed, then it's a good thing! I'd try get as much out as possible, anglers are guardians of our environment, rubbish is an eyesore and anglers tend to get blamed - more flak we could all do without, even if we are blameless. Clear the spots of the rubbish and  hope the carp gods will smile on you. 

Canals and rivers are tricky venues, but I love them. They fish through the winter too usually, I've got a little canal lined up for the winter months. Just wish I could get there this winter! 
 

oh and check out “canal carping” book by rob maylin and friends, i just picked up a copy for under a tenner online. 

 

Good luck mate.

[Jordz611]

I’m going bait shopping tomorrow and to get some goo anyone have any recommendations