Features of autumn carp fishing
As you know, carp is a heat-loving fish. Its behavior is very dependent on water temperature. It may change depending on the weather outside, and especially if there are night frosts. These usually lead to a sharp decrease in water temperature, even if the weather is sunny during the day. As soon as thin ice banks appear on a reservoir, you can almost always forget about autumn carp fishing.
The most reliable indicator of the autumn carp bite is a water thermometer. Before you go fishing, it is worth measuring the water temperature, if not at the fishing spot, then at least in a nearby body of water where the weather conditions are similar. It is not subject to daily fluctuations as much as air temperature, so measurements can be taken at any time of the day. However, the most accurate indicators will be obtained in the morning, since at this time it is minimal.
If, with such measurements, the water turns out to be cooled below ten degrees, then you can forget about all carp fishing. As a last resort, if you don’t want to cancel your fishing trip, you can use carp gear to try to catch crucian carp if it lives there. The fact is that with the onset of cold weather, this fish is driven into deep places where the water temperature is relatively constant. There the carp stays until warming, practically without feeding. During wintering, carp are covered with a thick layer of protective mucus, which saves immobile individuals from the penetration of bacteria.
Therefore, any talk about catching carp in November, as well as about catching it in March, can be called into question. Such fishing is only possible where the water temperature is abnormally warm. However, many combine business with pleasure - during tourist trips to Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, there is an opportunity to catch carp, which almost never hibernates. There is, however, little information about such fishing, but it is caught using the same float and bottom gear as in Russia.
Small individuals of this fish go into hibernation first. The largest ones remain active the longest. The food of fish at this time consists of various aquatic insects, worms, and sometimes newts and larger aquatic inhabitants. Although carp, on occasion, also eat fry, catching them with a spinning rod is a casual activity. There may be carp bites when catching a predator, but they are rare. However, what a pleasure it is when fishing for a small perch to catch a trophy weighing 15 kilograms with thin tackle and pull the stubborn fish out of the water!
Selecting a place and time for carp fishing
According to experienced fishermen, carp bite best in the early summer morning. During the lunch period, his activity is always low. In the evening, the bites resume again.
Fishing locations will depend on the period in which the fisherman does it. In spring, preference is given to river mouths and small lakes where the current is very small. Carp at this time are attracted by shallow water. In the summer, before spawning and after it ends, for fishing you need to choose places where the fish feed. In the autumn-winter period, you need to fish in deeper places where the water temperature is higher.
When searching for carp habitats, the following factors should be given importance:
- sufficient depth of the reservoir;
- the presence of reverse and eddy currents;
- clayey-silty bottom;
- presence of irregularities at the bottom.
Classic carp fishing in autumn
Classic or English carp fishing in autumn is usually carried out in still water or in very weak currents. In places where the current is strong, it is almost impossible to use a marker float, especially at great depths. As a rule, you can find carp on large lakes when it gets cold only at a considerable distance from the shore. There the water usually does not cool down as quickly as near the shores.
It is worth clearly determining the distance from the shore, where the water will cool more at night. The fact is that with the cooling, all coastal living creatures also rush to the depths, but not too far. Therefore, at this temperature boundary, where the depth is already sufficient so that the water does not cool down to the very bottom, but not too far from the shore, there will be its greatest concentration. Carp are most attracted to small aquatic fauna and should be looked for there.
Fishing on a paysite
On paid reservoirs the situation is somewhat different. Usually the fish there, even in the summer, are overfed and react to the bait thrown by the fisherman only in a very short time of day. Not only this, but also stress. The fish in the fishing grounds is usually imported, and it takes about a week for it to survive the stress of travel and acclimatize. Only then does it begin to actively feed, but these individuals are usually caught immediately by fishermen.
In general, healthy carp, if they have not entered a state of hibernation, feed almost around the clock. Neither weather, nor precipitation, nor phases of the moon, nor any other climatic phenomena other than cold water can have a strong influence on its bite. You can fish with equal success in the morning, during the day, and in the evening. Biting activity decreases only at night, when visibility in the water is poor due to darkness and the carp loses spatial orientation and appetite for a short time.
In the fall, exclusively neutral bait compositions with the addition of pellets and animal components are used for carp tackle. No provoking scents or colors - only neutral dark colors. Autumn carp are large, cautious and have a slow metabolism - hunger cannot prevail over caution. You can fish with boilies, but here they will not stand out so much against the background of worms, maggots and other animal baits. Of course, fishing with carp gear using a worm will be unconventional, but it can bring success, and you need to be prepared, if there are no bites, to put a worm on a hook or use one of your fishing rods under the worm.
Fishing on canals and streams
It is much easier in the autumn to catch carp on canals and creeks. This is a semi-anadromous or anadromous carp. It follows from spawning grounds and summer feeding grounds to wintering pits. Usually he does not stay long in one place, even when moving in a flock. Bait when catching such fish is not very effective, and carp fishing in such places cannot be considered classic. However, in narrow channels the probability of meeting fish at one point is much higher than searching for it over a vast area of a lake, bay or pond.
Carp fishing here may use a slightly different technology. Usually “carp” places near the coast are overgrown with reeds. When approaching a fishing spot where there is an open channel near the water, you should wear knee pads. The fishing rod also often has to be placed on complex stands to prevent the reel from ending up in the water. Usually it is installed almost vertically on a special stand.
The casting distance for this kind of fishing is usually short; the fish are fed by hand. They will know about a bite when the alarm goes off. Most often this is a bell, but sometimes electronic and other alarms are used. Fishing is usually carried out with no more than three or four shortened fishing rods, up to two meters. This type of fishing is popular in many southern regions of Russia and is not as expensive as full-fledged English carp fishing. It is used both on small rivers and canals, and on eriks in the lower reaches of the Volga and Ural, where you can find a sufficient number of carp in the fall. However, there is no need to skimp on equipment here. Although the rods themselves are simpler and their number is smaller, good hair equipment, good hooks and fishing line are the key to a good catch.
Carp fishing in September, October and November
Autumn carp fishing is divided into three periods: September, October and November. Conditions may vary significantly in different regions of the country. For example, in the south September is still summer. And on the contrary, November in a number of regions is already winter. So this division is very arbitrary. For example, let’s take the weather conditions of central Russia and look at how carp fishing differs by month.
Technically and tactically, carp fishing in September differs little from summer fishing. However, it should be taken into account that the carp migration begins at this time, and the fisherman will have to spend more time searching for it.
In October, the water has already cooled significantly, and the carp rush into deep wintering holes. It feeds either in the pits themselves or in close proximity to them. If an angler can find such a hole, then fishing for carp in October will be very successful.
Fishing for carp in November is, as a rule, a serious “strength test” of both the gear and the fisherman himself. In the pre-winter period, carp move very little around the reservoir, even in good weather. Therefore, the angler’s tactics boil down, first of all, to actively searching for carp. Despite all the difficulties, it is in November that trophy carp are often caught, weighing more than 10 kg.
Fishing with bottom gear
You can adapt a feeder and bottom tackle for carp fishing. Usually, when fishing with a feeder, you have to deal with much smaller trophies than a full-fledged half-pound carp. It is worth taking care of both a good, durable fishing rod and high-quality fishing line. In carp fishing, cord is not used so often and only in cases where long-distance casting with a shock leader is required. It is much easier to study the bottom, water temperature and identify places where carp can stay closer to the shore and there is no need for long casting. This will allow you to use a lighter fishing rod with a line that will absorb the jerks of large fish.
Bottom fishing usually does not have the nature of sport fishing. Often, rigs of two hooks are used here, which are spaced with a nozzle like a hair rig. Naturally, such gear excludes catch-and-release fishing. They catch both with donkeys with a fishing rod and with hooks without a rod. The usual places for autumn fishing with such gear are those where it can also be cast not too far. They feed when fishing with a donk by hand; bait in a feeder is not used so often.
Fishing on a feeder
A feeder is the only sports equipment that can be used to successfully catch carp on large rivers with a current. It allows you to qualitatively examine the bottom, determine its areas, differences, and promising places where carp can stay. For example, on the Volga, carp can be found in the fall in ditches that run along the shore. Usually enough food accumulates there, and he willingly eats it. Sometimes, with sufficient depth, these same places are wintering pits. Both sedentary carp, which do not move along the river during their lives, and semi-anadromous carp are caught here.
Fishing with a feeder involves using a universal rod both for feeding fish and for catching and exploring the bottom. Of course, with such gear it is impossible to throw a significant amount of food at the fishing point in a short time, but this is not required in the fall - the amount of bait here should not be too large. In feeder carp fishing, elements of carp gear are often used - hair rigs, method feeders, boilies, etc.
You can fish either this way or with a classic feeder tackle, since a regular metal cage feeder is more effective in the current. It is able to quickly deliver food to the bottom and not scatter it in the water column when diving. Unfortunately, such a feeder excludes the use of pellets in bait, and a classic carp spod, which is a bit heavy for a feeder, is more suitable for them. Using a spod feeder for feeding requires the use of a feeder of at least a heavy class, even with small weights of the sinker, low current and short casting distance.
Carp fishing in spring
In the spring, they go after carp after the reservoirs have thrown off their ice shell. This happens faster in rivers than in closed water areas. That’s why the bite starts a little earlier. If we speak in calendar terms, then the end of March is the start of carp fishing. A test of the pen, so to speak. Well, or a glass, whatever you like.
In carp, heat exchange processes occur less intensely than in roach or bream. Therefore, you can’t count on a good bite in the first half of spring. This is shown on the graph. If April is warm, flowers and leaves appear on the trees early, then the carp becomes more active, and every day they bite better on fishing rods.
Features of carp fishing in March, April and May
In spring, carp are very careful. He is scared off by extraneous noises and bright objects. During this time, silence must be observed. It comes closer to the shore in search of food, so it is better to catch it with float rods and Bolognese rods.
Carp spawn in May. During this period, it is caught using worms, maggots, corn and boilies. As the water warms up, it moves out to shallow areas. You can even catch it with a fly rod at this time.
As the water warms up, carp's sense of smell becomes more acute. In May, he can be tempted by sweet, fruity and chocolate aromas. But you need to use these scents wisely. If it’s already 20 degrees outside and the water is heated to 15 or higher, then you can use fruit dips, molasses, boilies, etc. He feeds especially greedily this month. Spawning is ahead, so a bucket of bait for a flock of hefty carp is not an excess, but the norm. It is enough to watch how these fish eat during underwater filming to understand: the one who will catch the carp is the one who feeds it well.
In the article fishing in spring
you can learn how to catch other fish at this time of year.
Go to the page features of catching carp in spring with float tackle
and get acquainted with this type of fishing with a rod.
