If you want to avoid as many disappointing blank cold water fishing sessions as possible then now is the time to make the most of alternative bait and rig tactics that really pull fish to your hook baits even more effectively than usual – so read on now and catch more cold water fish!
Water density is a very interesting thing because around the point of freezing water density changes. This makes the formation of ice and thawing out of lakes quite an exciting time because carp respond to certain water density changes. Although carp are well known to break the rules of anglers and many winter carp get caught right at the points and locations in lakes where active icing over and defrosting is taking place.
When winter and spring water temperatures struggle to get above 3 to 6 degrees for example it can be tough to get bites and part of the problem is getting signals from your baits to fish to actually make them aware of something nearby that is worth the effort of feeding behaviours in such conditions.
There are in fact very many tricks, tactics, methods etc to achieve this in terms of baits designs and their modes of action, fishing styles, ground bait and other free bait characteristics and how they are applied, and so on.
Very viscous and extremely soluble substances are very useful in cold conditions although it may sound strange but some substances that are 99 percent insoluble are also very useful in achieving bites. Glycerol or glycerine is a nice substance because it is mixes with water in effect 100 percent and many successful flavours are based on it. Alcohol flavours too are highly water soluble so will travel easily from your bait so forming a concentration gradient that carp can home in on.
Buy flavours are not the only useful substances, and some substances can be too soluble and actually leach out of baits too fast so it is wise to try mixing flavours and other substances so your flavours etc all leach out at different rates leaving some concentrated attraction in the proximity of the bait. Using pure glycerine, vodka and a mixture of concentrated sweetener and molasses and Marmite for instance is a little bit alternative.
For easy homemade method or stick type mixes just make a bread crumb based fluffy mixture dampened with your unique liquids to produce a ground bait mixture that will disperse soluble attraction and food particles very easily into the water column and attract carp. Using anything from hemp oil to olive oil and fruit oils etc in your mix will get particles to pull fish down from upper layers better as the oil will tend to rise in water.
An easy way to make an alternative highly over-flavoured area for winter fishing is to mix bread crumbs with Nesquick powdered milk shake. I also like using extra sweetened oils of many forms provided they are mixed with liquid lecithins but I advise you to avoid bulk fish and marine oils that simply solidify in low temperatures.
Fruit oils are quite easily available online, and you do not always have to go to fishing bait companies for something slightly different or alternative – after all that is one of the greatest proven edges in carp fishing after all! With your oils, I recommend using the high PC liquid lecithin from Phil at CW Baits (online.)
Using oils in PVA products such as PVA bag and PVA netting etc lessens the chances of your PVA melting. If in doubt try some of the PVA-friendly products available from bait companies like CC Moore.
In really low winter temperatures solubility really is a great factor that can be leveraged and in such conditions it is often pointless using a conventional boiled bait coated in paste when you can use paste on the rig and know every part of your bait really is working for you (and is not rendered ineffective due to being sealed inside coagulated protein formed by heating of the bait!)
I will not lead into which products to use here because there are so many excellent ones for winter and spring fishing to chose from. A really good winter trick is to make a paste using CC Moore Feedstim XP Liquid, their Feedstim XP powder, their Belachan powder, pure betaine and liquid Red Venom stiffened with good old wholemeal wheat flour. Notice that no egg is used in this paste as you might in making boilies as this bait can be as water-soluble as you like and will last longer in very low winter temperatures!
If you want a more resilient paste (or make different homemade boilies,) just add a small proportion of whole egg powder in your powder mixture or even use whey gel if you are into that kind of bait texture and feel and effect etc. Ultimately you can make baits that do not need to be sealed by loads and loads of whole liquid egg and if you use egg one tip is to reduce its content in baits by adding water in the same volume as half the eggs you might normally use in a summer bait for example.
It is a little known fact that winter carp baits do not require a protein content of even 30 percent to be very effective indeed. In fact anyone who is a little snobbish about using a winter bait based on bread crumbs needs to make some homemade baits with them adding some liquid foods, perhaps some flavour components and highly soluble protein extracts (in high levels) as you would for a more costlier boilie recipes, and use these baits as paste – with total confidence!
A great little tip I have used with lots of success in low water conditions is to add next to a paste or steamed or boiled bait a piece of luncheon meat soaked in a neat essential oil (or mixtures of oils, palatants, enhancers, liquid proteins, flavours etc.) The cheaper brands of luncheon meat tends to contain less protein, less fat and more water, and are quite water soluble - which is very useful in winter time!
The meat eventually softens and provides another very attractive reason for Mr Carp to suck in your rig! Providing carp with a rig that has an odd-shaped meat bait and an odd-shaped different homemade boiled or steamed bait can give you the edge if only because this is not a standard bait presentation – and it really does work for big wary fish!
Again, I advise you to exploit bait as a carrier for other substances to improve the effects of your added bait. Why not make a homemade meat bait soak mixture with fennel essential oil and mint essential oil and attract carp to your hook using a bait that is completely new, and unique, and very effective! (For much more information on making unique homemade baits and adapting readymade baits and altering for many applications and unique purposes see my bait making secrets website Baitbigfish and biography right now!)
By Tim Richardson.
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