Catching Carp In The Winter With A Baiting Pole

For me, using a baiting pole is a massive edge throughout the entire year. When the lake is busy, it can give you an advantage over other anglers in terms of perfect presentation and access to awkward locations. In the winter, it provides the perfect mouthful of food to areas where you can get bites from. In this short blog, I am going to run through how I use the Nash Bushwhacker Baiting Pole in the winter to catch carp.

Location

Now firstly, many people think using a baiting pole means they are not going to be able to reach certain distances on their lake. But this could not be further from the truth, especially with the Bushwhacker, due to the way it’s built it is extremely stable and a pleasure to use at long distance. You can literally use as many sections as you can to get the distance you need.

Using the Bushwhacker baiting pole you can get your rig into carp feeding spots that people can’t cast to. In particular over hanging tree’s and snaggy areas that offer protection of prey are often an area carp will visit. Using the baiting pole you can quickly & quietly drop your traps into these spots with ease.

During the colder weather I am always on the look out for what I call “fizzers”. From the moment I arrive at a venue in the winter, I will spend a long time circling the lake looking for signs of fish. If you are lucky, you will find fizzing or small trails of bubbles in a certain area. This is often a sign of fish feeding or fish disturbing the silt on the lake bed.

Method

Once you have located some likely looking areas, it is time to get your rig into place. I will send the pole out with just a handful of bait in at this time of year, with my chosen rig on top. You want to be as accurate as possible here and tip your rig either into the centre of the fizzers or as tight up against the snags / margin spots as you dare. A key point here is to make sure you feel for the drop; As you tip the rig / lead into the water make sure you are holding your line tight and feel the lead as it hits the bottom. A hard bottom will give you a nice thud to signify your lead has hit the bottom on a clear spot – rather than getting tangled on a snag on the way down. If there are feeding fish in this area, you will normally get a bite within an hour, if not, it’s time to move again – make sure you travel light as location is key.