[Short Winter Session]

thats awesome.........wish there were places around here where 17 fish in 5 hours, in the winter.......is possible

Yeah, there are usually one or two places that never ice out otherwise I'd be resorting to an auger! I love being out in the winter.

[Short Winter Session]

With temperatures rising I managed to nip out today for a 5 hour session. The carp were not in their usual winter spot, so had to fish three different areas to make the most of my time. Here's one of the areas, next to an weirpool.

Using small Dynamite fluero pop-ups and bottom baits (10mm) and short hooklinks I enjoyed a good mornings fishing.

I finished with 17 carp and on more than one occasion had multiple carp in the net.

Get out and catch some winter fish and don't forget to enter them into the fish of the month contest.

[Targeting Big Carp]

You are correct Forkhorn. Assuming you are fishing where the big ones are, prebaiting for 3 or 4 days with big and hard quality boilies (24mm) will probably do the trick. Prebaiting is the key here. If you have many cats in the lake you might be in trouble though.

Stay away from any bait consisting of small particles. Other than sight fishing there is no real easy solution. Fishing one rod away from the baiting area and if possible in deeper water often works.

You might not want to hear it, but this really is about boilies versus other baits. Prebaiting boilies during several days makes a huge difference. Don't waste your time with the catch them all theory.

I agree with Mario. The only real way to target bigger fish is through bait application. Particles are great for attracting fish but you'll need to wade through the fish. If you are fishing for longer sessions then this may not be a problem as with a lot of bait going in you will get a mixture of fish. However, the only way I have consistently managed to target larger fish is with a boilie approach (20mm+). No particles, no pack, just boilies. If location is correct then it may take some time for the baiting pyramid to work, but if you feed enough bait over a period of time, you will catch the bigger fish. If you are only fishing short sessions and not pre-baiting then I would suggest what had already been suggested - fish a bait off the chummed area.

[Carp Of The Month - Rules And January Entrants]

Due to the CAG site crashing, here is the link to the full rules:

http://bigcarpnews.com/web/new-competition-carp-of-the-month/

Any one wanting to post a fish capture can either do so here or on www.bigcarpnews,com

Here are the fish we have received so far.

Good luck to all who enter.

Dean

[Please Post January Carp Of The Month Entries Here]

I have all the entrees saved but feel free to repost. I'll put the rules up again when I have time.