Many springs ago, I found myself fishing a large lake with a low stock of carp. It emphasised certain points in fishing that I needed to get right in order to help me catch some carp. As with any time of year, location is everything, but this is even more important in the spring and on a large lake of over 50-acres. The carp are often quite localised, held up in big groups and when the weather changes or their mood alters, they are soon on the move. While they can be in one area in large numbers, it doesn’t take long for them to decide to up sticks and move. Watching the lake is vital; studying their movements and patterns will allow you to stay one step ahead of them. I watch the lake as much as I can and if I see disturbance or anything that could possibly resemble movement from a carp, I get the binoculars out and study the area.

It may be subtle signs, such as a few bubbles coming up in a line where the fish are moving. It could be them flicking their dorsals out on a warm afternoon and without having a good set of binoculars, you will miss out on seeing these obvious signs. Physically seeing them jump out is an obvious one, but they don’t always show themselves, so you have to think a little outside the box.

Quite often, when we do get those warm spring days, the fish will be in the shallow areas of the lake. After months of cold weather, during those warm afternoons, you will often find the fish close in and enjoying the shallow water. If this is the case, get to the rigs out in the morning in preparation for when they do arrive. The carp will be on edge in that depth of water, making it hard to get the rods out when they are already there.

Once I have found the carp, I don’t want to be feeding them or certainly filling them up. I am a big fan of bright hook baits in the spring and they have been responsible for the majority of my captures and best sessions. A bright bait that is leaking out plenty of attractors, is perfect for grabbing a feeding or passing carps attention. They don’t seem to want to hold in areas to feed at this time of year, preferring to graze areas.

I mix the colours up, but orange is something that I have done really well on and you don’t see many people use it. I find this strange as 10 years ago it was the colour to use, but for some reason it has gone out of fashion. For whatever reason, it gets me more bites than others, especially when fished as a single hook bait.

It is because of this, if I do choose to put some free offerings out there, I go for just a few boilies spread in the catapult. I like to use Manilla boilies, soaked in the matching liquid, as they release a heap full of attraction and are very visual on the bottom. I have had some really good results using a Signature hook bait over the Manilla and is my go too for this time of the year.

I am not really looking to fish to a spot as such, more to an area that I believe or have seen the fish showing. This is why a pop-up rig on a helicopter system is perfect for this. I can adjust the top bead depending on how soft the drop is that I get. If it goes down with a crackdown and I know the spot is firm, then I can lower the bead. The hook bait is also critically balanced, so it can slowly sink down on top of any weed or debris out there.

I use a Ronnie rig, due to its fantastic hooking potential and how low the pop-up sits to the bottom. I use one of the soon to be released Thinking anglers curved point hook too, which is different to the usual curved shanked hook its famous for. The reason for this is the wider gape on it, and I like that beaked point hook. I can honestly say that I am yet to lose a fish on this rig, which just goes to show how effective it is.