“Probably by the time you’re reading this, the carp will have spawned, and once that happens I’ve found that they are really up for a munch… a big munch!”
THE TIME THAT I find carp are really up for food is after spawning, and probably by the time you’re reading this, the carp will have spawned, and once that happens I’ve found that they are really up for a munch… a big munch! It’s the opposite of tench, really. Just before tench spawn, they go ravenous and have a proper feed-up. And then after they spawn, you can hardly catch them—big tench, I’m talking about—but carp are the opposite. Big female carp that are holding on to spawn, very often they just want to get rid of it, and you’ll catch them, fishing small amounts of bait… generally speaking, just fishing for an opportunist bite. And once those big females have shed all that spawn, and they’re ready to go, that’s the time when you can really ramp it up. So certainly from any time after they’ve spawned onwards, until the autumn, I like to, on occasion, if it’s the right situation, use a lot of bait… and you can certainly get away with a lot.