The Right Conditions
Summer carp fishing can be incredibly frustrating at times. Most lakes are generally busier than they are during the colder months, the weed growth is at its maximum and the carp can be lethargic and tricky to catch.
In the spring and autumn carp will usually be catchable whatever the conditions, sure some days will be better than others, but carp have a natural instinct to feed as the water temperature rises and again when it then starts to drop as we head into winter. However the strange thing I’ve noticed since running my own fishery is that when the sun is out and, like now, we have a mini heatwave – which is the least favourable conditions for carp – this is exactly when most anglers are rushing to get to the bank!
Summer Tactics
Like everywhere we’ve had some very warm weather in Norfolk recently and my lakes produced well under average the amount of fish compared to the weeks before the weather arrived.
The bites that did come, bar a couple, were all between 4am and 8am during the coolest period of the day and I’m convinced that more fish would have been caught if the anglers on the lake had got on the zig-rigs, but no one tried a zig or even floater fishing for that matter.
I think the best summer anglers are those who are always incredibly versatile and hard working. They will be floater fishing one minute, and if that doesn’t produce a quick bite they will switch over to zigs, if that doesn’t work or if the conditions suddenly change they will again switch the rods back to fishing on the bottom. My own fishing experiences have shown me and observations on my own fishery have confirmed this too, a static angler in the summer will always struggle.
Timing
In my experience you are far better off trying to anticipate and work out where the carp are going to head for and get the rods and bait out before they arrive. I study the weather forecast religiously before I head out to see if a fresh wind is coming or if the air pressure is falling or rising.
This gives me a massive clue as to the area and depth the fish will be in. It is also an advantage to have a good knowledge of the water you’re targeting because carp will often use certain areas at specific times.
On my fishery there are definitely better swims to be in for a 24-hour session than a 12-hour session at this time of the year. Some swims just seem to do far more bites in the hours of darkness than others. I have one small bay that is far too often ignored, even by some of the regular anglers. It doesn’t cover too much water and to be fair you don’t see many fish in there during the day but at night they love to get in there and often when I walk round early in the morning the water is heavily coloured where the fish have been ripping up the bottom.
Weed
Weed growth certainly makes it harder for anglers that have no confidence fishing in or near it but the more experience you have of fishing in weed the easier it becomes, the right tools are also important. Nash Weed Markers for example are ultra buoyant and allow you to easily identify the fishable spots. Using solid bags, Chod Rigs and NashBait’s Chain Reaction pellets will also allow you to present a bait just about anywhere.
Rivers
I do love river carping in the summer as the banks are always quiet. River carp also love bait so I always make the extra effort and make time for a little baiting campaign. In the past I’ve followed river carp for two miles or more, so I know how much they move up or down a stretch and even on low stock stretches there is a good chance that a few fish will come past you at some stage and they don’t often refuse a nice bed of boilies.
Short and Sweet
The trouble with our short and often unpredictable British summers is its often hard for us to acclimatise to the conditions and the fish are no different. I think for every good summer of fishing there will also be a bad one and this is something we have no control over. I was watching some fish recently rooting around in the reeds after snails, they were feeding so hard I was able to stand right over them. This preoccupation on natural food can make them hard to catch on bait but it gives you a massive clue as to how the carp in the lake move and feed. You will always see fish working the edges of most lakes in the summer and the effort of spending extra time walking the banks and looking will bring rewards.
Good luck!
