Contents
With the onset of autumn cold weather, the behavior of carp changes. The water begins to cool down, especially in shallow areas, and heat-loving carp have to look for areas with warmer water, that is, deeper water.
Choice of place and time of fishing
With the advent of autumn, carp do not change their traditional deep-sea places, especially if there is a reliable shelter in these places. He will be able to leave such an interesting place only if the temperature conditions change, and in winter only oxygen starvation.
Deep-sea places do not feed the fish, so they have to leave them in search of food, and this is, first of all, shallow water, but the cold snap does its job.
- At the beginning of a cold snap, when the water has not yet had time to completely cool down, there is still something to profit from in shallow water and carp come out to feed on them, especially in the morning and evening.
- When the water has cooled down, and this is the middle of autumn, then carp have nothing to do in such areas.
But not everything is so clear. In the autumn period, intervals are possible when the days are marked by increased exposure to sunlight, which leads to abnormal warming and, as a result, to rapid warming of shallow water. This, in turn, certainly attracts fish, including carp. At this time, it is better to catch carp during the day, when the water warms up to the maximum temperature. At night, it will certainly cool down and in the morning the fishermen near the reservoir have nothing to do.
With the onset of cold weather, aquatic vegetation sinks to the bottom, so that promising summer places for carp no longer attract. Dead leaves and stems of underwater plants cease to attract living organisms, and if there is something to profit from at the bottom, then it is covered with an insurmountable carpet of dead plants that have settled on the bottom.
An excellent promising place may be areas where colonies of mollusks live, located at depths of more than 2 meters. Therefore, in the autumn period, such places can be catchy.
Carp don’t mind digging through the muddy bottom to find something to eat. Such places may border on a hard bottom. Therefore, knowing these boundaries, tackle should be thrown onto a hard bottom, but closer to the silt.
Based on this, we can conclude that the nature of fishing in autumn has a different character than in summer. In autumn, you can’t count on a productive catch in the morning, but fishing during the day can bring a lot of pleasure. We can safely say that the main bite falls on the time from 10 am until the evening, when the sun’s rays stop warming the water.
Carp biting and weather conditions
Carp prefers warm weather conditions, and with any cold snap, its activity decreases. For autumn, typical favorable conditions for carp fishing are:
- Cloudy but warm weather with southerly and southwesterly winds.
- Light drizzle of warm origin.
- Sunny weather, quiet or with light wind but warm.
If we talk about autumn, then during this period the carp feels the slightest changes in the weather in one direction or another. Observing the weather, one can draw certain conclusions in favor of productive fishing if the above conditions have taken place for several days.
We can safely say that the closer to winter, the carp will show less and less activity, especially since in the autumn period one should rely more on cooling rather than warming.
Unfortunately, the weather factor is not the only one that can affect the bite of carp. There are many techniques for catching it, which allows you to successfully catch this fish in November.
Tackle for carp fishing in autumn
For carp fishing in the autumn, an ordinary float rod is not suitable, since the fish will have to be taken from a depth. The most acceptable option is the use of bottom gear. It can be an ordinary donk or feeder tackle, but the main condition that is presented to them is increased sensitivity. This is due to the fact that carp do not bite as actively in autumn as in summer, and it does not resist so much in autumn.
It is better to use fiberglass tips for the rod, not carbon fiber, as they are softer and more sensitive to bites. There are some peculiarities when equipping rods, which should also be discussed, but this will be a little later.
Features of the tactics of catching carp in the fall
The basis of this tactic is the peculiarity of the behavior of carp in the autumn. Firstly, it is not so active, and secondly, in some parts of the reservoir, accumulations of a large number of carp are possible. Based on this, we can say that there are both pluses and minuses. If the reservoir is familiar and the fisherman knows the bottom topography perfectly, then there will be no problems with fishing, unless weather conditions intervene. If the reservoir is not familiar, then problems are guaranteed, since it is difficult to determine the accumulation of fish, except perhaps if you use an echo sounder. Otherwise, it is unlikely that you will be able to lure the carp to the place of fishing.
Since the activity of carp is reduced to a minimum, it is necessary to change the tactics of bait. Since fishing is done in cold water, one or two kilograms of bait per day should be enough. At the same time, it is necessary to make a starting casting of bait to the fishing point, but in much smaller quantities. During this period, the appetite of the carp is weak and he eats only what he needs. After all, winter is coming and you need not only to eat, but to eat in such a way that you can stock up on nutrients for the winter.
When using a bottom tackle or feeder with a feeder, you should use smaller feeders and at the same time maintain the optimal rate of fishing. For this period, 4 casts per hour are sufficient. This will allow you not to get carried away feeding the carp, and there is also time for choosing baits and applying dips.
If we talk about baits, then carp do not mind eating selected worms, but only a part of such worms can get into the autumn diet. Given this circumstance, in the autumn period, you can switch to bloodworms, putting several pieces on the hook at once. Alternatively, silicone rings can be used to tie several bloodworms into one nice bundle. It is especially worth dwelling on flavors, without which modern carp fishing simply does not make sense. Of course, it is necessary to add flavors, but at the same time, the autumn specifics of fishing associated with fishing in cold water should be taken into account. If the flavoring is added, then this may not only not interest the carp, but also scare it away. This is especially true when fishing in water bodies where there is no current. When fishing on the current, this is not so important.
The use of flavorings is associated with changes in fish nutrition. In the autumn period, the fish switches to food, in which animal components predominate. Therefore, flavors should prevail with the corresponding smells: worm, bloodworm, fish, maggot, etc. At this time, the smells of the summer period, like fruity and sweet oss, no longer act in the autumn period.
The option of adding bone or fish meal, blood, powdered milk or ground zebra mussel to the bait will not look very expensive.
Without the presence of components of animal origin in the bait, you should not count on a successful outcome of fishing. This applies primarily to “wild” water bodies, where the carp is in natural conditions and feeds on what he can find in it. As for paid reservoirs, everything is different here. Feeding preferences for food in such a pond depend on what it is fed, although there is no particular secret. In this case, the fishermen, going to a paid pond, practically know what carp can offer.
As you can see, autumn fishing, including for carp, is an interesting, but very difficult business. At this time, it is difficult to count on a positive result if you do not have certain skills and appropriate equipment. Skills are necessary in terms of being able to find a suitable place, and knowledge is indispensable here. It is necessary to know, first of all, the habits of carp, especially in the autumn. Equally important are the knowledge gained as a result of surveying the topography of the bottom of the reservoir, especially the unfamiliar one. Knowledge will also be needed in the process of selecting gear: from the rod to the hook. After all, everyone knows that when catching carp, special carp hooks are used. And so, don’t take it: it’s better to take a braided line, as it has a large breaking force, with the same diameter. At the same time, thinner line is easier to cast over long distances. And that is not all! Braided line has a specific stretch, which means that it will transmit the slightest bites to the tip of the rod.
Catching carp in late autumn — Video
Carp fishing in late autumn. Technocarp.