On short sessions, where we don’t need to go overboard with bait, it’s important to maximize attraction and give the carp something that they want. Feeding little often, strategically placed traps here and there are perfect for nicking consistent bites for the angler that doesn’t necessarily have the most time to go baiting up all week. In a Session Pack, you receive boilies, glug, pellets and pop-ups; everything you need to outwit even the trickiest of carp.
Spruce up your pellets
Although the pellets break down quickly and release a huge scent in the water it can sometimes be successful to give them a little glaze in the glug. This sends out food signals and pumps even more attraction into the water column. Simply pour the pellets into an empty bucket and cover/glaze with the matching additive, which comes complete in the pack. It will create a real rich, oily, powerful attraction and works particularly well if feeding in the edge. As always the pellets also work well on their own or when used inside a PVA funnewelb bag. A little bag of pellets is often just enough of a mouthful to create a pick up. While others are piling in the bait receiving nothing, you can be nicking fish with little appealing packages – less is sometimes more.

Whittle down your hook bait
When using your pellets in a bag, try mimicking them with your hook bait. The best way to do this is to whittle away at the hook bait with a pair of scissors. You can create all shapes and sizes to look like a pellet. A round boilie will often stand out like a sore thumb so this is a tactic that can pay off, especially on waters where the carp have seen it all before. Not only will whittling away at the bait make it more natural, it can also take the outer skin off the bait and allow the powerful feed-inducing triggers of the bait to release quicker, definitely worth a try for your coyer specimens.

Enhance your boilies
Amongst the pack you will find some concentrate boilie dip. This is very deep in flavour, taste and in particular smell. It adds another dimension to the bait and can only enhance its attraction. You can use this additive a number of ways:
Combine it with your free offerings. Simply pour some of the liquid into the packet, give it a quick shake and your boilies will be glazed with goodness, which will leak through the water. To get all the ingredients activated and kickstart them a little, boil the kettle and scald the lot with boiling hot water. The softer the bait the more active it will be.

We have already talked about adding it to your pellet. You can combine it with stick mixes, place in spod mixes, literally anything. Due to the fact that it’s PVA friendly, you can even go as crazy as pouring directly into a solid PVA bag, the options are endless!
There are a number of ways to make your boilies go further. Why not cut them half? Sometimes a halved bait can be far more effective than a round. By slicing one, all of a sudden you have two baits! The halves will sink far slower through the water column, thus settling on any debris and also they can trick wary carp that are used to getting caught on round ones.
Why not crush them to a crumb? Boilie crumb is one of the most appealing things you can present. The natural food triggers are working instantly as they are no longer locked inside a boiled bait. The fish have to work particularly hard to seek and eat the crumb, at times keeping them in the swim. Also the crumb can be used to create PVA sticks or solid bag mixes. Again, there are a number of ways to use a boilie!

Many anglers give up carp fishing through the colder months, either hanging the rods away until spring or going out after other species. This is sometimes understandable but even in the colder months I still like to carry on trying to catch a carp or two.
It can be made enjoyable, but it’s all about adjusting what you want from your carp fishing. I am going to give you a little insight to how I go about my winter fishing, and how I keep it as enjoyable as possible.
First of all is venue choice. Don’t get me wrong, if you are after a particular target fish then you have to put all effort into catching it. That could mean a lot of blanks and a lot of long nights sat out in the cold. If you do succeed then yes it’s an achievement for sure but it can be hard work staying motivated.
I’m a little different; I like to get bites which keeps me active and warm. I choose to fish well-stocked lakes where the average size of the carp are smaller with the chance of catching a 20lber keeping it spicy.
I also look to fish shallow venues as they warm up a lot quicker which in turn sees the carp moving and more active when conditions are favourable. Doing day sessions rather than nights also helps to keep the motivation and activity levels high.
Watercraft and locating the fish is a vital piece of the jigsaw.
Most of the carp will tend to be holding up in particular areas of the lake. Snaggy areas and reedy areas as well as offering cover will hold heat from the sun, and these features are always a good bet when the sun is out during those winter days. Sheltered spots on the back of the wind, especially a cold one, are always a good choice. When you do locate the carp it will often be in numbers.
When the carp’s metabolism starts to slow down there is no need to be smashing loads of bait out into the lake. It can actually ruin your chances as you will just fill them up. On well stocked venues a little more bait can be applied, but keeping it to a bare minimum to get a bite is my favoured approach. I use little parcels of bait, such as small PVA bags or sticks with a highly attractive mix in them such as the Citruz fizzing stick mix. This fizzes away whilst giving off food signals – perfect to get the attention of a carp and with a mouthful of bait gives you enough just to get that all important bite.
Personally my favourite tactic in the winter is to use single hookbaits, namely bright and high attract pops ups. Pink and white are my chosen colours, and I opt to use sweet, fruity flavours such as Citruz. Carp sweets I like to call them! When you are not hungry you wouldn’t want a full Sunday roast put in front of you but if someone put say a Starburst in front of you, the chances are you would have it. That’s no different to an opportunist cold water carp.
When single hook bait fishing I like to recast the rods a lot even if it does and sometimes with the intention of spooking the fish. I believe this can get the dormant carp moving around and if you move you are burning off energy consequently mean that you will need to eat!
I tend to keep all my rigs as simple as I can. I might scale down on hook size from a size 5 to a 7 or shorten the rig, knocking a couple of inches off the hook link, but other than that it will be the same that I use all year. One change I do make in winter is to alter my lead set up. Autumn brings leaf litter, dying weed and other debris which ends up on the bottom of any lake. Opting for a helicopter setup gives you a better rig presentation and allows the hook link to settle on top of any debris on the lakebed.
Don’t forget to try a zig too. I have found carp don’t spend half as much time on the bottom as most of you’d think in the colder months. More often they are sat mid water or a few foot off the bottom just dropping down to feed occasionally. Find them at the right depth and zigs can be awesome.
The biggest buzz kill in winter is the cold. I always take my brew kit, it’s the one thing that will always keep you warm and active between bites. A good quality jacket, bib and brace and boots is also advisable. If you are cold you won’t enjoy your fishing, so be prepared and buy the best you can afford.
If like me and can only go on set days the weather means not a lot but if you are lucky enough to be able to pick and choose your days according to the weather then that’s a big edge. If you see a warm front due in after a cold spell it’s a no brainier really; you need to act on it and get yourself out on the bank!