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Fishing for carp in the winter time can be a tricky matter. When the weather gets cold the fish often change locations and school up. One of the big changes is that carps’ metabolisms slow down and their ability to digest food also is reduced.
This means that when winter fishing, you need to chum a whole lot less and you need to use baits that are very easy for carp to digest.
A nice 20 lb carp I caught this winter on my best winter stick mix: bread crumb and sweet corn coated in a Nash sweet corn attractant.
So, when it gets cold, my go-to bait is a classic winter stick mix containing bread crumb and sweet corn. I use sweet corn in the winter because it is easier to digest than deer corn and because there is less problem with nuisance fish stealing the bait.
Bread crumb in another easily digested simple carbohydrate. The carp love bread, its easy to digest and it doesn’t fill them up too easily.
Because the carp eat less in winter, we use much less chum in the winter. This means that you have to be much more precise with your chumming. A stick mix is a perfect way to chum exactly on top of your hook at extreme distances.
How to Make the Best Winter Stick Mix for Carp:
Take whole wheat sandwich bread and put it in a blender/liquidizer. Blend it until it creates a light fluffy pile of super fine bread crumb.
Once you have the winter stick mix in the pva mesh,use an extra long baiting needle to thread it onto the leader.
Next get a can of whole sweet corn kernels. Drain off the water and dump the kernels into a paper towel. Squeeze the kernels in the paper towel and squeeze out as much water as you can without crushing the kernels.
Spread out the kernels and pat them down with a dry paper towel and try to get off as much water as possible.
Next, put the kernels into a ziplock bag and add your favorite PVA friendly flavor. I like Nash’s Sweet Corn Syrup or Korda Goo Corn Twist. Sunflower oil can also be a good additive. Add just enough flavoring to coat the kernels without any liquid pooling in the bottom of the bag.
Too create the ultimate winter stick mix, the next thing you need to do is mix the flavored corn with the bread crumb and mix thoroughly.
Then take a modest handful of bread crumb and corn and put it into a PVA funnel web system. Pack it tight with the plunger but do not crush the kernels. The water inside the kernels will melt the PVA so don’t crush the kernels.
If done properly, the PVA stick will not dissolve for several hours, but eventually the water from the corn will seep out and destroy the PVA.
How to Use the Best Winter Stick Mix for Carp:
I like to use an inline lead with my stick mix. Simply thread on the inline lead of your choice, then the protective sleeve, and then a swivel with a quick clip. Tie a hair rig with few kernels of corn using the hook of your choice (I like Korda widegap #6).
Leave about 8-10″ of leader coming off of your hook and either tie on a micro swivel or just a loop to the end of the leader.
My best winter stick mix for carp is bread crumb and sweet corn coated in attractant.
Next, take your PVA stick with the bait inside and push a baiting needle through the middle long-ways. Attach the leaders micro-swivel or loop to the baiting needle and pull it through the PVA stick. Pull the hook into the PVA stick until the point enters the PVA mesh. Make sure the hook point is not embedded in a corn kernel.
Once the PVA stick mix is threaded on the leader, attach the leader to the mainline with the quick clip and cast. I like to keep a few PVA stick mixes already threaded on a leader waiting and ready while I fish. That way I can just unclip the bait-less leader and attach a rig that is ready to cast so I maximize fishing time.
The Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag
The Fox FX Stalker Chilla bag is a great bag for any fisherman who wants to put all their gear into a one bag and a quiver. If you are stalking or at least trying to stay mobile, this is a fabulous set up.
I have owned my Fox FX Stalker Chilla bag for about a year now and it has been my primary tackle bag for most of that time. Between my quiver and my stalker bag I have everything I need on my shoulders. I can get set up and take down much quicker.
Here are some of the features of the Fox FX stalker Chilla Bag.
The first thing about the stalker bag that you notice is that is it big. Stuffed full the bag can bulge a whole out a whole bunch. The dimensions unstuffed are:
- Length 14.5 in /37 cm
- Width 10.6 in /27 cm
- Height 10.2 in / 26 cm
When this bag is full of gear it gets pretty heavy so the extra plush shoulder strap is greatly appreciated. In my bag I carry a days worth of bait, glugs, goo, ground baits, my scale, weighing sling, bite alarms, bobbins, bite alarm receiver, stiff rig box, pva bags, spare spools, lead box, swivel and terminal boxes, and whateverelse is rolling around in the bottom of my bag.
Another thing that stands out about the stalker chilla bag is the durability and weight of the materials and components. The nylon materials, webbing, clips, zippers and other components are all chunky and built to last. I have nothing break on my bag in the nearly 12 months I have been using it.
Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag Zippers
One of the key features of the FX stalker chilla bag is the waterproof pocket with the removable washable lining. This pocket is great because it is absolutely water tight. This is great for protecting your car and gear. IF one of your glug pots leaks in your trunk, you will wish you had it stored in a water proof pocket. If your pocket gets too nasty your can pull it free from its velcro and hose it down.
Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag Waterproof Lining
My wife confiscated one of my bags to use as baby bag. She loves the waterproof pocket to keep the dirty diapers. The water tight lining keeps the odor in (which is good for keeping bait odor in).
The flap that cover the top of two of the pockets acts as a nice waterproofing, which will help protect your PVAs. The underside of the flap has a clear pockets where you can store pliers, baiting needles, and other little bits of tackle.
The bottom of the bag has four tough high traction feet that protect the bottom of the bag from wear-and-tear and keep it out of the mud a little bit.
All in all, the bag is tough, durable and carries everything you need for a day session. For a video review of the Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag click here.
Most fisherman know what chumming is but don’t know how to do it or when to chum. Chumming for catfish can be a great tactic. It works especially well on channel cats, wels and blue catfish.
When to use chum on catfish:
When you want to catch a lot of cat fish out of the same fishing hole, chum is the way to go. Chum helps gather in large schools of fish, but it also keeps cat fish from spooking while you catch their friends. If you keep a trickle of chum going into a spot, the fish will spook less easily when they are feeding confidentially. Whenever there is a lot of fishing pressure (because of you or your fishing neighbors) chumming will help the fish calm down as they gobble up freebies.
Chumming is also a great tactic when you have limit number of places to fish. If you can’t chase the fish, then bring the fish to you. Chumming the fish draws them into the spot.
How to properly chum a spot:
The point of chumming is to keep catfish in the area and to keep them feeding aggressively. Obviously, you don’t want to get the catfish full of chum before they eat your bait. Spreading out your chum, keeps the catfish hunting around for your chum and means it takes longer to for them to eat all the chum.
Steadily and regularly chumming a spot is the key to keeping the fishing interested but hungry. Chumming at the same time of day when possible is also great. Fish have long memories when it comes to finding food. If you have a local favorite spot, dropping a couple handfuls of chum at the same time of day for a couple days prior to fishing is a great way of getting fish congregating.
Chumming Tools:
Sling shots, baiting spoons, spods, spombs, PVA bag, method feeder, bait boats, and your own two hands are great tools for chumming. Which tool need to use depends mostly on the distance you are chumming at and your budget.
A chumming spod from Nash Tackle.
A good overhand chuck is helpful at up to about 15-18 feet depending on what you are throwing. After that, a sling shot and baiting spoons helps a lot. Spods and spombs are effective at up to about 110 yards depending on your skill and equipment. PVA bags require less skill and are more convenient than spods/spombs and cost less to try, however PVA’s limit your chum volume substantially. Method feeders work good for chumming a spot tight to your hook bait but are limited in regards to chum volume.
Bait boats are incredible chumming tools but they cost $7,00 to $2,000. Plus all the jealous fisherman without bait boats will tease you as a vent to their envy.
Great Catfish Chums:
My personal favorite catfish chum is deer corn. I soak it and then boil it until is squishes between the fingers. I like it because I can use the corn kernels as a hook bait as well as chum and because it costs only $12 for a 50lb of dry deer corn which then makes about 120 lbs of chum. The down side to deer corn is that the catfish fill their bellies rather quickly, so if you are using deer corn, use it more sparingly, spread it out more and chum through out your fishing session.
Boiled freed corn (“Maze”)
Sour wheat is another great chum. Sour wheat is soaked & boiled wheat that is left to ferment for a couple days. Sour wheat can’t be used as a hook bait but the smaller kernels mean that the catfish don’t fill up on the wheat as quickly as they do with deer corn. Consequently, sour wheat is a great chum if you want to chum a spot the night before you plan on fishing. Wheat costs about $40 for a $50 lb bag. So it is more expensive than deer corn, but a 50 lb bag of dry wheat makes a lot of chum.
Fish Feed can be bought from many feed stores. Fish feed pellets work especially good on stocked catfish who were likely raised on the stuff. A 50 lb bag costs less than $20. The pellets are smaller than corn kernels but larger than sour wheat kernels so adjust accordingly.
Range cubes break down slowly, forcing the carp to hang around to nibble on them.
Range Cube cost about $14 for a 50 lb bag and can also be bought at feed stores. Large range cubes won’t be eaten whole by smaller fish and blue gills until they have soaked for several hours and broken down a bit. This means that range cubes can’t get gobbled up too quickly and keep the fish in one spot longer. However, large catfish can eat range cubes whole and fill up rather quickly on them.
Fish meal by itself is not a very good chum. Fish meal is just a powder. However, you can mix fish meal with other chums to give it an added kick.
Manufactured carp fishing and cat fishing pellets can make great chum. Marine halibut flavors work excellent as cat fish chum. Flavored liquids and powders can be added to the chums for extra kick.
These pellets are fabulous for catching lots of catfish with the added advantage of not rotting in the trunk of your car.
The egg loop knot is a fabulous rigs, but unless you are an Alaskan salmon fisherman you have probably never heard of it. The egg loop knot was design to help prevent salmon eggs from falling off the hook when fishing for silver and king salmon in Alaskan rivers.
However, don’t let the name fool you. Anytime you are fishing with soft squishy baits that fall off the hook too much, the egg loop knot is a life saver.
The egg loop knot is basically a knot-less knot or snell knot with a a twist. The result is that the egg-loop knot has a retractable knot along the shank of the hook that you loop around the bait in order to pin it to the shank of the hook.
To use the egg loop knot, just bait the hook normally.
After baiting the hook, extend the egg loop.
Put the egg loop around the dangling parts and then tighten it to cinch up the bait.
Soft baits like chicken liver don’t come off the hook easily once secured with an egg loop knot.
When catfishing with chicken livers, clams, squid, or cut bait that has gotten a bit too soft I love to use an egg loop knot. An egg loop knot can really put some fish on the bank.
One of the worst things that can happen is to cast your rig out only to have your bait fall off when it hits the water or after getting torn up by small fish. You sit there waiting for a catfish to bite a hook with no more bait on it. An egg loop prevents that from happening.
A lot of cat fisherman make serious mistakes when baiting their hooks. How you bait a hook can effect whether a nibble becomes a bite and whether or not you can release your catch alive. How you hook your bait also affects whether it will still be on the hook after you cast. So here are some tips:
This is a great example of how to hook a hard bait like this cut piece of shad.
1) Hard Baits: Leave as much of the hook exposed as possible.
When you are fishing with tough or hard baits such as cut shad, live fish, crawdads ect. you want as much of the hook point exposed as possible. Have the point of the hook buried in the bait will prevent the point from digging in a catching the fish when it is in the fishes mouth.
Having the hook point hidden can also increase the chances that a fish swallows the hook and gets gut-hooked. This will likely kill the fish even if you can get the hook out.
Ideally, find a tough part of the bait (such as the shads belly or the through the eye). You don’t want the bait to tear free easily. Push the hook point all the way through and clear.
2) Soft Baits: Get as much on the shank as possible.
Here is a great example of soft bait on a hook. Notice the hook pierces the bait multiple times but the point is still exposed.
Soft gooey baits such as clams, chicken livers, fish guts, salmon eggs, ect. tend to fly off the hook when casting. The key to keeping them on the hook is to thread the hook through them as many times as possible to increase contact with the hook. Using an egg loop knot can help for really soft baits.
3) Toughen up your bait when necessary
You can toughen up soft baits by drying them in the sun. Chicken liver, clams and even worms will become much more durable after they have dried in the sun a little. This is often all you need to keep them from flying off the hook when casting.
4) Using Bait Elastic, Egg Loop Knots and Mesh
If your bait is having a hard time staying on the hook, you can use several tricks to keep it on the hook longer. Bait Elastics is basically stretch string that you use to tie your bait to the shank of the hook after piercing it several times with the hook.
Egg loop knots are a special knot that has a noose along the shank. You pierce the bait and then slip it into the noose and pull. The noose tightens and pins your bait to the shank, giving it a little extra support when casting.
Bait mesh can be old cut up pieces of nylons or any other fine mesh, but you wrap it around your bait to create a little sack of bait that you then pierce through with the hook. The mesh gives your bait that extra added support.
Finding and hitting features is the key to knowing where to cast when fishing for catfish
You pull up to a beautiful spot. You have your gear and bait ready to catch catfish. You set everything up and then you have to decide where to cast. Where to cast when fishing for catfish is a daunting questions.
Most people who are fishing in a lake or large river, can’t tell the difference between one spot from the other so they cast as far out into the middle as they can reach. This is the least effective way to catch catfish. So here are some tips to finding where to cast when cat fishing from shore.
1: Deeper does not mean better
The biggest catfish I ever caught (69 lb blue catfish) was caught in 4 feet of water. The third biggest catfish I ever caught (53 lb flathead) was caught in 4 feet of water, 10 feet from shore. Often when I fish lakes I am fishing feet from the bank. Deeper is not always better.
2. Start close and work your way out
If you want to catch more than one or two fish don’t cast far out first. If you hook a fish out far from shore, you must reel in a thrashing freaked out fish past every other fish in that hole. The biggest smartest catfish, won’t stay around if a thrashing 3 pounder is dragged across the top of the head. If you catch all the close fish first, then you are less likely to disturb the remaining fish.
3: Focus on structures and features
Structures are submerged items like trees, sunken culverts, big rocks ect. These are great places for catfish to hide and hunt. Features are where two types of environments meet. Some common features are where a fast current meets a slow current. Or the border of a reed bed or the slope in between deep and shallow water. Humps and holes can be awesome features when fishing a wide expansive flat. Features are another great place to find catfish.
4. Use a Marker Float
When you look out across a large lake you can not tell where the humps, holes, weed beds, drop off and sunken logs are by looking at the surface. A marker float solves that problem. A marker float is basically a buoy that is tied onto the end of your mainline with a sliding sinker running along your mainline above the buoy.
You cast the mark float and lead out into the lake and drag the lead and buoy along the bottoms feeling the bottom. When you find an interesting feature, you let out some line until the buoy pops to the surface. You then know that feature is directly underneath the float and you know where to cast.
By measuring the amount of line it takes for the marker float to break the surface you also know the depth. This is key if you are fishing with bobbers or if you are trying to find depth changes.
5. Move around
If you want to find the best place to cast, you have to cast to a lot of places. In the day time catfish tend to stay in around certain features and then rove around at night. So if you are fishing in the day time (especially in the winter), and you don’t get a bite within 15 minutes of casting then dont wait for a fish to come to you. After you have landed a couple fish if you don’t get another bite within about 15 minutes then move.
6. Keep a journal.
If you fish the same place a lot then keep a journal. Write down the features you find and the spots you’ve tried. Each time you catch a fish, write down what you caught him on and the conditions: water temperatures, time of day, time of year ect. Not only does preserving this data help you analyze your favorite cat fishing holes, the effort of recording this data forces you to pay attention to these factors and you will see patterns.
Fishing can be an expensive sport, just ask my wife. But just because some of us go ape crazy and buy every little fishing gadget on the market, doesn’t mean you have to. If you want to take your kid fishing or if you want to get into catfishing it doesn’t have to be expensive.
For $35 you can go to your local sporting good store and get a beginner catfishing rod, reel, rigs, hooks and gear. Enough equipment and gear to spend an weekend fishing for catfish. It won’t be fancy but it will be enough to get the job done.
The most expensive part of fishing is the rod and reel. Luckily there are some really affordable rod and reel combos on the market. For example, the Shakespeare Alpha Big Water 7′ rod combo is just $29. While this is certainly not the only affordable low end beginner catfishing rod and reel on the market it is a good example and a well known brand name.
What ever rod and reel combo you choose here are some things to look for:
- A beginner catfishing rod should be about 6-7 feet long,
- it should be a spinning rod (not a bait casting rod).
- A beginner catfishing rod should be a medium action rod and have a recommended lure weight of approximately 1/2 to 3 ounces.
- The reel should come with line already on it (save you money and assembly)
- be less than $35 for the whole rod and reel combo.
Once you have picked out a beginner rod and reel combo choose your rigs and hooks. Until you get comfortable tying your own rigs buy them pre-made. Pre-made rigs are super cheap and reliable. My favorite beginner catfishing rig are the hi-low rigs. I am no longer a beginner and I still use high-low rigs a lot.
You can buy heavy duty catfishing and surf fishing hi-low rigs or you can buy crappie high-low rigs with the hooks included. If you buy a high-low rig without the hooks included you can buy pre-tied hooks for about a $1 from any sporting good store.
Once you have your hi-low rigs and your pre-tied hooks you just need weights. 1-3 ounce pyramid sinkers go best with hi-low rigs and they cost about $.30 per ounce of lead.
So for $29 you can get a rod and reel with line. For $2.94 you can buy two crappier rigs with hooks. And for $1.20 you can get two 2 ounce pyramid sinkers. That leaves a few bucks for worms or chicken liver and you are ready to fish. For more info on catfish bait check out our website.
So for less than $35 you can get a brand new beginner catfishing rod, reel, rigs, hooks and gear.
For a video about buying a beginner catfishing rod & reel combo check out our Youtube channel.
Hi-low rigs are great for beginners. They make tying on your hooks much easier and cost about $1 to $1.25
Pyramid sinkers can be bought for about $.30 per ounce of lead.
For $29 you can get a beginner catifhsing rod and reel combo with the line already on the reel.
Crappie Hi-low rig for $1.47 includes the hooks.
A beginner catfishing rod should be about 6-7′ and 10-20lb line weight.
I love fishing for blue catfish. The highlight of all my blue catfish trips is fishing for blue catfish on the tidal James River in Virginia. Fishing the tidal James River for trophy blue catfish is unlike anything else. On the James you have a very good chance of catching massive 50+ lb blue catfish. Blue catfish over a 100 lbs are undoubtedly swimming around the James.
However, before you run down to the James River and chuck a line in the water, I would strongly suggest hiring a guide to take you out. In my opinion, the best catfish guide on the James River is Chris Eberwien. I have been fishing several times with Chris and his son (who is a great guide in his own right) and I have never been disappointment.
The best time of year to target monster blue catfish on the James River is January and February. While great fish are always around, the deep winter is when the big boys can be found in large numbers.
My last trip with Chris Eberwien was an epic day of fishing. 54 degree sunny weather in the middle of January was nice enough, but the fish were the real treat.
In an 8 hour trip I landed an 8 lb catfish, a 10 lb, 24 lb, 25 lb, 30 lb, 30lb, 33 lb, 40lb, 41 lb, 46 lb and the big boy was a 69 lb 49 inches long blue catfish. The action was so hot, I had two sets of doubles on the line (a 30 lb & 33 lb and the 41 lb & 30 lb cats). A total of 356 lbs of catfish in the boat in 8 hours. My arms and back are sore! I don’t know whether its from the reeling or lifting or both.
69 lb Blue Catfish from the Tidal James River
I love using rod quivers. If you are surf fishing, cat fishing or carp fishing you are constantly lugging rods and reels to and from your car. When I go fishing it usually only for a few hours at a time so setting up and taking down puts a real damper on my fishing time.
A good rod quiver allows you to transport all your gear, fully rigged up. The best rod quivers also protects your gear during transportation and storage.
For the last year and a half I have been using the Fox Royale 3-Rod Holdall and it has not disappointment. It carries everything I need: 3-rods (plus my spod and marker rod buckled in), all my bank sticks, my bite alarms, my Fox warrior-s landing net, boilie throwing stick, Fox Eclipse rod pod and some tackle boxes as well. The main pound can fit a broilie if you prefer, but I keep my rod pod there.
For a detailed review check out my video Review of Fox Royale 3-Rod Holdall. To purchase the Fox Royale Rod Sling in the US go to www.bigcarptackles.com
Here are some pics of my Fox Royale 3-Rod Quiver
A close up of the bank stick pouch of the Fox Royale Holdall.
All the webbing on the Fox Royale quiver has this heavy duty nylon webbing with the Fox logo.
The shoulder strap on the Fox Royale Rod Quiver has these heavy duty swiveling connectors. The shoulder strap connectors are on both sides so the strap can be converted from left handed to right handed.
Fox Royale Rod Quiver straps keep your rods in place and can be used to store more than just the recommended 3 rods.
Fox Royale Rod Holdall Shoulder Strap has ample padding and keeps the strap from digging into your shoulder.
Fox Royale Rod Quiver Velcro straps keep your rods from falling out when you undo the straps and prevent them from knocking together in transport.
The Royale Rod Quiver has these soft ergonomic handles on both sides and on the bottom.
The Fox Royale 3-Rod Holdall Bottom has a handle and these pouches for holding the rod butts.
Fox Royale Rod Sling
Fox makes these awesome rod bans that you can use to keep your rods and leads from banging together in the quiver.
This post is a cautionary tale. Learn from my mistakes. So its January and I am itching to do some winter carp fishing. My saintly wife agrees to spend her Saturday morning watching our boy so that I can accidentally wake her up getting out of bed at 5:45am.
The car was packed the night before and all ready to go, so I put on every layer I own and creep out the front door so as to not wake the baby.
Winter Carp Fishing. 10 degrees before sunrise and 18 degrees after.
The car’s thermometer reads 10 degrees as I pull out of the driveway and make the hour long trip to my new favorite winter carp fishing hole.
I get to the bank in the dark and with numb fingers I set up my rod pod and load my PVA bags. I am sitting in snow and putting my rod holders in ice.
Carp are rolling all over in front of my several yards past the edge of the ice and the sun rises with my lines in the water.
I have literally only two hours before I need to leave and I am watching each second go by. This where my tale turn to one of woe and shame.
I set up the video camera on my rod pod to get a nice shot of a take and me landing a big fat winter carp. Sure enough the alarms go off and I run to my rod. Just as I reach for my rod I remember the camera and think to myself: “I would really like a wide angle shot of me playing the fish.” so I leave the rod and fiddle with the camera. While I am fiddling with the camera the carp spits the unset hook and gets away.
Now the only thing I have to show for freezing my butt off in the snow and ice before dawn on a Saturday is this cautionary tale and this video:
So learn from my mistake and check out my epic winter carp fishing fail video.