Chris Davis wrote:

Is it possible to catch carph when they are spawning? I know it’s a lot more difficult but is it still worth going?

 

Gareth Watkins replies:

Hi Chris,  Yes fish can be caught when they are spawning or at least just before and just after, as during the actual spawning they won’t feed. Firstly not all the fish in the lake will spawn at once, and often you will still pick up the immature and smaller carp. The easiest way to reply to your question is by a story that happened to me a few years back.


I had decided to go down to field test the Etang des Vinçons near Bourges, with my mate John during May. The weather was very hot and the fish were spawning all round the lake on our arrival.

We set up on the dam wall, but were not very hopeful. That night we had a thunder storm, and the temperature dropped about ten degrees. All sign of spawning ceased and we started to get takes. From 7am to 1pm when we packed up we had had over 48 carp between us.

All the carp were shoaled up together and takes were often instant on casting out. The successful tactic was a Method feeder and a short fluorocarbon hooklink, I used scalded trout pellet on the feeder which caused a cloud effect as it hit the water.  This set up causes competition amongst the groups of carp and they were literally taking the bait on the drop.

Spawning time can be hit and miss its true, but I have had large catches on a number of occasions at this time of the year. The hardest part is to predict when the fish are actually going to spawn as this can be as early as April or as late as July, depending on the weather and the water temperatures.

Regards,  Gareth

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