Luke Stevenson - Early Spring Motivation

As I sit here now, it’s the first week of March and the atmosphere is electric. The carp are in fine condition and often at big weights, everything is waking up, and it’s a wonderful time to be out on the bank.

To the untrained eye, it may still look and feel bleak but believe you me, there are signs and clues as to where the carp are and what they’re doing and although thinner on the ground, just one of these signs is worth its weight in gold!

I can think of half dozen occasions where a single subtle sign has directly led me to an opportunist bite and on two different occasions, from different lakes, I’ve had the biggest fish in the lake on a zig cast to where I’d seen fish ghosting around under the surface; Once in a sunny corner by some dying pads, and another time, perched safely up a climbing tree, I saw a group of big fish just under the surface, on the end of a cold easterly wind on March 7th. On both of these occasions, I’d gone out of my way to go and search the carp out and in typical spring fashion, reacting to signs led to success.

I’ve often found using as light a lead as I can get away with combined with long soft-boomed hinges  or conventional chod rigs, or indeed zigs the way forward when the need for exploratory casts to find a spot aren’t needed, instead fishing for drops in likely areas. This non-committal to an area approach can be great for searching the carp out and the lack of disturbance with this style of angling means bites can often be had, very quickly after getting rods out.

It’s also a time of year I like to completely de-clutter my kit and lighten right up, taking only the bare essentials and just enough food and drink to get me by, leaving all spares in the van, meaning upping sticks and moving on the Carp Porter can be a very quick and easy affair, as often moving two or three times in a 48 hour period is necessary.

Reed beds, snags, and sun facing areas are all good zones, however one things for sure, carp can be frustratingly unpredictable with their patterns, but there's no doubt, they will always gift you a sign of some description, it’s just a case of searching out those signs, not giving up and putting your all into finding them - Be lucky!