What To Do When The Bites Dry Up
Every angler has been there - after catching consistently, suddenly you can't get a bite. What can you do? That's just carp fishing, right? In this article, we take a closer look at what you should try when the fish just aren't biting...
There's nothing worse than sitting behind motionless Rods for days on end, wondering what you can possibly do to inspire some action. This is especially painful when previously it seemed as if you had found the world's greatest Carp Rig and baiting strategy, and couldn't put a foot wrong.
Not catching, however, is very much part of the carp fishing puzzle, and in truth, as anglers, we all know there's a mountain of things you can try that may well just get you that all important bite. Let's take a closer look at a few of them...
MOVE LOCATION
More often than not, you aren't getting a bite because you simply aren't on enough fish to create the desired feeding response required to get a take. As the old saying goes, "you can't catch what is not there."
Location is 100% one of the most important elements of successful carp angling. Get it wrong and you could well end up spending three days blanking in the wrong place, when you could of had just three hours catching in the right one.
So, the first thing to do when bites begin to dry up is to consider if you're actually fishing in the right place to start with. Get using your eyes, ears and legs, and go find those fish. In the colder months in particular, you may find the carp are quite localised, so if you find one, you may just find them all. Even in the warmer times of year, even though the fish are more spread about the lake, you might find a higher density of carp in a specific area, increasing your chances of a take.
What if you really can't see or hear any fish, and the lake appears lifeless? It is at these times when your watercraft and skills of reading the surrounding environment come into play. What is the wind doing? If it is fresh and warm, the carp will likely be somewhere on the end of it. If it is stale, or bitterly cold, they likely will be hiding somewhere on the back of it. What about the air pressure? If it is high and accompanied by bright sunshine, fish will often be higher in the water column or visiting shallower areas. In contrast, if that pressure is low and conditions overcast, carp will often be feeding hard on the bottom, often in deeper areas of the lake.
Conditions created by other anglers are also an important consideration. Is there an an area of the lake that is particularly pressured? Are they catching there? If not, it is likely the fish have sought sanctuary elsewhere. Check the quiet bays and snaggy areas for fish looking to hide from the crowd. On really busy lakes, you can find fish simply push out of casting range, this is where those anglers that can put extra yards on their casts reap the rewards.
CHANGE SPOT
So you think you're close to the carp, but you still can't catch them. Perhaps you're not on the right spot within your swim. There are loads of factors that might determine what the best spot is on any given session, but primarily, a good spot needs to be one that suits your Rig/presentation and is somewhere the carp are happy to feed. Get either wrong, and your bobbins will remain motionless.
Get a Donky Pear Lead on and meticulously search your swim for a good spot. Make sure you then clip up accurately and can cast to that spot consistently. Areas worth closer inspection are anything that is significantly different to the surrounding terrain. A gravel patch in amongst an area of silt or weed, a silty spot in amongst a large gravel area, or zones of lower lying weed amongst taller stands, are all good starting points. If your lake doesn't have much clay and you find some, this can be a real money spot, as the fish will use this to flank against, meaning you'll have regular traffic.
The substrate of the spot isn't the only thing to consider either, how deep is it? Is it around any structure the fish may hold up in or use to navigate? These things will increase the likelihood of there being regular fish traffic over the spot. You'll need a Marker Float or Sonar Device to identify the depth changes in these zones, sometimes you'll find the only difference is on one day you'll get bites at the top of the bar in 4ft, where others the only bites will come in 8ft at the bottom of it. Know the spots in your lake and you can make an informed tactical decision.
CHANGE YOUR BAIT
It goes without saying, but you'll only ever catch a carp if you give it something that it wants to eat. Contrary to some angler's opinions, this certainly can change too. Whilst Boilie fishing can be incredibly productive when it is going well, there are times when the fish simply are reluctant to eat Boilies in large enough quantities for you to get a bite.
There are loads of different baiting theories out there, and it is important you know a selection of them to make you adaptable in your angling. The smallest of feeding changes can sometimes generate a huge response and there are so many variables that can determine what that feeding change needs to be.
At certain times of year, the fish can become super tuned into natural baits, so much so that you're almost wasting your time on other offerings. The autumn is a classic period when this behaviour occurs and anglers ahead of the game begin to really cash in on Maggots, Worms and Casters. The fish are scoffing the remaining natural larders in this time and anything that triggers that predatory response will be investigated.
During other periods of the calendar that desired feed may change again. In the summer months, Particles and Pellets seem particular favourites, and anglers regularly Spombing out a mix of these smaller items reap the rewards. In contrast, during the spring, smaller quantities and spreads of Boilies appear to do the most bites, as the fish are visually feeding all over the lake. Come winter and everything is about digestibility. With the fish not feeding hard, you can catch them on anything from singles to heavily baited areas of Maggots and Boilie Crumb - anything that's easy for them to digest!
Again, it is important to consider what other anglers on your lake are doing too. Are they using Boilies and catching? If so, is there a lot of a particular bait going in, and can you match it? If they aren't catching on Boilies, perhaps something different is required. Don't be afraid to experiment, sometimes just a switch to fishing straight Sweetcorn in large quantities can get the Alarms screaming, you don't know unless you try.
On pressured waters, you regularly just have to think outside the box to encourage some action. Washing your baits out can make them more visually appealing and easily digestible to the carp. Or maybe you just have to cut the bait quantity down entirely by using a small Stringer or PVA Bag with no free offerings. You'll be surprised how many bites a single Tiger Nut in the right place can get! In wild contrast to this, maybe you have to out feed the others and really give the fish the mother load to inspire some activity. This is a risk most anglers aren't willing to take and therefore something the fish don't often see. If you think the conditions are right for it, try piling it in!
DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO YOUR HOOKBAIT
Whilst your surrounding feed is important, arguably nothing is more crucial than your Hookbait. After all, that's the thing attached to your Hook, right? This is why some anglers pay incredible attention to their Hookbaits, to make them as attractive to the fish as possible. You can do this by making them visually appealing, and boosting their flavour/leakage profile.
Visually you can make your Hookbait standout in a number of ways. The first is to use bright colours like yellows, oranges and pinks. When deciding on your colour, consider the water conditions and the colour of the bottom the bait will be presented over, and look to make a contrast. On a dark silty bottom, white is an obvious standout colour. However, on a glistening gravel bottom, consider something a little darker like brown or dark pink.
Another method to make your Hookbait more visually attractive is to add a 'topper', this could be in the shape of additional live or artificial baits. If nuisance species aren't a problem, nothing beats the real thing, so using our Get Flossed Bait Floss, try topping your Hookbait with a bunch or wriggling Maggots or Worms. You'll be amazed how many bonus bites this simple trick will get you.
When roach and bream are present, this is when our Revibed Artificial Baits Range will really save you some hassle. If you want to replicate Maggots, our Bloodliner Tippers are a great choice. For fishing over Hempseed, the Revibed Escargo Snails blend in really well. And for those who like fishing with Worms, a combination of the Wormurai Sprig Stop and Imitation Worms will give you all the security and confidence you need - a phenomenal carp catching combination.
Moving on to taste attraction and in this area you're only limited by your imagination. Hookbaits can be boosted with all manner of glugs, flavours and liquids, with some of the best anglers putting their baits through a strict curing process in liquids and powders to create a bait that oozes attraction over a prolonged period. This can also be replicated with Paste, a bait very underused in modern carp fishing. You can mould Paste around your Hookbait to create extra and prolonged attraction, alternatively you can make use of our Bait Orbs, Corn Caves and Pellet Caves to give extra security and longevity to your Paste. Ultimately, whichever method you decide, you want your Hookbait to be the most attractive thing on the bottom whilst it is sat out there, so experiment until the bites start coming.
CHECK YOUR RIG IS UP TO SCRATCH
Knowing which Carp Rig to use and when is vital to getting bites regularly. Every Rig is designed to suit a particular baiting strategy, substrate or Lead System, with some being more universal for a variety of situations.
The first consideration to make with your Rig is presentation. What we mean by that is, is the Rig giving the fish the best and easiest access to your Hookbait and Hook. This is largely dictated by the substrate the Rig is being fished over. For example, when fishing in weed or slit, there is a chance that with a traditional Lead Clip or Inline Lead System and a shortish Hooklink, the Hookbait may plug into the bottom out of sight of the fish, reducing the chances of a take. A Helicopter System provides a much greater fail safe for presentation on these kinds of bottoms, as this system allows the Lead to plug into the bottom and the Hooklink fly up the Leader before settling between the two Beads.
Continuing on the theme of Rig presentation, it is vital that your Rig is not tangled. A tangled Rig won't work as effectively and might be difficult for a carp to pickup cleanly. Luckily, tangles can easily be prevented, most notably with the addition of an Anti-Tangle Sleeve and stiffer Hooklink material.
Another thing you might want to consider is how obvious your Rig is on the bottom and could this be making the fish more cautious around it? Whilst stiffer materials like Fluorocarbon are a great choice for resetting and hooking mechanics, they can sometimes sit up awkwardly if fished over uneven lakebeds and when a fish bumps into them cause them to panic. Similarly, when fishing a Braided material on a gravel spot, whilst its suppleness might pick up the contours, is the colour of the material giving the game away to the fish? This applies to Leaders and Tubing too. Try as best as possible to conceal your Rig components by matching them to the colour of the lakebed you are fishing over.
Fish can also be alerted by how your Rig sits too. Pop-up Rigs are fantastic in the right circumstances, but on a smooth and clean spot over a bed of Particles, you might be making it too obvious to the fish with a Pop-up on the end. Contrast that to having too heavy a bottom bait or too light a Wafter on and you may find the fish bolt when the bait is sucked at and doesn't react the same as the surrounding free offerings. This is a puzzle that can often be solved by watching the fish in your lake feed close in the margins or on an underwater camera, but ultimately if bites have dried up, try experimenting again.
The final piece of the Rig puzzle is hooking mechanics - are the fish getting away without being hooked? Countless articles and even books have been written on this very subject, but lets just mention a few adjustments that can be made to prevent the chance of your Rig being 'done'...
Is your Rig the right length? It needs to be long enough to sit naturally on the bottom but not so long the fish can move a long way before making any contact with the Lead System. For faster hooking, shorter is often better but go too short and the fish may not have enough room to pick the bait up properly and the Hook to flip and turn. When considering Rig length, think of how fast the fish may be moving whilst feeding over your baited area. If they are slowly moving and filtering small particles, use a shorter Rig, but if they are picking and moving up and down, try going a bit longer.
Hooklink material again plays a part here too, a stiffer material like Fluorocarbon will react far quicker than a softer Braided option which may sit more coiled on the bottom. Of course, there are occasions when having the Rig coiled naturally will be far more advantageous too, like in a Solid PVA Bag for example. You'll see the theme in this article is there is no definitive answer, it's all down to reading your own situation through trial, error and experience.
One of the biggest fundamentals of a good Carp Rig is obviously a sharp Hook. We have loads of great options in our range of Hooks all designed for specific angling situations, and all can be kept in tip top condition with our Tweakers Touch Me Up. Give your Hook a quick check before every cast, and if it ain't razor sharp, stick the tip in the Touch Me Up and hone that point. Very often this simple thing of either a change of Hook or a re-introduced sharpened one can turn motionless Bobbins into dancing ones.
Lead choice is important when it comes to Rigs too. An Inline Lead will offer far more direct and faster hooking mechanics than a Swivel alternative, where the play and pivot in the Swivel can allow the carp space to eject the Rig. For this reason, despite their presentation benefits, Helicopter Rigs arguably offer some of the worst hooking mechanics due to the freedom of movement in the setup. The Rig game is very much a balancing act of pros and cons, with small percentages lost or gained in each situation.
If you really do want to up your Rig game of course, why not consider adding the revolutionary hooking device, The Magic Wand. A total game changer, underwater filming by the team at UnderFishing and OMC has shown the device increases the hooking efficiency of any Carp Rig to around 95%. We can't say exactly 100%, nothing can be that good, right?
Turning pricked fish into fully hooked fish, the Magic Wand activates at that moment the fish tries to eject the Rig, driving the Hook home all the way into your net. Even fished as a 'bungee' system, the Wand delivers unrivalled and phenomenal hookholds. Combined with the Lock Hook on a Spinner Rig, you have one of the most effective Rigs we have ever witnessed.
WAIT IT OUT
This will be music to the ears of many lazy anglers but there's plenty of truth in it - sometimes you are doing everything right and the fish just aren't playing ball. Feeding periods can change from season to season and even day to day. Anyone who has been fishing often enough will know no two days are the same. If you think you're getting everything right, sometimes patience and persistence is the key to success.
Just take a look at some of the best carp anglers around and most have a never give up attitude, and trust us, they still blank, plenty of times! If you've caught carp consistently on a tactic and have confidence in it, don't give it a complete overhaul, maybe just minor justifiable changes here and there. Most of all just keep giving it your all and putting yourself in the right place at the right time and results will come, even if it doesn't seem like it will when the Rods are beginning to form cobwebs from the lack of action.
Weather conditions, angling pressure, bait and Rigs, it is all one giant puzzle that not everyone can complete on every session. The key is to keep putting the pieces together and eventually you'll see the bigger picture. Just because bites become harder to come by, don't put the Rods away, your next capture will be more rewarding than ever if you've had to work that bit harder for it.
Journalist Chris Haydon joined the OMC Family in the spring of 2024, after six years working for the UK's number 1 fishing publication, the Angling Times. He is a keen Coarse and Carp Fishing All-rounder, fishing in the South West region, including the famous Cotswold Water Park.
