Catching in the Heat

Many carp anglers believe that it during the summer the only times to catch consistently are early mornings and late afternoons. This is mainly due to the heat and the fact that during the hottest time of the day the carp are usually less active and much more prone to basking rather than feeding. However, with the right approach you can not only catch carp during hot weather, you can catch large numbers of them.

My own approach is to either stalk, surface fish, or fish in faster flowing water. I will only concentrate on the last of these at the moment as this is what I am currently doing. With my current schedule I can only fish during the times of 10am and 5pm, so my approach is to locate a couple of weirpools and concentrate on fishing them regularly. My most recent session saw me fishing one such weirpool on the Blackstone River.

On arriving, I baited an area just off the main flow with about 1lb of particles and then went for a walk to let the fish find the food and start to feed before casting in and wetting a line. About 1 hour later I returned and set up my two rods, one fishing a pop-up and the other a maize hookbait. I was also using a simple packbait to both add to the attraction of the hookbait and also to minimize tangles on the cast.

Hookbait and packbait:

Action was fast and furious over the next two hours with 10 runs, resulting in 8 fish landed. I did lose one fish close to the net and also one just after the strike, but both were smallish fish. Not a bad result for a couple of hours fishing in 94 degree heat. The biggest fish just went over 10lb's but in this weirpool fish range from 2 to 20lbs so it is always exciting as the fish fight extremely hard and pick-ups are usually violent takes.

My own experience tells me you can catch fish in most conditions as long as you are willing to change tactics and work hard to locate the fish. Remember, in hotter weather, target faster flowing water which will have a higher oxygen content and thus the fish will be more active. Also, look for cover such as trees and snags in deeper water as the fish will also hang out in these areas also.