Loz East Spring Approach

Spring has to be my favourite time of the year to be carp fishing, when everything starts to wake up from a long winter and the carp are no exception. One of the things I like the most about the spring is the carp can be caught using a variety of tactics and often, after spending the winter dormant, they become a little bit easier to catch for the first few months in my opinion. Often you’ll see the carp at this time of the year show themselves regularly, whether that’s to clean themselves of any leeches or giving themselves away by starting to hunt down any new natural food sources in the lake; either way, they will let you know where you need to be.

My first approach during the spring would have to be casting to showing fish with either bright, single Hi-Visual hookbaits such as a Pineapple Juice pop-up or a solid bag. This can be a great way to nick a bite or two by not giving them a lot to think about in terms of bait but just enough attraction to get their attention. I’ll often soak my Hi-Visual pop-ups in the dedicated Bait Sprays to give them that extra little pulling power and if I’m using solid bags then I’ll pack them out with plenty of liquid, such as Hemp Oil. 

Those extra few percentages can sometimes be the difference between getting a bite and not, as the extra attraction has the advantage of pulling the fish down if they’re milling around in the upper layers.

Secondly, Zig Rigs are not to be ignored. If bites are hard to come by, you’ll usually find the fish have migrated to the warmest layer of water, which is often close to the surface when the sun starts to penetrate through. I still like to adopt the approach of casting to showing fish but I’ll often make sure I have at least one rod on a Zig. 

I like to use the Ziggers soaked in the Supa Sweet Zig Liquid to give them that extra attraction, with my personal favourite being the yellow and black ones. What I will say is, it’s crucial you get the depth right when Zig fishing so if I haven’t had a bite within the first hour, I’d rotate my depth until I got that first bite. I’ll often start a few feet under the surface and work my way down so I’m not repeatedly having to tie fresh hooklinks and you can use the same rig, but shorten it a few feet at a time. Again, I’ve mentioned my personal choice of colour, however, we all know every day can be different and if you haven’t had a bite, again, I’d change the colour.

The great thing with this method is usually once you get a bite and locate where the carp are sitting, if you commit all your rods to the same approach you can usually build a decent hit of fish. 

Something else to look out for in the spring is any new hatches of insects. Occasionally, you’ll see the carp almost flapping their tails on the surface which usually indicates their feeding on a hatch which is coming from the bottom of the lakebed. There’s a very fine window of opportunity with this, but if you can present a black piece of foam or a Zigger in amongst them you’re usually minutes away from a bite.