Star of You Tube series ‘The Challenge’, Mark Pitchers reveals 7 of his very best tips to help you catch more carp this spring...

Spring is without doubt my favourite time of year to be out on the bank pursuing carp. The days are getting longer, the temperatures warmer and nature all around is waking up from the winter slumber. During the spring period the carp will tend to really go on the feed and will be at their biggest weights and look in fantastic condition. I have had some of my most memorable sessions during this time of year and I am no doubt that this will be the same for many years to come. Over the years I have honed my skills for targeting spring carp and I’d like to think that I am not too bad at making the most of this time of year. Over the coming pages I will share with you the main ‘edges’ that I have in my armoury, which I’m sure you can use to your advantage too...

Tip One – Find Them!

At Fox we have a little motto, which I believe Rob Hughes came up with, which is Find ‘em, Feed ‘em, Fox ‘em. And this little motto applies to every season but in spring you have the best chance of getting it right as the carp are usually at their easiest to find and often very hungry. Watercraft is the hardest skill of all to teach a newcomer and often can only come with years of experience. It is hard to explain but when you have been fishing as long as I have you just develop a sense of knowing what the carp are likely to be doing and the areas of the lake that they are likely to be frequenting at any given time of year. On most lakes carp tend to spend the winter in one of two areas, either out in the middle or tucked away in marginal snags. And it is these two areas that I tend to look in and around first, as once the carp start to wake up from the winter slumber they will start to jump and fizz as they try to rid themselves of the leeches that have attached themselves to them over the cold period. It is these areas where they will also tend to feed during those early weeks of spring before the water warms up and the weed grows, which in turn encourages them to swim around the lake more and visit other areas. When it comes to locating the fish your biggest assets are your eyes and ears. A good quality pair of polarised sunglasses will help you to see into the water much better so when looking in snags etc they will be easier to find. Your eyes also help you to hear fish that are crashing out etc.

Above: If you can find the carp it will be so much easier to catch them.

Below: A quality pair of polarised sunglasses will make finding the carp a much easier task.