I'd just turn up and speak to the bailiff before starting, explain what your doing and I'm sure he will be more than accommodating. Although I did ask my local coarse fishery back in the summer if I could use my fly rod, his reply, "sure no problem, give the normal fisherman some space with your casting, but please don’t use flies"....! I didn’t bother in the end and found another venue that would.
Anyway, some advice on my part. I used to fish the coarse match circuit, and winter was always a challenging time of year, however, I still managed to winkle a few out. I always found that fishing into the wind best, with the wind blowing into your nearside bank / margins. With the way the weather has been, I really wouldn’t bother with an early start, go for a day that’s been mild, preferable within a period of mild weather.
On the fly side of things, I have found bloodworm patterns to be very effective, tied on bardless hooks. With a lot of heavily stocked coarse fisheries still being relatively coloured over the winter, try a black apps bloodworm, also red, and even white. These have been tied quite bushy, generally normal apps style, but with a bit of dubbing and a lead underwrap to get it down! And single fly only. I’ve also had success with a very bushy hares ear nymph, not ribbed, but again with lead underwrap. This “fly” is trying to resemble a pellet of some sort.
On the dog biscuit side of things, you’ll be hard pushed to get the fish up on the surface in the winter. I only use these in the spring / summer.
One final tip. If you fancy a frantic hour or two, arrive at the fishery early afternoon, check out the fishery, but here’s the tip, check the anglers out too! Some might be packing up. It’s a general habit of coarse anglers to throw their unwanted bait in the margins at the end of the day. This is like a dinner bell to carp! In my coarse fishing days, in the winter I regularly caught carp within inches of the margins at last knockings, feeding on my dropped bait and loosefeed trickled into the margins throughout the day!
So if the angler is packing up and chucks in his bait, move into his spot and watch the water surface near the margins for swirls, or even tails coming out of the water, tell tail signs (no pun intended) that the fish are hard on the bottom. Put on an “imitation” of his / her bait, and see what happens!
Its tough catching carp on the fly in the winter, especially if you do it properly and don’t loosefeed! You’re not cheating if someone else chucks in his or her bait!
Hope that helps, enjoy!
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