Carp taking mixers in the cold

[Coral Maestro]

The carp in my local lake were happily taking mixers off the surface this morning with half of the lake frozen over and an air temperature of 2 deg C.

[Pallenpool]

Lovely stuff pictures like this should give each and everyone of us some hope of catching from lakes and pools in the depths of Winter.

[Coral Maestro]

It was -4 deg C last night but the carp were still keen even though there was more ice:

[Trilob]

Never seen that before. Lovely atmosphere there!

[Dave Burr]

Remarkable, French carp are renowned for their lack of surface feeding on numerous waters never mind in minus temperatures. I'd love a go at them

[Liphook]

Great to see

[Mole-Patrol]

It would be interesting to discover the water temperature where the fish were feeding compared to other areas of the lake. In some of the lakes and rivers where I fish there are springs that feed warmer water into small areas and that is where the fish (and cormorants) can be often found. I can only test the surface water temperature, but sometimes it is barely one degree C higher and that is enough to make a difference.

[MaggotDrowner]

Amazing to see. I wonder what is makingthem do it?

[Coral Maestro]

Amazing to see. I wonder what is makingthem do it?

The carp are fed every day through the year so they are used to finding food there. The lake has poor availability of natural food and the stock levels are quite high so they have to take what they can get. If the fish know that they can get food then it is worth their while staying active. If they couldn't get food then they would go into a state of torpor until food became available again.
I think that's why some lakes in the UK are good winter waters - anglers are introducing bait on a regular basis so the fish remain active.