Carp fishing changes month by month more than most anglers allow for, and the anglers who catch consistently are the ones who change with it. This calendar is the short version of the four seasonal guides on this site: where the fish are likely to be each month, what to fish and what to feed. Treat the months as a guide and the water temperature as the truth; a warm February fishes like March and a cold May fishes like March too.
Winter
January
Where the fish are: Grouped tight in the deepest, most stable water, or suspended mid-water on bright afternoons. One area of the lake, rarely more.
Tactics: Find them before you fish. Single bright hookbaits, small PVA bags, zigs on sunny days. Move if nothing shows in a couple of hours. Fish the dawn, dusk and early-afternoon windows.
Bait: Small, bright pop-ups; maggots; a handful of freebies at most. Nothing heavy.
February
Where the fish are: As January, with the first fish moving on any mild south-westerly. Sun-warmed shallows can hold fish for an hour or two.
Tactics: Watch the forecast for a mild spell and be there when it arrives. Zigs come into their own.
Bait: As January. Start introducing a little more bait on mild days.
The detail for both months is in the winter carp fishing guide.
Spring
March
Where the fish are: Moving out of the deep water into the first bays and margins to warm. The river close season starts on the fifteenth.
Tactics: Fish the warmest water on the lake: shallows facing the sun, the windward bank on a warm wind. Short sessions timed to the warmest part of the day.
Bait: Bright pop-ups and wafters, small amounts of boilie, maggots and casters. Still little and often.
April
Where the fish are: Spread across the shallows and margins, feeding hard as the water passes ten degrees. Weed starting to grow.
Tactics: The best month of spring on most lakes. Fish the margins and the shallow bars, stay mobile, and look for fizzing. Stalking starts.
Bait: Boilies in modest quantities, particles, corn. Zigs on bright days.
May
Where the fish are: In the shallows and the weed, grouping up before spawning. Big females showing at dusk.
Tactics: Fish hard before spawning starts and stop when it does. Surface fishing begins on warm days.
Bait: Particles, hemp, boilies over the spots the fish are using. Floaters on the warm afternoons.
Full tactics in the spring guide, and what to do when the fish spawn in the spawning guide.
Summer
June
Where the fish are: Spawning on most lakes, then a hard recovery feed. Rivers reopen on the sixteenth.
Tactics: Leave spawning fish alone. Once they are done, feed heavily on the recovery spots. Surface fishing at its best.
Bait: Beds of particles and boilie after spawning; mixers and floaters on top.
July
Where the fish are: Everywhere: the surface in the heat, the weed for food, the deep water and the windward bank for oxygen at night.
Tactics: Fish the surface by day and the margins and weed edges at night. Long sessions pay; so does an evening with one rod on the top.
Bait: Floaters, particles, boilies, high-attract pop-ups in the weed. Solid bags in the weed.
August
Where the fish are: As July, with the fish wary after three months of pressure and the water at its warmest and lowest in oxygen.
Tactics: Fish the oxygen: wind, inlets, the surface at dawn. Low-pressure days and rain bring the best feeding. Night fishing outfishes the day.
Bait: As July. Lighter baiting; fish for one bite at a time on pressured lakes.
The summer guide and the surface fishing guide carry the detail.
Autumn
September
Where the fish are: Still spread out, feeding harder as the nights cool. The best all-round month of the year on many waters.
Tactics: Fish the spots that have been consistent all summer and increase the bait. Long sessions and campaigns pay now.
Bait: Boilies in quantity, particles, hemp. Fishmeal baits come into their own.
October
Where the fish are: Following the last of the warm water and the food: weed beds dying back, deeper margins, the bars. Big fish feeding hardest of the year.
Tactics: The month to target the biggest fish in the lake. Bait heavily on found spots, fish long.
Bait: Boilies in quantity; the fish can handle it. Tigers where allowed.
November
Where the fish are: Moving towards winter water as the temperature drops below ten degrees; feeding in shorter bursts.
Tactics: Reduce the bait as the water cools and start fishing the winter windows. The last of the autumn feeding on mild days.
Bait: Back towards smaller amounts, brighter hookbaits, PVA bags.
Everything for these months is in the autumn guide.
December
December
Where the fish are: Back in the winter water, grouped, feeding briefly around the warmest part of the day.
Tactics: Winter tactics: locate first, fish light, move if nothing shows. Quiet banks and the fish nobody else is fishing for.
Bait: Single hookbaits, maggots, small bags.
The numbers behind the calendar
Below about eight degrees the fish feed little and want almost no bait. Between ten and fifteen they feed well and are catchable across the lake. Above seventeen or eighteen for a few days in late spring they spawn. Above twenty the surface and the oxygen decide where they sit. Buy a thermometer, note the temperature every session, and after a year you will have a calendar for your own lake that is better than this one. For the best times of day within each month, see the best time of day to catch carp, and for the seasons in more depth, fishing through the seasons.
Last Updated on September 10, 2026 by Shane Stanford
Shane Stanford has fished for carp for over twenty years, in the UK and in France, and currently fishes a private syndicate water in West Sussex. He writes Fishing Again to put the things he learned the hard way into plain language: location and watercraft first, then bait, rigs and gear. He is straight about which kit he has actually fished and which he has assessed on specification, and says so on the page.
