Looking out of the bivvy door at horizontal rain doesn’t exactly make you want to go wandering around the lake.
But rain can produce some excellent carp fishing.
A change in weather can disturb a lake that has been quiet for hours. Wind, rain, pressure changes and increased oxygen can all coincide with carp becoming noticeably more active.
The biggest mistake is simply getting comfortable in the bivvy and stopping fishing properly.
Keep watching the water.
If fish start showing somewhere else, move if you can.
Check that your rods haven’t shifted in softening banks and make sure alarms, receivers and other electronics aren’t sitting somewhere water can collect around them.
Rain also makes organising the swim considerably more important. Keep dry clothing genuinely dry rather than discovering at midnight that your spare hoodie has been sitting against the bivvy wall for five hours.
A decent waterproof jacket, trousers, boots and a shelter with enough room to work make miserable weather much easier.
One thing I actually like about wet weather is that lakes often become quieter. The fair-weather anglers disappear and suddenly you’ve got far more options.
Given the choice between flat-calm blazing sunshine or warm rain and a decent wind pushing down one end of the lake, I know which I’d rather fish.
What’s your best carp caught in absolutely awful weather?