Sluggish

Nice fish, but it was sluggish on the take
and sluggish on the fight due to the cold.

When I left the pond this afternoon, the temperature was a cold 39 degrees.  Last night the low was in the in the high 20's.  It's been mighty cold for early November and the carp are feeling it.
Carp turn sluggish in the cold, especially when air and water temperatures drop suddenly.  Today I had a lot of small taps.  I'm sure these were carp, but they were too sluggish to take the bait.  I tried the usually tricks.....smaller bait, smaller hairs, smaller sinkers.  Finally, I had a fish take or I should say a continuously tapping of the bait, another trait of sluggish fish.  I pulled and was onto a sluggish fighter.  It turned out to be a mirror carp of about 10 lbs.
The good news is that the weather can't stay this cold at this time of year.  If you look at the forecast for later in the week, the temperatures should shoot up into the 60's.  That should improve the carp fishing and get the fish active again. The fishing season is far from over.