Cooler + Wetter = Lesser

I landed this hefty mirror this
morning. Numbers are way off
compared to last year. Blame the
cooler and wetter weather.

This is nowhere near the same December fishing we had last year.  Numbers of fish are way down due to the weather. Two culprits are in play.  It has been far wetter this December than last year. Last week's two inches of rain  had rivers and streams overflowing and unfishable for days. The water levels in most ponds were also up.  It has also been far cooler.  Fifty degrees or more was the norm last December as we fished in record breaking warm temperatures, and that had the fish feeding big time.  I went to a small pond to fish yesterday morning and was shocked to find the pond TOTALLY frozen with ice.  Yikes! If you look at what is coming in the next week or so, it is not looking good as temperatures this weekend will struggle to get above freezing. I'm noticing the fish I am catching have been sluggish on the take and sluggish on the fight, a sure sign of plunging water temperatures.
December is probably the most unpredictable and variable month of the year for carp fishing.  The fishing  is all dependent on the weather.  Warm weather leads to good fishing, cool weather leads to marginal fishing and cold weather and icing shuts it all down.  In recent years there have been some fantastic Decembers in which I have caught hundreds of fish (last year) while there have been other cold Decembers where I have struggled to land 10 fish.  Most Decembers I have been able to get 25 to 30 fish, and that is putting in a good amount of time.  For me, this December seems to be turning out a bit above average, but we'll see what happens the rest of the way.  Not looking like a banner end of the year at this point. However, I plan to fish the rest of the month or until severe icing shuts it down.