"Light" Tactics for Winter Success

I've packed a method ball
around my small sinker.
Other sharpies will use a
cage feeder.

Two kernels of sweet corn are hooked
onto my small, #10 hook.  No need
for a hair rig.

The calendar moved to December, and I moved to my winter tactics for carp fishing. One key to winter success is to go "light".  Carp don't tend to feed a whole lot in winter, and taking a light and delicate approach to get them to hit often pays off at this time of year.
This week I broke out my light winter rod, a whippy, steehead nine foot noodle rod (similar to maybe a 125 or 150 test curve carp rod).  I have a Shimano 3500 baitrunner reel on it that's spooled with just 10 lb. test monofilament line. My set-up is generally a light, steel egg sinker (1/2 oz.)followed by a foot long leader of 8 lb. test mono to which I've tied a small #10 Umpqua Tiemco hook (no. 2457) at the end.  I'm packing method mix around my sinker and I'm putting two pieces of delicate sweet corn directly onto the hook for bait. I'm not using a hair rig....no need to with the soft sweet corn. Note that many winter sharpies will use a cage feeder to pack method or pellets rather than packing around the sinker.
This delicate approach has delivered good numbers of carp for me in the last week as well as in past years in the wintertime.  Note that any hits might be just delicate taps as the carp are not active enough to really run off with the bait as they do in the warm months.

Here's a good size mirror that was landed today using the light and delicate
winter approach described above.