@Barry Haynes, night fishing in winter? Did you test the water temperature as it may be too low to get the Carp feeding. I used to go Carp fishing with my old brother on winter days when the sun had warmed the water a bit and we used small hook, just line, no weights, no bite alarms, no boilies, just simple gear, we usually caught a few with maggots or similar small bait.
I had a 17lb er from the reeds on Monday night the water at this end of the lake is shallower so stays a degree or 2 warmer than the pads or island swims, the carp are still moving and showing on our lake but as the temperature drops they will slow down, I use dead maggots and smaller boilies 12 mm in winter, I also scale down my tackle ie thinner line, smaller hooks and 1/2 oz running leads I’m going to continue fishing this winter as there is a lovely 45lb fully scaled mirror I want to catch