It definitely is advantageous to step up your gear if at all possible though or at least use the heaviest kit you have, river carp in the main are powerful fish and will test tackle to the limits. We must also ensure that only safety rigs are used with the high risk of becoming snagged up. For smaller, slower flowing situations a 3 oz lead is quite adequate. Stalking can be another very effective method, I use exactly the same kit except reduce the lead size to keep disturbance to an absolute minimum. The other important item of equipment which is often overlooked is a rod pod.
River banks can often be rocky, steep sided or concrete.
A decent rod pod takes away the aggro of mucking around with rod rests. We should also mention that rod tips need to be kept well back from the edge if we're fishing close range to avoid any unnecessary possibility of spooking bankside feeding fish. Bait As always in the world of bait, lots of misleading information is banded about. For me, on rivers you can't beat a good scattering of hemp and groats, adding pin head oatmeal makes a nice milky type ground bait. Mostly I fish boilies over the top or a good old tiger nut.