Let me start by saying, sorry it's been a while since I last wrote a blog. I have been really busy and any spear time I have had has been spent on the bank. Last Friday I took a walk through a park near me that happens to have a lake there too so as I walked around the lake with my polarised glasses on, staring at the water trying to catch a glance of the carp that inhabit the lake, it was not hard to spot them basking in the sun, just slowly wallowing through the water. There were plenty of people fishing, I stopped every now and then to ask if they had caught anything all though I already knew the answer, each angler I asked would reply no and tell me pretty much the same story as the person before, that they had tried floaters bottom baits and one had also tried a zig, but none of them had caught. The carp were just not in the mood for feeding in the hot day's sun. This just made me want to catch them even more. I made my way home and decided my best chance would be in the evening when the weather had cooled slightly, with any luck, the lake would be quieter as the pleasure anglers would pack up and head home and through the towel in before the Nats come out to irritate and bite as they do.
As evening fell I got my stuff together and headed to the park, the weather was a lot cooler and other anglers had started to pack up and leave. I opted to fish in a clearing between two trees, there was enough space to fit two rods from this swim, I could cast to the opposite overhanging trees, where I had noticed some fish showing themselves. I cast to the trees and landed about half a rod length off, I felt the lead down and it landed where the gravel patch starts and the silt ends. I prefer to fish nearer the silt, as I feel this is not so blatantly obvious to the carp. An hour had past and the delkims had been silent, out the blue it screamed, I struck into the fish I played it all the way to the net, over excited I made mistakes and pulled the hook at the last minute, I was gutted as I see the fishes paddle heading off. I re-casted my rod and within 10 minutes the same rod screamed off again, I took my time with this one and did not want to make the same mistakes. I slowly pulled him over the cord of the net he was mine, safely in the net. Just as this happened the left-hand rod screamed off, I quickly grabbed the rod hooking into another, I was now playing one fish whilst the other was resting in my landing net, same for this one, falling victim to my net, I was only out for a couple of hours but had a great time. picking the right time of day can be critical and I knew the evening would produce for me. I was over the moon by my catches as you can see from my picture above and below.
So what can I say, pulled a blank at Swan Lake on the Bluebell complex. Lesson learnt mistakes were made but I will be back there very soon, to catch one of the beauty's that hunt the waters there.
On arriving home I had the bit in between my teeth, I needed to get out on the bank as soon as possible and catch. I really needed my fix and needed to know if I still could catch. After any blank, most anglers start to question their methods and tactics. What happened next made me start doubting even more. I managed to get out for a few hours one evening over my local and to my own disbelieve I blanked it again, what was happing, had I really lost it, or was it just a run of bad luck.
I sat at home for a few days sulking to myself, it was not until I started speaking to a few people on social media... one person, in particular, he pretty much told me how it is I needed to get up and get out there and try harder. I took it on the chin, it was exactly what I needed to here they couldn't have put it better. I spoke to Lloyd and asked if he would be ok if I went fishing Monday as he had the day off work, he was fine as always and enjoyed spending time with the kids. I wanted to test myself and had just the venue for it. This would be a new challenge for me, a weedy lake with Lilly pads dotted around,
I had walked around the venue a few times in the past and had always planned on fishing it but never really got round to it.
Monday morning came, I was awoken by the alarm on my phone, there would be no snoozing for me this morning, it was 04;30 and already light outside. I got myself dressed and crept downstairs doing my best not to wake anyone, I made a strong coffee and got my stuff together, I was off.
I travelled light with a small amount of tackle a pair of waders and my bait in my oversized rucksack. in my left hand two rods and hanging over my shoulder down the right side of my body the tracker unhooking matt along with my landing net. The venue I was heading to was a 40-minute walk away, It was pleasant to walk though as I had to cut across some fields. The weather was warm with a nice southwesterly wind cutting across every now and then, the poppies in the field were out on show and looked amazing. As I walked to the lake I kept reminding myself of the previous blanks, I kept telling myself it wasn't going to happen this time.
I arrived at the lake at about 05:30 or just gone. It was already starting to get warm, I was in no rush to hurry and get the rods out, I wanted a good walk around the lake first. I put my stuff down, stuck my polarised glasses on and walked around to the shallows first looking for signs of carp feeding, bubbling and silt clouds, something that would give away their whereabouts. After checking the shallows and not noticing much to go on I continued my walk around the lake, every now and then catching a glimpse of a carps back breaking the surfaces of the water. I headed back to my stuff, I had a plan in my head and knew if I got it right I would end up with a result.
I had chosen my swim and got set up. I would be using a lead-free leader from The Last Yard I set this up helicopter style, the rig I used was a combi slightly longer than I would normally, I would mount this with an RBA bait Spicy Krill snowman style. I was sure this would give a good presentation, over the weed. Just to make sure this was so, I moved the buffer bead 4 inches up the leader away from the lead and stuck to bits of PVA foam each side of the hook, trapping the hair and bait in place. This would stop the hair tangling around the hook on the cast and also help with the bait laying softly over the weed. I cast one rod between some bull rush-reed and a group of Lilly pads where the wind was pushing into, I had noticed carp swimming in and out of the channel between them, I stopped the lead just before it hit the water and felt it down, it was soft landing but I knew I was fishing. I had faith in my setup, I watched the PVA foam come to the surface I chucked half a kg of Spicy Krill over the area, not tight but spread out in the hope the carp would move from one bait to the next, actively seeking the bait out until they would stumble upon mine. The second rod I cast to a pad of Lilly's were I had noticed some dark shadows lurking below the surface with the odd set of bubbles erupting, telltale signs of carp feeding. I would fish this rod as a single, taking any inquisitive carp by surprise.
I sat and watched the fizzing appear over my baited spot, as I did this the wind started to get stronger and the sky turned grey. It started to rain lightly as I knew it would, weather apps are amazing tools for fishing. I sat there gazing at the baited spot through the drizzle that was coming down. Then it happened, at last, the left buzzer sounding off, at the same time the stow falling off the line, I was away. I grabbed the rod and slowly brought the carp towards me, she was putting up a fight, kiting left trying to make it for the reed bed, I pulled left and low on the rod, it had an awesome battle curve in it. I turned the fish away from the weed bed and gained line, I was winning the fight but at the same time praying that the hook would not pull. As the rain got heavier I slowly pulled her head over the net cord, she was mine I was so chuffed, my confidence repaired.
Finally Friday the 26th of May was here, a day that had been marked on the calendar for a long time. I was so excited as we loaded up the car, I couldn't wait to get to Swan Lake on the Bluebell complex and wet a line. It was a two-hour drive to the complex and on the way, my mind would wonder with expectation, the hope of hooking one of the famous fish that reside in the lake. But at the same time reality would wake me from my day dreaming. I was heading to one of the country's toughest day ticket waters, on a bank holiday. The weather was scorching and venues up and down the country had been reporting that the fish had been spawning. I was just hoping they would hold off a bit longer on Swan. It was a straight drive there with no complications, as we arrived at the lake, the first sight we were greeted with was Sandmartin Lake to the left-hand side of the road, that led to the office and Mallard Lake on the right-hand side. The place was clean and beautiful, we reported to the office to get our tickets for our stay.
This was the view from the car on arriving
at the Bluebell complex.
Mallard Lake photo was taken from phone sorry camera
was in a bag.
After getting our tickets we made our way around to Swan Lake. After the drive around and a quick walk around the busy pit, we choose to fish the south-west end of Swan, not quite where we wanted to be but four pegs down, from the swim I had in mind. I had done some research as anyone should if going to a new venue for the first time. This corner seemed to do a good deal of fish, although to be honest, they do get caught all over the lake. The swim I wanted was taken so as I said I opted for the fourth peg down from it. I got out my marker rod and started to lead around without the marker float on first of all. I cast around trying to find a clear spot in the weed somewhere I would be able to present a rig clearly. Whilst I was doing this Lloyd got on with setting up the bivvy, Lloyd is not really into his spot fishing, he likes to be able to see the fish feeding and try and catch them that way but I on the over hand have made it my business to know all things carpy, I love the sport and want to be able to catch them at whatever venue I visit. It took me a good hour or so until I had finally found two spots that were nice, clear and free of weed. Although the lake looked clear, the bottom was full of Canadian pond weed, but I had managed to find two clear spots among the weed. The right spot was about 18 wraps out and 14 foot deep, and the left spot was 16 wraps out and about 12 foot deep. Lloyd had finished setting up base camp just as I started to put bait out over the spots I had found. I clipped the spod at 18 wraps first then reeled the braid back on, I then went back round the marker sticks to 16 wraps and clipped up again, I would put bait over this spot first. Once I had finished spomming over the first spot I moved on to the next unclipping on my last spom, I moved straight on to the second spot without having to return to the distance stick as I had already clipped up to this spot prior.
I finally got round to putting the rigs on the spots. I went to the distance sticks and wrapped two of the rods at 18 wraps, I then moved on to the last two rods and wrapped and clipped up at 16-rod lengths. I decided that I would put the rods to the right out first, I carefully checked the rigs in the margins adding and taking away rig putty from the stiff hinges I would be presenting over the spots when I was finally happy with the rig, I cast the first rod out hitting the clip and feeling the lead down. I was happy as the lead went down with a thud I was finally fishing. I continued this process with the other three rods. They all went down perfect except the last one that took me two attempts to get the drop right on it. By the time the fourth rod was out, it was starting to get dark, I was finally able to sit back and chill for a while and watch the water.
I stayed up late just sitting there looking and listen to the water. By the time I got to sleep it was about midnight and I was back up by 5 o'clock in the morning. The lake looked amazing, I sat there and watched the red kite in the sky looking for its pray its early morning meal. I stuck the kettle on and had a cup of coffee, I noticed some sprats jumping from the water, I made my way over to the edge of the bank to see what the commotion was all about, it was a pike causing the trouble, every now and then it would zoom out the reeds going for one of the small fry swimming around, the Pike was trying to get his morning meal too.
Bite time came and went, other than a couple of liners nothing really happened. Later that day the wind picked up, it was strong enough to make small whites on the water. I waited to midday then spommed some bait over the spots, the wind was still strong so I opted for the large impact spod this time round, I put another couple of kg over both spots.
By the time night come the fish were splashing over our spots, I sat there hoping and willing for a run, but nothing came other than a couple of liners. I woke up the next morning to the fish spawning, my heart sunk as I knew the chance of a bite now was slim. I went through the remainder of the time at swan lake repeating the same routines. Maybe I could have done things a bit different, but I do believe that if it had been a week later I would have had one of the beautiful creatures that live in the water to show you. The last day came around far too fast and I didn't want to leave, the fish had finally stopped spawning and the weather had gone overcast and mild with a nice breeze. I noticed an oil slick and fizzing coming from my spots but time had run out I had to reel in, pack up the car and head home to the kids. Swan is a beautiful lake but not for the faint hearted I will be back there very soon. Next time I'm pretty positive I will have a monster to show you.
A visitor from the last morning he or she was a delight to see.
It was not until the following Sunday that I was able to get back out on the bank.
It had been raining all week, this was a good thing though, as the past year had been very dry and the lake had lost a lot of water, throughout the year. However, with the heavy constant rain, it was once again back to its old self. The drainage inlets had done their jobs pushing any rain water from the surrounding area into the lake, helping the water level to rise back again.
Saturday evening came, as soon as the kids were in bed I got the tackle box out and started to tie rigs. I had wanted to try a couple of rigs I had read loads about lately, so I got the bits out I would need to make them and sat there playing with the pack of chod hooks from www.the-last-yard.co.uk, thinking how and which rig I would attempt to tie first. I decided on "the reverse multi rig", I would follow this up with the "reverse combi". I had also read a lot about this lately, they are both pretty similar rigs, but with the multi-version of the rig, you are able to change the hook if u need to without having to tie a whole new rig. I tied both rigs with ease and was happy with how they both looked and started willing for tomorrow evening to arrive, so I could finally get out and try them on my local. Which was looking more like its old self once again thanks to the rain!
Sunday passed by pretty quick before I knew it the kids were in bed and the time had come for me to set off to the lake. I kissed Lloyd good bye and was on my way.
On arriving at the far end of the lake I decided to fish "the forgotten swim" again. The conditions were pretty much the same as they were when I was last here with Floyd my son. The only difference was the water level was about 2ft higher than previously, this was down to rain that we had a few days prior.
I flicked the rigs back on to the spot we had previously fished. The deep margin to the left of the swim, as I knew this was a place the carp liked to visit and they would be pretty much left alone by other anglers, as it was an awkward spot to fish. I felt both leads down, they clonked on a firm bottom I was happy I knew I was fishing.
I scattered a hand full of bait around the spot, crushed, chopped and whole www.rbafishingbait.com spicy krill. I love these boilies, they smell like everything a carp would want to eat. On the hook end of the rig I had Rba shellfish and garlic cork ball pop up, a prototype bait I would be testing at "Swan lake - bluebell complex" the following week.
I watched the water for some time getting the odd liner. It started to get dark but new it would not be long before I was on to a fish. The sun went down behind the tree's in the west, darkness was upon me. I sat there quite, listening to the lake, fish rolling in the margins to the left of me. It's nice to sit and listen to the lake. The carp become alot more careless at this particular lake of night, giving them selfs away with their play crashing around in the water. I sat there looking across the bank at a pair of glowing eyes from a fox that stared, he or she could smell the boilies in the air dry bag and be hoping for a free meal once I had gone. All was quite and then out of the blue the buzzer screamed out and the rod hooped round to the left, I jumped from my seat grabbing the rod... keeping the rod tip low as the trees are low in this swim. Crouching down I quickly picked up the right-hand rod and placed it tip down in the margin. I did this so the fish would not cross line me whilst I was playing it, this was a good call because the fish kited right away from the snags to the left, after applying steady pressure, it kited right into the open water. It passed over the top off the right-hand rod line free without any problems. After a short battle, I pulled her over the net. Not the biggest common in the lake but more than welcome anyway.
These blogs are based around Lloyd's and my fishing experiences, but we can not forget to mention we like to get the whole family involved. Our son Floyd has really taken to the sport, he has even joined a carp team JK angling youth team. He is really happy to be part of the team he loves getting out and fishing for carp and every time he goes he learns a little more about the sport. Floyd is developing his skills more and more each time he comes fishing with one of us.
Floyd had been going on at me and his dad for a few days to get out fishing, so Sunday after dinner his dad took him for an evening session over our local lake. Lloyd didn't take any rods he was just there to keep an eye on Floyd and keep him company. They got to the lake that was quite busy, Floyd decided he wanted to fish to the right-hand side of one of the islands, a couple of foot from some snags. He decided he wanted to fish his second rod under a willow close in, He dropped the lead and rig just under the willow tree in the margin and scattered about 30 boilies around the area, to try and tempt the weary carp into feeding. He fired some bait with his catapult over the first rod, he put about six pouches off bait over the island rod near the snags.
Floyd sat back and watched the water. It was not long before he noticed some fizzing, coming from the area of the snags near the island, where one of his rigs was sitting. A trap ready to go off.
He patiently sat waiting for his trap to go off. About an hour or so past by with the odd liner setting off the bite alarm here and there, with each time this happened Floyd jumped at the rod in hope that his trap had been set. Before long the bite alarm went off, this was no liner this was the reel thing. A carp had taken the bait and now was snared to Floyd's rig, Floyd jumped forward to his rod and grabbed it as the tip bent over, he pulled up into the carp, the 2.75 lbs rod arched with a battle curve he was into a fish. He slowly walked back up the bank to bring the fish away from the snags, Floyd now had the carp were he wanted it, out in safe water he used the back whined on the reel and the flexibility of the rod to tame and wear the carp out. Once he could see the carp was beaten he slowly pulled it over the net, With the help of his dad they broke the landing net down and took the carp over to the already wet unhooking mat. Floyd was over the moon with his catch as you can see by the picture above.
After taking a few pictures, Floyd applied some fish care to the hook hold, he then sent the carp on its way back. He then returned home with his dad, asking if I would take him next time, so I have promised that one day after school I will take Floyd to see if we can manage a quick bite or two.
I will start this blog where the last one ended. A few days had past and my son Floyd kept reminding me that we had a fishing trip to go on together. He really didn't need to keep reminding me as I was just as excited as him. I couldn't wait to get out on the bank. I was planning on taking Floyd fishing on Wednesday after he finished school, his dad Lloyd would be home early from work so it made perfect sense. Anyway, Wednesday came around quick, after Floyd finished school we got home as quick as possible got changed into our fishing clothes and of we went to our local lake. The lake is a short walk from our house across a field. When we got there I asked Floyd how he felt about fishing a swim I call the "forgotten swim", he was more than happy to fish this swim with me. The reason I call it the forgotten swim is because no one fishes it and it is very overgrown and the water in front of it is very snaggy, however at the same time this part of the lake is very quiet with little pressure if any at all. There was a slight breeze blowing down towards this end, so it just seemed the best place to go at the time as no carp had come out anywhere else on the lake that day.
I had been wanting to fish this swim for a long time as had found a deep margin on a previous trip. The margin we fished was surrounded by overhanging snags and was only accessible from this swim. On the previous trip, I had found this margin was about two foot deeper than the rest of the water out in front, so assumed it was a place the fish would come and feed and rub the parasites of there bodies. A spot naturally made by the carp we were fishing for. We got the rods ready, Floyd cast first, just missing the tight spot and landed over a snag. We were fishing close to the left-hand margin so he walked back up the bank to try to free the snagged rig, this worked as the lead and rig come free it shot back towards me. I stuck my hand up to protect my face which resulted in the hook being embedded in my hand. Not the best of starts to our trip but these things do happen on rear occasions.
The hook didn't cause much of a problem as it was barbless, so once it had been freed we could continue with the rest of the fishing session. Floyd cast his rod this time hitting the spot perfectly. He laid the rod on the bite alarm and attached his bobbin to the line, he picked up the second rod once again hitting the small spot perfectly, Floyd sunk his line and then put the rod on his second bite alarm and repeated the same action as he did with his first rod. I picked up a couple of hand fulls of RBA spicy krill boilies and spread them around the area Floyd was fishing. That was more than enough bait for a bite. I didn't want to put to much bait in as this can ruin a swim on a short session by spooking the wary carp. However, I do love to bait up on a long session we all know that big carp love their boilies.
Floyd sat patiently waiting, watching the spot. Forty minutes passed by without a bleep, then out of the blue the bite alarm screamed the stow dropping of the line at the same time, as the rod edged forward towards the Delkim, Floyd leaped into action grabbing the rod and pulling the rod low and back towards the bank, not letting the carp get to the snags it was heading towards. He managed to get the fish out into open water but continued to play the carp low with his rod as the tree line in this swim was quite low, so playing the fish this way helped prevent unneeded tangles at the rod tip with the low lying branches. After a short but epic battle with the carp, Floyd had one! he crouched low down and pulled the fish towards the net, minding not to get tangled in the low lying trees. The beautiful common slipped over the cord and into the net.
The common was long and lean full of power, Floyd was happy as always with his catch, as you can see by the picture above. The carp went back to its home as did we.
I have been fishing a local lake near me, it's fair to say this lake has its on and off days and can be slow at times. The carp can be very shy but if you get things right, it can be productive and throw up a few surprises at times.
Let me tell you a bit about this lake. Its about 8 to 9 acres in size, but don't hold me to that! It's shape is like two bowls, with a narrow and shallow canal that connects the two. When the water level is up, the fish can swim between the two lakes. But as last summer was really dry and the winter has been dry too, the water level has dropped quite a bit and the shallow canal has dried out. This makes it in to two separate lakes at the moment. It has a good head of fish, mainly low doubles but as I said, it has been throwing up some surprises lately. This has got me fishing it again as I really don't know what secrets this lake holds.
This lake is very mature and beautiful.
However, it does have some really big down sides to it. There is no bailiff. This means it's not looked after by anyone apart from a few anglers like myself, who care about the state of it. As it's a park lake and there is no fee for permits, it attracts a fair share of bad anglers who like to misuse it as a place to get drunk and leave there litter, which in turn gives the rest of us anglers who fish it a bad name. But hay ho, we will carry on fighting the losing battle to try and keep it tidy.
As the weather gets warmer, the more fair weather carp anglers will come out in force. This is when the lake starts to fish hard. Sometimes its good to go against the grain. As the lake starts to get busy, I will forever be thinking of ways to keep catching when the pressure starts to make the carp shy away. The picture left, is my latest way of trying to trick those carp in to feeding. Then I could snare one or two. It all started when I was fishing on the opposite bank and noticed that most of the water out in front off me was not accessible. This was down to the big willows that over hanged and made it impossible for me to cast to the showing fish I could see. After having a lead around, and found it would be near to impossible to land the carp. This was because some nasty sunken snag's between me and them and it would be mad to try and fish this safely.
The next day, I walked along the the opposite bank and noticed where the water level had dropped. I realised that with a bit of work, I could cut a small swim in the ball rush reeds that thinned out in-between two trees. I also gave these trees a slight prune back, so I had just enough room to cast and squeeze two ten foot rods in. I prefer to use the 10 foot rods at this venue as I feel it gives me a slight edge over other anglers. I can fit into places other people generally won't fish, due to lack of room.
Once I had made the small swim, it opened up the whole of the water in front of me. This was a place the carp felt safe. Gradually, I started to apply a little bait. Steadily, I increasing the bait before putting a rig in front of them. I wanted the carp to gain confidences and feed safely with out being caught. I done this stealthily until I thought it was time to put my plan into action.
The morning came. I walked to the spot I had hidden and kept a secret for the past week. I was so excited at the thought of fishing the swim. But at the same time I knew that after doing so, someone would see me and it would no longer be a secret. The weather was perfect, low pressure, cloudy, with the odd spot of sun bursting through the clouds. I put my bite alarms in place, got the rods ready and everything seemed perfect. I flicked my rigs out on the spots I had been pre-baiting. One of them being hard and gravely, the other being clay next to a snag- I applied a little bait. I sat back and watched the water- waiting with loads of confidence.
I had been in the swim for about 30 minuets and the rod screamed off. After a bit of a battle this upper double common was safely in the net. I was well happy. So instead off being greedy, and recasting the rod, I decided to pack up quickly. I apply a little more bait to keep the carp coming back. This was to keep carp feeding with confidence in the area. As it was still morning and just got light, there was no one else on the lake. I covered my tracks so my spot stayed a secret for that little longer.
The next day, my husband decided that he would take the older two kids fishing with him. This is so they could play at the park. He asked if it would be OK to fish the spot I had been working on. I was more than happy to let him as I knew it would not be long until someone else noticed it. As Lloyd and the kids arrived at the lake there was already a couple of people fishing. Lloyd asked if they had caught anything and both anglers told him they hadn't even had a knock. Lloyd continued to the small swim I had been working on. He set up and flicked the rigs back on the spots I had been baiting in the same way. He put out a little bait over the spots and sat back watching the water while teaching our kids how to tie rigs. An hour past by with nothing but as he watched the water he noticed a lot of bubbling and fizzing over the clay spot next to the snags. Within moments the water erupted as the Delkim screamed off. After a good battle, he slowly gained line, being careful not too put to much pressure on the fish. He tried his best not to pull the hook as he knew this fish felt a little special. He slowly pulled her over the landing net. She was his! He was so happy as he had never seen this fish before. The the other fellas that were fishing down the other end of the lake came down to see the commotion. They gave Lloyd a hand to weigh the fish. She came in at 22lbs 6oz. Lloyd was over the moon with his catch. This fish had never been caught. To our knowing, it was in perfect condition- fat, deep and thick. A truly beautiful common.
But the capture of the common carp came at a price. The location of the swim had been compromised. The capture had massively disturbed the once un-fished part of the lake. Now the carp don't feel as safe at this location anymore. They have become too weary.
However, I already have the next plan in my head. I'm ready to put the next plan into action.
How to start this blog, let's start with preparation.
1 It's a good idea to know the lake you are fishing so you are not working blind.
2 It's a good idea to know where the gravel spots are and silt patches so you know how many wraps it is to the snags and features around the lake.
This is all very important as accuracy is key to catching carp in low visibility weather, if it is early morning or the dusk of the evening.
Picking out a marker on the horizon that you can aim for of a night time, knowing your wraps and yards to your target areas, so when you clip up you know you are hitting the same spots each time and that your rigs are really fishing and working for you. Clipping up also means you will be fishing safely. The last thing you want to do is be cracking off on snags and leaving trails of line through the water that fish may get tethered to.
I would also say that in the spring and autumn although the weather can be warm during the day, of a night the temperature can drop quite a bit so make sure to have warm clothing so you can stay comfortable. I have been caught out on a few occasions when it has turned really cold, it's not nice.
Lighting is also important as we are not great at seeing in the night, although I try not to use unless it's needed for instance unhooking fish, landing them and off course tying fresh rigs if needed and attaching bait to the chosen rigs I 'm using.
All i have spoken about is pretty easy to do when put in to practice, and Im sure this all put together has landed me more fish and is really simple to do. I very rarely loose tackle on snags and I have caught plenty of fish using these simple steps.
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This is a nice common caught using these methods just the other night.
Being a mum to five beautiful kids, means myself and Lloyd find it hard to get out on the bank for long sessions sometimes. So quite often we find our self-taking it in turns, to go on short sessions to get our fishing fix. Longer sessions take a bit more planning. We often find our self-doing these solo.
Long or short sessions can both work out and be productive, once you get to know the lake you are planning on fishing. You can put your knowledge into action; does the lake respond well to prebaiting, but then you have to hope someone else won't be fishing over your hard-earned money when you go back to put your plan into action. Or are you planning on fishing a big pit with a low stock of fish... then for this I would say it's not a good idea to do a short session on these types of waters, as they need more planning and preparation. Although that does not mean to say you won't catch, you may get lucky!
My preferred type of lake for a short session is a small sized lake with plenty of features to aim for, somewhere I can walk around and target fish I can see, this is called stalking. When stalking it's best to travel light so you are mobile and can move freely, with ease on to showing fish.
Quite often when travelling light, all I will take is a large beanie matt, a small amount of terminal tackle, my boilie bag for bait, this also doubles up as storage for my terminal tackle, bite alarms, and a catapult. Once all packed this is easy to chuck over my shoulder, the beanie matt also doubles up as storage as when folded in half I can fit my net, landing pole, retainer and weigh sling down the middle, I always wear a pair of polarised sunglasses as well, whatever the weather this helps take the glare off the water, which allows me to see more clearly and spot things I would miss without them.
Whilst on short sessions a lot of walking and looking can be involved, finding features and fish is a must to be successful, I will quite often find fish sitting around snags or feeding on silt or gravel patches. If you commit bait to an area dont just sit back and wait, and hope the bait will bring them into you, be prepared to move on to fish. Stay mobile, as sitting on bait does not always pay off, it can quite often lead to a blank on a short session out on the bank.
Shorter rods and smaller reels can help with casting to spots in smaller and tighter swims. It can quite often give you an edge over anglers that are unable to fish these swims if they are using heavier tackle. When all that I have spoken about is put into practice the results can well outweigh the effort put into snaring one of these beauties.
Mid double from a short session couple of nights ago. As RBA said, "my smile say's it all".
I do love a beautiful paddle look at them coluors.
A mid double mirror from back in March taken on a session.
Every one has there own ways of fishing these are the methods I have learned and find work for me, There are no set in stone rules to carp fishing. At the end of the day they do what they want and some days can be harder than other days.
Its been nearly a week since I last got out to fish, so needed my fix! snuck out for a couple of hours this afternoon. If I was to catch within the time span I had then I would have to be able to be mobile to move freely around the lake and on to carp. I fished light... rod, mat, net, a small amount of bait and tackle...I was off! it was all that I needed even left the bite alarms at home.
I walked around the lake looking and listening for carp. they weren't giving themselves away easy. so I started to lightly bait a few snaggy areas, I watched the water intently at these spots, to my joy I saw a spot at the snags that looked promising as the water was clouded up and I could no longer see the bait I had put in about 20 to 30 minutes prior.
I then re-baited the area with a small scattering of broken boilies and crumb.
I slowly lowered the blow back combi rig with a snowman bait mounted to the hair, the bait I used was Spicy Krill topped with Roasted Nut pop up, onto the light scattering of bait where it had previously been clouded up. I love this type of free fishing, crouching next to a 10ft rod just waiting for that bite, you have to be quick though as fishing locked up and in a snaggy area.
within 10 minutes I was off the mark with the rod getting pulled in and me getting a booty lunging forward to grab it, the carp had made it under some fallen branches so I edged the rod tip down into the water, slowly applied pressure and the carp turned its head and came towards me, she was out the snags but I was far from home and dry as she was angry! I couldn't allow her to take line of the clutch as there was a good chance she would head for another snag, so used my back wind instead so all the time she thought she was gaining line I was easing her back and wearing her down, letting her take a back turn off line or two every now and then. after about 5 or so minuits she came to the surface and was ready for the net.
