Course Trip

Club lake again.
Mike had about 7 fish, up to around 8lb, but he also lost 2 fish from line breaks.  Line is clearly in need of replacing, as its been far too long since we fished regularly.

I had 4 fish, the best of which was 9lb8oz, and 11lb :-)

9lb 8oz

11lb

Coarse Trip

Few hours on our club lake again. 3pm to 8pm.

Decided as I was tired to just sit behind the buzzers and carp rods this time.
Another 10 carp, just like last time, all on Krill Boillies, all from the tight margins beside me.

Would've been 13 but lost 3 from hook pulls or striking too late.

One of them had half its tail missing, from a wound that was clearly very old.

I'm Back !

After a few years out, I finally made it back to fresh water fishing.
A new licence, renewed membership to my local club, and a long overdue re-sort of my kit, I went down to the water today for a few hours and fished 4pm till dusk (8:30ish).

My Watercraft is so rusty I didn't overthink things, just walked around the lake until a swim "felt" right, and it paid off!  Instinct better than brains again perhaps?

Fished my Stalker rod in the right margin on boilies, and had fish from the start.
Also had my quiver tip in the left margin and picked up bonus fish on paste.

x10 Carp all around 7lb ish.
x3 tiny Tench of about 6inches long.
x1 Bream of about 5lb that I didn't photograph.

So good to be back !

Im an idiot and cropped this one badly :-(

Return to Angling 2 - Guest post from Mike

Returning to our Club lake after a few years away....

Ahh parking by the gate and walking down I have missed this place...

Its had a load of work, all of the swims are now proper solid safe pegs . Some are quite high off the water on the far bank and an extending landing net handle will be essential as will a longer front rod rest - or maybe one of my old camera tripods adapted.

On the near bank a folding shovel to clear away the goose poo is an idea too!

The two floating islands and the work on the inflow are so good for wildlife and fish breeding its really excellent to see and there is useful expansion of the lilies   Does it look a bit more commercial?... yes, but I am sure it will soften and the basic nature of the lake is unchanged.

I had long chat with the vice chairman and the feeding campaign is definitely helping the quality of the fish stocks. The truth is that in many commercial waters that are heavily fished, the bait going in is probably providing at least 50% of the biomass these fish are taking on.

So fishing I chose the second peg from the end on the road bank fishing to my left and about a rod length out in 5ft of water.

All of the fish I had came from an area 2m x 1m and reflect the diverse nature of the lake.

Tackle was an 8ft TFG feeder, 8lb main to a 30g middy flatbed with a size 14 short feeder hook.

Bait was one full mix of method mix with added 4mm pellet. A couple of handfuls of squid boilies went in alongside a bed of sweetcorn and then feeder over the top with a catapult of corn every 10 mins or so.

I started with octopus 10mm boilie -  nothing.

A change to sweetcorn and a bite as it hit bottom. First fish a 6lb common followed by a very fine looking 3lb tench.

A short while later a very different fight and a crucian of a pound. There was then a bit of a lull followed by a terrific scrap with an 8lb ghost carp.

Next, a 3lb bream - a nice fish but from 5ft of water a bit of a surprise.

Then a half pound roach followed by a tiny roach foul hooked . Obviously small fish were in in force and a move away from corn was called for and just before changing bait a 4lb carp which looked like a common mirror cross turned up.

As a change of bait, a krill based light coloured boilie with a small corn floater to make a wafter was tried. As I was packing up, the tip slammed around and the clutch screamed - a really magnificent 9.5lb common - fully scaled, orange tail fin - exactly as one would want!

It was real throw back to early days in Newton Abbot, just bigger fish. Even the bait (a big tin of sweetcorn) was the same . A great day and my two recent trips have been a fine welcome back to the coarse fishing world.

Club Lake margin carping

Having been lucky enough to join a local club lake, Mike and I made a trip to suss out the margins which looked very overgrown and are deeper than many we've fished at 2 to 4 feet.
Had a cracking day with several carp, all extra tight in the margins, best running to 8lb, mostly to large Dynamite Choc Malt and Tigernut boilies, but I was very happy to catch on one of my home made zig bugs 12 inches off the deck :-)

6lb on homemade zig

8lb

 

Taking my Boss on First Fishing Trip

My Boss must have got sick of hearing me prattle on about fishing all the time at work. He finally gave in and came with me, his first ever fishing trip.
I chose my local pond for ease of teaching, with basic single bait ledgering to start off simple.
We fished for a few hours in the afternoon with no bites, but as the cold wind was pushing towards us, we moved into the back of the lake out of the wind. Within ten minutes we had a good run that we missed, then a short while later another one that he hooked into and landed his first ever fish, a mirror carp of 8lb 4oz in cracking orange winter colours.

Coarse

A brief evening jaunt to my local pond.
One rod in the margin in 10 inches of water on 8mm bloodworm boillie produced an 8lb mirror in the daytime, and then my PB from this pond in the form of this 12lb 12oz mirror after dark.

8lb mirror

12lb 12oz mirror

The other rod cast further out near the island didnt move.

Saw a fair few carp cruising round the edges, which is not common in this place.
Also tried some LRF lures but no takers :-)

Mike has been down since this trip and said the carp are spawning again given the current heat we are having.

Coarse

Managed to escape for a brief session yesterday. Just fished 5pm till 11pm. It was a lovely day in between a long run of very wet windy weather.






 

I fished the shallow dam wall to make the most of the warmer shallows the sun had been on. Using just 10mm boilies, I threw my traps very tight into my margins. I was rewarded with a brace of doubles.

   

11lb Leather

11lb 4oz Mirror

Karl joined me at 9pm for a cuppa and a natter, which rounded the evening off beautifully.

Carp trip - Method Feeder

Another trip to our local pond this time armed for action.
We had mixed up a smashing method mix of Ringers carp ground bait, laced with molasses, curry powder, and salt, and some other bits. It bound together and smelt fabulous but not too strong.
We arrived at midday, to find the pond mobbed out with anglers, so we hid ourselves on the farthest hidden back bank to do a little quiet fishing. Problem was we had intended to use the method feeder, and we soon found out that in our cramped and overgrown swim this wasn't going to work. It was also baking hot with the sun in our faces, and even Mike, who is seasoned at burning jet fuel round the world to 'forn-parts', admitted it was 'rather hot'. For my part I was dying right there in front of him on the bank.
Anyway, we really weren't in the groove, as we had tangles in bushes, Miss-casts, and generally buggered up our fishing. We resolved to move as the day wore on and other people left. We got lucky at 4pm, and soon moved to a nice open swim that was also shaded - yay!
Mike had 6 fish in total.
In daylight on the bottom, an 8lber we didn't photograph, and this nice 10lb 2oz (on x2 fake corn)


and these two 8lbers (on x2 fake corn)


and at night, this 11lb and 9lb on surface bread...


Mike also had a roach of 1lb 9oz (on halibut boillie 10mm)
and an eel of 2lb (on x2 fake corn!)

For my part, I had nothing during daylight, fishing the method and fake corn, but at night changed to one sinking fake yellow and one floating fake glow in the dark corn, and had one fish of 9lb.


All the carp scrapped like we had never known them too before. Each one put up an account of itself way above its weight, just refusing to surface for ages.

We also saw something Ive only ever seen once before, and that was Grass snakes. Several of them. Mike got a photo, and I managed to grab this little video clip.


A very pleasant afternoon and evening, which we managed to rescue after it going very 'Laural and Hardy' on us.
A bit flipping hot to start with, but worth the effort.
What was strange (apart from catching an eel on fake corn), was that I only had one fish, after fishing the same spot I did last time and did so well. However, we think that because there had probably been a lot of bait going in during the warmer weekend and how busy it has been all round the lake, the fish has become dispersed all over the place and well fed.

Carp Trip - The Method

Mike and I decided to try a decent baiting approach on our local pond, heavier than we usually do, but more in keeping with what all the experts say, (constant method feeder going in every 20 mins), so I mixed up a batch of Halibut Method Mix from Dragon Carp Direct. This was a 2kg bucket.

However..... I got the distinct impression all was not well. I could see an awful lot of straw and hay and 'bits' in there, and it didn't really smell of anything. Certainly not halibut!

I riddled it, and guess what I found? A huge amount of small plasticy bits, and two 3inch chunks of fiberboard, and it turns out the bits were fragments of formica chipboard surface. Basically, the bucket contained 2 kilos of floor sweepings and dust.

The problem was, I had already added to it a kilo of top quality high oil Dynamite pellets, so I was about to lose more money if I binned it all now, so I ploughed on trying to rescue this bucket of crap.

I added some chili powder and salt, and 3 tins of sardines to try and give it some fish flakes, flavor, and ability to bind together. It didn't work, even with the correct amount of water mixed, and left to soak, it was just like trying to bind sand.

I called mike and got him to bring something along to help bind it all.

We arrived at the lake at 3pm.

Mike had half a bag of decent ground bait, so we mixed that into the bucket, plus the starchy liquid from a tin of sweetcorn. Finally, after about an hour, it 'just' about bound together to be serviceable, but we were NOT happy as our fishing time and money is precious. Ill certainly be asking Dragon Carp some questions and letting Angling times know.

(update on this GB issue here)

Mike focused on setting traps in the margins, and had a 9lb 4oz (on plastic corn) and this 10lb 14oz carp (on double 10mm spicy shrimp).

I settled on regular feeding and fishing towards the back island on the submerged slope.

I had a very small 3lb carp (on corn) that was a perfect common and a couple bream of about 2lb (on spam)

I also had four carp (all on corn). Two about 8lb....

...this lovely leather of about 7lb.

...and this 10lb 4oz

I actually bothered to clip up as I cast to the island, which is something I never usually do, and it worked a treat, allowing me to keep casting till midnight in pitch black, and the carp kept feeding. I had a few missed bites, and a couple lost on the way in, but it was a cracking session.

In the last hour, I tried double plastic corn, (one sinking pink, and one floating glow in the dark, both having been soaked for two years in talin - super sweet liquid). I charged the glow one up and it looked brilliant. I had an aborted take on it, but Ill be trying that again!

Ironically, by the time it got to midnight, the ground bait was FINALLY beginning to bind properly, but that's no good.

Ill report back with the results of my contacting Dragon Carp and Angling Times.

Evening coarse trip

Mike and I ran off after work for a quick local session, as we just fancied playing with a float road for a change. Arriving at about 7pm, we fished right in front of us in the margins on lift bite rigs, using good old sweetcorn. We had lots of lift bites but connected with none of them, figuring it was smaller fish just pickup at the corn.
We'd also brought our stalking rods, and dropped them in the margins either side of us, on ledger rigs. Id gone heavy on mine, using a 2oz lead, short 3inch link, and huge (for us) 18mm malt choc and tiger nut boillie (dynamite baits) . After dark, that rod shot off, and netted me a carp of 10lb exactly.
We had a lovely night chatting away in the dark until we realised it was gone 11pm, and time to get home!

Mikes phone doesn't have a flash on the camera, so the pic was taken using 2 headlamps and a generous amount of fiddling with light levels in photoshop. :-)

Carp

Chased big carp again in our local pond.
Heavy gear, standard running ledgers, bigger boilies. Fresh freezer baits too. Cell, Grange, and Black Snail.
However, we didn't hit anything like our target, we didn't even get a double.
I ended up having x5 carp, x2 under tree on Cell. x2 off island on Grange, and x1 stalking on bread, all about 5lb to 8lb.
Oddly, Mike blanked, yet he was sat next to me on similar baits and rigs.
We were both very tired and didn't even think of taking any pics, as it was a pleasure fish after a hard couple weeks in work.

On a nice note, when I was stalking, I had a little wildlife safari going on right by me. I had a couple of baby robins sat on branches just 18 inches from my ear, watching me, and flitting about seeing what I was doing. I had a frog in the water by my feet, gently swimming about, and a kingfisher giving me a lovely little display of his fishing technique just ahead. :-)

Chasing Ghosts

Giant 20lb+ carp in our local pond? Really? We've fished there for 15 years, and it took me 7 of those to get a 10lb double out. Ive caught so many fish out there I'm starting to recognise the tench individually.

Mike and I are not convinced, so we have laid up the usual specimen tench and roach kit, and gone back to heavy rods and leads and bigger baits, to see if we cant winkle out one of these legendary 20lb carp that have supposedly been photographed coming out of our local pond.
We've made several trips now, and caught a lot of smaller carp, but no giants yet.
However we have been told by the owner that on average we out fish other visitors, so we cant be doing all that badly !

On the most recent trip, just yesterday, Mike had x2 carp of about 5lb, taken off the surface.
I had a couple 5lbers off the bottom, and also had this PB Roach of 1lb 14ozs.



Again, we haven't seen any tench for a couple months now.

Karls Stag Weekend

This post is rather late, but is worth posting :-)

Karl decided his stag do was going to be a fishing trip instead of some horrible pub crawl, so some time ago, Karl, Alan and I hooked up at a lovely old local pond to chase some big fish.
Karl and Alan got there on Friday, and fished all weekend.

Alan had a cracking 31lb 6oz Common carp, in the early hours of one morning, and a superb 45lb Sturgeon one afternoon.


Karl had nothing all weekend until just 5 Min's before we left, whilst he was packing up and had just left one rod in the margin 'just in case', and off it went for this cracking 45lb Sturgeon.


I had 'one of those weekends', and didn't get there till late Saturday night, so only had 12 hours fishing. I blanked, but had something huge crash in my margin like Ive never heard before.
The lake was stunning and a pleasure to be on.
At least Karl caught on his own Stag do !

There's also Catfish up to 60lb and double figure Tench in there too, so I'll be going back !