Sometimes It Comes Good – Ben Woodhouse

You know what it’s like when the lake just seems dead & the fish just aren’t reacting to anything you or the others around you are trying. Well that was the position I found myself in during a rather tricky period on a small syndicate I was on last year.

Now the lake will have to remain nameless I’m afraid due to a publicity ban which I will of course honour, but all said it is one of the strangest syndicates I have ever been on. The lake itself is gorgeous and the fish (on whole) are lovely - not big, but very pretty. It’s the people there that took a lot longer to work out than the fish & to be honest, I didn’t work the people out until it was too late!

Well all I have to say is a few people need to grow up! Look fella it’s only fishing!

The fishing had been very difficult through winter due to a number of reasons & the people that had bothered to fish were finding it hard going. Chris & I had put a lot of time in trying different approaches with modest success. I knew that as always there must be a way to crack it as no matter how hard any lake is fishing there will be a way to make it happen.

Location is extremely important in winter as the fish will find a place in the lake that they are comfortable in & where they don’t have to move too far to find some grub when their bellies are rumbling! A lot of watching for the smallest sign like a tiny boil or movement of the surface which sometimes is all that you will see during winter slowly gave away their position over a couple of weeks. So I was happy with location which was around 20 yards to the right of an island where there was a small silty smooth plateau, a lot of guys fished to the island, but tight to it & I think the fish had realised if they hung back away from it they would be safe. Next thing would be my approach! I decided on something that I was sure others weren’t doing, but I knew it would only be a matter of time if I was successful everyone else would be doing the same!

I had the feeling that the fish would soon start to be looking for a bit of snap as spring was approaching, but it was still a little way off & it would be difficult to put in any sort of time before others caught on to my plan. I decided to use a pineapple flavoured BFM bait & to put this in on its own, chopped & whole in small amounts each week, but fished a small yellow pop-up over the top. My reason for this was that the fish would be tasting my freebies in the water, but as it was still cold not be taking many of them, so if I could put a highly visible bait of the same flavour on the spot in among all the other dark, less smelly baits I was sure they would come across that first & I had the best chance of picking up the fish showing any interest.

The first session ended in me losing one and having a low double mirror - result! The next 2 sessions I blanked & it’s very easy to lose faith in your plans very quickly, but I had to stick with it. I arrived the following week to find the area free so I quickly got the baits on the spot with 3 spods of chops over the area & sat back & watched the spot. Just as the afternoon light was fading I saw a couple of faint swirls on the surface and hoped it would come together… it did! From 2.30am through till 6.00am I managed a 17.08 mirror, a stunning linear at 21.12 & a 25.02 - again a mirror. To say I was chuffed wouldn’t come close! Had my plan come together?

21lb 12oz (left) & 25lb 2oz (right)

Rigs, If It Works... - Roy Butwell

It’s cold, raining, you have been sitting there for days wondering why you have not seen any fish, had any fish, let alone a line bite and you start to think "what the hell has gone wrong?" Does this sound familiar? Unfortunately it happens to us all, some more than others. Even the best anglers have off days. Yet we keep on going in the hope of dropping lucky and getting that personal best fish.

Now, I am going to be honest here, like it or not, most of us fall into the same traps. Some of us buy the latest tackle to help think it will catch us more fish, some of us read lots of books and magazines to find out what is the best rig and bait and constantly changing it. Some of it you will benefit from, but I hate to say this, a lot of it is pure gimmicky sales to try and get your money.

Do you honestly think a bright pink glow in the dark pop up that is 3 inches off the bottom tied to a hook with a supercombi blow up rig with the latest 3oz lead that resembles a fake twig using remote super sensitive bite alarms with the tone turned down to a low pitch (as supposedly the fish can hear high pitched tones) will catch you a fish, just because a 15 year old kid in a magazine thinks it’s the best? Yet some of you will try it, why? Because it’s new news and the kid is holding as fish supposedly caught on the rig.

Old methods work exceptionally well - never rule them out and by messing around with fancy “supercombi blow up rigs” may well cost you fish, time, effort and a hell of a lot of money.

I have been fishing for carp since the 80’s & I have yet to catch a fish on a chod rig! Now, some of you out there think the 'chod' is the 'dogs'. I will tell you why - cos it is easy to make up and it doesn’t tangle. I frankly think it’s a boring rig that does not always work. So I stopped using it quite some time ago as it was costing me fish. Fair play, if it works for you then stick with it, but for god’s sake, don’t keep using hyped up mag rigs, it’s very costly.

Rigs: Keeping it Simple

Ok, most of my fishing revolves around just a handful of rigs; I don’t honestly think you need any more than that.

Mainly I use the bog standard semi fixed bolt rig, by far the best rig going. There are many variations of it, but I keep mine quite simple only changing the hook pattern and variable semi stiff coated hooklenghts.

This is my main everyday rig that has caught many a fish for me.

Firstly: The Hair

Right, I have seen some beastly hair rigs! They vary from mega long to silly lengths... I don’t know how some folk even have the nerve to cast such awful rigs out with mahoosive hairs !

They just simply won’t work for 99% of the time but may catch the odd fluke fish.

Keep the hair short but don’t go too short as you may as well side hook the bait! Have a play about with the length of the hair from time to time as on some waters the fish can be very fiddly.

some fish mouth the bait before picking it up ,some fish approach the bait from a 45degree angle , pick the bait up and then the fish tips back up to a horizontal posture to actually eat the bait, some fish suck the bait in from a small distance some just go mad and hoover the bottom up !

The whole point of a hair is to present bait that looks and behaves natural, and aids with keeping the hook free from the bait enabling it to “hook” better.

If a you are fishing a water with wary fish, and you are using a long hair, imagine that fish picking up the bait, mouthing it, it feels some resistance from your rig, it’s going to blow it out, naturally. The hook will probably be still on the outside of the fish’s mouth and you will get no fish! But if you are fishing a water where the fish are big suckers and hoover the bottom of the lake up like no tomorrow, the bait will fly into the mouth of the fish along with the hook. Do you see what I am getting at?

Back to my rig - for a guide, if using boilies I have the hair exiting from the back of the hook on the shank opposite the point. The bait then sits just on the bottom of the bend leaving a small but adequate hair. For particles I use a straight shank hook with the hair exiting the bottom of the shank before the bend

If you are getting the odd fish drop a bait after a run, try shortening the hair or lengthening it, sometimes it works!

The Hook

For boilies I use a wide gape hook, if using an 18mm boilie a size 6 hook is fine but by stepping up the bait to 24mm I will seriously consider using a size 4. If using 14mm bait I will use a size 8. Don’t use too small a hook as this may result in a run with no fish on the end. For particles I normally use a straight shank hook size 8 if using a peanut or tiger nut.

Keep the hook point sharp, a lot of anglers out there don’t even have a hook sharpener in there tackle box. Buy one!

Sharpen you hook point if it feels “just not as sharp as it could be”, don’t ignore it. You would think a chemically stay sharp razor etched dipped in acid and coated in Teflon top of the range hook was sharp when fresh out of the packet, well it isn’t! I can’t stress enough to keep hook points sharp. And don’t even get me going on taking hooks out of a packet and keeping them all together in a nice little box, rattling around, getting blunt themselves! Leave them in the packet. Also get a jewellers magnifying glass, this helps to inspect the hook point. You want the hook point “sticky sharp” all of the time.

Hook Length

This is down to you I am afraid, there are loads of different hook length materials out there to choose from. Generally I like to have the suppleness and stiffness of the same material to do combi hook length. Rig Marole Hydrolink, Kryston Snake-Skin, are firm favourites in my box. I also use Kryston Multistrand a lot, although it can be a nightmare when fishing a water with dead leaves and debris on the bottom.

As for length of the rig, in summer I use shorter rigs of 6-8 inches, in the winter I use longer rigs 8-12 inches. But I have been known to use 3 inch hooklenghts to get the “instant bolt” rig.

Camo your rig the best as you can, black hookinks really do stand out badly on a clean gravel bottom or sand banks, yet a length of silkworm or super silk coloured in with a sandy coloured marker may work a treat.

Only the other day I was fishing a lake that had a very fine green silkweed all over most of the lake bottom. I decided to have a green hooklink to Camo the rig. It worked a treat catching me a 22lb fish within 4 hours of getting there.

When I was packing up I noticed a rig that someone must have dropped in my peg in the grass. It stood out like a sore thumb; it was a gold coloured hooklength! Totally the wrong choice for the water, and I doubt it would have caught a fish.

Lead Clips

I use lead clips a lot as I don’t like inline leads very much. I just don’t like the aspect of a lead that may not fall off the line if a fish snags you up. I know there are fancy 'lead fall off' methods for inline leads - I just don’t like them.

As for lead clips, I make sure the lead can fall free from the clip should a fish get snagged or snap my line. Sometimes a new lead clip may be a little tight on the lead loop. Take time to cut away the tight area to make the lead slip off fairly easy. I don’t use a swivel on my leads, I cut them off, this is probably why the loop may be tight on some of my lead clips but a small adaption soon clears the problem up. Rig Marole brought out a 'freefall lead clip' not so long back. It is made from a metal material but seems to work well for me, try em out!

Bait

Then there is the minefield of what bait to use!

Please try not to fall into the habit of buying cheap or bad quality bait. If you are using it on a regular basis or in quantity, it is not good for the fish and only works for a short time. Not like good, well made bait that has good ingredients, protein etc.

Imagine having a lot of chocolate on a plate for breakfast, dinner and tea. You will soon get fed up of it and after eating just a few chocolates you won’t want many more, plus it’s not exactly the best diet in the world is it? It’s not natural. This is like what cheap bait is to a carp. It may eat a few but after that it will soon wonder away from all that expensive bait that has been thrown in. What happens to it? It rots away on the bottom ready for the next angler to throw his bait on top of and not catch anything!

Try and do your own research on the best bait that catches fish on your water. If it is a particle bait, make sure it is prepared properly or is pre-cooked like the Dynamite baits range. Unprepared bait is a death sentence to carp. It swells up in its gut and does untold damage to the poor fish. The same goes for hemp and partiblend groundbaits. Please cook it properly and don’t bollock it in too much. Over the years I have seen guys wade out to a swim and literally empty 5-10 kilos of hemp into an area the size of a hula hoop, then catch no fish then do exactly the same the next day and so on - why? Because they have read in the latest carp mag that some guy down south is fishing a huge lake, caught a 50lb fish and baited up heavily on pigeon conditioner.

It may well work down south if they are having it large and getting their heads down regular on the stuff, but if the fish are not eating the bait and you are not getting any fish, then stop piling it in! A small handful if tiger nuts are all that is needed for free offerings round a tiger nut rig. They are very filling for a carp.

Right that’s it from me for now. Happy fishing and go catch some lunkers!!

A Week In France – Nick Coppinger

This is my story of the fabulous week I spent fishing in France.

The Journey starts when I arrive at Tom’s house about 6pm on Friday 3^rd July 2009, we load his Espace with my fishing gear and were ready for the off. Chris and Andy (yam) turned up and time is getting closer for us to leave. Saying goodbye we set off on our voyage of discovery.

We had arranged to meet the rest of the party somewhere on the M40 on our way to Dover. This is where I was introduced to 3 fantastic new friends, Andy Harris, his son Matt, and Neil Horton, we were like little school boys going on a school trip, what a feeling. We set off again, after a few stops we eventually arrived at Dover, and managed to get the earlier Ferry. We set off and we stood there watching the lights of Dover slowly getting smaller. We had some food, and did the normal duty free and after a little rest we had arrived in Dunkirk, back to the cars we were tired but at the same time excited. We’re off the ferry and on our way to Lac Desire, our home for the next week.

We arrived at about 9am the Saturday morning, unfortunately we could not get on the lake till about 12pm, so the weather was great and we managed to get in some sunbathing while talking about the week ahead. We were greeted by Marie and Andy the owners of this fantastic place, sitting around the huge wooden table, ice cold squash was on the agenda to quench our thirsts. Anticipation was now building and at last we were given a guide of the lake and facilities, walking around the lake, every peg looked promising and the excitement was building in all of us, after being shown the toilet and shower facilities it was back to the table for more cold drinks and the Peg draw. We all had our own peg number we fancied but kept it to ourselves, with the draw done it was now time to unload, the Lake provided Barrows, however it was not to far a walk. Neil was in Peg 2, Ben Peg 3, Chris peg 4, Andy H peg 5, Tom Peg 6, Me peg 7 Yam peg 8 and Matt Peg 11. The lake has fridge for you to store your beer and things like that, so after putting some cans in the fridge, I began setting up.

The 1^st night we had a relatively quiet night, which was a good thing as we were very tired from the Journey. I woke the next morning and started thinking of my game plan, where was I going to fish, so out came the marker and I began feeling the lake, finding likely looking spots where I could place my Bait. It was all petty level around 4 ft in depth, the far bank had some over hanging trees, so that’s where I decide to try first, I proceeded to crush some boillie and fill my boat, each spot had about 6 boat loads placed on them, with the last carry my hook baits, 2 16mm boillie on 2 rods and the other boillie and a pop up. I was done, time to sit back and relax. A little walk around and Chris was not having such a good time, a succession of missed opportunities, hook pulls things like that, however he motored on and got the rewards. That night we decided on a BBQ, There was a BBQ there and a oil drum cut down so you light a fire, Ben had brought a huge grill to cook on, but we opted for the BBQ, the meat supplied by Tom was fantastic, and after a few beers it was time for bed. The day had been good, the fish were starting to feed with Andy and Chris taking a few fish. During the night I had a lot of line bites, as the peg I was fishing was like a passage from one side of the lake to the other, also the Chats were hungry as well.

The next day it was time to change tactics, so I moved my rod closer towards the middle part of the lake, to see if that would stop the liners, things were pretty quiet Monday, fish were coming out, but not a lot. That evening we had another BBQ this time using the open fire, we had everything and again ate like kings. That night it was quieter, not many liners but still no fish, Tom next to me was having the same as me, and Yam the other side of me was also struggling.

Tuesday, I wait for my spod mix that I had ordered the day before, 10kg bucket arrived around about lunch time, so I wasted no time at all in getting it out, after about a hour of spodding I sent out my rods again, but this time I’d changed my rigs and bait, one rod had the snowman on it, the other boillie and plastic corn and on the third 2 plastic corn counter balanced by some lead putty. The fish were really starting to feed now; I think pegs 2, 3, 4 and, 5 were all catching. At about 5pm my right hand rod went, the plastic corn had worked, I ran and struck, yes it was on, everyone came over, I was nervous, this could be my 1^st 20, I didn’t want to lose it, took me about 7 or 8 min’s to bring in, not knowing what it was, then in the net it went, Ben landed it for me, ‘it’s a grassy’ he said, “and a good one, Nick this could be your 1^st 20”. He was right 25lb 12oz fine specimen Grass Carp, not only my 1^st 20 but a beautiful Grass Carp. We had been giving the White T-shirt to the person who deserved it the most, i.e. PB, 30lb etc. This time it was mine, so far every day had produced something special, and today it was my turn. The pictures were a little difficult; I had not held a fish of that size before, and nerves as well. Suddenly she went for it, and tried to get away from the Mat and head towards the water, I got my arm wrapped round it, trying my hardest not to hurt the fish, but also trying to get her back so I could get that one picture. To the rescue came Chris with a sling, and we managed to get her back there. The photo done it was time to return her to the water, and after about 10secs she swam off, I was over the moon. More fish came out that day, and the evening we were full of joy, talking about the day and what had happened so far. That night I was just settling down and falling asleep, I could hear the noise of my alarms, but it was not sinking in that it was mine, until Chris who had just put one back came running up and said “Nick your rods going, Fish on!” I shouted to him “hit it!” rushed out of bed, found my head torch and took my rod from Chris, it was pitch black and the fish was off, it kited round to the right towards Andy’s peg, and yeah took all 3 rods of Andy’s out, after a good fight, I managed to land it! A 23lb+ Common Carp, what a great 2^nd 20, Thanks to Chris for landing it for me and taking the photos and keeping me calm, sorry to Yam for taking his rods out.

A fine Grass carp - 25lb 12oz (left) & a great 2nd twenty! - 23lb+ Common (right)

I was woken the next day with matt saying Dave had hooked into a Lump, by the time I had roused myself all I had to look at was the photos, but it was a fantastic one. We had decided the night before to have a breakfast, sitting around the huge table eating one of the best English breakfast there was, Marie said that Wednesday’s is normally a good day, well it was going to turn out to be a day we will never forget, Chris had 5 30lb carp in a row, Andy had fish after fish, then Tom’s left hand rod went, he was into his first fish, a beautiful Mirror about 22lb, he was well happy,, he cast his rod back out, then 5 min’s later it went again, this time he knew this fish was special, after what seemed like a lifetime of playing the fish and everyone anxious for him, as this fish could be special, it was in the net! Everyone cheered, wow what a fish, yes it was Tom’s first 30lb, around 35lb Mirror, the photos taken Tom decided he was going to put the fish back with him in the water, some fantastic shots were taken, I was well pleased for him. The fun did not stop there, Andy’s rod went, this time it was tricky and not wanting to lose it, off came the trousers and in went Andy in his underpants to play it, Tom being already wet, decided to join him to land the fish, and what a fish, a beautiful two tone Mirror Carp, a really pretty fish, that had just top Andy’s day, this is after he had also joined the 30lb club. Fish after fish were coming out, imagine your fishing a runs water but every fish over 20lb and 30lb, it’s a Carper’s dream. The next dream moment was for Neil, his rod went off and yeah he too joined the 30lb club, however this was going to be a very special moment, as we were sorting out this fish, his other rod went, Ben ran over to it and struck it for him, Neil ran over and carried on the fight, while everyone else was looking after the other fish, in net it went! He had not only entered the 30lb club, he had entered it in style, TWO 30lb fish in one swoop, a Mirror and Common Carp, that was the icing on the cake, what a day’s fishing, that night we talked about it, Lac desire had lived up to its already fantastic reputation, everyone was happy. Yam had decided to move, he was getting very frustrated so sacrificed the social side of things and went to find the fish around the other side of the lake, sadly he missed all the action, but he was into the fish so he was happy.

Thursday we woke to cloud and was cooler than the previous day’s, after a walk round the lads had had a few fish in the night, but around about lunch time, Neil’s right hand rod went, now I have never seen anything like it, a 3½ lb TC rod bent over like it was a quiver rod, it took line, you see it kite at the top end of the lake, now I know when they say “I can’t do anything with this” what it really is like, Neil could not get into the water as it was too deep, so a couple of the lads ran and got the Boat, Neil and Ben jumped into the boat and franticly tried to gain line from this monster fish, it took the boat, and I mean took the boat where it want to go, then the worsted happened, it decided to sulk and went into the snags by the time they had rowed over there it was well and truly not going to move for no one, the line had broke and the fish had won that battle, a dejected pair rowed back thinking what it might of been, Neil did turn round to me and say “that would of scared the hell out of me landing it, never felt something so strong before” , was it  one of the big catfish that live in this lake or was it a sturgeon? We will never know.

Friday, the day was just like the rest, my swim had gone quiet but others were still catching, I did venture out to the supermarket and that was an amazing experience, anything and everything was on offer, I bought supplies namely Beer and treated myself to a Pig’s Tail, which I boiled on the fire for a few hours, a bit of coke and tomato ketchup reduced down and it was ready, great! A big benefit in having a brother in law who is also the chef.

The last full day of fishing, I was still after my 3^rd fish, all I wanted a Mirror, and I let out all the stops, concentrating on 2 areas back under the trees, taking the boat all the under and releasing the bait. Fish were still coming out and it was like the norm now, they would weigh the fish, take pictures then back it went, shouts of I’ve had another could be heard, but then out of the blue and at the most unexpected time, Andy’s rod went, no one took much notice really, some of the lads were setting new rigs, some were putting fish back so it was a case of just looking really, the fish did not fight too much and came in relatively easy, Tom was the guy landing it, in the net it went, It looked a big fish, Tom picked the net up, and said this is the heaviest fish I’ve ever picked up. Could this be the dream 40lb fish we have been after all week, Andy had already joined the 30lb club this week and yes! This time he joined the 40lb club, a fantastic 43lb Mirror! His dream had come true and what a dream and what a result for him, we all so pleased, the last night Neil brought the champagne to celebrate the week, when my rod went off, I ran to it and struck, it was one and felt good, everyone came over, the fish kited off to my right up the trees, and then the line went slack, he was off, reeling my line in and feeling pretty down, Ben looked at the line, either a snag or gravel bar had damaged the line, gutted. Andy had another fish so they left me to set up again, this time i cast out no bait boat this time, and I nailed it. We went to bed quite early that night, as we had to be up early in the morning. Just settling and my left hand rod went off, out the bivvy I jump and struck into the fish, yes! No! Lost it, slipped the hook, oh well I’ll put out again, Matt was there too, just cast my left rod and off goes my right rod again, wow!, dropping the rod I'd just cast, I struck the right hand one, again into the fish then slipped the hook, I was so gutted, but I had found the spots where the fish were, so out they went, unfortunately, no more runs that night or the next morning and sadly it was time to go. Packing up went slowly and we loaded the cars up. After the group photo and saying goodbye to Marie and Andy, and the real scare of Tom’s battery being flat due to him charging his phone all week, we hit the road.

All in all this trip I will always remember, not because of France or my PB, but for the fish everyone caught and most of all for 7 guys some not having met before but to turn round one day and say, yeah I was there, and becoming true friends, Thank you guys.

Special thanks to Ben and Chris for arranging it, don’t forget me next year, Neil for the fantastic Website and the DVD were getting, Tom for taking me and to Andy, Matt and Yam for coming along. Andy “I like you I do” innit.

A Weeks Social Fishing Holiday – Chris Naylor

For the past few years I have been making an annual visit over the channel to France with just a close friend, this has always worked out and we have both always done very well caught some nice fish.  This year was going to be a bit different.  I had taken on responsibility for organising a trip to Lac Desire where we would have exclusive use of the lake for a whole week.  There were eight of us in total, and for many it was to be their first foreign trip.  Lac Desire was chosen firstly because of the social lay out of the pegs, after all that was to be the main purpose of the holiday and because of the high stocking levels so hopefully everybody would catch at sometime during the week.  I had previously been to Desire in 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed myself and hoped everybody else would this time round.  I also really wanted everybody to catch as I felt responsible being as I had selected the venue.  Desire isn’t the place to go for purely big fish and I’d made my mind up that I wanted to catch a large number of good sized carp and enjoy myself with some good friends. 

After a long and uneventful journey through the night we arrived at the lake keen and raring to go.  We were greeted by Andy and Marie, the owners, and after refreshing cold drinks and a quick tour we were ready to do the draw for pegs.  I came out fourth and luckily my preferred peg was still free, so that’s what I chose.  Peg 4 was to be my new home for the week.  Peg 4 is a double peg and together with peg 5 covers a large amount of open water and with tree lined far margins the carp are always around.  My neighbour for the week was Andy Harris who I’ve known for a couple of years and get on well with, which was good as our bivvies were nearly touching! This was due to the way we set our camps up to allow us plenty of room behind for the long cast to the far side.  The near margins did look good but with plenty of bank side activity we thought the carp would stay away.

The first afternoon was spent putting up camp and setting up my rods, which took longer than normal due to the 33^oC temperature!  After a quick marker around I found the lake bed to be fairly uniform with depths from 3 to 4 feet deep and made up of clay and gravel.  There was one exception which was a slit gully about 10 yards off the far tree line where the depth was 4 and a half feet.  For the first night this was baited with around 2kg of boilies, which were well spread out.  I decided not to fish the first night for a couple of reasons.  Firstly I wanted the fish to move in to my swim, have a munch on some free bait and feel safe and secondly I needed a good nights sleep after being up for 36 hours! The remainder of the evening was spent tying up a few rigs ready for the morning, visiting the local supermarket for supplies and having a social bar-b-que and a couple of beers at the gazebo area behind the pegs.  Thanks Tom your cooking as always was spot on!

I woke in the morning to find nobody had had any action form the carp,  but the chat had been active through the night giving everybody bleeps till all the hook bait had been devoured.  I hoped I wasn’t in for the same treatment.  I baited two of my rods, one a single pop-up and the other a snowman and cast them towards the far baited area, one on the spot and one just off, the third rod went about half way across on some gravel with a bit of spod mix over it.  The hook bait was a couple of tiger nuts from the mix just in case the chats were active.  I didn’t have to wait long, as half way through my first morning coffee the middle rod one noted off.  Everybody quickly gathered round and the fish was soon netted expertly by Andy.  The fish turned out to be one of the smaller carp in the lake; a common of 14lb’s and was quickly photographed and returned.  Things were looking good, my bait was working, I hadn’t been bothered by the chats and I’d got some carp in my swim.  Although I was a little disappointed with the size of the fish it was a relief to get one on the bank so quickly, at least I could relax a little now and hope for some bigger fish to come along.  It was then that my problems started.

I lost my next two takes, the first due to a hook pull and the second due to the hook straightening out.  This was easily put right by changing to a different pattern of hook.  I managed to land the next fish a nice mid 20 mirror, although I did play it a bit gently.  I kept the bait going in, roughly half a kilo after every take and the fish were regularly showing themselves over the area.  The next morning my problems arose again, a few more lost fish, this time due to the hooklink knot breaking on the strike. Having never had a problem with my knots before I was a little unsure as to what to do next. But I did know that I couldn’t carry on as things were.

I have been using Korda soft and stiff Hybrid hooklink material and using a figure of eight loop knot for years and never had one break and now both materials had started to fail with three going in a row.  My mate Ben and I conducted some tests tying loop knots and grinners in both materials and found the loop knots broke first every time.  But I was unhappy using the grinner knot as I found the coating kept breaking when tightening the knot down.  By now my confidence in to two materials was at an all time low.  I was at a loss as to what to try next.  I managed to pinch enough material from Ben to tie up three rigs which kept me going for a day while I continued to think about my problems.  Rig wise I decided to keep thinks simple and as the snow man baits were producing more fish I used the same rig on the two rods fished to the far spot.  The rig consisted of a coated braid hook link of around 6” long to a size 6 Korda Kurv hook with a small ring on the shank, a fairly long hair and two 18mm baits.  This is a simple looking rig but works well as the fish have a good mouth full to deal with and the hook turns and catches in the bottom lip every time.  Some people would be unsure about using such a large hook bait but 30lb carp have big mouths and two 18’s fit in quite easily!  After landing a couple more fish on the rig my confidence was rising. On Tuesday afternoon while getting some of my bait from the bait shed on site that I noticed a small selection of end tackle for sale on the wall which included a hooklink material I hadn’t seen before.  The colour looked spot on for the lake bed, the coating striped off easily, it knotted well and it straightened without any steam.  It didn’t take me long to decide to purchase some. It turned out to be one of the best buys I’ve ever made.

Three rigs were tied in the new hooklink and cast back to the productive spots.  Two out to the far spot and one closer in.  It was time to put my confidence to the test. It was to be the start of an eventful night. The first take came just after midnight and after a long hard battle and a tangle with one of my other lines, a 31lb common graced my net.  The hook hold was spot on and the knot hadn’t slipped, confidence in my rigs was back.  It was while untangling the mess that I heard somebody’s alarm signalling a fast take, it wasn’t Andy next door.  A quick wonder up to Tom, no not him. And still the run was going.  Up to Nick’s swim and his right hand rod was well away but no sign of him, a quick shout of “wake up Nick” and the reply was “ eerr hit it for me I’m putting some clothes on it’s too cold!”  After a drawn out fight the fish could be seen on the surface down the right margin but wouldn’t come any closer to the waiting net. On putting on a torch we could see Nicks line going up from the fish through some branches before coming back down to the rod, after a couple of minutes of stale mate there was only one thing left to do.  I stripped off and jumped in!  I quickly managed to free the line from the branches but noticed that the fish had caught some of Andy’s line from the next peg and wouldn’t come any closer to Nick. With a bit of luck I managed to get the fish in the net.  Once back on dry land the fish turned out to be a twenty pound common. Nick was over the moon as it was his first twenty common and the smile on his face made getting wet worth it.  I couldn’t have been happier and would gladly do it again for any of my mates. 

The next day turned out to be one I will never forget.  I ended up landing ten fish to 36lb 8oz, which included 4 other thirties. I just kept introducing the bait and the bites kept coming.  I just couldn’t put enough bait in.  Maybe the bait was a factor in the catch, it might have been the new hooklink, it could have been the improved weather conditions, it might have even been the carp gods re-paying me for my heroics the night before, all I know it was it was a cracking day with some great mates who were all genuinely happy for me and my catch.  All of the fish came from the far spot with the closer rod only producing one fish since Sunday.  The day as a whole turned out to be busy for everybody with fish being landed all round the lake.  Everybody quickly gathered behind whoever had the next run and enjoyed the catch as if it were their own.

A day I will never forget - 36lb 8oz Mirror (left) & 33lb 4oz Mirror (right)

After the mad Wednesday the action slowed down a little with a steady flow of carp falling to everybody’s rods for the remainder of the week.  Through the week we worked out that when there were carp in your swim you wouldn’t by bothered by the chats and could almost predict when bites would occur.  It was just Matt who was struggling for a bite in peg 11 so Thursday lunch time I reeled in my rods and instead of resting the swim as I had been doing I told him to get his round for the afternoon, Matt was most grateful and made the most of the opportunity by landing a nice mid twenty mirror.  I was just happy that he managed to catch one! Who knows how the carp gods will repay me for that one?

Neil was fortunate to hook one of the lakes large catfish and felt the power of these beasts by being towed around the lake in the boat! Andy smashing his pb with a huge mirror of 43lb, Tom landing his first 30 after a prolonged battle, Nick catching his first 20 and Neil’s brace of 30’s, the evenings spent socialising by the fire pit with a bottle or two of French red and who could forget Reuben the carp dog.  There were far too many highlights of the week but the one thing I will remember is how well everybody enjoyed themselves even when bites were hard to come by, which I guess makes the week a success.  I can’t wait for the next social!

 
I’d just like to say thank you to Andy and Marie for their superb hospitality and great cooked breakfasts, Bob at Five Star Baits for meeting all my bait requirements and to all the guys who came along. Ben, Neil, Andy, Tom, Nick, Matt and Yam, cheers guys it wouldn’t have been the same with out you.