Avoiding the Blank 19 Part 11 (Moreton Fisheries and some rivers)

Avoiding the blank 19 pt 10 (Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon)

Nov 19 AAF Group 2 Match 2 Kennet and Avon Canal

After the fun that I had been having on the river near Blandford of late I was a bit miffed when this match was moved onto the canal but due to the access issues I understood it completely. We were all back off to Bishops Cannings and the draw took place in the Wetherspoons in the center of Devizes, I know I lived there for a few months but I really dislike the place with its stupid car parking machines and rules and the traffic, don't get me started on the traffic.
I was lucky enough to draw one off the golden peg and just the wrong side of the swing bridge from where I wanted but it was a half decent peg anyway.  I had decided against taking bread for the first time in years on the canal, partially on advice from some people whom had been fishing the winter league up that way and partially because I hadn't had time since the venue change to prep any.

Despite my misgivings I knew I was in for a good day so I set up pole rigs for a short line, a couple fot the long 3ft line and  one for fishing worm down the canal to my left towards a couple of boats that should have provided some cover.  I also set up a 4m whip in case the short line was as good as it can be down there.  I had mixed my groundbait the night before to try and make it as inert as possible, I had also sieved it to remove all the bigger bits, i had pinkie, caster and worm as my main go to baits and I was ready well before the all in.

On the all in I fed a small ball of groundbait on the short line and then fed another 3 balls onto the long line, I chopped 20 worms added some crushed caster and shipped that down the canal alongside  the boat in the deeper water.  I shipped out the short rig expectant of a quick response and to be fair it wasn't too bad, i had 4 fish in 5 minutes and was soon switching to the whip to see if that could increase the catch rate. It was at this point that I started to think that it would not be my day as the boat closest to me where I had fed my worm line suddenly burst into life, the owners jumped about and set sail straight over the top of m short line.  Fortunately it only slowed the fishing for a few minutes and I was soon catching the odd roach again but their size had quartered, this was then compounded when the next boat left from my left had side this time with more throttle straight over my short line.  Time to go long I thought.

I shipped out onto the long line and there were tiny roach on pinkie there straight away, at this point I decided to try and catch a bigger stamp of fish so I decided to concentrate on fishing caster.  I would ship out and then toss pot 5-7 caster over the area and then allow the 0.3g rig to settle, after 20 seconds I would lift and drop and most put ins I was getting a bit by stamp roach doing that.

The only problem I had was that I was watching Nick and the guy to his right catching bonus skimmers and roach to 10OZ!!!!  I decided pretty quickly that I was just going to enjoy my day though and try to sort out the caster fishing as I can't remember ever doing very well with them on any canal.

I had the odd look on the worm line for a couple of slightly better roach and a perch of 4oz but I couldn't seem to keep them interested in the track so I started another caster line to my right and tried to work the two swims for maximum reward. It started to rain at one point and I even got my umbrella out of the rod bag for the first time in years, I think I'm starting to get old!  Come the all out even though Nic and I had been trying the Des Shipp school of moaning to be fair we had both had a nice days fishing.  I was weighed in first for the section and I had 2.325Kg of mostly roach, Nic had managed to moan  3.175Kg of roach, hybrids and some waspie perch onto his double pinkie hookbaits.  If we had taken away the bonus fish it would have been alot closer but such is life.  I was also beaten by the guy on the other end peg who had 2.4Kg, I saw at least 2 bream in his net so once again bonus fish had seen me off of the K&A.

So I ended up 3rd in section, Evo had a 3rd in section (By default) and Greg had 4th in section, this put the team 3rd or 4th on the day so just above bottom, still at least it was a nice day out of the office.

What would I do differently?
I will never leave bread at home again.
I should have put a worm line tight across.
I needed a lighter float on the caster line with a hairy fairy shotting pattern.

But all of this will change for the next match as we are on Todber, here is a heads up I am not re-elasticating my pole so will mostly be fishing the wag or feeder.

October 19 AAF Gp2 Match 1 Dorset Stour

So it is that time of year again when I try to get something down for the blog.

Last month I fished a group match on the Dorset Stour just outside Sturminster Newton, even though the weather on the run up to the match had done its best to try and prevent it from happening around 30 anglers turned up to a very colored and fast flowing Stour.
I managed to draw the golden peg and all I was told at the draw was that it was on Bream bend!!!  Well if that was the case I thought then I was in with a chance of a couple as the water would have been sock on, alas I was the peg downstream of the bend just as the river narrowed again, typical.

To be fair it wasn't all bad as There was a bit of slack towards the far side and some nice looking trees downstrream of the swim so I did fancy it down there for the possibility of a chub or 2 but only time would tell. 

I mixed my groundbait and then started to plumb up, I had a bit of a shock as it was about 6 feet deep at 13m and nearly 14ft at 12m!!  The flow on the long line was also problematic as it was still quite quick and I was being forced into setting up a 2g rig as my light rig, a 4g rig as a slowing rig and I also set up a 4g flat float if I needed to hold the bait still.  This was not ideal but if I came any shorter then I was not really able to fish a pole rig as the flow was to fast.  I also set up a waggler to cast down the swim in the vain hope that I might be able to get a few fish from under the trees on wag and mag and that was me all set up.

I finished prepping my bait and was actually ready for the all in, I had spoken to a couple of friends on the run up to this match and they both recommended cupping a few balls of bait in, but I knew better and decided to bosh in 6 baby's heads and then cup in 4 smaller feed rich balls over the top.

Straight after feeding I shipped out with the 2g rig baited with a red maggot confident of a quick bite, however, after an hour and with nothing to show I decided to pick up the waggler rod.  I had been trickling a few maggots down the swim towards the overhanging trees and much to my relief on the 2nd or 3rd run down the float went under withe a small bomber chub.... I hadn't blanked.  I managed to get a few bites by changing the depth, hookbait and exploring across and down the swim but I never felt like there were any big fish in the swim.   took the decision around mid match to quickly sert up a maggot feeder and cast it down next to the branches.

I set it up with a 0.20mm flouro hooklength and a size 14 carbon feeder hook and 2nd cast I hooked a decent fish, I hadn't seen the bite.  I cranked it quite hard as I was only too aware that there were old weedbeds in the flow and overhanging branches on my bank down stream, I got it to under the rod top and just as I was trying to get its head up it bit me off!

I am still not sure what had happened but I swapped to a 0.17mm mono hooklength straight after to to stop it from happening again.

It was coming into the last couple of hours now and by alternating between the feeder and the waggler i was still picking up the odd fish but they were all small.  Bri on the bream hole had had a skimmer and a few bits above me and I had been watching Mike down from me netting a few bonus fish from his short line so I was never really in the chase.  Anyway the all out was called and I ended up with 825g of small fish, this was just enough for third in the section as the river temperature had dropped dramatically with the infux of rain recently.  Bri had 1.3Kg and mike had 4.65Kg so I had been well and truly 'Harried'.

Still it was an enjoyable day in the sun and I cannot wait until the next time I can get onto the flowing water.

What would I do differently?

I would not have balled it in at the start and I should have set up a bolo for the middle of the river as my groundbait was getting washed down by the flow, I also think that a stick down the near margin may have been worth a few bonus fish.

Avoiding the Blank 19 part 5

First trip out this month was to the runs water, once again I took my Aircurves with me so that I could get used to catching more fish on them, I was using conventional rigs on leadclips for the majority of the time and had about a dozen carp that ranged from 2lb to around double figures.

13lb common from the 'Big Fish water'

Next stop was onto another lake on the same complex that is supposed to hold some bigger fish (Gonna call it ‘the big fish water’), I was using wafters and Ronnie rigs over a little bit of bait and managed a single bite in the early hours that resulted in a low double.  Jase who was with me had one in the evening so we decided to had a bit of fun on the runs water before we left, this resulted in us both having a few but it certainly wasn’t frantic.  It was fun though and that is the whole point of going fishing with your mates.

The shallows at Shearwater

A few days later I was back out on the banks of shearwater but I was using my lighter rods so it was fishing at closer range than what I would usually d in that area of the lake.  I had a few on the bottom, one on floaters and a couple on zigs but due to the fact that I had been feeding small baits I was plagued by bream, I must have had 30 of the blighters when I didn’t want them.

A rare pretty one from Shearwater

The following week it was back off to the big fish water in search of a bigger bream, I had heard rumours of bream to 8lb so it would be good for a night on the light kit.  I had worm, caster, dead maggot, hemp and corn at my disposal and this was getting fed in an open end feeder pugeed with a fishmeal groundbait with a few pellets in it.  I got indications almost straight away and after only a few hours I started to realise that there may be a problem as I started to catch eels on maggot and worm hookbaits, I persevered but the eels were that aggressive that nothing else to get a look in.  I switched to feeding corn and using double corn on the hair for the night but still they would strip the bait off the rig with the minimum indication but as the sun started to glimmer lift light levels in the pre dawn I finally hooked and landed a 4lb bream… Honour satisfied.  I started working hard again and the eels were still everywhere, but after switching swim for the umpteenth time I had a proper bite when I had given up hope in the mid morning and it resulted in a 6lb 1oz bream.  I packed up soon after to get some sleep.

Good to see so many of them.

6lb 1oz Bream at last

Last trip out for this installment was to Orchard Place farm in Kent for another Army Match,  I was partnered up with Chris and we came out the draw in the bottom half so opted for a swim in which we had seen a few fish the day before, we were tucked into a corner on the back of an island.  Chris took the corner and open water going around the island I had the back of the island, It took less than an hour for me to catch a fish and it was small.

Small fish tactics

 I ended up having to use some interesting tactics to convert the bite and long story short, we had 20 carp for 70lb, this was enough for second in the match behind Matty and Joss who were on front point and they had 350lb for just over 20 fish. Meh.  It was fun catching up with a few of the old and bold and definitely an experience. Anyway I am going to wrap thei short and sweet blog up now and Iook out for the next one very soon.

My biggest of the match at 10lb!!

Avoiding the blank 19 part 4

First trip away this month was a day session with Jase on the ‘Runs’ water, I had decided to use my long range rods as  had a match coming up where I would have to use them so getting used to playing fish on them seemed like a good idea.  It was an eventful day with plenty of banter and fish, I ended up with 10 carp to 13lb and Jase had a few less, again method feeders seemed to be the better tactic on the day.

My next trip out was with another mate, Dave, to a small group of lakes called the retreat just north of Romsey, they are small and were ornamental ponds now open on a day ticket, I was hoping for some tench or the like but my plans were scuppered very quickly, I started on the float against a tree where I had seen some bubbling as I walked around and within a minute of my treble maggot hitting the bottom I was attached to a small carp.  This continued throughout most of the day, I moved lakes and swims a few times to try and start again and it wasn’t until just on dusk that I managed a double figure carp from in the margins over what groundbait I had left.  I had seen a few better fish throughout the evening as I was floater fishing but it transpired that there had been people fishing for them all weekend before (hence bread in all the margins) and the owner doesn’t understand skylining….. Dave also had quite a few carp and rudd but his biggest was probably 7lb, still it was a fun day out.

It was now mid april and I still had not seen hide nor hair of a tench, I started putting feelers out on some of the club waters to try and get a hint and I was told about a small pond next door to the runs water.  I went out on a Friday night for a look and to be fair with the small size of it I really did not fancy it for a tench of any size so I went bream fishing on the runs water instead.  I started on open end feeders with worm and maggot hookbaits but it was a slower start than I was expecting even with the cracking weather we were experiencing (read strong winds and rain).  Up until 11pm I had had a small carp on double dead maggot and that was it, so I decided to try a switch to the method feeder, I think the line angle was wrong for the paternoster, anyway within 10 minutes I had a 19lb common on the bank and this pattern continued with a steady run of carp until about 3am when I wound the rods in.

19lb 'Runs water' common

Come the morning I fed with a big bait up feeder a small amount of bait and then went straight back over the top and at last some bream started to make an appearance through the carp.  I ended up with 10 carp and a handful of bream to 4lb ish, so not a complete failure.

I was back on the tench hunt the following week again on a water I have fished a few times in the past but has apparently been ottered, long story short I caught some nice rudd on maggot feeders in the afternoon and that was about it, bites stopped when it got dark and the fish never returned, but I did have a pike eat a feeder so that may have had something to do with it.

 My last trip out was again an Army match this time to the Quarry Lake at Baden hall fishery, I had been looking forward to this match for a while as the chances of a big fish are very good providing you can draw on them,  unfortunately for me I failed on that first job.  Andy and I ended up pegged in the bay pegs 17 and 18, over the 48 hours we had a couple of chances and had a few fish on us but it never felt like we came close to be honest, I had a massive liner wipe out a margin rod that saw me wish that I had set it up washing line style even though I was not supposed to.  Oh well sometime rules are sent to try us when we are fishing venues like that.

Avoiding the blank 19 part 3

So after the success of my last trip out I had decided to go one better before the end of the season on a couple of my club lakes and catch an even bigger bream or a big tench.  Work was of course the first obstacle and I was on duty for the following weekend so that meant staying close to camp.  I decided to try on of the Wimborne waters, however, although I saw a few signs of fish on my visit it was mainly memorable for the swans being a right pain as the dominant pair were trying to scare last year’s young away.  I blanked and only managed a few small indications for my trouble, with the lake only being a few feet deep I was expecting more as I was sure that the fish should have started to wake up but who knows, perhaps I got it all wrong.

Club lake at dawn

The following weekend it was back to the big lake as I had managed to wangle an extra night and day just before the season was finishing, I was lucky as I managed to get my first choice swim, unlucky as the floating algae was back with a vengeance and after only 7 hours or so I had decided to move lakes to another one just down the A36.  I turned up at half 12 and was set up by 2am, I managed a bream just as I was settling down but it was of average stamp for the lakes at 3lb or so.  I decided to get a little sleep so I wound the rods in and set my alarm for before first light.  The day was slow, I did see a tench get caught from opposite me and I managed a few skimmers to about 1.5lb, but I wasn’t feeling it in my swim, next door looked better with some Lilly’s the other side of the floating island that I was fishing to.  I moved swim and managed a few small fish mostly on maggot during the day as dusk started to fall I switched to worm and wafter hookbaits hoping for some better fish.  I managed a few bream again and wound in at about 11pm with my alarm set for dark o’clock in the morning.  I switched in the morning from paternoster rigs to method feeders and this was a bad idea as I did not have another bite all morning, one to remember for that lake as I believe that the method was getting obscured by the silt, so I either need to find a firm spot of stick to the paternoster rigs. This was my last trip on this clubs lakes for this season but fingers crossed I will be back in June.

Method caught double

The following weekend it was time to get back out with the carp kit and I went on to a local runs water with Jase, from beginning to end it was a right laugh even though it was very, very damp for the first day.  We set up opposite an Island and this gave me access to the channel running behind it providing no one moved in to the disabled swims.  Jase didn’t have that problem as he was the only swim that could cover the water in his swim (excuses in early), we decided to have a friendly match. I had an inkling that there was quite a small average size of fish in this lake so I decided to break out the hybrid feeders again, it proved to be a good choice as I managed a few fish during the afternoon and as we went into the evening the score was 9-4 to me.  The first couple of hours of darkness were very slow so I decided to try something out of left field, I set up 2 zigs and started to spod over the top of them, I did get a quick pick up but the fish did the rig before I got to the rod, and then that was it for the night!!

Jase's first double take! ahhhh

Just after first light Jase started to catch again, he managed his first ever double take and had a PB Roach at 1-6, whilst all this was going on I had 2 small skimmers on the method feeders as I had switched back after the failed attempt on the zigs. As the morning progressed the bites slowed for Jase and 15 minutes before I was due to leave the score was 9-9, I had packed down most of my kit and my rods were laid on the floor when the line on the left hand rod across to the gap behind the island pulled tight and then out of the clip.  I have not been so happy to catch a 2lb carp in a long time and the look on Jase’s face was priceless, not that I rubbed his nose in it or anything. I am looking forward to the next one mate.

One of the Floater caught carp

The next few days were difficult as one of my Club lakes was suffering from a fish kill that was being caused by a spikey Diatom attacking their gills and killing the fish, I went down to help over a couple of days and it was devastating, as I am writing this we are still not sure if anything will have survived in the lakes.  We also had Toxic Blue-Green algae confirmed on another pair of lakes so we wait with baited breath as to what will happen there.  I did manage a couple of hours on another club lake though, I only took my floater rod and my float rod and managed 4 on floaters and 1 on peparami over 8mm pellet on the float in the edge.

My final trip out was off to Southwick Park, otherwise known as HMS Dryad, this was for an Army Carpers match, most had stayed overnight but as I only live an hour away I decided to drive down on the morning.  There had been 16 angler booked in for the match but unfortunately 5 had to drop out at the last moment due to a variety of reasons, this left 3 spare swims an I didn’t have a partner so it was going to be a fun 48 hours.  I managed a quick run up the bank with the organisers and my top 3 swims were 2 or 9 then peg 3, I was 3^rd out of the draw and all 3 of them were still in the bag!!  I decided on peg 9 though as it had loads of room and I had fished that area a few times in the past, I was lucky enough to get all my kit carried up on the tractor and I had loads of time to get ready as I knew the main areas of my swim were basically the large overhanging tree on the far bank at about 80 yards from my swim.

Southwick Park Lake

The match panned out as I though with only a few fish getting caught through the day and then more fish activity in the evenings and through the night, by the end of the first 24 hours I was in second with about 100lb but I was 100lb off the pace for first, this and the fact that I could only catch from one part of the swim did not bode well.

During the second day I tried a few things but apart from a few fish that some pleasure anglers had in front of them on the far bank and the fish under the tree I did not see a lot else, I had been given a few areas to try but some were just unreachable with the kit that I had taken so I had to make do.  Early on the second evening a few fish started to show in a different area, I managed a quick one but as I decided to feed some boilies on their heads the fish all spooked not to be seen there again!!

My biggest of the match, 17lb.

The last morning was fun, I had managed to put a rig into the far bank tree in the early hours and I decided to go to sleep as well as staying awake the whole of the first night had not helped too much, I caught steadily through the night but as it turned out it was not enough and I missed out on 3^rd by 20lb.  I think this could have been easily achieved if I had just worked my second rod more during the last night or if I had a partner!!

It was still a laugh even though the nearest anglers to me in the match were about 300m away, the bailiffs kept me entertained, anyway, well done to the winners and hopefully I will have a partner for the next one.

Lessons learned:

This month has all been about feeding too much, so I need to think about what I am trying to achieve.  If I want a quick bite or to mug a passing fish a single or small PVA bag or method is by far a better option.

Avoiding the blank 19 part 2

After the last hard session on linear Jase and I decided to go somewhere a bit easier to fish and a plan was hatched to visit Todber Manor the next weekend, Jase was there first and secreted himself onto little Hayes so once I finished work I drove up to join him.  To be fair my heart wasn’t in it and I would have been much rather blanking on the little lake, but I was there so I gave it a go.  My main attack was a variety of maggot rigs and small bags of

maggots during the daylight hours and then I switched to zigs before I went to bed.  Jase had our only real action at about 10pm with a 14lb carp but to be fair we were not sat in the best pegs and we had missed the chance to get on them so it was our own fault.  Needless to say I blanked and went home with my tail firmly between my legs.

The next weekend it was back to the club lakes, I did a lap around the little lake and saw nothing so I decided to have a look up the north bank of the big lake and a bit of a think, I came across numbers of fish moving around towards the shallower end of the lake so I decided to give it a go on the big lake for the night.  Maggot rigs and small bags of maggots were fished on a silty area and also on a gravel spot I knew of and I awaited the night’s events.  I managed to land a bream and drop another bream in the night and the morning was far less eventful, in hindsight I should have sat on the little lake as that was playing on my mind again all night but I will never learn.

My next session was a fortnight later due to a spot of snow and work, I had decided by this time that a fruit machine tactic should be the way to get a bite from the little lake so I had earmarked an area that I fancied for the fish to start moving over once they decided to wake up.  I set my stall out in the swim and had 1 rod on a short range spot and the other across the far bank as I believe that it might be good for an opportunist bite across there.  Long story short was that I put 6 spombs of maggot and crushed boilie over both area and then sat back, I may have had a liner in the night but cannot be sure, the rods stayed out all night until it was time to go home and prep for next week.

Next trip was a Wednesday afternoon where I managed to get a few hours in, same area, almost the same bait as I was trying something new but no indications or signs in my short time on the bank. However I was back 2 days later on Friday, again same swim and tactics but nothing to show for my efforts, not even a sign.  I must be honest that by this point even I was questioning my sanity, but I was now targeting 1 fish so had the fish the lake it is in.

The following week it was turning into groundhog day, same swim, same tactics although this time I had 2 nights at my disposal, I may have seen a carp on the first morning at about 10am but it was hard to tell as it was a small movement under the far bank trees, but I put a rig on it just in case.  And again on the last morning as a small working group from the club I was involved in was walking around we saw what was probably a carp in one of the corners, just a swirl and some fizzing but it was hope.

That week saw a lot of plans change and I decided that it would be a good time to start a new adventure with Jase, he had already joined a club that was closer to work so I decided to join him.  My first trip was a Thursday night to Saturday lunchtime and I had the first night to myself, on turning up at the lake that Jase had suggested I managed to get a good look around and decided to settle in the shallow end for a couple of hours and to get a feel for the place. 

I had seen a few fish behind an island but the water there was only a couple of feet deep and I did not expect the fish to stay there.  I was using method feeders on carp gear for a start and after a couple of hours I was getting itchy feet, since I was one of only 2 people on the complex I set my deeper up and went for a plumb around the lake looking for any interesting features.  I found a few and I also found a pod of large fish tucked away towards a snaggy corner, so at 10pm I was soon moving my kit around to a new swim. 

The new swim was up a narrow arm of the lake and by using my 18m baiting pole I was able to place my 2 rods in likely looking area with the minimum amount of disturbance, I was soon settling down for the night. I was woken up a couple of times with big liners on my left hand rod, but nothing materialised and come the morning I was feeling quite deflated that nothing had happened.

Jase turned up mid-morning and this coincided with me moving swims one hop to my right, I had seen a fair bit of fizzing up against some bushes on the far bank so I thought that it was worth a shot and moved expecting it to be better the next morning. 
We went off for a bit of stalking in the afternoon and found a few fish in the shallows, but they had obviously seen bread before as I dropped a bit of flake in front of one and it near enough ran out of the bay screaming for its mum!!  We settled in for the night, Jase in a swim that he had fished before and I sat next to him, I had changed my rigs to naked helicopters by this point and at about midnight I got done, Jase on the other hand had 17lb and 15lb commons for his efforts.  

Late in the evening another of the club members tipped up and managed a 10lber in the early evening so even though he was fishing 4 rods in every available swim I had still messed something up and I needed a change.

I was next out the following Wednesday having decided to start focusing on other species and trying to enjoy my fishing again as chasing carp had become a bit of a chore to be fair, I went on to a water that I know has a number of tench to over 7lb but average a lot smaller and thought that I could try out some new specialist rods.  I was fishing helicopter feeder rigs and over the course of a reasonably short session had my fires stoked by a few small skimmers and rudd, but it had been great fun and a plan was getting hatched for the weekend.

Friday night I got down to the big lake a bit later than usual due to vehicle problems but I was soon setting up in open water in an area where I have caught my target species before, bream.  The target was a 6 pound bream but I had heard rumours of larger getting caught by some of the carp anglers so there was always a chance of a surprise.  I found a silt gully beside a gravel bar and tried to feed 2 pints of particle mix (dead maggot, pellet and corn) as accurately as I could through the spod in the strengthening wind.  I started with 2 paternoster rigs over the baited spot, one on worm and the other fishing dead maggot on the hook, but by 9 pm and with no signs I decided to swap one rod onto a method feeder and ping it into the middle of the lake where I had an inkling that there may be some fish holding up.

I was proved right as an hour later the baited area rod was away, as I picked the rod up I could tell it was a decent fish and a few minutes later I was slipping the net under a very decent looking bream.  As I was in the process of sorting the scales and camera the other rod was away as well and this was another slightly smaller bream, what a start to the campaign.  I weighed the second fish first and it was 6lb 8oz, a sfew quick snaps and then it was the bigger fishes turn, it pulled the scales down to 8lb 10oz and was only 2 ounces under the lake record!!  That was it I would have been happy packing up then which is just as well as I didn’t get any more signs throughout the night, I was up early though and I saw a few carp showing off to the left in the area that I had had the bream on the method the night before.  As the bream tend to hang around with the carp the method was dispatched back out in that area, I kept working the main spot but with no signs, then about 10 minutes after I had recast the method the rod pulled up tight and I was away.

As soon as I lifted into the fish I knew it was a carp, I started to worry straight away about the size 12 hook and 8lb mainline but it was very well behaved apart from swimming straight into and then out off a large snag down the left of my swim. After a bit of messing about under the rod tip a LARGE carp was nestled into the landing net and to say I was happy was a massive understatement.  It weighed 32lb 12oz and is a new PB after over 10 years.

Photos done I gave it another hour but the fish had stopped showing and with storm Hannah closing in I went home a very very happy bunny………….

So thats the story of the last month or so and you can watch it all here:

 Avoiding the blank 19 Part 2

Avoiding the Blank, 2019 Part 1

So is a new year and I thought that I had better start to resurrect my blog from the perpetual abyss of internet limbo as I have not updated it for a while.  Looking ahead to 2019 I am going to be using this blog to add detail to my Vlog that can be found on You Tube so let’s start with:

Avoiding the Blank 2019 Part 1.

There was a prequel to this video that never made the final cut; I had been on a bit of a recce to my favourite club lake seeing if I could figure out a head start before the weekend as to where I wanted to fish, the answer was yes, the little lake.  After I had completed a full lap of the big lake which included speaking to one of the regular who was drying a weigh sling, I took the time for a quick peek around some of the snags on the little lake.  It was quiet as usual and it was not until I got to a renowned winter area that I saw anything, well I saw 3 common carp 2 that were big 20’s and another that was well…. Massive.  That was my plan all set for the weekend and I knew where I wanted to have a couple of baits sat for the Friday night.

So my first bit of fishing saw me setting up on the opposite bank to where I had seen the fish, the main reason being that it incorporated casting to the front of some snags so if I was fishing locked up opposite I stood a better chance of extracting the carp.  I had swapped back to 16lb Illusion Trans Kaki fluorocarbon as mainline for this fact as it has considerably less stretch and more abrasion resistance than mono. I fished an aggressive but basic bottom bait rig on both the rod cast to the snags and my other rod that was fishing a sandy bar in the middle of the lake. The night passed without incident but in the morning a fish was fizzing up beyond my open water rod, I tried a quick cast at it with a lighter lead but it did not like that and ghosted away.  Before I left I checked the area in question and it seemed to be new weed growth, which I thought was strange in late December.

My next trip was Christmas Eve and I was doing a day session with my mate, Dave.  I did have a cheeky look at the little lake but we decided to go on the big lake in the end, we set up on a point in t deeper end of the lake as it was a cold and bleak looking December day, I had seen a fish show before Dave got there but it was at the other end of the lake so we thought that we could chase them later.  As it turned out there was not a lot moving on the big lake until the afternoon and although we were casting at showing fish and also fishing on known spots no action was forthcoming during the day.  I even moved further up the lake chasing the fish later in the day but it seemed like the fish were backing off the leads.

It was few days until my next visit and I was back down onto the little lake to start, I had managed to wangle an 8pm start with the boss so I turned up onto the little lake and put the rods out onto the wrapped spots in the dark. Again it was a quiet night with nothing to show for my efforts, I did not even see anything in the morning period this time so morale was low.  I had to collect a parcel at lunchtime so I popped off and did that, when I returned I had a look on the Big lake.  As I mooched up the north bank I saw numbers of fish, some bream but a few carp in the shallow water at the top end of the lake, this was enough for me and I was soon setting up in an area that I felt gave me a good chance of a bite as the fish moved up and down the lake. As I was setting up I could see a large silt area in front of me and there were fish moving across it almost constantly, the down side of this spot was the fact that it was swan depth water so I was unable to feed until after dark.  I cast small bags of maggots with small pop up hook baits one into the weed and one onto the silt but at the end of my session even after a few recasts and trying zigs of various lengths I had managed just 1 liner. I found this amazing considering the amount of fish that I had seen.

My next trip out was a day only session on New Year’s Eve, so I went down to another club lake near Romsey called Nightingale that has a few more fish per acre in it, they go to 20lb but average upper singles and low doubles, so I had packed my 2.75lb rods and a new toy that I shall talk about more in a minute. I have fished tis lake a few times in the past and I know that one of the hot spots consists of casting under the far bank foliage, so one rod was set up under there and the other was sent into open water towards the island. Both rods were rigged with naked helicopters, Ronnie rigs with size 6 Barbless Krank hooks and 12mm pop ups.  The reason for this being that the bottom of the lake is silty in places so by using these rigs I should be able to present a rig anywhere on the lake.  It was a good start to the day and I had 4 carp to about 10lb before lunch, it was at this point that I decided to have some fun though and set up the float rod.  I baited a few margin spots in the narrow part of the lake, a couple under trees and one next to some lillie’s and I was confident that at least one should give me some action.  After resting the swims whilst I ate some lunch I tried the first couple against the trees and found them to be very snaggy and full of very small fish so I was soon moving into the lilly swim. 

It was not long after getting into the swim that I had a positive lift on the float but I pulled a little hard and lost the fish due to a hook pull.  Even with all the disturbance it did not take long for signs of feeding fish to appear in the swim again and I soon hooked and landed two carp on the light float tackle, it was great fun and I will be trying to use that tactic more often in the new year. As I only had a couple of hours before I had to get home for another delivery I went back to the main swim and managed another 3 carp before having to leave, all out from under the far bank trees. Once again that small club lake had delivered with a great days sport.

New Year’s Day saw a last-minute change in my plan and I was soon driving across Salisbury Plain towards Shearwater, the reason for this being the fact that my new long range rods had been delivered the day before and I needed to try them out.  I was lucky when I turned up and I managed to get onto the area of the lake known as the lawns, this looks into the deepest bowl of the lake and gives access to a lot of open water which was ideal for what I wanted to do.  I used the deeper to get an idea of the depth of the swim and also to see if there were any fish in front of me and once that was done I was able to start fishing.  The plan was simple, 20+ wraps feeding sloppy spod mix and fishing zigs underneath, I am not going to go into too much detail as it has been covered to death by lots of other people.  The day however, was slow possibly due to the hundreds and hundreds of people who had decided to go for a walk, I managed a small 3-4lb carp within the first hour and then had another foul hooker about lunchtime.  It was still a good day on the kit trying front though and I knew that I would have to work on my casting to get the best out of the rods as they are a foot longer than I have been fishing of late.

I had planned for another whole day on the bank on the Wednesday as well but as I woke up there was a cheeky ground frost and I didn’t really fancy it, I did have to pop out and grab some bait late in the day so I packed the float rod as well and decided to try Barnmoor lake at Witherington farm for a couple of hours.  I did not last long there though as although I was on carp the numbers of small fish made fishing maggot difficult and I hooked and lost several small fish before landing a 6 oz roach on a size 10 hook and 4 maggots.  I decided to pop back down to Nightingale lake and I was soon walking around its banks priming a few spots that looked good for a bite, as the weather was still cold I had decided to concentrate on the car park end as I felt it was slightly more sheltered from the cold wind.  It took a while but I finally managed to extract a carp from one of the swims and at 6lb I was very happy. 

My final trip over the festive break was off to Brasenose 2 on the linear complex, I went with my mate Jase, he wanted to get onto St Johns but as we turned up it was looking very busy in the areas we wanted to get into so we had a look around B-2.  As we were driving around the bowl a guy was packing up from on the beach swim in the bowl, I had a quick chat and it turned out that he had managed a couple of fish on his first night so it was looking better than some other places.  We moved in and to cut a long story short we should have stayed at home, I was fishing a couple of spots at 30+wraps and discovered on the last morning that it was littered with snags, I think I got done into one with very little indication.  Jase was fishing closer and had a dropped take at about 8pm but that was it really, I cannot say much more.  In hindsight we should have gone onto St Johns or Hardwicks but hindsight is the best angler I know.