Eaten alive!

A lovely tench swim

Hi guys! Been a great few days in work with plenty of bait and tackle flying out! Your obviously all catching plenty of fish? I grabbed another night in in the middle of last week but to no avail....a very quiet night left me feeling a little stumped as to what to do next. I think the fish may have started to rumble me a bit and it's possibly time for some changes. Quite what....I'm not 100% sure of yet.

Nice small Tench...target achieved for the day!

I've spent some time cleaning rods, reels and re-spooling my center pin reels ready for the glorious 16th June which is only just around the corner at last! God it's been a long wait this year. Sunday saw Joel and myself visit a local small club lake for the day in search of a carp for JB and a tench or two for myself. Things started well and we turned up at 7am to find just a few guys already fishing.

We got ourselves a decent swim with a good section of lily pads running across the front of it.

Heavenly swim...hell for the flies! :(

I started with corn on a hair rig and cog system with 2oz lead and dumped around 6 balls of our Profish groundbait mixed with our CBS strawberry flavour, some sweetcorn, micro strawberry boilies and a little small pellet for good measure. I had an almost instant take only to have it drop off seconds later. This happened a couple of times frustratingly. My only cause for it I could see was the length of rig and hook size. This I unduly changed by shortening the rig to 5inches and upping the hook size to an 8. This did the trick and a few bream later I was considering a change of bait away from the corn.

Nice low double common for Joel

I placed a pair of 8mm micro strawberry boilies onto the hair rig and almost instantly claimed a nice little Tench for my efforts. In the meantime Joel was plodding away at trying to catch a carp. All this was going on around an ever increasing amount of gnats which were making mincemeat of both of us. Unfortunately ill prepared, neither of us had thought to bring fly repellent with us and we were now paying the price dearly!

Joel looked like he had a nasty dose of chicken pox on his face and my wrists resembled something from a Resident Evil movie! Not good! We moved the brolly to the back of our swim which gave us a little respite for around half an hour.

One of two low doubles I managed

This then proved fruitless as the swarm homed in on us once again and reduced us to looking like a South Park figure with our hoodies pulled tightly up around our faces and hands covered with sleeves.

Joel managed a nice carp of around 11lbs just before we decided it was now becoming too much to bare and we made a very hasty retreat back to the car and onto another local water for a few hours. This proved to be the best option as the flies were no where near so prevalent .

The fishing wasn't exactly brilliant but I managed a small common of around 8lb and another low double common too. I'm hoping to do an overnighter this week if all goes to plan but my 7 year old daughter has invited herself along....at a guess it wont be the quietest of nights and probably be full of tablet games and movies! lol Should be fun!

Catch you all soon.....not long before the rivers open!!! Counting the days now

Keith
x

Apocalypse now!

Cor what a change in the weather all of a sudden! A couple of fine warm days and then all of a sudden the almighty storms of hell rage upon us! lol

Well, not quite but it certainly felt quite heavy last night at the lake. As usual I was on my own and sat in the middle of nowhere surrounded by very old gnarly trees in the monster of thunder storms was a little unnerving to say the least! I must admit to be a little bit of a loon though and the idiot inside me thoroughly enjoyed playing chicken with the lightning bolts whilst trying to have a pee!

A gnats cock over 13lbs.....game changer time at last!

I've done 2 nights in a row this week due to a slightly quieter few days rolling, which albeit not the best news, I confess a little break has left me feeling great!.... 'ish! Sunday night was a game of two halves....the weather started amazingly with high temperatures in the mid twenty's and dry. The second half was that of thunder storms and heavy rain. On arrival the fish could be seen evident in my baited areas. There had been plenty of grubbing around going on and I felt pretty confident I'd manage a fish during the night.

I got the rods out and settled down with a brew before hitting the sack for the night. There were plenty of line bites occurring and I was remaining high in confidence as I fell asleep. My left hand rod went into overdrive at around 11.30pm and I was quickly on it with a good bend in the carbon. I kept the pressure hard on the fish, but after just a few seconds of battle I was left with rig returning to me unattached to the fish....the hooklink had unfortunately snapped under the immense pressure in the thick weed. I felt bloody devastated...I don't cope well with loosing fish and I take it very personally!

Things weren't to improve much either as about 2 hours later after changing to a heavier gauge hooklink, I connected with another good fish, only to have the hook pull this time! Absolutely gutted, I checked the rig, to see that the hook point had turned over and was as blunt as a Jim Davidson stand up joke! I couldn't believe my luck and vowed I'd make the effort the next night to get back in shape....

I thought I'd just take a moment here to show you a few more pics of my PVA and rig I use for the weed fishing as i have two versions...the first I showed you all in my previous article. The following pics should explain the set up a little bit more ;)

Blow back rig

crumble boilies by hand

Ready to go into the pva bag

Compress the bait

Pinch the top of the bag

Tie off the end

Insert stringer needle

Pull rig through PVA

Ready to go with the hook hidden from any weed!

Monday night arrived and so did yet more rain and heavy thunder storms. None of this mattered to me as i had other things going through my mind....like big carp! The fish had been munching on the few freebies I'd left them that morning before I'd left for home and the spots had been cleared out. A quick sort out to ensure all the gear was ready and out went the rods. The weather couldn't have been much worse and as night fell the storms came in. And did they come! The lightning was epic....lighting up the lake like November 5th! The rain was torrential and my Delkims continually buzzed and bleeped from the vibrations. Felt like I was 18 years old again and out clubbing! The only thing missing was the scantily clad birds, cheap booze and the smell of crappy fags!

Around mid-night things started to quieten down a little and at last a lull in the rain. It was just after 1am that the left hand rod was away again this time I got her away from the heavy weed and pads without a problem. Only a small common at just over 13lbs, but very welcome indeed. I thought that was probably going to be my lot for the night so after a bit of fiddling around, I got the rod back into the water and settled off to sleep. It was 3.20am that I was to next be awoken by the sound of an ailing Delkim....A sudden couple of bleeps alerted me to a take on the right hand rod. This one was deep into the pads and it was going to take a serious bit of effort to get this one out.

14lb 6oz and absolutely loaded with Red X!

I pulled for all I was worth and to my amazement this time I got lucky! She came free and headed through the looser weeds towards me, result! In a few seconds I was at last clear of the danger areas and playing the fish in less problematic water. Eventually I got the net under a very feisty little common of 14lb 6oz. Not a monster by any means but at last I was making haste in the ever increasingly thick weed.

There was no more activity over the course of the night and I packed away just after 8am to get home in time to drop sprog no 2 in school. I'll be back down early next week for another overnighter all being well. Let's hope that those 2 remaining big girls show up soon as my time is running out! That June 16th feeling is approaching fast now and I can feel the ever increasing need to catch a few Barbel!

See you all soon
K
x

The weed issue!

Hi all....with a few days off from rolling bait and at last five minutes time to myself, I thought I'd piece together a little article about some of my tactics I've been employing on one of my new waters. The pool in particular is extremely weedy and has numerous issues that have to be dealt with before one is able to catch from it's tricky depths. I'll go into my main approach tactics and also discuss a few other matters arising which I have come across in the past too.

Ranunculus weed growth

So, how to approach a weed infested pool such as this? Well, it all depends firstly on the kind of weed present. How thick the weed is? The depth of water? Fish present etc etc. My chosen water has Ranunculus growing through out and also the dreaded Elodea as well. Both flourish in the rich water around the small beds of beautiful lily pads that inhabit the water. In all honesty the Ranunculus is fairly easy to cope with as it breaks away from the stem with relative ease. The Elodea is more problematic and can be a real pain in the arse at times.

I watch anglers spending hours upon hours smashing the water to a froth with their heavy leads and markers in a vain attempt to find a small clear spot amongst the weed. This is great when time is on your side or when doing preparatory work at the chosen venue in advance. But if like me your limited to time and investment in a water, then my approach may well be more beneficial to you. My obvious first tip would be to find some fish before you even start....observational skills are something we all have. There is no special requirements, other than that you pay attention to whats happening on, in and around your water. Leave the DVD/TV/Radio at home and get your binoculars and Polaroid glasses out. Location is key to short time success.

Elodea or Canadian Pond Weed

Spend time watching the water before you start. It's absolutely useless getting to your venue with a preconception as to which swim your going to fish before you arrive. The fish may well be half a mile from where you thought they were going to be. Fishing a swim just because it's near the car park is the worst excuse for fishing the crap swims. Get off your backside and make the effort. You made the effort to load the car, buy expensive bait and tackle and travel to your lake, so why then be too lazy to walk to the better swims? Makes sense when you think about it. 5 minutes in the right spot is better than a week in a crap one!

Creep around and take your time about things. The bivvy should be the last thing on the agenda for setting up and getting the rods into the water is surely the more important job. So, we've located a pod of fish. They're in weed, not too thick but thick enough to cause issues with a cast of a straight lead rig and boilie. My approach here is all about concealment and stealth. The fish are in the weed for a couple of reasons. First off it offers them concealment from us and other predators. Secondly, the weed is full of food and thirdly, it also offers high levels of oxygen through photosynthesis during daylight hours. All reasons why you tend to find the fish present in these locations during bright, warm and sunny days. 

I just love weed fishing!

Looking at our tackle, we need to insure that it's man enough to cope with the rigors of pulling a good fish through the weed beds. I suggest using a 3lb+ TC rod and at least 18lb main line to cope with the demands of the fishing. I personally use a braided mainline for my weed work. This is 25lb breaking strain and has a thickness of 10lb mono! It also floats, which I find an aid when fishing in weedy situations. My terminal tackle comprises of a section of  1.5M of weed effect coated leadcore of 35lb b.s from Katrans Mimicker Range. I then put on a safety lead clip to insure I'm able to drop the lead if it becomes entangled in the weeds. Often a fish will come back through weed far easier if there is no lead attached to the rig. It's also important if a break should occur that the fish is able to also jettison the lead.

This is all tallied up to a size 8 swivel and then a short section of around 6-8 inches of Katrans Mimicker Hooklink in 25lb b.s. This I use in a blow back style with a small ring mounted free running on the shank of one of our CBS Saber size 4 hooks. The kit all needs to be strong as it's likely to be put under immense pressure should you hook a carp in said weedy conditions! I've recently become a huge fan of our new Center balance weights too....these insure that as soon as the fish makes contact with the rig and attempts to swim away, its in contact with the whole center weight of the lead almost immediately.

My choice for the occasion!

For the cast I slide a PVA Mesh bag down the hooklink and right over the point of the hook. I do this for two reasons. The first is that during many sessions on a clear water pool some years back, I had the use of a rowing boat to put out my baits in the gin clear water. I chose to do some many hours of investigative work on rig and tackle placement after the cast. This was a real eye opener in many ways. Prior to my doing this I would always just clip on my mesh bags for the cast by nicking the hook point into the mesh bag. All looked great on the cast and I would sit back confident of the small PVA package sat next to my delicately cast boilie and hook.....This couldn't have been further from the truth. What I was able to see after the cast was that on 10 out of 10 casts, the PVA would break away from the hook on impact with the water. Thus leaving the small parcel some considerable distance from my hook bait! The only way to achieve 100% confidence that the rig and PVA bag would end up in the same spot was to pull it down the rig in a stick style.

Bury the hook in the PVA bag or wrap it safely in PVA tape!

The above first method is fine for marginal close in work but when a cast is required then my technique is pretty much full proof. I like to use around 6-8 crumbled boilies in my bags and slide down onto the hook point. As the hook point enters he mesh bag I like to give the hook a few gentle wiggles to insure no pieces of bait have masked the point. I then tie a few turns of PVA tape around the lead system to make sure it doesn't come free on the cast. You can now chuck this pretty much where ever you like with the confidence that it will settle in the weed with a clear hook poin and untangled away from the lead. I then like to scatter a good handful of loose boilies around the area. Not too tightly either. I want to get the fish moving freely through the weed beds looking for their next meal.

Proof it all works! Excellent!

Bear in mind that we are effectively fishing in snags and that you need to be fishing right next to your rods at all times. Takes can be fast, immediate and very powerful. I always fish a tightly set clutch and set myself up so that my rods are at just on arms length where at all possible. When the take occurs it's best to keep the pressure on as much as humanly possible. I've found that 99% of my weed hooked fish have come back fairly easily when in contact with continuous strong pressure in weed.

Well, that's a little about my weed approach. There are many other methods you can employ in weed but I feel this is the most effective I've come across. I'm not an avid fan of chod rigs and I think they are employed far too often just because they do the job, even when there are so many better rig options available to us!

Tight lines all
K x

Hard work and tenacity!

Well after the weekends little jaunt over to the estate lake and catching a few lovely specimens. I was keen as mustard to get back on my little water and grab one of those extremely elusive mirrors that seems to keep evading me! I didn't get a bait in the water until best part of 8.15pm due to the long hours I've been working this week. The bait has been flying out and lots of good captures are being reported on our entire range of baits!

I got both the rods out onto the marks I've been regularly fishing and I baited both spots with around a kilo of Red X boilies and placed my 4.5oz cog leads and 22mm boilies with a size 4 saber on, into the chosen spots. After baiting up I sat back with a brew to await said results! I got dozens of tiny bleeps from the persistent bat activity which got a tad frustrating! Pesky devils, got me well excited! The lake had a very carpy feel to it last night and the pleasurable conditions lasted all night.

I took a few pain relievers for my ailing back and laid back on my bedchair to settle down for the night. I had just nodded off about 11pm when my left hand rod let out a couple of fast bleeps and the bobbin shot to the top. I waited a few seconds to see if it was bat activity but the bobbin stayed taught! I jumped up and struck into a strong fish. She pulled hard towards the lily pads but a bit of clever rod angling and some persistent pulling guided her towards the waiting net.

At last a mirror!

She plundered around under the rod tip for around 3-4 minutes before I eventually got the net under her. I took a quick look into the mesh and saw a long chunky looking mirror looking back at me! At last I'd got one of the mirrors I so wanted to catch! I readied the mat, zeroed the scales, got the camera sorted and then gathered the fish up in the mesh of the net to take her to the mat. She was a lot longer than I had first thought and albeit she didn't feel like she was particularly heavy, she did have a big framework! Well, she did 23lbs on the nail. Well pleased with that and a real pretty fish to boot! The one thing I did notice or should I say could miss! Was the terrible smell she was giving off. Very potent smelling slime on this fish. Strange?

Superb! Well and truly chuffed!

I returned the smelly mirror and got my rod back out on the mark. The other rod was next to go but I suffered a broken hook link just below the swivel link. My fault as I hadn't used the correct link for the job and now it had cost me a fish! Dam it!

Well, after that things died a death and I packed up around 10am and headed home. Another great session which should have seen me land two specimens but the one I caught was special enough!

Regards
Keith

Top trumps

Stunning backdrop in Hereford

Another day and another weather front....This weeks trip over to my new water saw me frowning upon the conditions I'd decided to go out in. The rain was persistent and the wind no less vile! To say it was unpleasant was an understatement. The lake was as ever devoid of anglers and up a little due to the water intake of the prior few days. A few branches had found their way down into the swims and some clearance work was required before i could get to the majority of the swims.

Small common for starters

Interestingly the water had a very cloudy grey colour to it and a slightly different smell too. I set up in one of my pre-baited spots for the night and laid back with a brew to await the results of my actions. Well, I waited until around 2.30am before I eventually had any indication of fish activity in the area. My left hand rod gave out a short and fast take which lasted just long enough for me to get out the sleeping bag, before dropping the rig and leaving me sat in dismay. 6 out of 6 captures and now 2 out of 2 blanks.... oh well!

The next trip out was on Sunday. My new angling friend Joel Drapkin....(yep another Joel!) and I went up to Herefordshire to enjoy the day at a beautiful estate lake of 4 acres. The venue set in stunning surroundings and with no company other than that of the wildlife and resident cattle in the field behind us.

Truly stunning scaly mirror from the estate lake in Hereford. Well happy with this one!!!!

Some of you may remember it was the scene of a few nice fish for myself, Joel Biddle and Ceri Jones a few weeks back. Well, this time round we had an idea how to approach the place from the word go. We set up our rods with a view to casting across the small pool to the far side and hit the spots we had results from before with a barrage of Red X and Sea Monster boilies. We fished them on size 4 CBS Saber hooks to Katran Cobra hooklink. We also added a 4.5oz CBS COG lead to the equation too finish off the rig.

Joel and his dustbin lid bream!

I was first away with a stunning low double figure common on the Red X boilie on my left hand rod. The fish kited hard towards us and put up a cracking fight. We grabbed a few nice pics and got sorted for another cast. I had a feeling that things would probably die a death come afternoon as they had on our previous trip, so I was keen to ensure we grabbed as much action as possible while they were on their morning munch.

Within just a few minutes my other rod was away with a slightly better fish on. This one put up yet another cracking scrap and I was delighted to land a beautiful scaley mirror in pristine conditions, The fish there are certainly in dam good condition that's for sure! Joel was next up with a take on his rod. This fish fought a bit more randomly and it became apparent it was a bream of exactly five pounds that had taken his Red X boilie.

Yet another beautiful common. All the fish here are stunners!

Get in son!

It took about an hour before our next bite which was on Joels rod. We'd moved it over to another spot as the original one had done very little to produce anything of any decency.

This take was a one toner! The fish was hell bent on finding the roots of a fallen tree and despite pulling hard Joel was unable to keep it from the impending snag. The fish unfortunately got the upper hand and got away.

I managed the next fish, a nice common of just under 15lbs again in perfect condition too. The wind started to increase and despite accurate feeding and casting we struggled to get any more action until around 2pm. Joels rod ripped off with another hard fighting common on it. This one being the best of the day at 15lb 8oz.

A brilliant shot of Joel with his stunning common. A great day with great company!

We had a great day and it was lovely to get out again to the estate lake. Just wish it fished well all day and not just for the morning. Such a great little place with almost no angling pressure on it. I think I'll try and get another night in this week on the secret pool and see if I can finally temp one of those big mirrors before the river season starts and I have no time for the lakes again!

Tight lines all
Keith