For my first report I was joined by 2 friends @ Andys Lake in Herefordshire.
Phill Carrol fishes for my team in the Wyvern League and is a good all rounder and will be writing a few more reviews with me in 2011.
Also joining us was Rory Jones.
Although still at college, he has competed at international level and has recently joined the illustrious Kamasan Starlets alongside the likes of Darren Cox and Dave Roberts.
Phill Carrol fishes for my team in the Wyvern League and is a good all rounder and will be writing a few more reviews with me in 2011.
Also joining us was Rory Jones.
Although still at college, he has competed at international level and has recently joined the illustrious Kamasan Starlets alongside the likes of Darren Cox and Dave Roberts.
Here is a brief run down of all 3 of our days fishing!
My rigs for today were as follows:
Elastic 11h – 0.13 – 18 T808 – 4x14 4mm Ringers 2nd Gen expander or double maggot.
Elastic 15h – 0.17 – 14 B911 – NG 0.5gr paste float no shot.
3SSG Pellet Waggler – 4lb Maxima and banded 6mm on a 16PR36.
15gr Preston Method – 6lb Power Max – 0.19 powerline – 16 PR36 – Korum Quikstop – Single Corn.
15gr Preston Method – 6lb Power Max – 0.19 powerline – 16 PR36 – Korum Quikstop – Single Corn.
I potted in a cup of dampened 4mm pellets on my 11mtr line and immediately started fishing a medium ball of paste on my 8mtr line close to some reeds. I had a small stockie of about 1lb first put in but nothing really materialised on the paste line so I went onto the pellet line after about an hour and picked up a few small carp of 1-2lb and a couple of roach around the 4-6oz mark.
The pole lines didn’t really develop and I went over an hour without a bite around midday. I put this down to the clear water and the pole casting a shadow so decided to fish further out on the pellet waggler, a method that has produced several bags in excess of 300lb on this venue in the warmer months.
After a few casts I heard Rory say that his method feeder was being attacked on the drop so
I tried a few casts with a bagging waggler on the same line as the pellet waggler but to no avail.
It was then I decided as I had already baited the area with the bagging waggler and had fired pellet whilst fishing the pellet waggler, that I should give the method a go on the same line.
I tried a few casts with a bagging waggler on the same line as the pellet waggler but to no avail.
It was then I decided as I had already baited the area with the bagging waggler and had fired pellet whilst fishing the pellet waggler, that I should give the method a go on the same line.
I set up a 30gr preston method feeder fished inline to a korum quick change bead.
Hooklength was 4 inches of 0.19 preston powerline to a 16 PR36 hair rigged with a korum quickstop.
Bait was a single grain of corn mounted just touching the bend of the hook and the feeder was moulded using the preston method mould.
The mix I used for the method was 75% micro pellets and 25% EFG151
Within 30 second the tip went round and I was into a carp of about 2lb.
Hooklength was 4 inches of 0.19 preston powerline to a 16 PR36 hair rigged with a korum quickstop.
Bait was a single grain of corn mounted just touching the bend of the hook and the feeder was moulded using the preston method mould.
The mix I used for the method was 75% micro pellets and 25% EFG151
Within 30 second the tip went round and I was into a carp of about 2lb.
I continued to catch for an hour or so on the method and built a decent weight before going back to the paste line I had continued to feed throughout the day.
As the light had faded the pole became more effective, I believe due to the pole not casting the shadow on the gin clear water it did earlier in the day.
I caught a few more carp from the 8mtr line on paste fished on the deck to 4lb.
All in all I had over 50lb of fish on a bitterly cold November day.
I spent long periods without catching and am in no doubt if I had gone on the method earlier then another 30lb+ would have been possible. I will also be trying the floating feeder on the venue as it warms up seeing how the fish attacked the method feeder on the drop
As the light had faded the pole became more effective, I believe due to the pole not casting the shadow on the gin clear water it did earlier in the day.
I caught a few more carp from the 8mtr line on paste fished on the deck to 4lb.
All in all I had over 50lb of fish on a bitterly cold November day.
I spent long periods without catching and am in no doubt if I had gone on the method earlier then another 30lb+ would have been possible. I will also be trying the floating feeder on the venue as it warms up seeing how the fish attacked the method feeder on the drop
RORY'S ACCOUNT
Pole fishing: for the pole rigs of top 4 and floats between 0.8g and 1.5g depending upon wind and tow.
Best floats for fishing for the carp on the deck were Ck carpa porths. For these rigs I shotted them with an olivet and two number 9 droppers, the olivet needs to be moved around whilst fishing as it makes a big difference to the positivity of the bites. Main line was 0.15 preston powerline with an 0.13
hooklength of the same material to a size 16 B911. Elastic was a preston hollow number 11.
Baits for feeding on the pole: I fed dampened down 4mm feed pellets with a small amount of hemp and corn, hook baits were corn and expander pellets.
Method feeder: the feeder rod was a preston innovation 10ft mini carp this was teamed with a spro red arc reel loaded with 6lb korum reel line. Onto this was a small 30g preston inline method feeder stopped
by a kurum quick change bead. this was fished free running on the line. Hook length was 4inches of 0.15 preston powerline with a size 16 pr36 with a short hair and a bait spike.
Bait for the method: the groundbait was mixed the night before so as to be less active, it comprised 1 ingredient suno baits method mix. i did however put an egg yoke into the groundbait to make it bind
slightly when falling though the vast volume of water. for the hook a single grain of corn was best with banded pellet also catching a few. It was very important to make regular casts as most of the bites came
shortly after the feeder had landed.
How the day went: 100lb of fish and by far the most productive tactic on the day was the method feeder, this chucked at about 30 yards accounted for a carp a chuck for at least 4 hours until they began to wise up to what was
happening. Casting very regularly was hugely important and i found
that if you didn't have a bite within 2 minutes of the feeder landing you would then often have to wait up to 10 for a bite.
The pole line produced very few carp most of the day despite being tried a number of times and fed throughout the day, the carp did however show once the light had started to drop and it was a fish a
chuck at this point, this may have been down to the clarity of the water and the bright sky with no wind.
For the next visit: I would be very tempted to feed a line for roach short as there are a huge number in the venue and I'm sure big weights and a good days fishing could be had by targeting them.
hooklength of the same material to a size 16 B911. Elastic was a preston hollow number 11.
Baits for feeding on the pole: I fed dampened down 4mm feed pellets with a small amount of hemp and corn, hook baits were corn and expander pellets.
Method feeder: the feeder rod was a preston innovation 10ft mini carp this was teamed with a spro red arc reel loaded with 6lb korum reel line. Onto this was a small 30g preston inline method feeder stopped
by a kurum quick change bead. this was fished free running on the line. Hook length was 4inches of 0.15 preston powerline with a size 16 pr36 with a short hair and a bait spike.
Bait for the method: the groundbait was mixed the night before so as to be less active, it comprised 1 ingredient suno baits method mix. i did however put an egg yoke into the groundbait to make it bind
slightly when falling though the vast volume of water. for the hook a single grain of corn was best with banded pellet also catching a few. It was very important to make regular casts as most of the bites came
shortly after the feeder had landed.
How the day went: 100lb of fish and by far the most productive tactic on the day was the method feeder, this chucked at about 30 yards accounted for a carp a chuck for at least 4 hours until they began to wise up to what was
happening. Casting very regularly was hugely important and i found
that if you didn't have a bite within 2 minutes of the feeder landing you would then often have to wait up to 10 for a bite.
The pole line produced very few carp most of the day despite being tried a number of times and fed throughout the day, the carp did however show once the light had started to drop and it was a fish a
chuck at this point, this may have been down to the clarity of the water and the bright sky with no wind.
For the next visit: I would be very tempted to feed a line for roach short as there are a huge number in the venue and I'm sure big weights and a good days fishing could be had by targeting them.
The method feeder would still be my number one tactic however for targetting the carp but I would still feed the pole line, however maybe introduce a fishmeal groundbait this time instead of particles and judge the
fishes response to this.
fishes response to this.
PHILL'S ACCOUNT
When I arrived at the lake I picked a peg on the dam end, there were two sets of reeds in front of me, one to the left and one to the right. These were situated about 8 meters from the peg so I set up my pole and two top kits as this was the best way to target this area.
I also set up my tip rod so I could target fish that were holding outside my pole reach.
My first top kit was a No 12 pure latex (maver) this is a nice soft elastic ideal for roach and skimmers with occasional small carp. The second top kit was a hollow 15 H (Preston), this is ideal for carp .
First of all I plumbed the depth by the reeds at 8 meters, this was approx 5 foot and set my rig dead depth, the other top kit I set up was an up in the water rig qith the float set about 18 inches .
The tip rod was set up with a 15g Preston method feeder and a 4 inch hooklength size 16 hook and a band to hold the pellet. I damped down some 2mm fishmeal pellets and then on the pole line cupped in 2 big pots of pellet the same 2mm then with the full depth rig.
I went straight in over the pellet with maggot on the hook and within 10 mins had a bite which turned out to be a small roach then every put in the roach were nailing the maggots so I then swapped to a soft pellet, f1 soft hooker variety to try and get through the roach to the bigger stamp of fish.
The swim went dead so after a while I decided to rebait with maggot and as soon as I put it in the float buried and the culprit was another roach.
I then decided to cup more pellet and maggot in then rest the swim this was to try and feed off the roach and bring the carp into the swim. I then started to fish the tip. I used the Preston mould to form the now soft 2mm fishmeal pellets onto the feeder and I had a 10mm hard pellet banded on the hook I picked a marker on the far bank in this case was a small tree and cast out about 30 yards then counted the feeder to the bottom I estimated it to be 15 feet deep .
I repeated this five or six times in the same area and same line, this was to build up a carpet of bait for the fish to home in on.
I didn’t have long to wait, the tip went round and I was into a fish.
I could tell straight away this was a bigger stamp than the roach from before once I got the fish to the net, it was a nice common carp around the pound and a half mark . Then every cast was the same it was as if the carp were attracted by the splash from the feeder entering the water.
I then swapped back to the pole to see if the carp had moved onto the bait I had put in but all I seemed to catch was roach at that line .
Once I had swapped back to the pole the feeder swim went dead so I had to cast a couple of times in the area to bring the fish back after a days fishing I weighed in 44lbs of fish which was very pleasing as it was in November and usually as the winter months come on the fishing gets harder and bags of fish like that are far and few between.
We were able to use keepnets on the day to review for this article. Keepnets are sadly not allowed on this water.
