Big fish week

So this is my second year on my new syndicate and I have had many fish out to 29lb but never been able to beat the 30lb+ mark. I have taken many photos of fellow fisherman and also helped land my fair share as well!

I managed to get three days off work and got to the lake Sunday afternoon. The lake was packed and sitting talking to a bailiff, I noted a fish poke its head up in a bay with no one fishing there, so the barrow was walked round and I soon saw another 5 shows of different fish all within a 20 minute slot.

The rods were lobbed out on where the fish were showing and fishing off a jetty with reeds either side I made sure that I kept noise down to a minimum. The kettle was soon on and another 2 fish showed themselves right over one rod with one being an absolute pig. 

As darkness followed the fish did not show anymore and I had a phone call from my mum saying that she had a meeting on the Monday afternoon and would I be able to come and provide support for her!!!! This meant that I would have to leave the lake on my 3 day session first thing in the morning! 

I still went to sleep full of hope and sadly slept like a log and was awoken only but my phone alarm telling me that I had to pack up with nothing to show for the nights fishing. The fish had all moved out and I must have spooked them or something! I left and wanted to get back to the lake as soon as I could. 

As it turned out, by 3pm, I was able to be back up walking round looking for the fish again and with a new South Westerly wind, which I wanted to get on the end of. Sitting with the wind in my face, there were fish all over this side of the lake and decided to fish against the back of an island that commanded lots of water as well.

 

With two rods on the island in about 5-6 feet of water and a mid-water spot on a hard patch, it was only “a matter of time” surely!

The fish were boshing right against the island and I kept having beeps on my left hand rod and at 9pm, the line tightened up and line started clicking line from the reel. I was on it like a shot and lent into a lump of a fish which didn’t seem to have noticed that it had been caught! After an epic battle lasting an easy 20 minutes, with the help of a mate Nigel, the net was slipped under a good fish. With no torch on throughout the battle, we didn’t know how big it was.

Once on the mat we realised it was a sort after fish and pushed the scales round to 42lb 03oz, my first UK 40. After a lot of disbelief, congratulations, photos and a celebratory cup of coffee, I just wanted another one! What a great feeling of a PB and I still had 3 nights fishing ahead of me!

At 5pm I had a one toner and a 15lb mirror graced the net after taking out all my other rods going crazy in the margins and powering off and doing all its fight 10 yards from the bank!

The Tuesday was a hot hot day and the fish were still in front of me all day long. I tried zigs with no luck but kept the throwing stick going on the island spots with 20 baits every hour or so. As soon as changing over to bottom baits one island rod pulled up and I had a 9lb bream.
I really hoped that the bream hadn’t moved into the swim!

As soon as this rod was back on the spot I had another bite, exactly the same as a bream but tightening up I could feel that this was a carp, and another good one. With the clear water and the sun up, playing this fish in was a great sight and I could see that it was another big fish for the lake. Dropping the scales down at 37lb 07oz, this was my first 30lb from the lake and would have been another PB if the fish last night hadn’t come!

Just after slipping the fish back another rod went and another 15lb mirror was in the net. At this moment in time, I had only one rod in the water, so putting them all back out and getting more bait out was a priority!

Sadly, the next few days came and went with only the odd beep but I was chuffed to bits with a great session.

Within 24 hrs. I had had a 40, 30 and 2 15lbers with a bream to round things off.

Tight lines and be lucky!

France 2014

So here it is. After nearly 2 years waiting, the time is here and we are off to Red Mill in Brittany. There are 6 of us going to fish this 9 acre lake with Carp to upper 50lb and big cat well over 130lb. Myself, I will be targeting the carp but if a cat picks up the bait then all fish are welcome.

So after a very rough ride from Newhaven to Dieppe and a 5 hr drive through the fantastic French countryside, we arrive at our destination. After meeting the owners Daron & Yvonne a reccy of the lake and the group talking about the best swims to fish, I chose the “Frogs” – this is a shallower swim of 3 feet all over but commands a large amount of water and was the only swim that had some pads too.

   
I opted to fish with one on the Pads, one on the island and one on the far margin treeline that went from silt to a few harder patches of what I thought was granite. I didn’t have too much of a cast around on the first day and left my marker and spod in the car and just slipped into the swim nice and easily. I had Nigel fishing next to me and he did exactly the same.

The throwing stick was out and a about 50 baits scattered over the areas was my start and with running rigs and braided hook links, it was “French fishing 2014” – now all I needed was a fish!

The night drew in and there were a few fish milling around but nothing on the whole lake as we went to bed but I had a few beeps at 3am and the bobbin pulled tight – and as my fishing in the UK has taught me to “hit everything” I wound down and felt the rod tip thumping round into my fist fish of the session.

It didn’t take long to land and Nigel had heard the splashing and come see what I had caught. It dropped the scaled at 35lb and not a bad start at all. After sacking it and waiting for another few hrs to do some better photos, it was the only fish out for the night. 

Over breakfast on the Sunday Nigel had a 40lb+ and again, we were laughing that this would be a great week. Little did we know that the weather closed in from Sunday afternoon to Thursday and the lake closed shop for me. I lost a couple more with some real odd bites and I think that the fish were “doing me” so I had to rethink my rigs and did some very subtle changes to make sure that everything was perfect and the odd bites were converted.

It wasn’t until Friday evening did the fish get on the feed and I took three fish to 28lb in just a few hrs which saved my week really! 

Again, France has been unkind to me but I will be back to crack it soon enough.

Tight lines and be lucky!

Misison One - 30lb+ Catfish

So we have set a mission to catch a 30lb catfish. This should be one of the easier targets of the year as the lake I have chosen has a lot of cats in there and being small should throw up a few fish. 

With the summer hitting its highest temperatures I thought it would be a good opportunity to get out and have a look at what I can catch. Now I did a rec of the lake, as I had never been there before and talked to an old chap, Jim, who was carp fishing with the oldest rods I had ever seen.  He was catching carp all day long between 1-5lb and talked about hooking and landing catfish as well. He has caught some to 25lb and told me that there were a lot in the water. Bingo, exactly what I wanted to hear.

The very next night I turned up after work armed with big halibut pellets and some mackerel strips and my 3.5lb test curve rods. The water was alive with cruising carp and actually could make out a few catfish tails popping out the water while they were feeding. I settled for a swim with a small set of pads to my right hand side and access to the main body of the lake.

The night came and went and I didn’t even have a nock at all. Nothing wanted my hook offerings and I left for work feeling a little disappointed but was going to be back that very night as I had seen them feeding.

Work dragged but I got to the lake at 3.30pm with two people carp fishing. I opted to fish the other side of the lake which has a willow tree in the water to the left and again access to the main bowl of the lake.

I could see a huge shoal of roach on the surface by the willow and decided to try and catch one and put a live bait out near to the tree. After rummaging in my box for a small hook and some plastic maggots I managed to make a crude rig with a branch as a rod, stick as a float and caught a small 4 inch roach. Lip hooking with a running rig it was lowered a foot from the back and 6 foot from the tree just in case the fish decided to head for the snag it would give me a bit more time to get to the rod.

 

 Now I have had some quick bites before but I hadn’t had the bait in the water for 5 minutes and the alarm was screaming with the baitrunner on melt down and I lent into my first moggy of the season. The fight that developed was amazing, I had never felt such power and was glad to have the additional power of the 3.5lb test curve rods. After a few hairy moments and the fish lunging towards the near side snags, I slipped the net under the fish and had to shuffle it back and forth to get this extra long cat in!

 

 I asked the guy fishing opposite me to give me a hand just to make it a little easier with the weighing and taking photos but I knew that this was going to be a PB for me. Dropping the scales at 30lb 3oz it was a fantastic fish and was totally made up. 

Nothing happened for the rest of the night but I had cracked Mission number one and I would defiantly be back to get some more and hopefully a bigger harder fighting cat.

Tight lines and be lucky!

New Season 2013-2014

So, the closed season has come and gone and the 16^th June has signalled the start of a new season. I have renewed my season ticket for my local syndicate and have actually managed to get my hands on a night ticket for Tonbridge & District which I have been on the waiting list for the last 3 years. My main target water will be Barden which has a large head of specimen carp to 40lb and double figure bream and tench.

My tactics will not be changing much this year as I have managed to catch some good fish last year and feel that my “luck” will continue??!!?? Although I have bought some 3.5lb Wychwood rods to cope with Barden fishing as most of it will be at range and wanted to have a rod with a bit more poke.

On my local syndicate I am also going to try and target specific waters and more precise specific fish. I always walk around the lakes, even if im not fishing and talk to everyone and see what’s being caught. I have found out there is a nice mirror getting on for 28lb and that one lake is full of cat fish to 50lb. I have only ever caught one cat fish at 8lb and want to have another go at catching a bigger one.

I have set targets with my mates and its the first to catch a 30lb carp, catfish and pike. I know that the waters will hold both the carp and catfish but the pike is going some getting but that the target of 2013-2014.

Bring on the new season

Tight lines and be lucky

28lb 5oz - First Carp 2013

With a slight change in the weather - temperatures not down to freezing every night and actually hitting highs of 8 degrees during the days, I decided to have a go on my local water for a bit of carp action. Pulling into the car park I think that everyone else had the same idea as was met by 6 cars. Having a look around I was quite glad to find that most people were only going to be doing the day and that everyone seemed to be fishing the shallower end of the lake. 

The lake is only 3-4 foot deep at best with a huge amount of silt, so I opted to fish right in the centre where the deeper water was and the least amount of lines.

Locating some harder patches of silt I positioned KD rigs with small white pop ups pinched with small shot to just hold the bottom. Both rigs were made with super natural straight through and a PVA golf ball of blitzed bread, salt and chilli flakes attached completed the traps.

 My fishing buddy Nigel joined me later in the afternoon and fishing alongside me as I was fishing a double swim and he also believed that fishing this deeper water was the right approach for this session.

I had two quick bream on the same rod and thought that this was going to continue as I had obviously hit a shoal but to my disbelief I had nothing for the rest of the night. Nigel had a few beeps but nothing else happened for the rest of the lake.

Waking up early I decided to recast and put a few balls of bread around my baited area to try and encourage some fish back in the swim. Straight away I got the bream feeding and was getting bite after bite.  5 bream had graced the net before Nigel greeted me with a cup of tea and the encouraging words of “you massive noddy, leave those slimers alone”!!!! 

I was quite happy with catching something rather than nothing and if the bream were feeding it might encourage competition between the carp and get them on the feed too.

I was on bream number 12 and it seemed as though I could carry on catching all day but we both had other commitments and so started to pack up. By 12 o’clock I was all packed up apart from the rods were still out and Nigel had convinced me that another cup of tea was due before we had to leave.

The tea was still brewing and my right hand rod bobbin pulled tight “bream on”, but as I walked over line started peeling away at a steady rate and I bent into my first carp, not only of the session but of 2013.

The fish hugged the bottom and plodded away, not really like the carp that I have previously caught from the lake that normally come to the surface quickly and bolt off every which way. 10 minutes in and I starting to think that it might be foul hooked but breaking the surface I could see that it was well hooked and one of the larger fish in the lake.

Nigel did the honour of netting the fish and slid the fish into the sling for weighing. Dropping the scales at 28lb 5oz it was a personal PB and the biggest fish out of the lake in a few years.

Completely over the moon and a great start of carp fishing in 2013. Just shows that catching the bream had encouraged some carp to start feeding alongside.

Tight lines and be lucky.

2nd PB Pike in 4 days

Saturday morning we all met early at the lake. After my success of fishing on the wall, my mates Justin and Wilks, decided that it was their turn to fish there and so I opted for a position just to the right in a shallow bay – still close to the wall.

Dam wall to the left

Setting up I noticed that both of my mates were casting out well away from the wall where I had caught the pike just days before. I flicked out the dead smelt out on running rigs just a few feet from the back where there were some dying reeds and lilies. Once all the rods were out I got the shelter up and kettle on. The temperature was down to 0 degrees and there was even some ice from the night before on the water. I didn’t expect anything quickly and was just warming my hands on the hot tea cup when my left hand rod let out a flurry of beeps. Jumping up I struck into thin air! A little gutted that I had not waited and missed a bite so quickly but got the rod back out on the spot to see if the fish was still there.

 

The morning passed and I had noticed a few pike striking at the other side of the lake. I was contemplating a move when Justin came over and said he was going to have a little move round my side and fish next to me. Brilliant, I will now be able to jump into his swim and fish the other side where I has seen the pike striking – he obviously had not been watching the water otherwise he would be staying put! Upping camp was hard going as the winds decided to pick up and the heavens opened as well! Typical..... but should be worth it!  

Nigel who had gone a little further down the lake shouts over that he has a monster in his net. Justin wonders over and reports that it was 24lb on the nose. Another monster pike and caught once again from a rod length out on the old faithful smelt.

Small bay where pike love to lie in wait

As the day wore on I was beginning to become a little disheartened and decided to have a little recast and check that the baits were all alright. Flicking back out the first bait I saw a large swell just off a jetty that juts out into the water. This had to be a pike moving that amount of water. Both the other rods were placed either side of the jetty and if that pike was to return then I should get a bite! AND nothing!!!

Another 2 hrs passed and I hadn’t had a beep.

Neither had my mates but that was beside the point. I was there to catch another big pike.

Talking to some walkers about the conditions of this terrible weather we were having I noticed that my line was moving in the water but not registering on the alarm. I ran down and hit this early and had a healthy bend in the rod. A short but powerful run ended as soon as it begun and the fight lasted no more than 2 minutes before another pike was in the net. And what a pike it was.

Wilks said it was the biggest one he had ever seen and I have to say I think it was a new PB too.  Striking early helped as the pike must have been sitting there swallowing the bait, the hooks were already quite far down the throat, but came out easily enough with long nose pliers.

24lb 12oz - Notice the Jetty behind

Dropping the scales at 24lb 12oz was a new PB and my second 20+ pike in 4 days of fishing!

Making sure that I was always watching the water and ready for a move even in the worst conditions paid off and was delighted with a new PB.

Tight lines and be lucky!