Looking Back Over 2015 Part 6 of 10
With the success of the previse session of looking back over the year’s, I’ve decided to go back even more. This series off podcast will feature 2015 grouping multiple trips in one long podcast, from pike to carp fishing and easy lakes, to the big water I love to fish so much.
Trip No 51 Barbel Fishing (2015)
I thought it was about time to start investigating the river a bit more, as I had not really done very much (I got carried away with the lakes). There’s just not enough time for fishing.
As I am still quite green where it comes to river fishing and after a good look round (on a rainy overcast day). I was unable to find any fish. I settled for a very large bend, with what I hoped gave me plenty of options and looked a likely holding area for Barbel.
Rod 1 was cast over the far bank, where I could see a nice clear gravel/sandy run. With a Bait-tech Hybrid Barbel hook bait and a few pouches of Poloni boilies scattered around.
Rod 2 was lowered on to a lovely clear run of gravel, just along the bank from me. I was using a large feeder with Bait-tech Poloni groundbait mixed with krill and Tuna oil (no water), with a couple of handfuls of their Mixed Marine Halibut Pellets scattered along the margin.
A bit of peace a quite on the Avon today.
The sun has finally arrived, well for a couple of minutes.
I stayed until around 2130 with no joy at all.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 52 Barbel Fishing (2015)
A perfect spot I hope, with a deep run close to the margin and a nice clear hole in the middle. I have put a bit of bait out over the few hours I am here, a mix of pellets and poloni boilies and groundbait. What more could a Barbel ask for? Hybrid Barbel Hook Bait as before and I will just sit back and enjoy the view as well.
What more could you ask for from an evening on the river?
I started until 2230 with out a single knock, I must be doing something wrong?
Till next Time
Richard
Trip No 53 Barbel Fishing (2015)
With all the house work done and the kids at school. I popped down the river for a couple of hours today. I was in search for that Barbel, which I am so desperate after. Facebook is good, but at the moment I keep seeing pictures of Barbel which is driving me mad (or driving me to go and catch one).
I have found a nice spot on a bed full of weed and a couple of carp, which I can’t resist having a go for.
I have managed to get some poloni boilies out without spooking them as well as my hook baits, which had two small bags of the micro pellets with my favourite Krill & Tuna oil. I am just going to have to sit back and wait and see, as I dare not take a peek. I don’t wish to spooke them away. The area within this bend is quite large and I am hoping they don’t move off this end and up to the other.
I couldn’t resist a look and low and behold the carp where still mooching around the weed beds plus a very nice pike! I will take note of this area for some winter pike fishing. I also found a very nice area a few yards down stream, which will be a very interesting place to fish in the future.
Looking very pleasant, I must say, it’s a lovely river to fish.
Till next time
Richard
Trip 54 Fishing On The River
And they where. There is a small group of three fish that I have seen, 1 is a ghosty and the other 2 where commons, not large fish however still river carp and probably uncaught.
After watching the Go-pro footage of the trip before, this time I put more bait out and added sweetcorn to the list.
I moved one rod more into the weeds, as I could see the gaps between with the better light today.
The other rod was placed on a clear spot, just off the bank, between the reeds.
All I could do now, was sit back and hope that the fish would move onto the bait again.
With the sun going down and with no signs of any fish. I am not sure how long I will stay here this evening. I would have thought a fish would have picked up my bait by now.
At around 2130 I was off home.
Richard
Trip No 55 River Fishing (2015)
No change in the swim or spots, as I put a bit of bait in before I left the last time. I was in the hope of getting them feeding confidently. I don’t think anyone else has fished here, which is good to know.
I have been here for two hours and there is no signs of the carp. I am hoping the sun may bring them out, just to confirm there are still in the area. They could of easily moved on, mind you they have plenty of weed to hide in.
You just never know.
I finally spotted one of the common carp drifting through the reed’s and will only an hour and a bit left before it’s time to run and collect the kid’s. I will have my fingers crossed that the carp are in a feeding mood now.
I stayed for as long as possible, unfortunately no joy.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 56 River Fishing (2015)
I have gone for the same swim as before, as I have seen the carp in it and at the end of the last session I got rid of my remaining bait in the swim. This was only two days ago. So, I am hoping the fish will be in search of a bit of my bait. The only thing I have changed after I took some advice from Rob Nunn at Bait-tech, was change the hook baits to Polony meat which they do in tins. I have cubed up some large for hook baits and some smaller for free offerings.
And we will see how we get on.
Well, I stayed until 2240, which only gave me 20 minutes to get off the estate before closing time.
I completely blanked. Not even a knock and a mark on the meat. I can only think the carp may have moved on, or perhaps another angler may have fished there today and landed one. You just never know. I will take a look in the day time later this week, as I fancy a night on the lake for my next trip out.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 57 Carp Fishing (2015 )
I have decided that I need a break from the river, after my last trip which resulted in another blank. I have a feeling that the fish my have had a bit of angler pressure in some shape or form and have moved on.
I had more or less the pick of the swims when I arrived. The two I really fancied was due to the way the wind was blowing. I set myself up in a swim which give me access to a large bar, that runs down the middle of most of the lake.
It also had a nice margin to the right along a small island, with some nice overhanging trees.
The other rod was fished on the drop off in the silt gully at the back of the bar, with a good load of poloni boilies & poloni ground all mixed up with some hemp oil.
Time to sit back and enjoy the view (until the storm arrives tonight).
Oh my, that was a wet night. I have not had rain that heavy for a long time and the only fish that graced the back, where bream.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 58 Carp Fishing (2015)
This is my first choice, it is the furthest away from the car park (I have chucked some bait in all the day swims which are all amongst the trees, so I may work my way down to the car park). This syndicate has put a lot of thought into their design and have broken the lake up perfectly.
All I am doing is free line-ing Bait-tech Polony meat .
And scattering around micro pellets and broken up poloni boilies, ( As an attraction for the fish.)
Mini chopped Polony meat
I have moved on to the second swim of the day, only giving each swim and hour. I only get from 1000 – 1400 fishing time. Which is plenty enough for this sort of fishing.
Despite another two swim moves, I failed to entice any carp to feed today.
Time to collect the kid’s from school.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 59 Carp Fishing (2015)
However, as you can see that’s not quite the case! Oh well, better than being at home and doing the washing or house work.
Anyway, I have gone back onto the Airfield Lake, as it closes for Winter at the end of October. I have about two weeks left on here, unfortunately I can only do mostly days as the wife is away on business for a week.
There are a few on here as I would have expected, so I settled for a quiet bay at the back of the wind where I had spotted some fish along the tree line.
Less hope they don’t stay there.
The other rod I am using as a bit of a roving rod, to see if I can pick up the odd fish that way.
I am using a bag full of Polony meat chopped up.
The other rod is on the tree line, it has a poloni pop up with a small bag filled with micro pellets which have been soaking for some week’s.
I don’t think the weather is in my favour today and would you believe it 15 minutes before I am due to leave, the heavens open.
With not a bleep, I was on my way back to collect the kid’s.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 60 Carp Fishing (2015 )
I have gone back to the same swim as before, as there where clearly fish there. However, they are not interested in my bait or I was not in the right spot. Day fishing can be a bit hit and miss sometimes and I feel I am on a bit of a miss period at the moment.
I have changed my approach a bit, my right hand rod is along the left hand tree margin which leads into the bay. There were a couple of fish crashing there last time before I left, I put a few pouch full of poloni boilies along here.
My second rod is a bit of a roving rod again but because of where the right hand rod is, I have more options open to me. I am also using Bait-tech Big Carp Method mix, which I hope will bring the fish to my hook baits, as the stuff is full of attraction and if the fish are playing hard to get, this can be a good approach.
I have tucked my rod’s in amongst the reed’s this time.
Hard to spot, but they are there.
With only 15 minutes left, I was thinking I was heading for another blank. The right hand margin rod was off, which is where I had seen a nice fish top the trip before. The fish was heading under the overhanging tree and I had to quickly move along the bank, through the reed’s and get my rod tip under the water, until the fish was under control. I then headed back towards the small gap in the reed’s which I was fishing through and after a bit more commotion, I had a nice common in the net and I was feeling over the moon.
With the photos done, I had to quickly get all the kit in the car and head off to collect the kids from school.
It’s always worth a couple of hours here and there as you just never know.
Till Next Time
Richard
Trip No 61 Carp Fishing (2015)
Both rod’s have been put out along the tree line with Poloni pop ups and springers.
Perfect tree line
There is only one problem and that is sometimes these fish will not come out from under the tree’s. I have put out 2 small pouch fulls of the broken poloni boilies in the hope this will bring the fish out from under their hidey hole.
It was looking very moody before I was off. No fish today.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 62 Carp Fishing (2015)
I have been playing around with Godman Versacast as I believe this is a truly versatile product.
Unfortunately, the weather forecast was a bit off and I was getting a nice sunny day, unlike the cloudy I was hoping for.
I have picked a swim in the windward corner, I hope the fish will come out from the snags.
Unfortunately, they did not and by 2 pm I needed to head home.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 63 Carp Fishing (2015)
There are two islands with a channel running between them. Unfortunately, it’s roped off because of bad angling in the past.
I cast one rod on the right side of the gap and the other along the island to the left of me.
There is a bit of weed in the small bay area, so I am using Poloni 14mm pop ups and a snowman set up on the other rod.
I have made up some Godman Pva Versacast with Bait-tech Hemp oil and Krill & Tuna Oil.
And these, I put over the hook.
For instance added attraction, I have also put a couple of pouches of poloni boilies over the top. This swim is about attracting the fish out of their safe haven.
Looking though the gap.
My first fish came about 45 minutes after I arrived to the left hand rod by the ropes, it was a scrappy bar of gold, in the shape of a 14lb Common.
I recast the rod with another Versacast, filled with Bait-tech krill & Tuna oil and sat back and soaked up the last of the summer sunshine.
I was starting to think that I was only going to catch one fish and couldn’t believe that the other rod had not ripped off. Within a few minutes of thinking this, it finally did and I was attended to a very unhappy 18 lb 4 Oz common.
I didn’t bother putting the rod out as it was just past 1400 and I should have been in the car and up the road, oops.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 64 Carp Fishing (2015)
Despite the open water in front of me, I opted to put both rod’s in the margins, as I was situated in a corner of the lake.
Both spots where baited with broken poloni boilies to give a the best attraction. Both rod’s had a Versacast filled with oil, attached to the hooklink with a tiny bag full of micro pellets and soaked in Krill & Tuna Oil.
And I sat back and enjoyed the view. This swim is also perfect for spotting any fish showing, which was handy as I was going to be doing a night on here in a couple of days time.
With the conditions looking so perfect I was surprised that I didn’t get any fish.
Until next time
Richard
Trip No 65 Carp Fishing (2015)
I just made it down before last light. I just had enough time to get the rod’s spot on target, on the far margin pads, with a good scattering of poloni boilies.
Last fading light down the lake.
Unfortunately, my friend lost a fish around 04.00 which was a bit of a lump.
I also had no joy and a trip from hell back down the quarter of a mile track through the woods. Half way down, my Barrow wheel got two punchers and was completely flat. So I ran up the track, abandoning my tackle, never a good thing and returned with my foot pump. The inner tube was so damaged, I was unable to pump it up. This resulted in me have to ferry my stuff back wards and forwards to the car (and had to leave it unattended). I finally managed to get it all back and arrive home not too late from the wife to get off to work.
Until next time
Richard
Trip No 66 Carp Fishing (2015)
I have picked one of the point swims this time. According to the weatherman, the wind will be swinging around to the south and there is a nice storm pushing through over night. This should steer the fish up and I have been told they do move on the wind here.
This swim has a nice bay area with a small island to the right of me and open water to the right.
After a plumb around for the best part of an hour. I was happy with what I had found and felt that one rod would be fished on a nice 6 ft plateau with 8 ft around it. This would be a good start and the second rod would be fished at the back of the bay.
Just in front of the reeds where there was a nice clear area. I spomb’d out around 10 large loaders of ground bait and poloni boilies over each spot.
The ground bait was a mix of Bait-tech Poloni ground bait and the big carp method mix.
With a bag of particles and a tin of sweetcorn with a good load of Krill & Tuna Oil for good measure.
Both rod’s had pop’s up on with a Godman Versacast filled with the Hemp oil to add to the attraction.
And by now it was time to get the Ridgemonkey going for a nice bacon sandwich, with a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy the view.
As darkness fell, I spotted a fish sticking it’s head out, not too far away from my left hand rod. This gave me a nice confidence boost before I got my head down. At around midnight, the wind started to pick up nicely and rattle the bivvy around a lot and I was still thinking of that fish. By 0230 and no signs of any fish including the bream, I finally drifted back off to sleep and woke to a couple of bleeps on the left rod. I quickly got to the rod and turned on a small pen light which I have in my pocket at night, so I can check what’s happening as I never remember to grab a head torch. The bobbin was up the top and tilting forward and holding steady. With another single beep, I grabbed the rod and pulled into a nice lump that was having none of it and headed straight into the open water and past where my right hand rod was. This was a good 70 yards away. At this point, I knew I needed to turn the fish and get it a bit more under control. There is a nice overhanging tree on the right side of the point, which would be a right royal pain if the fish got into the bay round to the right of me.
I had the rod tip under water and I was pumping the rod hard to keep it away from the tree. I could feel the fish fighting hard and I new that it was close to the tree and it finally broke water just the other side on the tip of the tree. Luckily, the water is deep at the front of the swim and I buried the rod farther underwater and pumped nice and slowly, the fish passed this danger point. It clearly knew this and powdered off into open water in front of me again. I thought I would have to repeat the process (clever bugger), unfortunately for the fish, I was aware of it though and put a good bit of side strain on. The fish was well away from the tree and after a good few more minutes of plodding up and down the margins with a couple more bids for freedom (under the tree) it was all over and I could breath a sigh of relief as the fish was safely in the net.
And it tipped the scales at 34lb 8oz and a new PB for me.
What a stunning long fish, which gave it all the power.
I checked over the rig and recast the rod and checked the time and it was 0515. With only 45 minutes before the alarm was due to sound, I just sat and made myself a brew.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 67 Carp Fishing (2015)
After a drive and a look round. I think that may be the fish may have pushed down as far as the bottom bay. This is a day swim area and its behind the island which the strong S/W wind is pushing on to. I have looked at the area a couple of times before but I had not fancy it. However, with the wind pushing in, it was looking so much better.
So I flicked a couple of small mesh bag’s out, which had been filled with micro pellets and soaked in Krill & Tuna Oil for the best part of a month.
One at the back of a small island which is situated behind the main island.
The other rod was quite close, at one end of the bay it is full of overhanging trees and this would be a good area for the fish to rest up.
Both rod’s where fished pop up and with a Versacast filled with oil.
I crossed my fingers as I only have 30 minutes left before I need to get going, to collect the kid’s, you just never know.
Unfortunately, it was not going to be my lucky day today.
Regards
Richard
Trip No 68 Carp Fishing (2015)
I do love this swim, despite only having bream from here, it just screams carp.
With perfect margins left and right.
I have just dropped the baits down with a Versacast, a tiny bag and a good hand full of very crushed up boilies.
Unfortunately, it was not to be today.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 69 Carp Fishing (2015)
Same swim, same spots and the same tactics as before.
Let’s hope I am right, eh folks?
About 11.45, the right hand rod was off with a fish diving under a tree. I stuck the rod tip under the water, held on and slowly gained line. (What powerful fish these are.) Once under control, I played the fish out and safely hand a nice 20 lb 14 oz Common in the net.
I placed the retaining sling in the water and moved back towards the trees it had been feeding under.
Well my feelings where correct about this swim. Lucky me.
Till next time
Richard
Trip No 70 Carp Fishing (2015)
Tonight is the first of many where I will have to set up on the dark and pack up in the darkness of the morning.
If you are confident with your information you have logged down, you can even spomb out some bait but not too much.
So far this trip, the bream are still very active – unfortunately, as it can be hard work getting up through the night when Jack Frost had been about.
There will be a lack of photos on sessions like this one, so I may use the odd old one which is Wintry.
Well, the night passed with no carp and yet more bream. I did hear some fish topping which was very promising.
Till next time
Richard
Part 7 of 10 will follow in a couple of weeks
Until then Richard
UK Carp & Coarse Fishing 