Preparations Work

Prep work is very important, it’s not always about the next trip out on the bank, it can be for the upcoming weeks, months, or even years. You need to think ahead and plan what bait you will, e.g., boilies, particles, or any extra/replacement tackle you may need for the future. I don’t generally buy much other than end tackle and bait these days, but I certainly keep myself up-to-date with new products, as you could easily miss out on something that would benefit your fishing.

I’ve written about not carrying too much kit when I’m fishing. I keep all my old and worn-out tackle bags and store all my stuff in these up in the loft. During the last Christmas school holidays, my youngest had friends over (teenagers they like you to keep away – it’s too uncool to have a parent around), I was up there having a sort-out. I realized I may need to manage this area a bit better. I may be overstocked on a few items of end tackle, dating back to the 90’s! I found a spool of Kryston Merlin, the old green spool, I’d not used it, but I do have a bad habit of if I like a product and it works well, buying a load of it, just in case they stop making it or alter it.

Anyway, I digress (as always), I was up there just checking on a few end-tackle items and got completely carried away with a big clearout. I found is a good thing at times.

I like to make sure that I’m always stocked up on all end tackle products for a good six to eight months. I can then throw myself in a fishing campaign without any thought or things like that, this also applies to Gas, spombs, marker floats. Anything that can be lost or consumable products e.g. end tackle.

Bait is a bit more complicated, depending on the space you have available. I’ve got a large garage, with 3 chest freezers and a tall fridge freezer to myself. Admittedly, they’re now all off as I switched over to using shelf-life boilies a few years ago. I found that if I wanted to bait up, I didn’t like doing this in full view of other anglers, I feel it is not the done thing if there are too many people fishing on the lake. It became clear that carrying a few bags of shelf-life boilies in your car and when the moment was right to do a spot of prebaiting, they were ready to go. This stopped having to remember which of the frozen boilie bags had been defrosted and put back in the freezer and therefore needed using. When have young kids at the time, you can get distracted, which resulted in some confusion with the labeling of the bags and shelf life boilies were the way forward and didn’t make any difference in my catch rates. Pellets are quite simple to store. I still put the bags in big 25-litre plastic tubs, to keep the mice raiding them when I’m not paying attention to signs of them taking up residency in the garage. My boilies are still stored in the switched-off freezers along with ground baits, ground-up particles, and boilies I’ve made up.

It is now Boxing Day 2023, the house is all fast asleep, and I’m up planning my Spring campaign, as you do. I like to write down my approach to my chosen water, this year still being the Airfield Lake, I’ve written before that this place is something of a headbanger, the carp revert back to their old ways over the 5 months it’s closed. Plus depending on the weather in late March or early April they can be very frustrating and unpredictable, the only certain thing is they will spawn at the beginning of May. As it’s an old fish farm (some 20 years ago), full of different strains of carp, that don’t all spawn at the same time. This makes the month of May a complete write-off for some years. Once this is all over, they spread out far and wide, all over the complex. This makes tracking down the larger carp hard-going or if you are lucky, as I’ve been for some years, very easy. I just wish they would stay in the same area each year – that would help a bit.

I’m currently trying to fathom out a different approach to the start of the season, which may turn out to be a different lake. A week before the Airfield Lake opens, I will be itching to be there as always. There’s just something about that place that never fades, it’s such a magical place, full of mystery, we have all seen something special there and a few unfortunate people have lost something special. Until it’s on the bank, weighed and measured (as it where), we’ll never know. A few years back, there were some very nice carp transferred across, legitimately and with full permission of the authorities, they have just vanished, and there are a bunch of theories, but no actual evidence and I just really don’t know. There’s only one that I feel is probably the most probable, but that’s for another blog, as I’ve digressed as always.

I have gone for Classic Corn Boilies this season as they have been the most productive for myself and Ian since they were launched. I also feel I need a change on one rod. Steve, one of the syndicate members, used Tiger nuts for a couple of seasons, with similar success to myself. I’m currently thinking along the lines of a natural nut or pea approach as I need to trick the larger carp into feeding on my hook baits. As I’ve mentioned above, the carp that were transferred in from The Island Sea, a not fished for and are on naturals all their life, except for the odd guesting angler. I like to write a list of possible options and familiarise myself with them again, as I’ve no doubt used them before at some point in the past 40-plus years of fishing. It’s always best to do some research, this year I’m thinking of Nuts or Pea type of approach, I don’t believe anyone else would have used these before, or if they have it’s only a couple of people. It’s highly important if you’re planning on cooking them yourself, you follow the correct process to safeguard the carp, if you can get them pre-cooked, it will negate the above and save you a lot of time.

Deciding now will give you time to source the best product, at the best price and even order a kilo just to see what they are like.

It’s also a great time of year for tidying up and cleaning some of your kit unless you like me, I continue to fish every week, all year long and my kit is in constant use. However, I try and fit a garage tidy-up, as that is where the bait and particles, buckets, spomb and other kit like that are. The rest is in my loft or in the understairs cupboard, which is where constantly used stuff resides.

Once I’ve made up my mind, it’s worth considering purchasing bait, etc, over the coming months to spread the cost. If you’re lucky enough to be able to start pre-baiting, get a plan in place for when you can do this, how frequently you can get there, and which areas are best, but please respect other anglers.

If you’re like me and have to wait until the lake opens before you can step foot on the grounds, pre-baiting is out of the question, and observing any carpy signs beforehand. I feel your pain, however, for me, it makes fishing the Airfield Lake more exciting each year and have that close season count down, which is quite special in some respect.

It’s also a great time of the year to schedule a time to have your reels serviced, change over your mainline and braided lines on your spomb, marker rod’s etc. I keep 90% of my tackle in the loft and often need to give it a good sort out. I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to tackle and I have forced myself to sell some bits over the years. It’s still amazing how much I hang on to, under the impression I may need it one day. Currently, I’ve got a collection of 5 bivvys, 6 brollies, I can’t see myself ever needing anymore.

I hope this has helped in some way

Until next time

Richard