There is a bad trend within the fishing world of dumping leads. I feel this is a bad trend due to the safety of the fish. Now, I have been fishing for over thirty years and I understand that some fish have died because of being tethered. However, are we using this as an excuse to dump 100’s of leads all over the place? We moan and complain when we see rubbish in our swims, but we are very happy to dump leads in the name of fish safety. Or is it because the hooked to landed ratio has improved? There is also an issue with Spomb’s laying around on lake beds as they don’t float, I have put small poly balls on the end of my one, and so it will float. It is a simple and cheap answer.
I also have a big issue with fake baits. When your hook link breaks, there is a bait sitting around for as long as it takes for a carp to pick this up, gets hooked and possibly tethered up. At least if this happens with a traditional bait, it would break down in the water. Now here’s the rub, I have had the need to start using them over the past six months. This is due to general pests who interfere with carp fishing and your bait presentation. The only safe way I feel that I can combat this is by changing the hook link after every fish.
As anglers, we need to take more responsibility for all this rubbish lying around on and off the bank.
I’ve decided to look back over 2019 as part of my Podcast series and will feature multiple trip in one long podcast, from pike to carp fishing and easy lakes, to the big water I love to fish so much.
I am out for my first night of 2019. My youngest was have a friend over for the night and my services were surplus to requirement – phew. I did offer to stay at home but was told it was a girl only weekend.
I arrived just after 9 am and had a chat with another member. He had been on her for a few nights but was still happily blanking. As the Christmas rush was over, the lake was a lot more peaceful and only 3 or 4 of us were on the lake. It took me nearly 2 hours before I settled on this area. I then proceeded to look for some new spots in this area. I hadn’t seen a thing looking around and purely pick this swim due to its location to the back bays and the sanctuary area. Both are holding spots for the carp at this time of the year. It’s been fishing hard for both the day and night anglers over the past month, but from my experience over the last 4 sessions on here and speaking to other old members, this is what generally happens each year and the lake will pick up as we move through January.
Conditions are not too favorable but could be a lot worse, the pressure has started to drop slowly. I find it more about the constant conditions over the winter months.
My right hand was fished on the drop off in a nice area I found with the deeper, this was away from the normal spots in this swim.
And the other was in a very nice weedy area that clearly would hold some warmth and a food source for the carp.
Both areas were baited up with the catalyst active ground bait and micro pellets. They were all soaked in the Catalyst particle syrup. The weedy area rod had a natural 15 mm pop-up and the other rod had a 12 mm Pink Black pepper and Squid wafter on. With this all done, it was time to set camp up and get some food in me.
As the night started to draw in, the liners started and continued on and off throughout the night. I spent a few hours awake, in anticipation of a run, which never materialized. This was a worry, I started to think the rig may have got tangled. It shouldn’t have done but it does happen once a year (just to get you thinking every so often). There was clearly some fish action over the area, just not interested in picking up my hook bait.
With packing up time here, it was time to pack down camp and head home.
This could be classed as trip 3 as I was out the other day. Mapping the lake with the Deeper and also in the hope of finding a nice group of fish. With the lake completely void of people and carp, I spend 4 productive hours mapping and discided to come back today in the hope of wetting a line.
So, after another good look round and still no signs of carp, (my rule for this situation, is if you just can’t quite pinpoint the swim you feel confident with, just go for comfort and move on from there). I’ve picked this spot on the smaller lake as it gives me a great view of this lake and the big lake behind me.
I did this to spend some time looking out for fish and the potential of moving swim. One rod has been set up with a bag with a small number of pellets and a bucket load of SF Food Dip. My aim is to keep this rod static and cast a single hook bait around on the other one. Fingers crossed I may pick up a carp or if I am lucky see some signs of fish and move on to them or just take note for my next overnighter.
The static stayed static, with not even a bleep and I did my best with the roving rod and recast every 45mins. I saw no signs of carp and the water was pretty still.
With a few hours spare (and more to the point I had finally sorted out some perch fishing), I had a go on my local day ticket water. I took a small rod with a few choices of jig heads and had a play around.
I knew there were perch in here, so I headed for the dead pads and would you believe my luck? On the third cast into the swim, 1lb 1oz will do me for a starting point.
Not a happy Perch.
I used to fish for them many years ago but just lost the love (when carp took over).
It was some time before I received my next perch, it was from an area I was 100% sure that I would get one. The small fry were all over the place but I couldn’t get a pick up for over half an hour. I even left the swim and came back as it was that frustrating. I’m sure there are no pike in there but there where a couple of very large swirls. I will just have to see.
The second one and 1lb 3oz this time.
Need to sort out the holding malarky – it’d been some time and practice makes perfect.
I was very happy with that and I will be back for more.
After I finished my gardening job today, I popped by a local pond and took a walk around with the jig rod. I was after the perch again. Unfortunately, there were a couple of other anglers about which limited me to only a few of the dead pads areas.
One of them was the area where I had one of my previous Perch from. This time there were no signs of small fry about and no perch either. I continued around the lake and then headed home.
It was very nice to be able to pop by on my way through and I will be doing that a few times over the winter months.
on to the next trip
After I finished my gardening job today, I popped by a local pond and took a walk around with the jig rod. I was after the perch again. Unfortunately, there were a couple of other anglers about which limited me to only a few of the dead pads areas.
One of them was the area where I had one of my previous Perch from. This time there were no signs of small fry about and no perch either. I continued around the lake and then headed home.
It was very nice to be able to pop by on my way through and I will be doing that a few times over the winter months.
After finishing work today, it was only a short journey to the river. So I parked around the corner, grabbed my perch kit and headed off for a walk, my first stop was by an outlet.
A perfect place for perch I hoped, but not the case today. So, I walked up to the bridge, as they can be pukka spots.
Which was also looking great, but still no joy! So I carried on up the stream to the far end.
And then back again. With some very promising spots, it was not to be. I think it’s back to the lake on my next trip. As I have a bit longer, I am going to try two rods and prawns and worms a go.
I have come back down the local lake today after the Perch. This time, I am armed with two rods and a pot full of prawns, in the hope of bagging a better fish.
I am still learning about perch fishing at this stage, I used to do it many years ago but things have changed so much. But fishing is all about learning and I am finding it very enjoyable. Don’t panic, I will never lose the love for carp fishing and I will be out soon after then again, I just fancied a change.
I had a small bit of action but didn’t hook the fish, it got away with the bait. I gave it another 45 minutes but just couldn’t connect to the fish. Very frustrating, so time to move on.
My second swim showed no signs of any fish but looked pretty perfect, so I gave it a go for 30 minutes. With not even a knock, time for the third swim!
This had produced fish in the past and there were little signs of small fry. So I was hoping for some action and sure enough after about 30 minutes, the center pin rod was away and I was into a lovely perch and it was soon in the net.
1 lb 10 oz
With the rain really coming down hard, I put up the brolly and hunkered down for a bit in the hope that there must be another fish out there.
With no more knocks and a break in the rain, I quickly moved to my last swim of the day, which is next to the one I started in but a different angle to the pads and maybe a fish.
With only just over an hour left, I was very hopeful of another perch, but it just did not happen.
I am out after the carp again this weekend (not the best conditions), the pressure is low and you can’t always pick when you can get out. I’m not keen on quick nights anymore, think its an age thing. I’m sure if the conditions were very favorable, I would be out like a shot.
I did manage to arrive just on dusk for a quick look about – a fellow Syndicate member had messaged me about the number of anglers and the swims taken. This was a mega help – thanks Woody.
On the drive down, I put some thought into the weather conditions and where the fish had been seen recently. I picked an area to head for, as there clearly was not enough time to look everywhere. I had a choice if 7 swims which were perfect and my choice was soon made up.
I set up the Deeper, marker and my 2 carp rods as I like to get the deeper out there. With a nice southerly wind, it drifted across the swim nicely and I then flicked the maker out as a point of reference. I felt the lake bed until I found what I was looking for, then reeled down to the float and clipped up. When I am setting up in the dark, I like to only fish one spot as its hard work baiting up, casting accurately, spomb out bait and come the next day, if I feel there is another spot in the swim I will then bait that up for the second night. I think it is best this way otherwise there will be too much of a spread of bait.
The rain arrived at just before 9pm and its been here all night. It will be here most of the day, which is a bit of a shame but it will give me a chance to sort through the tackle box, think, play with a few rigs and refine things a bit.
No joy in the night and this morning so far will have to get the Deeper out at some point and see if there’s another interesting spot to fish and top up the swim with some more ground bait & chopped Smokey Jack boilies.
The rain today just continued all day long and I was pretty much bivvy bound until later afternoon. Around noon time, I sorted out the rods and stuck a few more ground bait balls out.
There was nearly a glimmer of sunshine just be dusk after the rain had stopped.
Which was very nice to see. It gave me a bit of an opportunity to stretch my legs, get some tea on and settle down for the night. This was broken by a bream on the righthand rod just before 11pm. That was the only action of the night and I was only disturbed by the geese just before 8am doing their morning honking routine.
The weather conditions were a lot better than I expected. I was pretty confident over the session and even had a couple of fish roll over the area, these were clearly carp but unfortunately, the bream picked up the bait.
I have just under 2 hrs before pack up time and as we all know it only takes a moment in time to change the session from a blank into a trip of a lifetime. This is why we love the game so much.
I am loving the Perch fishing, you need less kit and time. It may even teach me to take less carp fishing! But that’s not possible.
I have come back to my local lake and my first port of call is the pads swim by the bridge. This is the most productive spot so far for me, it has plenty of features and a few good signs of baitfish for the Perch this morning.
I am sticking to the prawns, simply because I forget to dig for worms yesterday and the ground is frozen solid in my garden this morning – not very organized for me. These things happen.
After about an hour and a half, with a twitch to my left-hand rod in the first 20 minutes, I was very hopeful. But it was time to move on.
My second swim gave me plenty of options but the buzzers stayed silent. As before I, flicked the jig rod about before I moved on to my next and last swim. Some heavy rain is due and with no brolly with me, I just don’t fancy getting wet.
It was not long before I received a twitch on the left-hand rod, fingers crossed something will turn up and I will bank a nice perch today.
Despite best efforts today, it was not meet to be.
It’s been some time since my last trip. This was due to a couple of family weekends away and a load of snow! I nearly managed to get out on the snow but the lake was solid.
We are at the start of a lovely mild spell. Which hopefully will get the carp moving about. This is only the second day of the good weather. My main reason for heading down to the lake is to have a good look about and get the Deeper out there looking for fish. And I found some. I just had to have a go for them but they were just not playing ball. The swim I finally stopped in for a couple of hours at the end of my trip also gave me a great view of the bottom end of the lake. It was on the back of the wind, still no signs. I think this coming weekend will be hard work but the fish will have had a few milder days and nights – fingers crossed.
bit of a short session, that was, time for some more Perch fishing.
After my dentist’s appointment this morning, there was only one thing to do and as I was driving past the lake on my way home, it would be rude not to! So, with that thought in mind, I already had the Perch tackle in the car and was soon set up just before 10am in my first swim of the day.
It was not long before I had some action, which I promptly lost in pads, a bit rubbish.
After I recast, they were soon knocking the line again and it was not long before I had a nice Perch in the net.
Not bad and just under 2lb. I took this opportunity to bait up with some more prawns and then go for a walk with the lure rod to give the swim a break. With no joy in the next two swims, I returned after 30 minutes and flicked the baits back out. If I had no knocks within the next 30 minutes, I was planning to move for the last hour, but I had a feeling there was more to be had from this swim.
My rig is very simple, just a free running lead with a small buffer bead tied to an Sf Longshank Turning Point Hook.
Despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t tempt another Perch to pick up a bait. I had a few nibbles and played about with the lure rod. However, it was extremely nice to be out in such lovely weather today, a nice warm breeze and some sunshine, it’s starting to feel a lot like Spring.
I woke up Friday morning to find it raining and had prospects of gardening equaled zero. So, I rearranged my appointments and was free to head off fishing. Unfortunately, this would mean a pretty hard working week next ‘weather permitting, the forecast was still all over the place for Monday and Tuesday. The joys of gardening as a job, but so much better than my shipping days. Ian had arrived the day before and as we both fancied a change of scenery, he headed over to the double gravel swim area. This gave me plenty of options to be social. After studying my Fish Deeper page and the coming weather conditions, I pitched up next to Ian. I cast one rod as close to the island in front of us as possible and the other to the right of my swim.
The far rod was baited up with 10 small spombs and the close in rod was heavy baited. Both spots I fished a small Classic Corn Wafter with a 12mm PPS pop up on, in conjunction with a long mono hook link and a size 4 Turn Point Hook ronnie rig style, I’ve been using this for the past few year’s, with great success.
As always, the first night has not produced a carp for me, and Ian is on his second night had a carp. Just over the 14lb mark at just before 6 am this morning
The forecast for today is very promising and rain is due overnight, it’s looking even better.
I got the Deeper out and started to hunt for a better area to fish. I found a pukka spot on Ian’s side of the swim.
Which he stuck a rod on and hopefully would produce a take tonight. Unfortunately, there was nothing like this infront of me.
Just as the sun was setting, my right-hand rod finally rattled off, this rod had been out since yesterday morning and it was just after 10 pm some 24 hours+ since I cast out. Sometimes, you have to be patient and have confidence that all is well with your rig and bait. At first, it tried its hardest to head off down the right-hand margin. Luckily, I had my wellies on as I had to stand carefully on the margins without getting a boot full of water. I sunk the tip and avoided the overhanging tree branches that it was under (and desperately fought hard to make contact with). Eventually, I gained ground and the carp was under my rod tip, all I needed to do was play the fish out.
16lb 6oz Common
Happy with that. Hopefully, something else will come along before the rain tonight. They just don’t like it. It’s due to stop around 4 am, so there’s every chance around dawn time. The night passed with not much rain, the wind had picked up and swung around to the northeast. The conditions look amazing for an early morning take, but by 8 am I was still waiting and wondering if it would happen.
After looking at the forecast and finding out there is a large, long-lasting rain front moving across – starting late morning until the early hours of tomorrow morning. I just don’t know what to do at this moment in time. I really need to think about it. I know they don’t feed in the rain, but they will when it stops.
I’m right in the teeth of the weather, but my bivvy is hidden nicely out of the wind behind the tree’s. Time to think.
Who wouldnt be pleased with this haul. James Channell had Been planning a 4 night trip on his syndicate in Ringwood and had this to say.
“Heading up on opening night on the 15th to do the draw and got set up ready to cast in at midnight. I was lucky coming out 4th and settled into a swim knowing the conditions were due to change in my favour on the second night I was fishing one rod to snags 80 yards out along a long margin and the other into open water into light silt. I baited heavy with whole 20mm catalyst and 15mm catalyst freezer baits and half with lots off crumbed up baits giving them a good coating of the catalyst food dip liquid. Rigs were a snowman setup, with a 20mm bottom bait with 12mm catalyst natural pop up. I ended the trip with 13 fish landed with the best two being a 38lb 4oz old mirror known as Jenkins and the Scattered Lin, weighing in at 36lb 9 oz. The rest where commons going upto 28lb. The Catalyst never lets me down.”
Booster Sprays are a concentrated flavour to really give your hookbait that extra pulling power. Spray it onto your hookbait, PVA bag, ground bait or zigs to create a halo of attraction which starts kicking off the moment it hits the water. Especially good in colder conditions when you can’t introduce loads of bait but need that little extra focus on your Hookbait.
