UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

Otters – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Posted on August 28, 2019 by richardhandel

Firstly, I would like to point out that I am a great lover of wildlife. This is one of the reasons I love fishing as much I do. You can also get to see so much that the rest of the world will never see.

Good –

When it was nearly impossible to see an otter in the wild, it was a treat to see the odd one or two (this small number of otters kept river in balance – killed diseased fish in the river and stopped a slow death for the local wildlife). A natural gamekeeper if you would.

Bad –

There are 2 real issues here.

Firstly; The unofficial releasing of otters (which has been done in great numbers), what are the otters supposed to eat when they run out of fish? The not so public knowledge, is that they eat! They will eat anything – eggs, chicks, even fully grown birds, they even been known to kill of all the bird’s on a lake that had no fish, because they had eaten them already! On my friend’s lake, every year they killed the signets and one year even the cob (swan)! This stopped, once they put an otter fence round the lake. This however, has pushed the otters into taking fish from local ornimental ponds within people’s gardens.

The Second issue, are the areas of the county the unofficial releases are happening. Now, we all know that mostly otters live in rivers, not great big deep reservoir and over populated areas. A dog otter and his family covers an area of some 5 miles. If you keep introducing otter after otter into the same area, they will just move on and fill up another areas – nobody likes a conflict with their neighbour! However, the people who are doing the releases think that someone or something has killed them, so they just keep releasing more and more until that area is over populated – again and then they move on again. And once there is no more fish or any wildlife left. These otters too will move on. If no action is taken soon, it will become the hard truth.Links-

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/27441

http://www.fishingmagic.com/news_events/news/16626-otters-the-bbc-and-the-angling-trust.html

http://www.anglingtrust.net/core/core_picker/download.asp?id=1022&filetitle=Fighting+for+the+Future+of+Your+Fishing

http://www.otterstop.co.uk/otters-now-responsible-for-deaths-of-rarebirds/

Please stop intrducing more otters, otherwise, there will be no more fish or bird and starving otters

Richard

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Try this method of preperation

Posted on August 26, 2019 by richardhandel

Try this method of preperation for your GO2 Expanders… Not only does it load them up with added attraction and gives you a more durable hookbait, but the oil will act as a preservative so you can use them over a number of sessions if you do too many… Which let’s be honest you ALWAY do too many!

Posted in Carp fishing, Spotted Fin, Spotted Fin Coarse, Spotted Fin Match Range | Leave a comment

Catalyst or Smokey Jack

Posted on August 25, 2019 by richardhandel

Put them in pva, spod them, Spomb them, or catapult them, our new floater baits are superb for surface anglers and are available in two great varieties. Choose from Catalyst or Smokey Jack in 6mm or 11mm sizes. Find them in retailers, or atwww.spottedfin.com

No photo description available.

Posted in Carp fishing, Spotted Fin, Spotted Fin Coarse, Spotted Fin Match Range | Leave a comment

Trip 49 Carp Fishing – 2019

Posted on August 24, 2019 by richardhandel

I have been lucky this weekend and have been given the opportunity by the family to get out on the bank again. So, I’m thanking them for that.

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Ian and I fancied a change of scenery this weekend and headed over to the Airfield Lake. We had not been here for some time and this swim has a great view of 3/4 of the big lake. This would give us a chance to see where the carp are; generally everywhere this time of year. It’s tracking down the bigger fish which is a real issue and they generally don’t show themselves until after dark.

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As I know this swim very well, it wasn’t an issue I arrived after Ian – by some 10 hrs. I was only planning on putting out a small bag on each rod with a 15 mm Catalyst wafter on and then putting 3 small spombs over each area to start with. I would then move on from there over the course of the next few nights.

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After a few hours of playing around with the Deeper, I finally settled for a nice spot in 6ft of water and the other rod was just off the tree-lined margins of the island to my left. I often see carp along there. It was only 3.5ft deep, so I wasn’t going to put too much bait out, just in case the swan came along. I was sticking to the Catalyst wafter.

Finally, the afternoon heat cooled down. It wasn’t even forecasted or very pleasant, we were both glad when the evening arrived.

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Morning arrived with a screaming run for Ian and it was soon safely in the net. We quickly realized being about 8 lb, it was not the biggest ever caught, but it was a carp. This should always boost your confidence as it shows there are fish in the area and they’ve started feeding.

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Still, no fish for me but the day is looking a lot better, there is a gentle fresh breeze and plenty of cloud cover. Hopefully, I will be in with a chance of a carp in daylight hours.

The carp are certainly very active and crashing about everywhere. As the weather is holding, with no sunshine and still a good breeze across the lake towards, all I’ve altered is moving the left-hand rod to the point of the island. This is where there were a few fish topping first thing this morning. I’ve put a small bit of plastic corn on each wafter to make them a bit more visible, in the hope an inquisitive carp takes a look.

Well, the third night passed us by again without a bleep. This lake is turning into a real headbanger – this was once one of the most productive areas. I can’t really see why the fish would keep away. There is probably 4 acres of water out there, with a mass of features. This may be the issue. But this trip, I made a point of fishing similar features but in different areas where we still seeing fish crashing about in front of us.

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I’m not sure when I will be back as I have family plans for the next month. This will only give a couple of quick overnighters and I was thinking its time to try the Estate Lake again, we shall see where we end up.