Went for an overnight session, hoping to emulate my last outing or even better it!
I set up on the point (lol, where else!) in the swim facing the top bay. I'd had a few fish from under the tree there so I knew it could produce good fish. It was raining lightly when I arrived, so it was a quick set up and chuck the rods out. I'd sort them out later. Vic came shortly after I arrived so when the rods were out, we settled down and discussed tactics with a cup of tea!
Vic was using a method feeder and boilies, I'd be using boilies over a bed of hemp on one rod and just boilies on the rod under the tree.
Morning passed into afternoon with only the odd beep from our alarms. I spodded out some more hemp and boilies and chucked a handful of boilies under the tree.
Vics left hand rod was acting strangely, beeping occasionally and then staying silent for a while. Finally, Vic had had enough and reeled his rod in.
The sight that greeted him couldn't have been made up. A crayfish had walked over his line and got itself well and truly tangled in his line. It took ages to unravel it. In the end all was sorted.
Afternoon came and went with no fish to show for our efforts. Finally, as it was getting dark, Vics alarm gave a series of beeps and stopped. This reminded us of last year when Vic told Mr carp he was packing up and about to leave. Within 5 minutes he had another beep. This went on for half an hour or so until it was completely dark and couldn't see! Lol, we did smile.
Anyway, Vic packed up and went home. I stayed up for a while, hoping my bite alarm would go off, but it never did!
At around midnight, my alarm made a series of bleeps. I was out of my bivvy in an instant, not wanting to miss my chance. I watched the indicator bob up and down but not take an line.
Hmmm, this looks familiar. Sure enough, I reeled in a bream of around 5-6lb, maybe bigger. It was raining hard again and I wasn't going to mess around weighing and photographing it. I unhooked it in the water (God bless barbless hooks!) and got back into my sleeping bag.
Morning arrived with only the bream to my name. It had stopped raining but it was still damp and rain was forecast later in the morning. I managed to pack up my gear before the rain arrived and went home.
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Steve !st session at thorney
Hi Steve here my first bit of writing for a while so here goes. First session on the Mets syndicate lake at Thorney Weir started as a bit of a exploring session (thats a blank then) I set up in the Lazy 2 swim and had a lot of water infront with two islands about 75 yards out to my left. I put two baits out to the islands with a bit of spod mix around them accompanied by 40 or so New Grange which I was able to stick out quite a suprise I was not bothered by the flying rats.
My right rod was flicked to my right hand margin by a willow tree only about 8 yds out
all ready by about 3pm Monday let the session begin ! I sat up till about 10pm but did not see a fish or hear one for that matter.Over the next few days I was passed by a few bailifs and syndicate members all of who stopped and passed the day and offered a few pieces of information which was gladly accepted.It was really nice to be welcomed into the syndicate so readily not always the case I have found over the many years ive been fishing I must say I have found most of the anglers on the day ticket side to be very happy to have a chat and give a bit of info if asked quietly .
On the fishing front I did not see any fish in my area of the lake but birdie ,one of the bailifs, did tell me he was having a few fish from the Royal Box swim which is a swim down to my far left and cannot be seen where I was fishing . As he was fishing very short I did not go for a walk down as I didnt want to disturb his margin spot . I have noted the info though and next time down I will investigate further.
Ime sure most of us have had strange experiences whilst at the lake side well mine is as follows .It was a quiet evening (sounds like a arthur conan doyle beginning) and I was , talking to sherlock oh sorry , contemplating my going home in the morning when my auto light came on ( it was 10.45 pm )and looking out to my door expecting a rat when a fox was standing there looking at me now I was suprised as I thought the light would have frightened it off but no it just stood there with a slightly quizical look I sort of sat up but it was still there looking i t didnt look that big but I was a bit disturbed and just said shoo and it sort of turned and went away After that strange happening I got up and put the door down with the mesh opened so I could see what was going to cart me away to its den !!!!
My right rod was flicked to my right hand margin by a willow tree only about 8 yds out
all ready by about 3pm Monday let the session begin ! I sat up till about 10pm but did not see a fish or hear one for that matter.Over the next few days I was passed by a few bailifs and syndicate members all of who stopped and passed the day and offered a few pieces of information which was gladly accepted.It was really nice to be welcomed into the syndicate so readily not always the case I have found over the many years ive been fishing I must say I have found most of the anglers on the day ticket side to be very happy to have a chat and give a bit of info if asked quietly .
On the fishing front I did not see any fish in my area of the lake but birdie ,one of the bailifs, did tell me he was having a few fish from the Royal Box swim which is a swim down to my far left and cannot be seen where I was fishing . As he was fishing very short I did not go for a walk down as I didnt want to disturb his margin spot . I have noted the info though and next time down I will investigate further.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Yahoo!!! Its Official. The Drought is finally over
And I don't mean the weather.
I went fishing on 26 April 2012 for an overnighter and caught my 1st carp for a long while.
I set the alarm for 5.30 and when I got up, I looked out the window and thought to myself " Lets get this show on the road. Its stopped raining so get your bum in gear and go!"
I had a quick cup of tea, picked up my fishing coat and bib and left for the lake. I opened the door and couldnt believe my eyes. It was bucketing down!
Never mind, I'm still going fishing no matter what the weather throws at me.
The car was packed the previous night so that meant I could just get in the car and go. It rained from when I left home, all the way to the lake, setting up the bivvy and my rods and well into the morning. By the time it had stopped, I was already soaked to the skin. To try and dry my self out, I boiled the kettle and filled up my hot water bottle. I placed the hot water bottle on my thigh and when it got too hot, I moved it o the other leg. I did this for a few hours and eventually managed to dry most of the accessible parts of my jeans! Lol! You should have seen the steam coming off me!!
I did have a spare clothing in the car but I would only use them if I couldnt get my clothes dry before I got into my sleeping bag. Luckily, they dried out ok
In between the showers, I had spodded out some hemp, sweetcorn and pellets to 2 areas about 50yds out. I kept one area regularly topped up and the other spot only had the odd spod full. I had a few liners so brought one rod a bit closer but still no carp by the time it got dark.
Daybreak comes and still no carp. I spodded out the last of my hemp and sweetcorn and prepared to pack up.
At about 8am, my left hand rod gave a few quick beeps and suddenly roared into life.
Oh yes, this was no bream or tench. It fought hard for 5 minutes before finally tiring and coming peacefully to the net.
At last, my first carp for nearly 18 months! It was a simmo but hey! Beggars cant be choosers
At 21.03lb I was over the moon.
I got all excited and set up my camera to take a timed shot. The picture above is the practice shot I took. I picked up the carp, pressed the remote to fire the camera.
Nothing.
WTF?
I checked the camera, dead battery. B**lox
I have 3 batteries for my camera so no great drama. Load spare battery, fire camera.
Nothing
What on earth is going on?
I checked the camera and again found no sign of life. This is unreal. Still, I have another spare battery in case of such a disaster. You guessed it, that bugger was flat as well. What rotten luck (or bad planning, depending on your point of view!)
But all is not lost. I have a camera phone. I won't be able to have a posed picture but I could still take one or two of the carp. Out comes the camera, point at carp and click!!!
Yay, I have a photo of fish.
Checked the picture to make sure and closed camera phone. I then released the carp to its home and sat down to enjoy a nice cup of tea whilst I revel in my capture.
Check phone, no picture. Where did it go? I checked every single photo on my phone but couldnt find the photo of my carp. I later realised that, unlike a normal camera, my camera needs to save the picture to the memory stick and doesn't do it auto matically. By closing the lens, I automatically discarded any photo I had taken. I was gutted
So dear friends, this scabby picture is the only one I have of my capture.
There are a few lessons to be learned from this debacle, one them being - make sure the darn camera batteries are charged up the night before you go fishing!
When I got home, I charged the batteries ready for next time. The first battery charged ok after 2 hours but the 2nd battery was showing full after only 5 minutes. When I put that battery in my camera, the camera worked ok and showed a full battery. Don't know what happened there.
Weird!
Anyway, Im off fishing on 8 May, so I'll keep you posted,
Cya
JT
I went fishing on 26 April 2012 for an overnighter and caught my 1st carp for a long while.
I set the alarm for 5.30 and when I got up, I looked out the window and thought to myself " Lets get this show on the road. Its stopped raining so get your bum in gear and go!"
I had a quick cup of tea, picked up my fishing coat and bib and left for the lake. I opened the door and couldnt believe my eyes. It was bucketing down!
Never mind, I'm still going fishing no matter what the weather throws at me.
The car was packed the previous night so that meant I could just get in the car and go. It rained from when I left home, all the way to the lake, setting up the bivvy and my rods and well into the morning. By the time it had stopped, I was already soaked to the skin. To try and dry my self out, I boiled the kettle and filled up my hot water bottle. I placed the hot water bottle on my thigh and when it got too hot, I moved it o the other leg. I did this for a few hours and eventually managed to dry most of the accessible parts of my jeans! Lol! You should have seen the steam coming off me!!
I did have a spare clothing in the car but I would only use them if I couldnt get my clothes dry before I got into my sleeping bag. Luckily, they dried out ok
In between the showers, I had spodded out some hemp, sweetcorn and pellets to 2 areas about 50yds out. I kept one area regularly topped up and the other spot only had the odd spod full. I had a few liners so brought one rod a bit closer but still no carp by the time it got dark.
Daybreak comes and still no carp. I spodded out the last of my hemp and sweetcorn and prepared to pack up.
At about 8am, my left hand rod gave a few quick beeps and suddenly roared into life.
Oh yes, this was no bream or tench. It fought hard for 5 minutes before finally tiring and coming peacefully to the net.
At last, my first carp for nearly 18 months! It was a simmo but hey! Beggars cant be choosers
At 21.03lb I was over the moon.
I got all excited and set up my camera to take a timed shot. The picture above is the practice shot I took. I picked up the carp, pressed the remote to fire the camera.
Nothing.
WTF?
I checked the camera, dead battery. B**lox
I have 3 batteries for my camera so no great drama. Load spare battery, fire camera.
Nothing
What on earth is going on?
I checked the camera and again found no sign of life. This is unreal. Still, I have another spare battery in case of such a disaster. You guessed it, that bugger was flat as well. What rotten luck (or bad planning, depending on your point of view!)
But all is not lost. I have a camera phone. I won't be able to have a posed picture but I could still take one or two of the carp. Out comes the camera, point at carp and click!!!
Yay, I have a photo of fish.
Checked the picture to make sure and closed camera phone. I then released the carp to its home and sat down to enjoy a nice cup of tea whilst I revel in my capture.
Check phone, no picture. Where did it go? I checked every single photo on my phone but couldnt find the photo of my carp. I later realised that, unlike a normal camera, my camera needs to save the picture to the memory stick and doesn't do it auto matically. By closing the lens, I automatically discarded any photo I had taken. I was gutted
So dear friends, this scabby picture is the only one I have of my capture.
There are a few lessons to be learned from this debacle, one them being - make sure the darn camera batteries are charged up the night before you go fishing!
When I got home, I charged the batteries ready for next time. The first battery charged ok after 2 hours but the 2nd battery was showing full after only 5 minutes. When I put that battery in my camera, the camera worked ok and showed a full battery. Don't know what happened there.
Weird!
Anyway, Im off fishing on 8 May, so I'll keep you posted,
Cya
JT
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Gone Fishing
I managed to get a day session in recently, although I had to reshuffle things.
I had arranged to go on a Wednesday session with Vic but had forgotten I had promised Mrs T to take her out. So I was thinking of going on Sunday.
I thought about it and decided "Nah, I like my Sunday dinner."
So we arranged to go on Monday. I expect Vic thought I wouldnt turn up, the times I messed him about. Lol!
We had arranged to meet early at the Lagoon and Vic text me that he'd be there well before me. Anyway, I turned up at 06.30 and it was just starting to get light. I couldnt see Vics 4x4 although there was a similar one there but that was silver and Vics was creamy.
I started to unpack and got the rods out. They couldnt have been in the water 5 minutes when Vic turned up and said
"I thought it was you".
The 4x4 was his but for some reason I'd gotten the colour wrong. Never mind. I picked up the stuff I'd already got out and moved down to Vics end.
I cast out and baited up. Last time we was here, I spoke to a couple of anglers and they recommended this part of the lake. There was afamily there today and I had spoken to the family earlier and they hadnt caught a carp, only a couple of bream.
I cast out my rods rod and baited up. Not too far out but not really close in either.
Nothing.
After a few hours I reeled in my left hand rod and decided to give it a chuck.
Nothing.
Bugger this, I'll try plastic corn. Reeled in, changed baits.
Nothing
After a few hours more, reel in, change rigs to chod and shorter link.
Nothing.
By now its 3.30 pm and I'm starting to think I'm going to blank. Again! I reel in and change my bait to plum. I had been using the Ninja from Blakes but nobody told the carp how good they were. Or the tench and bream!!
Lol
So now I've tried most things and nothing has worked. I'm starting to doubt myself and my rigs now, so I need to catch soon!
Suddenly Vic has a run on his rod. And then it stops. And stutters. We know this type of run. Its our old friend the Snotty Bream! Hooray, a fish. Sadly, its not caught by me. But we're both happy as the session hasnt been a complete blank and Vic can add it to his bream album. We didnt weigh it but it seemed decent enough. Seconds after relesing the bream, Vics other rod goes off. And stops and stutters. Another one!
I asked Vic what he was using and he said that he'd recently changed to halibut pellet, so now we know what to do if we want to catch carp. Not use halibut pellet!!!!!
That was it for the rest of the session. I blanked again and we'll give it a go another time.
Cya
John
I had arranged to go on a Wednesday session with Vic but had forgotten I had promised Mrs T to take her out. So I was thinking of going on Sunday.
I thought about it and decided "Nah, I like my Sunday dinner."
So we arranged to go on Monday. I expect Vic thought I wouldnt turn up, the times I messed him about. Lol!
We had arranged to meet early at the Lagoon and Vic text me that he'd be there well before me. Anyway, I turned up at 06.30 and it was just starting to get light. I couldnt see Vics 4x4 although there was a similar one there but that was silver and Vics was creamy.
I started to unpack and got the rods out. They couldnt have been in the water 5 minutes when Vic turned up and said
"I thought it was you".
The 4x4 was his but for some reason I'd gotten the colour wrong. Never mind. I picked up the stuff I'd already got out and moved down to Vics end.
I cast out and baited up. Last time we was here, I spoke to a couple of anglers and they recommended this part of the lake. There was afamily there today and I had spoken to the family earlier and they hadnt caught a carp, only a couple of bream.
I cast out my rods rod and baited up. Not too far out but not really close in either.
Nothing.
After a few hours I reeled in my left hand rod and decided to give it a chuck.
Nothing.
Bugger this, I'll try plastic corn. Reeled in, changed baits.
Nothing
After a few hours more, reel in, change rigs to chod and shorter link.
Nothing.
By now its 3.30 pm and I'm starting to think I'm going to blank. Again! I reel in and change my bait to plum. I had been using the Ninja from Blakes but nobody told the carp how good they were. Or the tench and bream!!
Lol
So now I've tried most things and nothing has worked. I'm starting to doubt myself and my rigs now, so I need to catch soon!
Suddenly Vic has a run on his rod. And then it stops. And stutters. We know this type of run. Its our old friend the Snotty Bream! Hooray, a fish. Sadly, its not caught by me. But we're both happy as the session hasnt been a complete blank and Vic can add it to his bream album. We didnt weigh it but it seemed decent enough. Seconds after relesing the bream, Vics other rod goes off. And stops and stutters. Another one!
I asked Vic what he was using and he said that he'd recently changed to halibut pellet, so now we know what to do if we want to catch carp. Not use halibut pellet!!!!!
That was it for the rest of the session. I blanked again and we'll give it a go another time.
Cya
John
Friday, 16 March 2012
John goes for 2 nights
After Vic's capture last time out, I was really up for getting a carp out. To that end, I'd managed to wangle a 2 nighter on the Lagoon. I set up in Vics swim, hoping I would emulate or go even better than Vic!!
I marked up, baited up and cast out the rods. Now for the wait.
I waited. And waited. And waited some more.
This wasn't supposed to happen. I should be up to my neck in carp and be so knackered catching them I would have to geet the rods in to give me a rest!! Lol, so much for dreaming.
I hardly saw any fish moving until the afternoon of the second day when a carp rose just over my baits. Shortly after that, a great big SPALOOSH! was heard. (I was attending to a call of nature, so I didnt actually get to see it). I looked across and sure enough it was in my swim. Won't be long now, I thought to myself.
Back to the waiting game. At 02.30am my bite alarm finally emitted a stuttering cry. Was it a carp? Was it trying to get rid of the hook? Only way to find out is to lift into it.
Deep down, I knew it wasn't a carp. As I reeled it in, the hope of catching a carp gradually died and I was left with a decent sized bream in the net. I didnt even weigh it, just unhooked it when it was still in the water. It looked like it was a decent size but I was after carp and no matter how I described it, it would still be a bream!!
Well, I was still waiting for a carpy bite when I got up next morning. During the night, a heavy fog had rolled in. From my bivvy I couldnt even see the end of my rods, it was that thick. And cold? It was bloody freezing. Damp all over the inside of the bivvy as well, but luckily none of the important stuff was wet.
I packed up at 13.00 and went home, still planning to get a carp from there. As I was leaving, I spoke to a couple of anglers that had fished there before. They told me that most of the fish that they had caught had all come from the road bank!
Guess where I'll be fishing next?!!
Cya
John
I marked up, baited up and cast out the rods. Now for the wait.
I waited. And waited. And waited some more.
This wasn't supposed to happen. I should be up to my neck in carp and be so knackered catching them I would have to geet the rods in to give me a rest!! Lol, so much for dreaming.
I hardly saw any fish moving until the afternoon of the second day when a carp rose just over my baits. Shortly after that, a great big SPALOOSH! was heard. (I was attending to a call of nature, so I didnt actually get to see it
Back to the waiting game. At 02.30am my bite alarm finally emitted a stuttering cry. Was it a carp? Was it trying to get rid of the hook? Only way to find out is to lift into it.
Deep down, I knew it wasn't a carp. As I reeled it in, the hope of catching a carp gradually died and I was left with a decent sized bream in the net. I didnt even weigh it, just unhooked it when it was still in the water. It looked like it was a decent size but I was after carp and no matter how I described it, it would still be a bream!!
Well, I was still waiting for a carpy bite when I got up next morning. During the night, a heavy fog had rolled in. From my bivvy I couldnt even see the end of my rods, it was that thick. And cold? It was bloody freezing. Damp all over the inside of the bivvy as well, but luckily none of the important stuff was wet.
I packed up at 13.00 and went home, still planning to get a carp from there. As I was leaving, I spoke to a couple of anglers that had fished there before. They told me that most of the fish that they had caught had all come from the road bank!
Guess where I'll be fishing next?!!
Cya
John
John and Vic's First Outing Of The Year
At last, we're on the bank. After a miserable winter we finally arranged a session. Only a days fishing but I was looking forward to it
I arrived at 06.30 and Vic would come later as he had some stuff to do at home. I set up in the bottom end of the lake as I'd seen some small fish activity and assumed that if the small ones are moving the big un's won't be far behind. A bit optimistic but what the hell!!
I got the rods out after marking up and put out some bait. Next went the rods onto my chosen spots and Bobs your uncle. Game on!
Nothing eventful happened for the next few hours and at 09.30 ish Vic rolled up. He set up in the next swim along from me and thats when he realised he'd forgotten his homemade boilies. In fact, he'd left them on the table in the rush to get here. Trouble is, hid dog would be able to get to them and Vic wasn't expecting them to there when he got home. Lol. But he wasnt the only one to forget things. I'd left my camera and catapult at home so it was a reminder to check, check and check again that you've got everything!! This first outing was turning into a learning curve.
After a awhile, Vic cast out his rods towards some fish movement he'd spotted. It wasnt long before his alarm went off and he had a fish on. This is going well! After a short struggle, we landed his first carp of the year and the first that he'd caught when I've been there. I was so chuffed for him. His little eyes popped out of his head when we took the photo's and you could see that he was well chuffed. Bless him!! Lol. And so he should be. It weighed in at 16.07 lbs. It wasnt one of the originals but a Simmo but it was still a nice fish to catch.
Now the onus was on me to catch a carp. Sadly, I didnt rise to the occasion and only managed a tench at 4lbs. Still it was an enjoyable day and a very good start to our fishing. Now all I got to do is catch a carp!!!!
Vic packed up at 5 ish and I wasnt much later.
Until the next time
John
I arrived at 06.30 and Vic would come later as he had some stuff to do at home. I set up in the bottom end of the lake as I'd seen some small fish activity and assumed that if the small ones are moving the big un's won't be far behind. A bit optimistic but what the hell!!
I got the rods out after marking up and put out some bait. Next went the rods onto my chosen spots and Bobs your uncle. Game on!
Nothing eventful happened for the next few hours and at 09.30 ish Vic rolled up. He set up in the next swim along from me and thats when he realised he'd forgotten his homemade boilies. In fact, he'd left them on the table in the rush to get here. Trouble is, hid dog would be able to get to them and Vic wasn't expecting them to there when he got home. Lol. But he wasnt the only one to forget things. I'd left my camera and catapult at home so it was a reminder to check, check and check again that you've got everything!! This first outing was turning into a learning curve.
After a awhile, Vic cast out his rods towards some fish movement he'd spotted. It wasnt long before his alarm went off and he had a fish on. This is going well! After a short struggle, we landed his first carp of the year and the first that he'd caught when I've been there. I was so chuffed for him. His little eyes popped out of his head when we took the photo's and you could see that he was well chuffed. Bless him!! Lol. And so he should be. It weighed in at 16.07 lbs. It wasnt one of the originals but a Simmo but it was still a nice fish to catch.
Vic with his 16.07lb Simmo
Now the onus was on me to catch a carp. Sadly, I didnt rise to the occasion and only managed a tench at 4lbs. Still it was an enjoyable day and a very good start to our fishing. Now all I got to do is catch a carp!!!!
Vic packed up at 5 ish and I wasnt much later.
Until the next time
John
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Orchid Lakes Revisited
Hi All,
Just got back from a couple of nights at orchid Lakes- Home of the 30's.
Yeah, right.
It was a pleasant outing, weather was extremely mild, swans, coots, ducks and geese all joining in on the vocal front and taking it in turns to wipe out Steves lines. Lol
Funnily enough, I wasn't plagued too badly, with only the occasional visit. The swans were a major fan club of Steve though, as they came visiting quite often and at various times theoughout the day and night!!! It probably had something to do with the fact that a bit of bait managed to be dropped into Steves swim.
We tried everything. Boilies, Chod rigs, running rigs, bottom baits, pop ups. Not a thing. We had one or two knocks but nothing that we were able to strike into. The water is still extremely low, probably 2-3 ft short of what it should be. Some of the swims we looked at would need climbing gear just to get from the bank to the waters edge. I wasnt going to be trying that at dead-o-clock in the morning.
We set up in Middles and New Middles, two of the prefferred swims apparently. We marked up, spodded out and cast the rigs to our spots. It seemed to take us an age to get everything ready but eventually we were all setup. Time for dinner.
We had an enjoyable 1st night social and retired to our bivvies later that evening, fully expecting that at least one of us would catch that night. But no, it wasn't to be.
Woke up next morning and had breakfast. Looked at the lake and thought "How come we didn't catch?"
No reply from Him up above!
We saw a couple of signs of carp but they were too far away but at least the carp were moving. Seems like they moved to the other end of the lake, because we didn't see any more signs of carp. Steve managed to catch a 3lb(ish) bream (much to his annoyance) but other than that, it was another blank day at the lake. They're certainly adding up now for me!
A quiet 2nd night and early to bed. Still fishless when we got up.
Packed up for 11am and came home to plan the next outing!
Cya for now
Jt and Sc
Just got back from a couple of nights at orchid Lakes- Home of the 30's.
Yeah, right.
It was a pleasant outing, weather was extremely mild, swans, coots, ducks and geese all joining in on the vocal front and taking it in turns to wipe out Steves lines. Lol
Funnily enough, I wasn't plagued too badly, with only the occasional visit. The swans were a major fan club of Steve though, as they came visiting quite often and at various times theoughout the day and night!!! It probably had something to do with the fact that a bit of bait managed to be dropped into Steves swim.
Steve chilling out on the 1st afternoon
We tried everything. Boilies, Chod rigs, running rigs, bottom baits, pop ups. Not a thing. We had one or two knocks but nothing that we were able to strike into. The water is still extremely low, probably 2-3 ft short of what it should be. Some of the swims we looked at would need climbing gear just to get from the bank to the waters edge. I wasnt going to be trying that at dead-o-clock in the morning.
We set up in Middles and New Middles, two of the prefferred swims apparently. We marked up, spodded out and cast the rigs to our spots. It seemed to take us an age to get everything ready but eventually we were all setup. Time for dinner.
We had an enjoyable 1st night social and retired to our bivvies later that evening, fully expecting that at least one of us would catch that night. But no, it wasn't to be.
Woke up next morning and had breakfast. Looked at the lake and thought "How come we didn't catch?"
How come we didn't catch? View from our swims
No reply from Him up above!
We saw a couple of signs of carp but they were too far away but at least the carp were moving. Seems like they moved to the other end of the lake, because we didn't see any more signs of carp. Steve managed to catch a 3lb(ish) bream (much to his annoyance) but other than that, it was another blank day at the lake. They're certainly adding up now for me!
A quiet 2nd night and early to bed. Still fishless when we got up.
Johns Digs for the 2 night session
Packed up for 11am and came home to plan the next outing!
Cya for now
Jt and Sc
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Thorny Weir
Steve went to Thorny Weir and had a memorable session.
I'll going to nag him to write an article.
Watch this space
I'll going to nag him to write an article.
Watch this space
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Bream Boy!
Well, I've been to the lake 3 times in the last couple of months and still no carp.
Vic and I have recently tried out the States Lagoon. Its bigger than the Specimen lake and there are more inaccessible places, especially for Vic and me as we haven't got a barrow. I think Vic is working his charm on Barbs and he may resolve the barrow problem soon!! Its a long haul around that side of the lake with all your gear.
The first time I went, Vic was unable to come as I didn't know I was going until the last moment. He has to sort out who takes the dog for a walk, feed the horses and rabbits etc so the more notice I give him the better.
I set up on the bottom end of the lake and spodded out some mix. A few hours later, I had a tentative take and a bream of 5lb+ was on the bank. Not what I was after, but it was my PB for a bream. To cut a long story short, this was the tone of the session - bream. I tried sweetcorn (real and plastic), 8mm - 16mm boilies, pop ups, snowmen set up, tiger nuts etc. The carp weren't interested although the bream seemed to enjoy it all!! I tried short hooklinks, long ones, but the end result, bream. I did increase my PB for a bream again, this time a bream of 7lb 2oz. It fought for all of 20 seconds and then gave in.
I ended up with 7 bream, all over 5lb .
A few weeks later, we managed to arrange a session together together and we set up at the top end of the lake, near the top car park. I used the marker rod, clipped up, and used pva bags and netting with stick mix and boilies but no fish, not even a bream. I stayed that night and didnt have a run. I was a bit disappointed but I'll still carry on, just try another part of the lake and use plenty of bait.
The last time we went I stayed for 2 nights and Vic joined me on the first day. We set up on the left side of the lake near to where I had the bream previously. A similar story, spod, pva bags/netting, boilies, sweetcorn - all caught bream but no carp. Maybe I'm doing something radically wrong but I can't catch a carp to save my life!!
Vic getting his method feeder mix ready
Anyway, I'll keep going and see what turns up!
Well, thats it for now,
Cya soon,
John
Vic and I have recently tried out the States Lagoon. Its bigger than the Specimen lake and there are more inaccessible places, especially for Vic and me as we haven't got a barrow. I think Vic is working his charm on Barbs and he may resolve the barrow problem soon!! Its a long haul around that side of the lake with all your gear.
The first time I went, Vic was unable to come as I didn't know I was going until the last moment. He has to sort out who takes the dog for a walk, feed the horses and rabbits etc so the more notice I give him the better.
I set up on the bottom end of the lake and spodded out some mix. A few hours later, I had a tentative take and a bream of 5lb+ was on the bank. Not what I was after, but it was my PB for a bream. To cut a long story short, this was the tone of the session - bream. I tried sweetcorn (real and plastic), 8mm - 16mm boilies, pop ups, snowmen set up, tiger nuts etc. The carp weren't interested although the bream seemed to enjoy it all!! I tried short hooklinks, long ones, but the end result, bream. I did increase my PB for a bream again, this time a bream of 7lb 2oz. It fought for all of 20 seconds and then gave in.
I ended up with 7 bream, all over 5lb .
A few weeks later, we managed to arrange a session together together and we set up at the top end of the lake, near the top car park. I used the marker rod, clipped up, and used pva bags and netting with stick mix and boilies but no fish, not even a bream. I stayed that night and didnt have a run. I was a bit disappointed but I'll still carry on, just try another part of the lake and use plenty of bait.
The last time we went I stayed for 2 nights and Vic joined me on the first day. We set up on the left side of the lake near to where I had the bream previously. A similar story, spod, pva bags/netting, boilies, sweetcorn - all caught bream but no carp. Maybe I'm doing something radically wrong but I can't catch a carp to save my life!!
Vic getting his method feeder mix ready
View from Johns swim
Anyway, I'll keep going and see what turns up!
Well, thats it for now,
Cya soon,
John
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Another awesome session at Etang Du Bois
Hi all, its Steve.
Well, what a session I just had in France.
Following on from my last session there, I thought it'd be quite chuffed if I only had half of what I caught!
Read on to find out what happened.
After meeting up with Frenchy and Pete, we eventually left at around 8pm. Frenchy would be driving to Dover and I'd be driving the rest. We'd be using my car and Pete would follow us in his own. We arrived at Dover in plenty of time and we got the early ferry to Dunkirk (or Dunkerque in French!). The only downside was that most of the seats were taken with people lying flat out on them, fast asleep. Grrrrh!
Never mind, C'est la vie as the locals say!
A couple of our party had already spent a week at the lake and we would be meeting up with them later
Anyway, it was an uneventful trip and I wasnt sea sick once. We disembarked at around 3am local time and set off for the 4 hour trip to the lake. By this time it was quite foggy and as we travelled onward, so the fog got thicker. This wasn't what we had planned! After about 2 hrs driving we pulled into a car park to have a rest and get some zzzzzzeds!. My head was full of fishing and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. I ended up exploring the area and drinking coffee and after a while I woke the others up. We set off at about 7am and arrived at the lake around 9am. The fog had cleared by now and we could see the splendid lake.
To decide who would choose the first swim, we would be pulling names out of the hat. Lowest number goes first. I let Pete and Frenchy go first and then drew my number. Guess what? I drew number 1! I now had first choice. Lol
We had already taken a walk around the lake and I really fancied the Lawn swim, so thats where I set up.
I'd been told of a couple of spots around my chosen swim that had produced in the past and I placed 1 rod near the area to my right and my other 2 rods to the island. Now we wait. I put out some bait with my bait boat and sat down and enjoyed my surroundings
I was in the process of making myself a cup of tea when I noticed that the flame on my stove was burning yellowy/orange and not the lovely blue flame that it normally burns. I decided to turn up the gas and try to unblock the jet that way.
B-I-G mistake.
The damn thing roared like a dragon and the next thing I knew there was flames shooting up the front of my bivvy!!
Holy s**t!
Thinking quickly, I managed to grab hold of the stove and chuck it outside.
Oh bl**dy hell, no! It bounced and clattered towards my rods and there wasn't a damned thing I could do about it. I watched horrified as it got closer and closer to my rods. Finally, it came to a stop a half rod length away from them. Whew! That was close.
Now I know why my mate John rarely cooks inside his bivvy!! Lol
I retrieved the flaming stove (no pun intended!) and went back to the bivvy to see if there was any damage. Damn, there was a hole the size of a small hand towel in the front of the bivvy. I had the original front and mozzy net with me so I wasn't too worried about getting wet. Just pi***d off it had happened at all.
Although the weather was pleasant, I had no runs that day or at night and managed to catch up on my sleep.
I woke around 8am and had breakfast. My alarms had remained silent during the night so I decided to have a walk around my area of the lake. As I walked I noticed at least 3 fish right under a tree in the margin to my right. This spot was about 8-10 feet from the other spot I'd been told about. I'd need my bait boat for this as it would be very difficult to cast to this spot with the rods. I loaded up the boat with a rig and a handful of bait and sent it out.
Trap set. Now we wait again.
Saturday proved to be another quiet day on the fishing front and I retired to my bivvy and got my head down for the night.
Woke up and had breakfast, again fishless. This had happened last time I was here so I wasn't too worried yet. It takes a bit of time to settle down.This lake has a couple of aerators and I was quite confident that I'd catch sometime soon, especially when the aerators were on. We'll see how it pans out.
I'd noticed that when I got my rigs in from the margin spots, parts of the rig were covered in black gunk. I wasn't happy with this and decided to change my bottom baits to pop-ups. A simple change but quite effective as it turned out. I sent out the boat with my changed rigs and some bait and sat in the chair enjoying the sun.
At 11.30 I had a blistering run on my RH rod. Game on!! I lifted into the fish and had myself an almighty scrap with mr carp. It fought like a demon but I managed to land it after about 15 mins. I looked into the net and it was huge! I could see it was a grass carp, long, sleek and powewful. With the help of some of the lads, we weighed it and the scales went round to 54.02 lbs
Awesome!
I was ecstatic. I would have been happy just to catch a carp, but to catch a fish this size first off blew me away. When we'd photographed, weighed and administered some carp care stuff, we released it and it swam away to its home. I sat down and made myself a well earned cup of tea. Presently, I made up another rig and sent it out with some bait to the new spot. I just knew the spot would produce and it did.
Until I sent out the bait boat to top up the swims.
I was enjoying my first cup of tea at about 6.30am when my RH rod (the one on my spot) burst into life. I was onto my rod quickly and I could feel it wasnt a monster, but a decent fish none the less. After another healthy scrap, the lovely looking common was in my net and being photographed and weighed. It was 27.02lb. It wasnt the biggest carp in the lake but it was in pristine condition.
This was turning into one hell of a session. The rod was put back into the spot and again only a smattering of baits around the area. At 8am my RH rod once again put on its battle curve and I was into another angry carp. This was proving a popular spot for mr carp. After another exhausting scrap (I hadnt quite recovered from the last one) I managed to get the net under the fish. Someone offered to help me weigh it, which I was grateful for! At 47.02lbs I was incredibly happy with the result so far - and we still had a few more days left!
Not long after, it started to rain and it stayed all day. Kind of put a dampner on things for a bit as I didn't get a bite until the evening. At times the heavens opened and we would all skuttle back into our bivvies.
If this keeps up, I'll be a quivering wreck by the time I go home! I'm well chuffed with my fishing though, especially with the way I have thought about things and then went and put the thinking into action and caught some decent carp.
Wednesday arrived and I'd been up since 7am. I had breakfast and a cup of tea and was considering if anything needed to be changed. Then at 8.30am my question was answered with the roaring of my RH alarm as it signalled Mr Angry Carp on the end. No changes required! Finding that spot was a real good piece of fortune for me. 4 fish off the spot so far. This fish wasn't as big as some of the others and I was able to land it quite quickly. Good job really, as I'd only just recovered from yesterdays haul! The scales went round to 26.09lb and we returned the fish soon after. Another common.
We were having a barbeque this afternoon so the whole gang would be bringing in our rods for a couple of hours and have a bit of a social. We'd have a few beers, some BBQ grub and a good chat. Leigh (the bailiff) was cooking the grub. Top Chef! Our group as whole were doing great, with several people getting carp to over 50lbs and many beating their PB's by quite a margin.
By 5pm I was back at my bivvy and getting the rigs and bait out to the spots ready for the evening. 30 minutes later my middle rod alarm nearly went into melt down as it screamed a take. My rod was doing what it is designed to do and I was having a battle with another Etang Du Bois carp. Yet again another fight and I managed to land the carp after a brief but powerful fight. It was a 42.09lb leather carp. Another PB by the wayside.
Thursday morning arrived and no action through the night. I had breakfast and after topping up the spots again I was hopeful of another fish - and I wasn't to be disappointed.
At about 10.30am I was talking to Leigh and some others. We were enjoying the morning sunshine, trying not to think about the next day when we would have to pack up and make our way home.
Look what happened when I went to use the facilities. My camera got hijacked.
Can you spot who is in the picture?
Lol
Well, what a session I just had in France.
Following on from my last session there, I thought it'd be quite chuffed if I only had half of what I caught!
Read on to find out what happened.
Thursday 28 April
After meeting up with Frenchy and Pete, we eventually left at around 8pm. Frenchy would be driving to Dover and I'd be driving the rest. We'd be using my car and Pete would follow us in his own. We arrived at Dover in plenty of time and we got the early ferry to Dunkirk (or Dunkerque in French!). The only downside was that most of the seats were taken with people lying flat out on them, fast asleep. Grrrrh!
Never mind, C'est la vie as the locals say!
A couple of our party had already spent a week at the lake and we would be meeting up with them later
Friday 29 April
Anyway, it was an uneventful trip and I wasnt sea sick once. We disembarked at around 3am local time and set off for the 4 hour trip to the lake. By this time it was quite foggy and as we travelled onward, so the fog got thicker. This wasn't what we had planned! After about 2 hrs driving we pulled into a car park to have a rest and get some zzzzzzeds!. My head was full of fishing and there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. I ended up exploring the area and drinking coffee and after a while I woke the others up. We set off at about 7am and arrived at the lake around 9am. The fog had cleared by now and we could see the splendid lake.
To decide who would choose the first swim, we would be pulling names out of the hat. Lowest number goes first. I let Pete and Frenchy go first and then drew my number. Guess what? I drew number 1! I now had first choice. Lol
We had already taken a walk around the lake and I really fancied the Lawn swim, so thats where I set up.
I'd been told of a couple of spots around my chosen swim that had produced in the past and I placed 1 rod near the area to my right and my other 2 rods to the island. Now we wait. I put out some bait with my bait boat and sat down and enjoyed my surroundings
 |
| The Lawn Swim |
I was in the process of making myself a cup of tea when I noticed that the flame on my stove was burning yellowy/orange and not the lovely blue flame that it normally burns. I decided to turn up the gas and try to unblock the jet that way.
B-I-G mistake.
The damn thing roared like a dragon and the next thing I knew there was flames shooting up the front of my bivvy!!
Holy s**t!
Thinking quickly, I managed to grab hold of the stove and chuck it outside.
Straight towards my rods.
Now I know why my mate John rarely cooks inside his bivvy!! Lol
I retrieved the flaming stove (no pun intended!) and went back to the bivvy to see if there was any damage. Damn, there was a hole the size of a small hand towel in the front of the bivvy. I had the original front and mozzy net with me so I wasn't too worried about getting wet. Just pi***d off it had happened at all.
Although the weather was pleasant, I had no runs that day or at night and managed to catch up on my sleep.
Saturday 30 April
I woke around 8am and had breakfast. My alarms had remained silent during the night so I decided to have a walk around my area of the lake. As I walked I noticed at least 3 fish right under a tree in the margin to my right. This spot was about 8-10 feet from the other spot I'd been told about. I'd need my bait boat for this as it would be very difficult to cast to this spot with the rods. I loaded up the boat with a rig and a handful of bait and sent it out.
Trap set. Now we wait again.
Saturday proved to be another quiet day on the fishing front and I retired to my bivvy and got my head down for the night.
Sunday 1 May
Woke up and had breakfast, again fishless. This had happened last time I was here so I wasn't too worried yet. It takes a bit of time to settle down.This lake has a couple of aerators and I was quite confident that I'd catch sometime soon, especially when the aerators were on. We'll see how it pans out.
I'd noticed that when I got my rigs in from the margin spots, parts of the rig were covered in black gunk. I wasn't happy with this and decided to change my bottom baits to pop-ups. A simple change but quite effective as it turned out. I sent out the boat with my changed rigs and some bait and sat in the chair enjoying the sun.
At 11.30 I had a blistering run on my RH rod. Game on!! I lifted into the fish and had myself an almighty scrap with mr carp. It fought like a demon but I managed to land it after about 15 mins. I looked into the net and it was huge! I could see it was a grass carp, long, sleek and powewful. With the help of some of the lads, we weighed it and the scales went round to 54.02 lbs
Awesome!
 |
| 54.02lb Grass Carp |
I was ecstatic. I would have been happy just to catch a carp, but to catch a fish this size first off blew me away. When we'd photographed, weighed and administered some carp care stuff, we released it and it swam away to its home. I sat down and made myself a well earned cup of tea. Presently, I made up another rig and sent it out with some bait to the new spot. I just knew the spot would produce and it did.
Rock on Tommy. Lets have another!
The rest of the afternoon passed quietly with no action.
The rest of the afternoon passed quietly with no action.
Until I sent out the bait boat to top up the swims.
I loaded up the boat as I had done on several occasions and sent it out towards my chosen spots. As it got about 20 yds out there was an almighty BANG! I must have jumped a good 6 feet in the air. I looked around in amazement and shock wondering what the hell was going on. I then realised that my bait boat had vanished!
Damn! What on earth had happened?
There were a few ripples where my boat should have been but no other sign of it all. Not even a bit of wreckage. It had been totally destroyed. The explosion was heard several kilometers away, as some of the party were fishing a nearby lake and say they clearly heard it!! I let Leigh, the bailiff know and he kindly volunteered to salvage any bits of the boat that he could find. Sadly, all he found was the fishfinder - and that was found on the far bank margin!! No other trace of my boat remained. And the fishfider still worked! Lol.
To this day I dont know why it exploded. I do know that if it had happened 10 mins earlier, myself and Frenchy had been talking, with the boat between us and one, or both of us, could have been seriously injured. Spooky!
Since then, the other guys called me Uncle Albert after that episode! Even people I didnt know were coming up to me on the ferry home and asking me about it, word had got around I guess!!
Anyway, as luck would have it, my rig was already out on my new found spot and I could bait up by hand if I walked around to the margin. Unless I had a run the rig was staying where it was, as there was no way I could get it back out there using the rod. I'd have to speak to Leigh the next day and see if I could hire a bait boat for the rest of the week, as I'd be needing it.
It was quiet for the remaider of the evening, no doubt the carp were suffering from severe headaches from the concussion!! Lol
Damn! What on earth had happened?
There were a few ripples where my boat should have been but no other sign of it all. Not even a bit of wreckage. It had been totally destroyed. The explosion was heard several kilometers away, as some of the party were fishing a nearby lake and say they clearly heard it!! I let Leigh, the bailiff know and he kindly volunteered to salvage any bits of the boat that he could find. Sadly, all he found was the fishfinder - and that was found on the far bank margin!! No other trace of my boat remained. And the fishfider still worked! Lol.
To this day I dont know why it exploded. I do know that if it had happened 10 mins earlier, myself and Frenchy had been talking, with the boat between us and one, or both of us, could have been seriously injured. Spooky!
Since then, the other guys called me Uncle Albert after that episode! Even people I didnt know were coming up to me on the ferry home and asking me about it, word had got around I guess!!
Anyway, as luck would have it, my rig was already out on my new found spot and I could bait up by hand if I walked around to the margin. Unless I had a run the rig was staying where it was, as there was no way I could get it back out there using the rod. I'd have to speak to Leigh the next day and see if I could hire a bait boat for the rest of the week, as I'd be needing it.
It was quiet for the remaider of the evening, no doubt the carp were suffering from severe headaches from the concussion!! Lol
Monday 2 May
 |
| 27.02lb Common |
I was enjoying my first cup of tea at about 6.30am when my RH rod (the one on my spot) burst into life. I was onto my rod quickly and I could feel it wasnt a monster, but a decent fish none the less. After another healthy scrap, the lovely looking common was in my net and being photographed and weighed. It was 27.02lb. It wasnt the biggest carp in the lake but it was in pristine condition.
The only downside to this capture was that I couldnt get my rig back out to the spot until I spoke to Leigh later that day. I decided to rest the whole swim until I had arranged something with Leigh about hiring a baitboat. I was still baiting up the spot throught he day with a light spattering of bait using my trusty catapult - or just walking around the other side and dropping them in. By 5.30pm I had arranged a deal with Leigh and my rigs were firmly on the spot again. All was quiet for the rest of the evening, a good nights kip ensued.
Tuesday 3 May
 |
| 56.02lb Common |
At 6am my middle rod screamed off, this time from the known spot near the margin to my right. This time the carp stayed deep and plodded along rather than go into a frenzy. It tried its damnest to shed the hook on the debris underneath the tree but I wasn't having any of it. I could feel the line juddering over snags or something and I prayed it wouldn't come off. I must have done something right, because I managed to steer it away from the obstacles and play it in the relatively open water. I've noticed that these carp really put up a strong fight, especially near the net and this was no exception. It thrashed the water to a foam! I eventually managed to net the fish after 15 mins. I was exhausted. My arms, legs and back were on fire. But when I looked at the fish in the net, I knew it was worth the effort. I was so knackered I had to get one of the lads to help me lift it onto the unhooking mat. I looked at the fish and knew it must be near 60lbs or so. It actually weighed 56.02lbs but I wasnt disappointed as it was in really good condition.
 |
| 47.02lb Common |
This was turning into one hell of a session. The rod was put back into the spot and again only a smattering of baits around the area. At 8am my RH rod once again put on its battle curve and I was into another angry carp. This was proving a popular spot for mr carp. After another exhausting scrap (I hadnt quite recovered from the last one) I managed to get the net under the fish. Someone offered to help me weigh it, which I was grateful for! At 47.02lbs I was incredibly happy with the result so far - and we still had a few more days left!
Not long after, it started to rain and it stayed all day. Kind of put a dampner on things for a bit as I didn't get a bite until the evening. At times the heavens opened and we would all skuttle back into our bivvies.
 |
| The heavens opening as viewed from my bivvy |
At around 8pm my middle rod was off. Again, a massive scrap ensued but I was able to land it fairly easily, as I'd had a lot of practice!! Lol. The carp was another lovely looker, weighing in at 53.00lb.
Wicked.
 |
| 53.00lb Common |
If this keeps up, I'll be a quivering wreck by the time I go home! I'm well chuffed with my fishing though, especially with the way I have thought about things and then went and put the thinking into action and caught some decent carp.
That was it for the rest of the evening, so I went to bed.
Wednesday 4 May
 |
| 26.09lb Common |
Wednesday arrived and I'd been up since 7am. I had breakfast and a cup of tea and was considering if anything needed to be changed. Then at 8.30am my question was answered with the roaring of my RH alarm as it signalled Mr Angry Carp on the end. No changes required! Finding that spot was a real good piece of fortune for me. 4 fish off the spot so far. This fish wasn't as big as some of the others and I was able to land it quite quickly. Good job really, as I'd only just recovered from yesterdays haul! The scales went round to 26.09lb and we returned the fish soon after. Another common.
 | |
| Tim, Pete, Frenchy and Russell with me behind the camera. Leigh is the one slaving away on the bbq grill |
We were having a barbeque this afternoon so the whole gang would be bringing in our rods for a couple of hours and have a bit of a social. We'd have a few beers, some BBQ grub and a good chat. Leigh (the bailiff) was cooking the grub. Top Chef! Our group as whole were doing great, with several people getting carp to over 50lbs and many beating their PB's by quite a margin.
The social went well and we all enjoyed the break.
 |
| 42.09 Leather |
By 5pm I was back at my bivvy and getting the rigs and bait out to the spots ready for the evening. 30 minutes later my middle rod alarm nearly went into melt down as it screamed a take. My rod was doing what it is designed to do and I was having a battle with another Etang Du Bois carp. Yet again another fight and I managed to land the carp after a brief but powerful fight. It was a 42.09lb leather carp. Another PB by the wayside.
No more fish that night so I went to bed.
Thursday 5 May
 |
| 45.08 |
At 12.30pm I had a take on on my middle rod again. I managed to avoid all the snags and thankfully landed it safely after a brief struggle. This one went 45.08 and another lovely common to add to the scrapbook
By 6.30pm it was all quiet and going by previous nights it was going to stay that way. And so it proved.
Friday 6 May
 |
| 30.08lb Common |
At about 10.30am I was talking to Leigh and some others. We were enjoying the morning sunshine, trying not to think about the next day when we would have to pack up and make our way home.
Suddenly, I had a rip roaring take on my middle rod and the fight was on. It didnt scrap as much as some of the others but it was a hectic and intense battle. Looking into the landing net I could see that it was a common. I weighed the carp and it went 30.08lb.
Saturday 7 May
The night passed quietly, and we awoke and proceeded to pack our gear away in preparation for the journey home. We were very happy as we'd all had decent fish, good company and mainly dry weather.
This has been an exceptional fishing trip at a wonderful fishery in the middle of France. Etang Du Bois has proved itself as a first class venue.
Our party had 22 fish between 5 anglers. All of us had at least one 50lb+ carp. The lake record was broken for the most 50's caught in a week - 8 x 50lb+ carp. A trulyy awesome result topped by a 60lb common caught by Russell.
This has been an exceptional fishing trip at a wonderful fishery in the middle of France. Etang Du Bois has proved itself as a first class venue.
Our party had 22 fish between 5 anglers. All of us had at least one 50lb+ carp. The lake record was broken for the most 50's caught in a week - 8 x 50lb+ carp. A trulyy awesome result topped by a 60lb common caught by Russell.
Summary
Well, what more can I say? My personal tally was:
3 x 50's - (53.00, 54.02 56.02)
3 x 40's - (42.09, 45.08, 47.02)
1 x 30 - (30.08)
2 x 20's - (26.09, 27.02)
That says it all really!!
Au Revoir
Steve
PS
Well, what more can I say? My personal tally was:
3 x 50's - (53.00, 54.02 56.02)
3 x 40's - (42.09, 45.08, 47.02)
1 x 30 - (30.08)
2 x 20's - (26.09, 27.02)
That says it all really!!
Au Revoir
Steve
PS
Look what happened when I went to use the facilities. My camera got hijacked.
Can you spot who is in the picture?
Lol
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Blog update
Well, what can I say?
Its been a long time since we've posted anything so we thought we'd better try to write something!
Steve and I have been fishing several times at our respective lakes since our last post, but nothing major to report. We've both caught our share of bream and tench but the decent carp have somehow managed to elude us - especially John! He even bought some new scales and a weighing hook in November last year but didn't get to use them until recently!!
We had planned to go to Orchid Lakes in December but the winter offer of half price tickets didnt start until January so that put paid to that idea. Then in January we had all that ice, frost and snow, so another plan had gone by the wayside. Eventually we managed to get to Orchid for two nights in February but we didn't catch anything.
John went to his club lake the other day and tried out the State Lagoon. It's a nice lake but a lot deeper in places than the specimen lake that he's used to. Never mind, he can only fish the water in front of him. Johns mate, Vic, had been there recently and missed a good run and had some bream. Other anglers had caught some carp or had a fish come off so things were looking up. John set up and during the session had 5 bream - all over 5lb and the heaviest going 7lb 3oz. At least he used his scales at last!!! Talking to other anglers revealed that up until the Tuesday (John went on Thursday) the carp were coming out quite regularly but a north wind came blowing in and no carp were caught for the next few days. Bloody typical. Lol!
Anyway, Steve is in France again as I write this. He had a cracking trip last year, bagging the lake record (which has since been broken several times) and a fistful of other decent carp. Read his blog Etaig du Bois) for info on that trip. We hope he does as well again this year. No doubt he will write about it when he comes back. If not I shall nag him until he does. Lol
Anyway, thats it for now, I'll report back when I have something.
Au Revoir for now
Jt and Sc
Its been a long time since we've posted anything so we thought we'd better try to write something!
Steve and I have been fishing several times at our respective lakes since our last post, but nothing major to report. We've both caught our share of bream and tench but the decent carp have somehow managed to elude us - especially John! He even bought some new scales and a weighing hook in November last year but didn't get to use them until recently!!
We had planned to go to Orchid Lakes in December but the winter offer of half price tickets didnt start until January so that put paid to that idea. Then in January we had all that ice, frost and snow, so another plan had gone by the wayside. Eventually we managed to get to Orchid for two nights in February but we didn't catch anything.
Steve relaxing at our Orchid Lake accommodation
Rustic living area!
John went to his club lake the other day and tried out the State Lagoon. It's a nice lake but a lot deeper in places than the specimen lake that he's used to. Never mind, he can only fish the water in front of him. Johns mate, Vic, had been there recently and missed a good run and had some bream. Other anglers had caught some carp or had a fish come off so things were looking up. John set up and during the session had 5 bream - all over 5lb and the heaviest going 7lb 3oz. At least he used his scales at last!!! Talking to other anglers revealed that up until the Tuesday (John went on Thursday) the carp were coming out quite regularly but a north wind came blowing in and no carp were caught for the next few days. Bloody typical. Lol!
Johns 7lb 3oz bream. Not what he was after but still a good specimen fish. And it was his PB!
Anyway, Steve is in France again as I write this. He had a cracking trip last year, bagging the lake record (which has since been broken several times) and a fistful of other decent carp. Read his blog Etaig du Bois) for info on that trip. We hope he does as well again this year. No doubt he will write about it when he comes back. If not I shall nag him until he does. Lol
Anyway, thats it for now, I'll report back when I have something.
Au Revoir for now
Jt and Sc
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Still On A Roll
Went to Newlands AC again for two nights, Tuesday and Wednesday
Got there about 06.30 and it was pouring with rain. I still went for a walk around the lake though. I saw 3 other people bivvied up but all them were tucked up in their doss bags!!!
As you might know, I like to fish on the point. But honestly, I walked around the lake in the pouring rain and the only place I saw fish moving? You guessed it- the point. This time it was the Left Hand swim. There was somebody already in the Right Hand swim but I didn't get to see who it was. He left in between the downpours!
As I have already stated, the weather was atrocious. I managed to get my bivvy up in a slight drizzle. The inside didnt get too wet. By 08.0 my bivvy was up and the kettle was on. The rods weren't out yet, I was waiting for a break in the weather. By 08.30 my chance came. I whipped out the rods, banksticks, landing net and unhooking mat and by 08.50 I was fishing. When I eventually got the chance I got the other gear into the bivvy as I like my luxuries.
Nothing happened all day except it rained and rained and then rained harder still!. It was like staying in a drum. The weather was that bad at times, I couldn't hear myself think and had to get out and have a walk around. Then at around 16.30 I had a run.
I lifted into it and knew at once that it wasnt a carp. It fought for the first 10-15 seconds and then gave up. It turned out to be a 4lb tench. Back out went the rod and I settled down to watch a movie.
I went to sleep around 23.00 and before 05.00 I got rudely awakened by my bite alarm screeching in my ear. I shot out and sure enough I had a carp on. It fought hard all the way in, kiting left and right, diving deep and generally making it difficult for me to get him in. I eventually land him and that's when I noticed that I had left the scales out after weighing the tench.
Damn and blast (or words to that effect!)
I went to use them and found that the damn things weren't waterproof. What bloody use are weighing scales if they are not waterproof. Do the manufacturers think we only catch carp in the dry weather?
16lb+ - Guesstimate
Anyway, I had to guesstimate the weight. It wasn't less than 14lbs or more than 18lbs so I took the middle and called it 16lb+.
Later in the day, Vic rang me and asked if I wanted anything from the shops. I asked if he could get me a new 9v battery but it was a long shot as I was positve that the damn innards had got wet in the rain. Vic duly turned up with the battery but as I thought, it still said err01. So I hung the things out to dry, now that the weather was more appealing. The sun was particularly hot out of the wind and cloud. To cut a long story short, it worked and my electronic scales are now working again. It took a few hours though.
A few hours later, I had another run and this time another tench was netted. This was bigger than the first but my scales weren't working at this time. Guess it to be around 5-6lb
There were plenty of fish to see on the surface so I decided to give zig rigs a try. I normally get tangled using these so I wasn't too confident. I rigged up an adjustable rig and cast it out. It seemed to cast out OK, so the wait was on.
By this time, Vic was also trying out the zig rig. He was using a 3ft fixed length hooklink. Suddenly Vics bottom rig screams out and he's into a decent fish. He lifts into it and the rod immediately takes up the battle curve. Its kiting right and Vic is trying his hardest to stop it but unfortunately , mr carp makes it. I run round to see if there is anything I can do and find that the line is stretched across the concrete slab in the RH swim. I use my hands to pull the line but dont feel any resistance.
The carp is gone
Never mind, Vic has felt what it is like to get a double figure carp on the end of his line and that's another step further in his carping career. Vic packs up at 22.30 and I watch another movie. I go to seep about 00.30 and wake at around 08.30. No action during the night even though conditions looked perfect. I hung on until around 12.00 then packed up and went home to a nice bath!
Got there about 06.30 and it was pouring with rain. I still went for a walk around the lake though. I saw 3 other people bivvied up but all them were tucked up in their doss bags!!!
As you might know, I like to fish on the point. But honestly, I walked around the lake in the pouring rain and the only place I saw fish moving? You guessed it- the point. This time it was the Left Hand swim. There was somebody already in the Right Hand swim but I didn't get to see who it was. He left in between the downpours!
As I have already stated, the weather was atrocious. I managed to get my bivvy up in a slight drizzle. The inside didnt get too wet. By 08.0 my bivvy was up and the kettle was on. The rods weren't out yet, I was waiting for a break in the weather. By 08.30 my chance came. I whipped out the rods, banksticks, landing net and unhooking mat and by 08.50 I was fishing. When I eventually got the chance I got the other gear into the bivvy as I like my luxuries.
Nothing happened all day except it rained and rained and then rained harder still!. It was like staying in a drum. The weather was that bad at times, I couldn't hear myself think and had to get out and have a walk around. Then at around 16.30 I had a run.
I lifted into it and knew at once that it wasnt a carp. It fought for the first 10-15 seconds and then gave up. It turned out to be a 4lb tench. Back out went the rod and I settled down to watch a movie.
I went to sleep around 23.00 and before 05.00 I got rudely awakened by my bite alarm screeching in my ear. I shot out and sure enough I had a carp on. It fought hard all the way in, kiting left and right, diving deep and generally making it difficult for me to get him in. I eventually land him and that's when I noticed that I had left the scales out after weighing the tench.
Damn and blast (or words to that effect!)
I went to use them and found that the damn things weren't waterproof. What bloody use are weighing scales if they are not waterproof. Do the manufacturers think we only catch carp in the dry weather?
16lb+ - Guesstimate
Anyway, I had to guesstimate the weight. It wasn't less than 14lbs or more than 18lbs so I took the middle and called it 16lb+.
Later in the day, Vic rang me and asked if I wanted anything from the shops. I asked if he could get me a new 9v battery but it was a long shot as I was positve that the damn innards had got wet in the rain. Vic duly turned up with the battery but as I thought, it still said err01. So I hung the things out to dry, now that the weather was more appealing. The sun was particularly hot out of the wind and cloud. To cut a long story short, it worked and my electronic scales are now working again. It took a few hours though.
A few hours later, I had another run and this time another tench was netted. This was bigger than the first but my scales weren't working at this time. Guess it to be around 5-6lb
There were plenty of fish to see on the surface so I decided to give zig rigs a try. I normally get tangled using these so I wasn't too confident. I rigged up an adjustable rig and cast it out. It seemed to cast out OK, so the wait was on.
By this time, Vic was also trying out the zig rig. He was using a 3ft fixed length hooklink. Suddenly Vics bottom rig screams out and he's into a decent fish. He lifts into it and the rod immediately takes up the battle curve. Its kiting right and Vic is trying his hardest to stop it but unfortunately , mr carp makes it. I run round to see if there is anything I can do and find that the line is stretched across the concrete slab in the RH swim. I use my hands to pull the line but dont feel any resistance.
The carp is gone
Never mind, Vic has felt what it is like to get a double figure carp on the end of his line and that's another step further in his carping career. Vic packs up at 22.30 and I watch another movie. I go to seep about 00.30 and wake at around 08.30. No action during the night even though conditions looked perfect. I hung on until around 12.00 then packed up and went home to a nice bath!
Monday, 24 May 2010
etang du bois
Hi Steve here.
Just a report on an unbelievable session I had in France last week.
To cut a long story short I was invited to join 4 other guys on a trip to France, at a venue they had been to before a few times.
We arrived at the venue and I was escorted round the lake by the lads. I chose a swim called the Cobbs. I was third out on the draw and this swim was not favoured by the guys apparently. It looked right to me though.
The first night we were all knackered from the drive so bait placement was a bit haphazard.
The next day I put one bait to a far corner where I had seen fish jumping: the other two rods were again cast to where fish had shown earlier.
Monday morning. I had a run on the corner chod rig and after a mighty battle a 41.08 mirror graced my net .
All pressure was off now and I could really get to enjoy this first French trip.
41lb 8oz
Tuesday. Late afternoon.
I was again lucky to get a take on the corner chod rig. This time it was an even harder fight and a 45.8 mirror was brought to the net.I was blown away by my good fortune and really wanted the other guys to catch
45lb 8oz
My other two rods were not doing anything so I moved one 6 ft away from a small snag, opposite me, slightly to my right in a slight depression in the lake bed. I was using the new Grange boilies on this rod, tipped with corn (on a short 5 ins suffix heavy braid rig). I put out about 10 freebies around the spot.
Tues night 1930 I was rewarded with another 45.8 mirror.
This was followed by the amazingly new lake record 57.7 common.
Jesus!
I could then have packed up and just sat around enjoying my immense good fortune !!
57lb 7oz. A new LakeRecord
Saturday arrived and time to go home. I got my payback on the way home when my car developed an oil leak 70 kilometres from Calais. Thank god for AA European cover. They got us a car and we got home 4 hours late. My car with all our fishing gear got back Monday and is now being fixed at the local garage. Nothing major so I had not used up all my luck.
I must say a big thank you to Frenchy, who was great company throughout and a lovely guy to have by your side and for helping with the long drive.
Just a report on an unbelievable session I had in France last week.
To cut a long story short I was invited to join 4 other guys on a trip to France, at a venue they had been to before a few times.
We arrived at the venue and I was escorted round the lake by the lads. I chose a swim called the Cobbs. I was third out on the draw and this swim was not favoured by the guys apparently. It looked right to me though.
The first night we were all knackered from the drive so bait placement was a bit haphazard.
The next day I put one bait to a far corner where I had seen fish jumping: the other two rods were again cast to where fish had shown earlier.
Monday morning. I had a run on the corner chod rig and after a mighty battle a 41.08 mirror graced my net .All pressure was off now and I could really get to enjoy this first French trip.
41lb 8oz
Tuesday. Late afternoon.
I was again lucky to get a take on the corner chod rig. This time it was an even harder fight and a 45.8 mirror was brought to the net.I was blown away by my good fortune and really wanted the other guys to catch
45lb 8oz
My other two rods were not doing anything so I moved one 6 ft away from a small snag, opposite me, slightly to my right in a slight depression in the lake bed. I was using the new Grange boilies on this rod, tipped with corn (on a short 5 ins suffix heavy braid rig). I put out about 10 freebies around the spot.
Tues night 1930 I was rewarded with another 45.8 mirror.
57lb 7oz. A new Lake
I must say a big thank you to Frenchy, who was great company throughout and a lovely guy to have by your side and for helping with the long drive.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Still Catching!
Hi,
Went fishing for 2 nights the other day and had another good session. 1x Carp, 1 x Tench and 2 x Bream and a pike.
I arrived early and had a walk round the lake. I ended up in my normal swim!!
Anyway, I set up and put the rods out. LH rod was on boilies, RH rod was on hemp and particles with a plastic hemp rig in use for the first time.
I was reeling in my marker float when I felt the the rod pull as if I had a fish on.
"Hang on, that can't be right", I thought.
I continued to reel in and sure enough there was definately a fish on the end.
On my marker float, for Christ sake!
When I saw it was a pike I thought that I may have problems here. I haven't got no gear for unhooking pike, only a pair of small forceps. Luckily for me the guy in the other swim came over and helped me out. We removed a pair of treble hooks from the pikes mouth and released it back to the deep! I had caught the trailing line that had been dangling from the trace set up - a wicked looking thing you could ever see.
"That's a good start" I thought to myself.
Around 4.45pm I had a couple of beeps on my chod rig and then it screamed off. It stayed deep and I thought that this was definitely a carp - and a good one at that. It fought hard, taking line off me only for me to retrieve it slowly.It was trying to get under the hanging tree branches either side of me but I managed to stop it in time. A couple of lads had just turned up and they helped me to land it. I thought it was going to go over 30lbs but on the scales it went to 27lb 2oz. I was a little disappointed it wasn't a thirty but it was a lovely fish all the same.
Later, at around 10pm I had a stuttering take and a 6lb bream was caught. Not what I wanted but it proved that the hemp rig was working.
I had a few liners during the night but nothing major.
At 10am I had a one toner and lifting into it I immediately knew that it wasn't as good as my other carp. Turned out it was a small tench.
I carried on fishing and it was all quiet on the fish front. I was packing up when I had another stuttering run. This time it was a 7lb bream. Getting bigger but still not what I wanted.
Never mind.
I packed up and headed home
Went fishing for 2 nights the other day and had another good session. 1x Carp, 1 x Tench and 2 x Bream and a pike.
I arrived early and had a walk round the lake. I ended up in my normal swim!!
Anyway, I set up and put the rods out. LH rod was on boilies, RH rod was on hemp and particles with a plastic hemp rig in use for the first time.
I was reeling in my marker float when I felt the the rod pull as if I had a fish on.
"Hang on, that can't be right", I thought.
I continued to reel in and sure enough there was definately a fish on the end.
On my marker float, for Christ sake!
When I saw it was a pike I thought that I may have problems here. I haven't got no gear for unhooking pike, only a pair of small forceps. Luckily for me the guy in the other swim came over and helped me out. We removed a pair of treble hooks from the pikes mouth and released it back to the deep! I had caught the trailing line that had been dangling from the trace set up - a wicked looking thing you could ever see.
"That's a good start" I thought to myself.
Around 4.45pm I had a couple of beeps on my chod rig and then it screamed off. It stayed deep and I thought that this was definitely a carp - and a good one at that. It fought hard, taking line off me only for me to retrieve it slowly.It was trying to get under the hanging tree branches either side of me but I managed to stop it in time. A couple of lads had just turned up and they helped me to land it. I thought it was going to go over 30lbs but on the scales it went to 27lb 2oz. I was a little disappointed it wasn't a thirty but it was a lovely fish all the same.
Later, at around 10pm I had a stuttering take and a 6lb bream was caught. Not what I wanted but it proved that the hemp rig was working.
I had a few liners during the night but nothing major.
At 10am I had a one toner and lifting into it I immediately knew that it wasn't as good as my other carp. Turned out it was a small tench.
I carried on fishing and it was all quiet on the fish front. I was packing up when I had another stuttering run. This time it was a 7lb bream. Getting bigger but still not what I wanted.
Never mind.
I packed up and headed home
Saturday, 8 May 2010
1st of the year - 4/5 April
I eventually managed to get out on the bank for the first time this year at the beginning of April (4-5th). I was a bit nervous as it has been over 6 months since I last went fishing. Having a blank was not on the cards!!
Anyway, I set up in my usual spot (middle Point swim). The weather was ok, sometimes cloudy but otherwise it was dry and sunny.
I wasn't using particles, only boilies. I cast out and put a few freebies around each rod. Not too many, about 40-50. I had a few knocks/liners/bird interest through the day, just enough to0 keep me interested.
A quiet evening ensued and I enjoyed a glass of wine and watched the lake. Suddenly my RH rod screamed into life and after a spirited fight a most welcome carp of 16lb graced my unhooking mat. Pressure was off now and I could relax. After taking the obligatory piccies I put Mr carp back into the lake and celebrated with a glass of red.
Next morning came around with no more carp. I had started to pack away my stuff when my LH rod gave a few stuttering bleeps and stayed taut. I lifted the rod and felt something on the end. This fish fought like a demon and it was about 8-10 mins before I could finally land the tench. Only 6 lbs but what a fighter.!
I continued to pack up through out the morning and finally left around 13.00.
I would have a few photos to show you but after a energetic clean up of my computer, I think I've deleted all the photos off of my computer<>. Imk going try out a few recovery programmes but I don't hold out too much hope.
We'll See anyway.
Until next time
P.S. Got my piccies back. Cost me £20 for a recovery programme but it did the job.
John
Anyway, I set up in my usual spot (middle Point swim). The weather was ok, sometimes cloudy but otherwise it was dry and sunny.
I wasn't using particles, only boilies. I cast out and put a few freebies around each rod. Not too many, about 40-50. I had a few knocks/liners/bird interest through the day, just enough to0 keep me interested.
A quiet evening ensued and I enjoyed a glass of wine and watched the lake. Suddenly my RH rod screamed into life and after a spirited fight a most welcome carp of 16lb graced my unhooking mat. Pressure was off now and I could relax. After taking the obligatory piccies I put Mr carp back into the lake and celebrated with a glass of red.Next morning came around with no more carp. I had started to pack away my stuff when my LH rod gave a few stuttering bleeps and stayed taut. I lifted the rod and felt something on the end. This fish fought like a demon and it was about 8-10 mins before I could finally land the tench. Only 6 lbs but what a fighter.!
I continued to pack up through out the morning and finally left around 13.00.
I would have a few photos to show you but after a energetic clean up of my computer, I think I've deleted all the photos off of my computer<>. Imk going try out a few recovery programmes but I don't hold out too much hope.
We'll See anyway.
Until next time
P.S. Got my piccies back. Cost me £20 for a recovery programme but it did the job.
John
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Annual Session
John, maz and myself normally do a winter session together at Orchid L ake,taking advantage of the cheap winter tickets. Unfortunately Maz was unable to make it so John and myself carried on in his absence.
We both arrived at the venue quite early and swims were chosen. I chose Chrises Bar and john was in Bradleys at the north side of the lake. We settled down to fish and the weather was not too bad. I was fishing a chod rig at range to my left and two rods out front in 5ft of water. John was fishing his rods a little shorter.
As usual on our annual sessions, once settled in and fishing we get together and share a wine or three. I'm. not sure if it was the wine but a bit later a firework display lit up the skyJohn and I watched it for sometime. Quite impressive it was, the fishing was less so but very enjoyable all the same.
On our second day things took a pleasant turn and I had a run on the chod rig. Things went well and John netted a a very welcome carp of 19.3 lbs sporting lovely winter colours. A carp for John would have been perfect but life ain't like that and he remained fishless. Again. I say fishless but not duckless as he hooked one and had to undress and go in to free it ,not a pretty site !!
On our last morning of the three days we stayed, a thick fog shrouded the lake and we were both glad to pack u. With the gear soaking, another very enjoyable session was had and we shall do it all again later in the year.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Another day at the lake
Went to Newlands on Monday for a night session. Set up on the point, LH swim because I thought saw some fish signs and the bird activity seemed to confirm it.
I set up the rods (we're allowed 3 rods from 1 Nov-31 March), and cast out to the marker float. I baited up with a few freebies and each rod had a PVA bag of pellets and chopped boilies.
Not long after the indicators started beeping on 2 of the rods, showing single knocks.
Hmmmm. This sounds familiar.
I felt the line but couldn't feel any resistance so left them for a bit. The knocks kept occurring and after reeling in I found one rod had no bait and the other had nibble marks all over it. Damn those crayfish!
I changed over to plastic baits and although I still had the odd bleep, the change in bait seemed to keep the crayfish at bay.
Vic was there too and he was also getting crayfished out. He had a kittle run later but it didn't develop into anything. He packed up around 2.30pm
Not long after I had a severe drop back. I looked out the lake to where the rod had been cast and up popped a coot. Blast them things. As I looked away the indicator sounded a run! Damn, it wasn't the coot! So with I'm into a fish at last. It wasn't to be though. The coot had managed to drop my bait but in the process it somehow managed to hook itself in its webbed foot. It is not fully realised how difficult it is to bring in a reluctant coot without hurting it. It took me round the point, under a tree and finally tethered itself onto a branch.
Shit, what was I going to now? Luckily, I managed to snap the branch that it was caught up in, which meant that I could now get at the line. By gently pulling the line and guiding it over some twigs I was able to grab hold of the birds foot and try to take the hook out. But it wasn't having anything to do with that. I got pecked a few times before the line finally snapped and I was able to get the hook out. It flew away well pissed off but not as much as me!
That was it for the rest of the evening, but funnily enough, the bird activity died down to almost nothing after all that commotion.
Evening came and went as did the rest of the night. Beside the odd beep, nothing occurred and I started to pack up at 10am. then the heavens opened and I wasn't able to finish packing up until 12.30 Some of the gear was still damp but hopefully it wont matter as I'll be taking it out again shortly. Maybe!
I set up the rods (we're allowed 3 rods from 1 Nov-31 March), and cast out to the marker float. I baited up with a few freebies and each rod had a PVA bag of pellets and chopped boilies.
Not long after the indicators started beeping on 2 of the rods, showing single knocks.
Hmmmm. This sounds familiar.
I felt the line but couldn't feel any resistance so left them for a bit. The knocks kept occurring and after reeling in I found one rod had no bait and the other had nibble marks all over it. Damn those crayfish!
I changed over to plastic baits and although I still had the odd bleep, the change in bait seemed to keep the crayfish at bay.
Vic was there too and he was also getting crayfished out. He had a kittle run later but it didn't develop into anything. He packed up around 2.30pm
Not long after I had a severe drop back. I looked out the lake to where the rod had been cast and up popped a coot. Blast them things. As I looked away the indicator sounded a run! Damn, it wasn't the coot! So with I'm into a fish at last. It wasn't to be though. The coot had managed to drop my bait but in the process it somehow managed to hook itself in its webbed foot. It is not fully realised how difficult it is to bring in a reluctant coot without hurting it. It took me round the point, under a tree and finally tethered itself onto a branch.
Shit, what was I going to now? Luckily, I managed to snap the branch that it was caught up in, which meant that I could now get at the line. By gently pulling the line and guiding it over some twigs I was able to grab hold of the birds foot and try to take the hook out. But it wasn't having anything to do with that. I got pecked a few times before the line finally snapped and I was able to get the hook out. It flew away well pissed off but not as much as me!
That was it for the rest of the evening, but funnily enough, the bird activity died down to almost nothing after all that commotion.
Evening came and went as did the rest of the night. Beside the odd beep, nothing occurred and I started to pack up at 10am. then the heavens opened and I wasn't able to finish packing up until 12.30 Some of the gear was still damp but hopefully it wont matter as I'll be taking it out again shortly. Maybe!
Monday, 19 October 2009
More consistent
Hi Steve reporting on a recent session at Guys Lakes.
Arrived at the lakes on Wednesday morning and had a good look around and found most of the swims I fancied taken.
Oh well, I'll go to plan B then, a swim that had produced for me before, at the south end of Unity lake.
Arrived at the lakes on Wednesday morning and had a good look around and found most of the swims I fancied taken.
Oh well, I'll go to plan B then, a swim that had produced for me before, at the south end of Unity lake.
I was settled in the swim a day later when Bob came round asking me to photo a common he had caught. I reeled in and obliged ,as you d. It was a nice 22 lb common from the swim I most fancied, I must add.
Back in my swim I was messing about early afternoon ,when I had an absolute screamer on the chod rig cast toward the centre of the lake. Rod up, strike to the left, I felt the fish on - then nothing.
Gutted.
I reeled in and upon inspection of the bait, found it had a few marks on it. The hook was still sharp though, so back it went to the same area, 80yds or so.
Gutted.
I reeled in and upon inspection of the bait, found it had a few marks on it. The hook was still sharp though, so back it went to the same area, 80yds or so.
Thursday morning and I had to make short trip to the loo, 0ne of many on site. when I returned I found the tip of my left rod in the water. I immediately felt the line and it was solid, fish on! I pulled into it and sure enough felt some resistance. After a decent fight the fish was in net, not huge but very welcome at 16 lb 15oz.
The rest of the 4 day session passed quietly with no sighns of fish at all. The weather was variable and got cold at night so that might have slowed the fish down. Still, 2 runs, 1 fish isn't too bad on a slow week, according to the bailiff anyway !!
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Back on a roll again
I had a good session on Friday night. Caught 2 carp and a tench.
I arrived at around 7.10 am (I'd told Vic I'd be there 6.30 -7.0 am but I had a spot of bother getting my arse in gear). Vic was already there and had set up in the LH Point swim. He'd generously saved me the swim in the middle and he was setting up his second rod by the time I arrived!
There was one other person there while we were setting up and he was in a spot of bother himself. He'd had a run but had lost the fish when it snagged him in the bushes to the right of Top Bay swim. Ashley was giving him an hand so it wasn't a complete disaster.
I spoke to him a little while later and he was saying that he'd been there a week and put loads of boilies out in all the point swims, around 10k, but had lost 3, been snagged twice and caught bream and tench. As he said that, one of his rods rips off and for a second it seems that he may have a decent fish on. Then it got knackered. Only one fish has so little stamina and that's the dreaded snotty bream. He was not a happy chappy! Not long after that he moved onto Coot Island, as Ashley had caught a 29lb+, 27lb+ and a 26lb+ carp from there over the past few days.
I set up my rods and cast them out. My left hand rod was around 50-60 yds out, slightly left of centre and my RH rod was 60-70 yds out, slightly right of centre. Bait was Dynamites Red Fish and Spice, with freebies coming from bits and bobs I had left over in my boilie bag. I wasn't going to be putting loads of bait out just 4-5 boilies on a stringer and a small handful of freebies around the area.
Putting the boilies out was a nightmare. There was a pack of around 20-30 seagulls giving everyone a headache. As soon as a boilie went out, one seagull would screech and then the whole lot would descend on your swim. I tried spodding out the boilies and although the seagulls ignored it, it didn't spread the boilies in a big enough area for my liking.I added in some mixed pellets and cast out around 4-5 spods containing around 7-8 boilies, but in the end I settled for catapulting 1 load of boilies and then waiting for the excitement to die down before putting out another pouchful. Trouble is it could take up to 10-15 minutes for the gulls to go away or settle down enough for the boilies to have a chance of landing in the water! I'd go away and make a cup of tea!
Around 12.00pm I had a couple of bleeps on my LH rod. I was considering changing it to a chod rig. I'd just tied on the hook when my alarm went screaming into overdrive. Carp on!
It fought hard but I knew it wasn't a big one. It kept coming to the surface and splashing around. After about 5-10 minutes I'd reeled the fish in ready to be netted. My able assistant, Vic, landed it on the second attempt. I was over the moon. This was the first carp that Vic had seen landed at Newlands so he was quite pleased to be involved. We weighed it and it came to 18lb 1oz. I had forgotten my camera so Vic was the photographer for this occasion.
We released the carp once the pictures had been taken and had a nerve calming cup of tea. I rebaited the hook and cast back out.
There wasn't a lot of fish activity that we could see. I saw a fish leap right across the other end of the lake but that was it. We settled in for the waiting game.
Vic was baiting up his swim on a regular basis, still using his trusted method feeders. His mix had everything in it - pigeon conditioner, wheat, millet, etc. I'm amazed that he didn't have take. as it was, he had the odd bleep but nothing substantial
By the time it was dark, Vic was reluctantly getting ready to pack up. Suddenly, my LH rod screamed off again taking yards off the reel. I maanged to halt its maniacal run and then we had a lively fight. Finally it was ready to be netted.
Then Vic said, "John, how do you put your landing net together. The arms have come out."
B***ks!
I have a collapsible landing net and when I'd finished using it earlier in the day, I had put it next to the rods but it had got caught on some sticks. I gave it a flick and it seemed to cure the problem. In hindsight, it had collapsed the net! Anyway, I managed to show Vic what to do and together we managed to sort it out.
Phew! That was close.
It was a 14lb10oz simmo. Vic had never seen a simmo so I explained the reason behind this type of carp. Quick growing and almost scale less. He said they looked ugly. I agreed with him! Vic took the photos and back in it went.
Soon after, Vic packed up and made his merry way home. He's only got a day permit so he couldn't stay the night. I enjoyed a glass of red wine and listened to the radio for a bit. I started to nod off in the chair so I checked everything and then got my head down for the night. I was woken several times during the night with half takes, single beeps and rats knocking the indicators. Unfortunately, I didn't catch anything more
Morning arrived, cloudier than the day before. I was confident that I may get another carp before I packed up. Around 10am my LH rod stutters away. After a brief struggle I land a small tench of around 4-5 lbs. Its in quite good condition. I rebaited the rod and the swim but nothing further graced my net.
I eventually packed up and left for home about 12.30pm
I arrived at around 7.10 am (I'd told Vic I'd be there 6.30 -7.0 am but I had a spot of bother getting my arse in gear). Vic was already there and had set up in the LH Point swim. He'd generously saved me the swim in the middle and he was setting up his second rod by the time I arrived!
There was one other person there while we were setting up and he was in a spot of bother himself. He'd had a run but had lost the fish when it snagged him in the bushes to the right of Top Bay swim. Ashley was giving him an hand so it wasn't a complete disaster.
I spoke to him a little while later and he was saying that he'd been there a week and put loads of boilies out in all the point swims, around 10k, but had lost 3, been snagged twice and caught bream and tench. As he said that, one of his rods rips off and for a second it seems that he may have a decent fish on. Then it got knackered. Only one fish has so little stamina and that's the dreaded snotty bream. He was not a happy chappy! Not long after that he moved onto Coot Island, as Ashley had caught a 29lb+, 27lb+ and a 26lb+ carp from there over the past few days.
I set up my rods and cast them out. My left hand rod was around 50-60 yds out, slightly left of centre and my RH rod was 60-70 yds out, slightly right of centre. Bait was Dynamites Red Fish and Spice, with freebies coming from bits and bobs I had left over in my boilie bag. I wasn't going to be putting loads of bait out just 4-5 boilies on a stringer and a small handful of freebies around the area.
Putting the boilies out was a nightmare. There was a pack of around 20-30 seagulls giving everyone a headache. As soon as a boilie went out, one seagull would screech and then the whole lot would descend on your swim. I tried spodding out the boilies and although the seagulls ignored it, it didn't spread the boilies in a big enough area for my liking.I added in some mixed pellets and cast out around 4-5 spods containing around 7-8 boilies, but in the end I settled for catapulting 1 load of boilies and then waiting for the excitement to die down before putting out another pouchful. Trouble is it could take up to 10-15 minutes for the gulls to go away or settle down enough for the boilies to have a chance of landing in the water! I'd go away and make a cup of tea!
Around 12.00pm I had a couple of bleeps on my LH rod. I was considering changing it to a chod rig. I'd just tied on the hook when my alarm went screaming into overdrive. Carp on!
It fought hard but I knew it wasn't a big one. It kept coming to the surface and splashing around. After about 5-10 minutes I'd reeled the fish in ready to be netted. My able assistant, Vic, landed it on the second attempt. I was over the moon. This was the first carp that Vic had seen landed at Newlands so he was quite pleased to be involved. We weighed it and it came to 18lb 1oz. I had forgotten my camera so Vic was the photographer for this occasion.
We released the carp once the pictures had been taken and had a nerve calming cup of tea. I rebaited the hook and cast back out.
There wasn't a lot of fish activity that we could see. I saw a fish leap right across the other end of the lake but that was it. We settled in for the waiting game.
Vic was baiting up his swim on a regular basis, still using his trusted method feeders. His mix had everything in it - pigeon conditioner, wheat, millet, etc. I'm amazed that he didn't have take. as it was, he had the odd bleep but nothing substantial
By the time it was dark, Vic was reluctantly getting ready to pack up. Suddenly, my LH rod screamed off again taking yards off the reel. I maanged to halt its maniacal run and then we had a lively fight. Finally it was ready to be netted.
Then Vic said, "John, how do you put your landing net together. The arms have come out."
B***ks!
I have a collapsible landing net and when I'd finished using it earlier in the day, I had put it next to the rods but it had got caught on some sticks. I gave it a flick and it seemed to cure the problem. In hindsight, it had collapsed the net! Anyway, I managed to show Vic what to do and together we managed to sort it out.
Phew! That was close.
It was a 14lb10oz simmo. Vic had never seen a simmo so I explained the reason behind this type of carp. Quick growing and almost scale less. He said they looked ugly. I agreed with him! Vic took the photos and back in it went.
Soon after, Vic packed up and made his merry way home. He's only got a day permit so he couldn't stay the night. I enjoyed a glass of red wine and listened to the radio for a bit. I started to nod off in the chair so I checked everything and then got my head down for the night. I was woken several times during the night with half takes, single beeps and rats knocking the indicators. Unfortunately, I didn't catch anything more
Morning arrived, cloudier than the day before. I was confident that I may get another carp before I packed up. Around 10am my LH rod stutters away. After a brief struggle I land a small tench of around 4-5 lbs. Its in quite good condition. I rebaited the rod and the swim but nothing further graced my net.
I eventually packed up and left for home about 12.30pm
Friday, 11 September 2009
Brought down to earth
I Went to Newlands and set up in the first 2 swims on Roadbank. I was hoping to set up in the same swim where I caught the 19lb but there was somebody already there. I didn't get there until nearly midday as one or two things happened and delayed me. Never mind, I'll try the other faithful swim on the road bank.
I'd already emailed Vic that morning so he was already there and wondering where I was.
Vic was on his trusty method mix and a safety lead clip setup whilst I was on two inline leads, one with a bottom bait and one balanced bait. I was fishing towards the middle and Vic was fishing closer in. Between us we should have covered all avenues into the lower bay, but we must have missed something because we didn't get anything to indicate a bite. We tried all methods from changing baits, popups, pva bags to recasting to different parts of the swim. Nothing. Vic packed up at around 8pm when Barbara turned up and I soldiered on through the night. I slept well and got up at 7.45 for breakfast and a cup of tea - fishless yet again. Ah well, maybe I was over confident after my last 2 captures. Brought down toearth with a bump!
The weather was sunny windy for most of the day that Vic was there, only easing off towards 5pm. nothing like the forecast though.
I packed up at 2pm after having a couple of knocks - turned out to be coots, the damn things!
I'd already emailed Vic that morning so he was already there and wondering where I was.
We both set up our rods and then had a chinwag about everything and nothing. Well, it was something to do while we were waiting to catch our fish!
Ha Ha Ha! Good joke or what?Vic was on his trusty method mix and a safety lead clip setup whilst I was on two inline leads, one with a bottom bait and one balanced bait. I was fishing towards the middle and Vic was fishing closer in. Between us we should have covered all avenues into the lower bay, but we must have missed something because we didn't get anything to indicate a bite. We tried all methods from changing baits, popups, pva bags to recasting to different parts of the swim. Nothing. Vic packed up at around 8pm when Barbara turned up and I soldiered on through the night. I slept well and got up at 7.45 for breakfast and a cup of tea - fishless yet again. Ah well, maybe I was over confident after my last 2 captures. Brought down toearth with a bump!
The weather was sunny windy for most of the day that Vic was there, only easing off towards 5pm. nothing like the forecast though.
I packed up at 2pm after having a couple of knocks - turned out to be coots, the damn things!
Anyway, summary - back to normal.
Zilch.
Nothing.
See ya around,
John
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)