North West Carp

Carp Tackle Box Pt2

2009-11-15T11:27:00.002Z

Last time round I started to take a look through the tackle box I use for my carp fishing. As I said then, my tackle box is actually a storage container from B&Q and it looks exactly like a medium/large fox tackle box but costs a lot less!. I try to keep the amount of tackle I carry to a minimum but despite this the sheer amount of items I carry means that this simple look through my tackle box has spread to more than one diary entry and in all honesty its likely to go further than that as there’s a lot of bits and pieces.

My Carp Tackle Box and Tackle Bits and Pieces

Kryston Mantis
I’ll continue this look through my tackle box by looking at another hook length material, this time it's Kryston Mantis, a coated braid that comes in very handy for me in certain circumstances. If you’ve read any of my previous blog entries you’ll know kryston silkworm is my all time favourite hook length material. Silkworm is a very supple material and its not the best material for avoiding tangles at range. If I have to fish at any kind of range I generally change to Mantis. I leave most of the coating on and just strip back enough to make the hair and maybe an inch or two extra behind the hook to create a hinge. By using Kryston Mantis for my long range fishing rigs I find I can avoid tangles a lot more and you really need to know your rigs are sitting right at range. Mantis does this job really well and I’d recommend you give it a go on your long range setup, as with all Kryston products Mantis is very well made and completely reliable.

Kryston Mantis Coated Braid, my second choice after Silkworm

Kryston Heavy Metal Plus Putty
Whilst we are on the subject of Kryston products, I have to say I’m a big fan. I’ve been using Kryston fishing tackle for as long as I’ve been carp fishing. My next item in the tackle box is one of theirs too and that’s Heavy Metal Plus Putty. I tend to fish a lot with pop-ups and baits that are critically balanced so they sink very slowly and heavy metal putty is excellent for balancing out buoyant baits. Heavy metal grips braided lines like Silkworm and Mantis very well and it’s a pretty dense material compared to most rig putty on the market today so you don’t need to use as much of it, which is a bonus. I use pop-ups so much that I’d never not have a tub of heavy metal in my tackle box, it really is a great product.

Kryston Heavy Metal Plus Popup Rig Putty, excellent!

Carp Rig Tubing
Rig tubing is very much a personal thing and I tend to avoid branded names. The rig tubing photo here is Franks Leads own brand and I’m quite happy to use this even though it doesn’t say ‘korda’ or ‘ESP’ on the packet, it is after all the same thing. The other place I get my rig tubing from is Dave's of Middlewich as they have their own rig tubing too. Both Franks and Dave's rig tubing is excellent and it’s a lot cheaper and convenient buying from Frank on Ebay than buying korda rig tubing from a tackle shop. Both Dave's own brand and Franks rig tubing sink well and thread quite easily and I’m happy using these products, they work well and unlike branded rig tubing, neither of these two products will break the bank!.

Carp Rig Tubing from Franks Leads, you don't need an expensive brand!

Lead Weights
You’ll notice my tackle box doesn’t have many lead weights in it. When you’re travelling light ditching lead weights from your tackle box and rucksack is a real saver on weight. You can end up carrying round pounds and pounds of lead if you’re not careful and I’ve fallen into this trap myself in the past. These days I almost exclusively use Franks Leads Ebay Shop to buy my lead weights and my rig accessories like rig tubing, swivels and tail rubbers. The leads I use are Franks inline square pear leads in 2oz camo green or brown, these do me for the majority of my fishing and I won’t change them unless I really need to fish at range, in which case I switch to a more streamlined distance bomb. I used to make my own lead weights years ago and I still carry the odd one with me today. Making your own leads is actually quite easy to do but it can be messy and its not without its problems safety wise, if you‘d like to know more about making your own have a look at my Making Leads Blog Entry from a year or two ago. As Franks Leads are quite cheap I tend to use his these days rather than do them myself, one things for sure, if you are after lead weights, the last place you should buy them from is the tackle shop!, if you buy lead weights from your local tackle dealer I guarantee you’ll get ripped off, take a look at Franks, his leads are excellent quality and you won’t go wrong using them.

Franks Leads Square Pear Lead, my favourite lead weight

I’ll have to stop this continuing look through my tackle box for now as this entry is starting to get a bit long, in the next few weeks I’ll continue looking at my tackle in detail as there are some other useful bits and pieces that I carry with me, I haven’t looked at hooks yet either and I’m wondering if that wouldn’t make a whole entry on its own!. Next time I sit down to write in a couple of weeks time I’ll see how things go and if I can keep my comments on hooks to a minimum I’ll include them in my tackle box series, otherwise a look at hooks will come as a separate entry at some point in the future.

Until next time, tight lines.

Mark.

Tackle Box for Carp Pt1

2009-10-04T11:22:00.002+01:00

One things all carp anglers have in common is their tackle box. I was fishing last weekend when one of my mates popped round for a chat and a brew. I’d not long finished setting up and my own tackle box was out in full view. As he sat down on my guest chair he commented that all anglers like routing through other peoples tackle boxes and promptly started routing through mine whilst I made a brew.

I’ve actually got no secrets as far as my carp tackle box goes, it’s a pretty standard tackle box that just contains the bare essentials and little else. I like to keep my fishing simple and my tackle box is reasonably small on purpose. There’s nothing worse than carting round a whole lot of tackle that you’ll never really use and by keeping my carp tackle box to a single layer medium size I can just carry the rig and end tackle bits I need without getting carried away!.

B&Q Storage Container is not unlike a System Fox Tackle Box!

My carp tackle box itself is one of those storage containers you get for nails and screws!. I’d really recommend anglers have a look in B&Q before you go and spend silly money on a system fox box or similar tackle box. My tackle box actually looks just like a medium fox box from the outside, the only real difference was the price!. Whilst a fox box will can set you back anything from £20-£50 depending which one you buy, my B&Q version was just £4.95!. That’s not a miss print, four pounds and ninety five pence was how much my tackle box cost!. I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s latched onto B&Q storage containers, I regularly see tackle boxes on ebay and they look just like mine, if you can’t be bothered heading for your local DIY store then the old faithful ebay is well worth a look if you're considering a new tackle box or you’re on a budget.

For the next couple of blog entries I’m going to be taking a look at exactly what’s in my tackle box and I’ll start with Mo‘s Co PVA String. Mos Co has been around for quite a while now and Mo has built himself an excellent reputation for quality PVA string and mesh. I always have a spool of Mos PVA knocking round in my tackle box, it’s ideal for making stringers and it’s cheaper than anything your local tackle shop can offer!.

Mos Co PVA String, it's cheaper than the tackle shop!.

Kryston Greased Lightening Turbo Juice. Greased lightening is a cracking treatment for your mainline. If you ever find yourself in the position of needing every last single yard to reach the fish this stuff can help, it actually reconditions your mono and cuts down on friction as your line passes through your rod rings, the result is extra yards on your cast and this can mean the difference between success and failure. Greased lightening has certainly helped me put a few bonus fish on the bank over the years!.

Kryston Greased Lightening Turbo Juice for extra yards on the cast.

Korda Hybrid Extenda Stops. Korda developments are probably the biggest tackle manufacturer in carp fishing today, despite this I’m not a big fan of korda tackle, it’s mainly their leaders I have a problem with but credit where it’s due, these extenda stops are a fantastic little invention. They allow you to change the size of baits on a hair rig without actually re-tying your rig. I doubt I’ll ever be without a couple of different sized packets of extenda stops in my tackle box, for once korda have got something absolutely right.

Korda Hybrid Extenda Stops, an excellent addition to your tackle box.

Kryston Silkworm Braided Hooklength. I’ve reviewed kryston silkworm before on this blog. There’s nothing more I can add to my origonal review of this hooklength material. It’s simply my favourite hooklength braid and has been for the last 15 years. My confidence in this material is absolute and despite many other hooklength products coming onto the market, silkworm has remained my number one hooklength braid.

Kryston Silkworm Hooklength Braid, total confidence for me!.

Sometimes it’s difficult to keep my blog entries to a reasonable size and trying to cover what’s in a carp tackle box in one go just isn’t possible so I’ll stop writing here and continue looking through my tackle box next time.

Tight Lines

Mark.

Screaming Reels Pt3

2009-09-06T10:20:00.000+01:00

Following on from Screaming Reels Pt2, I was so tired I couldn’t face putting a rig back in the water, as soon as I dropped in I’d barely get 5 minutes before a run would occur. After releasing that last 14lb mirror I left the rods out of the water and got my head down for a while. The peachskin sleeping bag was very comfy and I was soon snoring my head off. Unbeknown to me Barry started catching after I took my rods out and he started to experience the same prolific action I’d been having, he did come to wake me up to do some photo’s for him but when he heard me snoring he left me alone which was very good of him because I was knackered!.

I woke up at 3am to the sound of a car alarm, I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the car park or the local housing estate so I told Barry I was going to investigate, I grabbed my head torch and walked up to the car park in the dark just in case it was one of our cars. Fortunately it was coming from the housing estate and our cars where all safely locked up with no sign that anyone was around. I headed back to my swim and decided to start fishing again. Barry made another brew and I dropped the rods back on the same spots again and topped up the swim with bait just as I’d done before. Haiths red band pigeon conditioner and pellets on one rod and just pellets over the other.

It was a good half an hour before anything happened, the right hand ‘pellet’ rod fished straight out in front of me rattled off and after a short fight I netted what turned out to be my smallest fish of the night, a common of 8lb 8oz which I didn’t bother photographing. I baited the rod and under armed it into position again. Thankfully the next run felt like a decent fish and it gave me a decent fight in the margins before slipping into the landing net after 10 minutes or so. It was another common in the same weight range as the two 17’s I’d caught earlier and after hoisting the fish up on the scales I settled on 17lb 2oz, my third 17lb+ fish of the night.

My red letter night continues with a 17lb 2oz common

After a third 17lber things went a little quiet for a while, I heard what sounded like a big fish crash along the margins to my left. In the still of the night it sounded like someone had thrown a pig into the water and I sat waiting for my next run hoping that some of the lakes bigger fish were finally moving in. Surprisingly it was a good half an hour before the right hand delkim finally burst into life with another screaming run. The fish didn’t take a lot of line, twice it kited to the right but some heavy side strain kept the fish from going into Barry’s swim. In front of me the fish just kept deep in the margins and it took a considerable time to bring this particular carp to the surface. Despite a long and protracted fight in the margins it still didn’t register that I might be attached to a big fish and it wasn’t until the carp went into the net that I actually realised. I switched on my head torch to be greeted by a stunning looking common, it was a long fish with a girth that instantly said 20lb+!.
I knew I had one of the fish I wanted and I quickly got to work setting up the camera ready for some photo’s. When I actually lifted the fish from the water I knew it was well over 20lb and the scales gave me a weight of 23lb 14oz. I was delighted to have caught such a big fish for the water and it certainly made the trip worthwhile for me. Barry was on hand and a lot of photo’s followed before I returned my common to the water. As the fish went back I couldn’t help wondering if this fish was the carp I’d heard just along the margins half an hour earlier.

Another Big North West Carp weighing 23lb 14oz

That was it for me, I finally got the big fish I was hoping for in what was probably the last hour of darkness, I put a fresh pellet on and topped up my swim with freebies again but the desire to keep working and keep pulling fish in was gone now I’d got the result I wanted. I planned to be off the lake around 7am, I had a long drive home and I was tired so I decided 7am seemed a decent time to leave, there would be very little traffic on the road at that time which would be just as well as by now I was fighting to keep my eyes open again!.

As it got light the lake had one more surprise in store, this time it was the left hand delkim that signalled another screamer, the fish hadn’t really gone for the red band pigeon conditioner in a big way, I was actually expecting this rod to do the most fish but this turned out not to be the case as the majority of fish came to the pellet rod. It was well away this time though and the spool on my infinity reel was whizzing round as the line peeled off. I hit it and the rod hooped over as an angry carp tried to get under the tree in the margins. I quickly applied some heavy side strain to keep the fish away from a snag and once I had the carp in front of me I felt I’d gained control of the situation. A few minutes later I netted my 14th carp of the session. I quickly got the fish onto the mat and weighed it at 15lb exactly, a nice fish to round the session off with.

A nice 15lb Cheshire Carp to round off a fantastic session!

Bearing in mind I’d slept for 3 hours I‘d still had a red letter session, in that time Barry had racked up another 7 doubles to go with his earlier fish and I reckon I could have easily had that many again had I not had a few hours on the bedchair. My other mate Steve who was further down the bank finished up with 11 doubles of his own. Between the 3 of us we’d had some superb fish but I’m not sure I could face another night on such a prolific water. I won’t return to this lake again until winter at the earliest, I find the lake is more of a challenge just fishing days through December and January so I’ll return then for another look at this prolific carp water.

Tight Lines

Mark.

Screaming Reels Pt2

2009-08-23T10:10:00.002+01:00

Just picking up from Screaming Reels Pt1, I’d started fishing at 15.00pm on the afternoon of Saturday 1st August and by 19.45pm I’d racked up no fewer than 6 doubles. The carp were coming at a rate of more than 1 per hour, bearing in mind you have to play the fish in, weigh and photograph them before re-baiting and re-casting, you can understand just why I wanted a base camp set up!. After that sixth carp I wound the second rod in, packed everything away and lugged my gear a hundred yards further up the bank and dropped in next to my mate Barry who’d arrived a few hours previous.

The first thing I did was get the stealth brolly up, as I was doing this Barry shouted over to ask if I wanted a brew, what a star, I’d not had time to think about eating or having a drink so I gratefully accepted Barry’s offer and cracked on with getting my gear sorted out. Once the stealth was up I got my bedchair and my trakker sleeping bag set up then pushed them both under the brolly. The rods and pod were all quickly set up and within 5 minutes I was settled down and ready to start fishing again. Barry was literally 5 yards away from me as we were occupying adjacent swims and he popped his head round the brolly with a nice steaming cup of tea just as I was hair rigging a bait on my first rod. As I was fishing the margins casting and baiting was easy, the left hand rod went just off an overhanging tree in the margins and the right hand rod went straight out in front of me, the left rod had a small bed of red band pigeon conditioner with a few pellets fed over the top and a pellet on the hook whilst the right hand rod was just pellets, one on the hook and 20-30 scattered around the rig itself.

I managed to eat a bit of food whilst I was having my brew and I stood chatting to Barry about our chances for the night ahead. As the light faded we were both expecting a sleepless night, it was just a case of how many we’d catch rather than would we catch anything at all!. Barry was in first, as we stood chatting one of his antique Super XL bite alarms burst into life and he began doing battle with a decent fish. Like me Barry was fishing the margins so his fish took off like a rocket and gave a really good account of itself. It was another common and a decent fish at 18lb plus a few ounces. The fish was documented and returned to the water and not long after my left hand delkim gave a single bleep. This was the rod that was fished over the red band pigeon conditioner and I guessed it was a line bite. I didn’t have to wait long after that, just a few minutes later the left hand rod was away with a blistering take!. I was on it quickly and just like Barry’s fish a few minutes earlier, this one gave a really good account of itself as it bored up and down the margins for 5 minutes or so. With 15lb big game line on my spools there was no way any of my fish were going to get away and it was just a case of wearing the fish down until it was ready for the landing net. There were no problems and I netted my seventh carp of the session. The move next to Barry was looking like a good one when it came to the size of the carp, along with Barry’s 18lber, I’d also caught my biggest of the session so far, a common weighing 17lb 6oz.

Cheshire carp fishing again, 17lb 6oz

An upper double each was a good start to the night ahead, my 17 had arrived at 21.30pm and I had to wait another hour for any more action. I could hear carp crashing all over the lake and I was literally sat on my hands waiting for another bite. It was the right hand rod this time, this was the rod that was just a pellet fished over more pellets. There was no warning, the alarm just went off and the spool on my infinity baitrunner reel just fizzed, I have my delkims on low so the sound of my spool ticking is as loud as the alarms themselves and under cover of darkness a full blooded run still sounded like it could wake the dead!. This fish played out just like the last one, it felt slightly heavier than the carp I’d caught during the afternoon and after a good scrap in the margins my thoughts were confirmed when I weighed and photographed another 17lb fish, this one was slightly heavier than the last at 17lb 12oz.

17lb 12oz North West Common

I re-baited my rig and a gentle underarm cast had another pellet back in position, I topped up with another 20-30 pellets and sat back to await the next run. This was my plan for the night, keep the traps reasonably small and fish for them one at a time rather than bait heavily, I was only fishing the margins anyway so it was very easy to keep just a little bit of feed in the swim, enough to get them on the bait but not enough that I might have to wait long for a bite!.

After my second 17lber I didn’t have to wait very long for another fish, I think we knew things would most likely kick off big time and no sooner had I dropped my rig back in when it was away again!. Being out in the Cheshire countryside it would have been pitch black if it wasn’t for the moon which was just about giving enough light to land my fish. Like the two 17’s this fish fought really well in the margins and it was great to see these fish taking line off the spool rather than just wallowing into the net from long range. I eventually netted this fish after playing knit one pearl one with my left hand rod. I’d positioned my unhooking mat at the back of my brolly and just left it there, I didn’t see the point in hanging it up to dry when I knew full well more fish were likely to follow so by now I had a system going and was able to get through weighing and photographing pretty quickly. I switched my head torch on to unhook my fish and noticed that I’d caught another mirror my third of the session in all, it weighed in at 14lb even which was the same kind of weight range as the previous two mirrors I’d had in the daytime.

14lb South Cheshire mirror carp

It was getting ridiculous, every time I dropped in I barely had chance to get in the sleeping bag before one of the alarms would start up and the reel would scream. Another common of 11lb 6oz quickly followed the mirror and after I returned it I felt like I was completely shot!. I couldn’t cope with any more runs and Barry was having a quiet time next door. It just seemed that I was intercepting the fish as they came along the margins and with my bait being the first they came across I was getting most of the runs. Just before midnight I decided to wind in and have a bit of a kip, I was tired, my back was aching and I just felt like I really needed to close my eyes so I dived in the bag and settled down to a few hours sleep.

This story seems to be turning into an episode of war and peace (lol) so I’ve decided to split it into 3 as there’s more to come, until next time, tight lines everybody.

Mark.

Screaming Reels Pt1

2009-08-09T11:16:00.001+01:00

If you are a regular reader of my north west carp blog it won’t have escaped your notice that there haven’t been as many updates this year. Going back to my last winter entry, Winter Carping Pt7, I was thinking of changing waters and starting on my new syndicate early. It was the syndicate that stopped my writing in its tracks simply because there is a strict publicity ban. I did indeed ‘go syndicate’ and I’ve spent late winter, spring and most of the summer time quietly trying to get amongst some decent syndicate carp. My fortunes have been mixed, I haven’t struggled to catch fish but I have struggled to catch any of the big ones and I’ve only managed a couple of big carp since February. There has been one major milestone to happen on the syndicate and that was the capture of my first north west 30. The 30lb barrier is a target I’ve been trying to reach on 'home soil' for 13 years now and one day in July I finally slipped the net under one of the only remaining targets I actually had in my angling life. It was a special moment and one that meant a lot given the amount of time I’d been chasing this particular goal.

Following the capture of my first north west 30 I started to think about my fishing a little, after 6 months solid fishing on the syndicate I was ready for a break so I organised a bit of a social session with a couple of mates. Steve and Barry were up for a trip to a runs water so we decided to have a night on my winter runs water, it was always productive in the cold and we expected some serious action from the carp hence the ‘Screaming Reels’ title for this entry!.

It had been 6 months since I’d last visited Cheshire and I must admit I’ve missed the shire a lot, Cheshire has some stunning countryside and some nice lakes and I was happy to be back in this carp anglers paradise. My sat nav still had all my old haunts programmed in so I plotted my usual course to the lake and set off just after 1pm on Saturday 1st August. The journey to the lake was only delayed by some road works but that didn’t matter, I had the rest of the day and all night and I knew full well I wasn’t going to blank on such a prolific north west runs water.

I arrived literally a minute before Steve, as he arrived I was sitting in the car scanning the lake for signs of carp. There were plenty of fish crashing everywhere but one area in particular was looking like a Jacuzzi with all the fizzing that was going on, occasionally a carp would poke its head up and roll before a mass of bubbles would hit the surface. That area meant an easy choice of swims for us and Steve took one side of the bubbling area and I took the other.

I started off fishing just as I do in winter, a pellet bottom bait with another couple of pellets in a pva mesh bag cast right on top of the hot area. I had both rods in by 15.05pm, it had started to rain a little so I moved my tackle underneath a tree to help keep it dry, I only got my rucksack moved when the right hand delkim let out a series of bleeps, I turned round to see my monkey climber just reaching the floor so I jumped on the rod, wound down and hit it!. Sure enough I had my first carp of the day on and despite the fish being hooked 50 yards out I quickly gained control of the situation and made easy headway when it came to getting the carp into the margins, in fact my first fish didn’t fight much at all and after a few minutes I landed a nice common that looked roughly average size for the water. I got my unhooking mat, scales and camera out and quickly weighed and photographed the fish before returning my prize to the water. My first fish was a common that tipped the scales at 13lb exactly. I jokingly shouted to Steve next door that he should pull his finger out as I’d already had one within 3 minutes of getting the rods out but it turned out he’d had one too and he’d hooked his quicker than mine!.

13lb Common, my first fish of the day

With my first fish caught I quickly baited my rig with another pellet, added another pva mesh bag and whacked the rod back out again. With so many fish bubbling up in the area I was literally sitting on my hands waiting for the next run to come. It took another 45 minutes before my left hand rod rattled off, no drop back this time, just a screaming reel as the bait runner fizzed away. I was on it straight away and the carp gave me a little trouble as it kited to the left and tried to get beyond an overhanging marginal tree. I reacted to this quickly and applied some moderate side strain to keep the fish on my side of the tree and when I saw I’d accomplished this I eased off on the pressure and just played the carp in with no trouble, I saw the fish was a mirror as it slipped into the landing net and it looked a little bigger than my first fish. I quickly ran through the weigh and photograph routine and my mirror turned the scales to 14lb 8oz.

14lb 8oz Northern mirror carp

Things went a little quiet after the mirror and I actually managed to sit down for an hour or two, I got the stove out, made a brew and contemplated the night ahead. I really wanted to fish the margins during the night and I decided not to set up the brolly until I’d moved later in the evening. I planned to just leave the rods out until Barry arrived then pick a more comfortable margin swim when he was settled in. Having decided on a plan of action I just sat watching the carp bubbling away and I wondered why my third run hadn’t come, there were fish all over the area and with 2 carp caught inside the first 50 minutes I expected more. I had to wait two and a half hours for any more action and it was the left hand rod that melted away again. It was a bit like groundhog day as this fish did exactly the same as the last one trying to get the other side of the marginal tree. I was having none of it and more side strain kept the fish coming to the waiting net. It was another mirror roughly the same size as the previous 2 fish and after a quick trip to the mat I weighed it at 13lb 14oz, a very pretty mirror it was too!.

13lb 14oz Scaley cheshire mirror carp

That 13lb 14oz mirror kicked off an intense feeding period, the mirror arrived at 18.30pm and I followed it with commons of 12lb, 10lb 4oz and 10lb 6oz all in the next hour, it was getting to the stage were I couldn’t keep my rods in, I just seemed to be either playing or weighing and photographing a carp!. By 19.45pm I was knackered, luckily Barry had arrived and set up so I wound in and looked at moving swims. I felt like I needed my stealth brolly up with my bedchair under it, I’d been literally standing up for the last few hours and I really needed a base camp. With this in mind I dropped in next to Barry for the night and what a night it turned out to be!. I’ll continue with Part 2 of ‘Screaming Reels’ for my next blog entry, until then, tight lines.

Mark.

Burton Mere Carp Syndicate 1992

2009-07-26T12:38:00.002+01:00

The last time I wrote a blog entry about my early carp fishing years I wrote about my first brace of twenties which I caught in 1995, this was part of my 'red letter days' series which first appeared on 'Anglers Diary'. This is really part 6 of that series and I’m going back even further, to 24th September 1992 to be exact. I actually started carp fishing in June 1989 on a local pond, those first few sessions produced carp for me and a couple of PB’s including my first double which came off the top on anchored surface crust!. Right from the word go local anglers kept saying Burton Mere was the place to be to catch carp. It didn’t take me longer than a few weeks to pay my first visit to the woodland pool on Burton Mere and 3 carp including a new PB mirror of 12lb 6oz on my first trip had me hooked on the place!.

There are more red letter days to come from my early days at Burton Mere, I cut my carp fishing teeth on woodland pool and later the syndicate ‘mere’ itself and during my time on the water I caught a lot of carp. This particular story relates to my first ever session on the syndicate pool. I wasn’t actually a member of the syndicate at the time but I was allowed to fish it on a day/night ticket basis for which I was charged £8 for 24hours. I’d watched the carp in Burton mere pool closely whilst fishing woodland pool and I couldn’t resist having a go for them. The mere held around 8 x 20’s at the time and the back up doubles were much larger than the average sized carp in woodland.

My first night on the syndicate lake turned out to be productive, I knew I had to go looking for the carp and I found them fizzing up in a swim known as ‘the giles’, so named after a guy called Giles who fished it regularly in the 1980’s. Giles was a clever carp angler, the bloodworm beds in front of the peg where immense and I watched intently as fish fizzed everywhere in front of my chosen swim.

On the left hand side of the swim was the remains of an old abandoned boat house, the brickwork was still in place but the boat house itself was long gone. Having had a couple of casts around the swim with a marker I quickly found a channel that ran from the old boat house, directly across the swim cutting through open water and heading out towards the corner of the first island that was in front of me. This channel was a good 18 inches deeper than the surrounding area and it went straight through the middle of the fizzing I was watching, it didn’t need a rocket scientist to work out that the carp were feeding heavily in this channel so this is where I placed both of my rigs. The left rod went in the channel half way over to the island and the right hand rod went three quarters over into the same channel. I scattered a few boilies round each rod and a few more in between both baited spots which were about 10 yards apart. Obviously Giles the 80's carp angler had latched onto this channel and I didn't know it at the time but I'd found the holy grail in terms of hotspots in this swim!.

With my traps set I settled down to my first ever night on the syndicate lake, my PB at the time was a mere 14lb and I hoped at some point to break this on the mere. Despite the daytime fizzing I couldn’t buy a bite during daylight but an hour or two after dark things changed for the better. I was actually trying to get off to sleep but being my first night on the mere I was too wound up to sleep so I just sat watching the isotopes in my monkey climbers. Like most carp anglers I can’t concentrate on one thing for too long and eventually I started to drift off to sleep. It was as I was just nodding off that my left hand rod tore off, the sound from my super compacts and my bi tech viper sounder box was more than enough to make sure I was wide awake in a shot and I quickly jumped up and hit the rod.

The fish kited left and tried to make its way to the main pads in peg 19 so I applied some side strain to make sure it didn’t reach them, the pads were quite a way away and with 15lb big game line on my spools the carp was never going to reach sanctuary. I turned the fish and eventually managed to get it back to the same place I hooked it. Another 5 minutes later I had the carp circling in front of me and without the aid of a light, I sunk my net deep and waited until the carps nose touched the spreader block before lifting the net. The manoeuvre worked and I netted my first carp from the syndicate lake!. Despite being in my learning years, even back then I always had a plan and a way of doing things, I knew where my scales and my torch and other things were so I got my prize onto the unhooking mat and weighed it in at 13lb 2oz. Not massive by today’s standards but back then it was only 1lb off my personal best so it was a great fish for me!. My mate Phil did the pictures and once my catch was documented I returned my mirror to the water and sorted out my rod.

13lb 2oz, my first carp from the Burton Mere syndicate lake in 1992

I recast the rod and topped up the swim with a few more of my home made boilies and settled down again. Things went quiet after that first carp and it wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that the next run came. A steady ‘one toner’ on the right hand rod had me scrambling off the bedchair to grab the rod. A quick strike and I was in again. This carp felt a little heavier than the last one and it gave me the run around for 10 minutes before finally giving up, this fish just chugged up and down the margins so there was never any trouble apart from a few occaisions when the fish came close to my other line. Once again I dropped the landing net deep and waited for the carps nose to hit the spreader block before lifting and engulfing my prize. This fish was a prize too, a fully scaled mirror, one of 3 that was known to inhabit the mere, I weighed this fully scaled at 16lb 12oz, a new PB and a lovely looking fish!. The fully scaled was a known fish called spike due to the front of its dorsal fin just being a spike, the carp was always well known to the syndicate members but later the fish found fame when it was caught by carp fishing duo Rob Hughes and Simon Crow when they visited Burton Mere as part of their day ticket series for carp world a few years later.

'Spike' the fully scaled at a PB of 16lb 12oz from Burton Mere

Naturally I was over the moon with my new PB and I sacked it up in the margins for a few hours as I had no camera man around to do any pictures. Once the sack was secure I recast the rod, I knew when I sacked the fish that I’d be up all night to keep and eye on it and it was logical to carry on fishing. The recast was only out half an hour when it was away to another flyer. Once I was into the fish I realised it wasn’t as big as the fully scaled mirror I had in the sack and when I lifted my landing net from the water I guessed this one was my smallest fish of the night. It was my smallest fish of the night but it was still a special one, I peeled the landing net mesh back to find a common!. There were very few commons in Burton mere and this one, weighing in at 11lb 9oz, was actually a PB common by a couple of ounces!.

PB Common of 11lb 9oz topped off my first session on the syndicate lake

I sacked this fish too, when my camera man turned up at first light I had two PB’s to photograph and I was on cloud 9 for the few hours up until daylight. No more runs came my way and in the morning I dealt with my two fish and returned them to the water. I was a little uncomfortable sacking my fish for a few hours and I took the photos at first light rather than wait a bit longer for the best light. Once my two fish were safely back in the lake I headed back to my old fox supa bivvy and crashed out for a few hours before packing up and going home. My first taste of the Burton mere syndicate was a positive one and as soon as I got home I found myself plotting another visit.

Tight Lines
Mark

Insect Repellents for Fishing

2009-07-12T19:27:00.000+01:00

One of the worst things about fishing in summer is getting bitten by mozzies. These horrible little midges seem to inhabit every piece of water in our country and if you’re unfortunate enough to get bitten you can expect to see a nice red bump on your skin which will itch like mad for a few days. That is the best case scenario for an insect bite, if you are unfortunate to have an allergy things can be a lot worse!.

Having fished for such a long time now I’ve got to the stage where I’ve tried so many insect repellents I’ve actually lost count, the reason for me trying so many is that midges seem to like me….a lot!, and I suffer quite badly in the height of summer which is why I’m writing this short piece about insect repellents for angling.

Avon Skin So Soft Dry Oil Body Spray, an excellent insect repellent.

Over the years I’ve found the best 2 angling insect repellents to be Avon Skin So Soft which is a dry oil body spray from Avon cosmetics and Jungle Formula insect repellent which contains deet. Avon Skin So Soft is so good as an insect repellent they actually dish it out to the armed forces. The active insect repelling ingredient in Skin So Soft is citronella and this is why I’d recommend anglers carry both of these products, because if citronella doesn’t work then deet usually does and vice versa.

Jungle Formula insect repellent, very effective against insect bites!.

Depending on what insects you are being bitten by, either the citronella based Skin So Soft or the deet based Jungle Formula will work. I’ve yet to visit a water where both of these insect repellents have failed, one of them always seems to do the job and since I started to carry both of them in my rucksack a few years ago I’ve reduced the amount of insect bites I get considerably. Years ago I used to get eaten alive at this time of year but today I may get just an odd bite during the summer when I’ve forgotten to apply one of these two repellents.

You can buy both Avon Skin So Soft and Jungle Formula quite easily, Jungle Formula is available from every camping shop I’ve ever been in and everyone knows an Avon lady!. As usual there are also cheaper places to buy both of these insect repellents and I get mine from ebay, you can actually buy both of these repellents cheaper on ebay than you can in a camping shop or from your local Avon lady so it makes sense to save some money if you can.

Tight Lines

Mark.

Viper Icon Bait Boat

2009-06-21T13:30:00.002+01:00

Bait Boats, like them or not they are now a big part of the carp fishing scene. There are a lot of anglers out there that don’t like bait boats but I believe it’s the user that’s the problem, not the boats themselves. Owning a bait boat doesn’t give you the right to fish anywhere the boat can reach, you should always stick to the confines of your swim and not venture into another anglers water, if you stick to this simple rule then you will avoid crossed words with other anglers, I’ve actually been the angler without the boat and I certainly didn’t appreciate some knob thinking he could fish in my swim as well as his own, if you own a bait boat, please don’t be that knob!.

Viper Icon Bait Boat

Last year I joined a syndicate lake, the lake in question has 3 sets of power lines running parallel down the lake, it quickly became obvious that the carp where regularly sitting in safe areas of the lake which couldn’t be reached by casting. Any attempt to cast to these fish holding areas always meant a brush with the power lines so I avoided these swims and really struggled to catch. The lads who where consistently putting fish on the bank where all using bait boats and simply sailing them under the power lines and onto the fish. I had no choice in the end, it was either join them or keep on blanking so I had a look at what bait boats where available and eventually settled on the budget Viper Icon Bait Boat.

The viper icon bait boat has a single hopper.

The Viper Icon bait boat is a cracking little boat, ideal for fishing in the UK. There is only one hopper on the Viper Icon so its one trip per rig when getting baits into position. A bait boat is simply a tool to be used when necessary so I only use the Viper Icon when I need to get my baits under the power lines, if I can actually cast to a chosen spot then I will, so one bait hopper is plenty enough for me. Its rare to actually put out more than 2 rods with the bait boat as I usually cover the margins and fish over bait with my third rod.

The battery compartment on the viper icon bait boat

Bait boats all suffer from one problem, they really do hammer the batteries. The Viper Icon is no exception and the battery meter on the front is very handy to have, if the battery meter is showing anything other than green then I wouldn’t risk putting the boat out, I have run a battery flat on the Icon and it was a real pain having to go for the syndicate boat to retrieve it, in fact I was lucky to have access to a rowing boat so be warned and only use a bait boat with a well charged battery.

Bait Boat Batteries, it always pays to have spares!.

The battery problem with the Viper Icon bait boat eventually led me to seek out a couple of spare batteries just in case I had a good session and had to use the boat a little more than expected. I like my fishing tackle to cost as little as possible, that’s why I went for a Viper Icon in the first place and when it came to finding spare batteries that old favourite Ebay was the cheapest place I could find them. There are plenty of 12v 7 amp hour batteries on ebay but they require a few more little modifications before they will fit the Viper Icon bait boat.

Spare viper icon batteries need velcro to hold them in place.

The first modification is to add some velcro to the battery, as you can see from the pictures, the Viper Icon battery velcro’s to the battery holder and fits inside the boat. The batteries come without leads too and again these can be bought off ebay for a pound or two and soldered to the battery terminals as I’ve done in the pictures. The price of a couple of spare batteries, some velcro and a few connectors to fit the Viper Icon boat is not much more than the price of just one battery from Viper themselves so it really is cheap, if you buy more than 2 batteries its even cheaper!.

Solar charger, worth having if you are fishing long sessions!.

As well as a couple of spare batteries for a bait boat, its also handy to have a solar charger if your doing long sessions, I don’t personally fish for more than one night at a time and the spare batteries mean I don’t need a solar charger but I found one on ebay that was so cheap I bought it. Solar battery chargers are the biggest rip off of all, I bought mine from an ebay shop that specialises in camping accessories and they sold 12v solar chargers for caravans, they work perfectly with the batteries required for a Viper Icon bait boat and my little 2 watt solar charger was just £12 and that included delivery!. A 10 watt version nearly as powerful as the ‘solar suitcase’ sold by Viper was just £38 on ebay so again a massive saving . My little 2 watt solar charger takes quite a while to charge up a battery but for me, I’m happy if it gives me that little bit extra in a battery to get one more trip in, that’s all I ask and all I need as I carry a few spare batteries.

Viper icon comes with a nice carry bag.

Having looked at spares for the bait boat, it’s worth remembering that the handset also runs off batteries and that Viper don’t supply rechargeable batteries or a charger when it comes to the handset. Again I found plenty of suitable rechargeable handset batteries and a charger on ebay really cheap and its worth getting a couple of sets of 8 rechargeable batteries, one for current use and a standby set in case the batteries you're using go flat, there’s nothing worse than running out of batteries, specially when the carp are feeding!.

Radio gear for the viper icon bait boat.

In conclusion I’d recommend a Viper Icon bait boat to anyone, it’s a simple no frills bait boat that does what its supposed to. Spare batteries and other accessories can be bought easily and cheaply off ebay and it’s a bait boat that certainly won’t break the bank. Since using it my catch rate on the syndicate has gone up as I can now reach the fish when they are held up in areas I can’t cast too and above all, it means I can put my hook baits and rigs in place safely and accurately, if your thinking of buying a bait boat, give the Viper Icon the once over because it’s a really good buy.

Tight Lines
Mark

Day Ticket Carp Fishing Session

2009-06-14T13:59:00.002+01:00

I must admit I’m not a big fan of day ticket carp fishing, mainly because of the silly prices fisheries are charging for a 24hr session these days!. If I do fish a day ticket water I want to be sure I’m on the type of water that offers me big fish, after all, if I’m paying over the odds, I want to be in with a chance of a big carp. I’d actually given up day ticket carp fishing many years ago when I thought Linear Fisheries were getting greedy and starting to charge too much, my opinion of Linear hasn’t changed and I haven’t been there for a while now.
The one day ticket water that persuaded me to part with my cash again was the famous Cemex water known as Sandhurst. I’ve fished this cemex carp water a couple of times now and on Friday 24th April 2009 I headed back down to Yateley for my third go at this amazing big fish carp water.

The journey to the lake was uneventful, the only thing that crossed my mind on the way down there was how on earth long distance carp anglers ever managed without a Sat Nav!. My trusty Tom Tom took me straight to the lakes gate and at around 3pm on Friday afternoon I met up with 14 of my mates as we’d booked the lake for our exclusive use.

I had a good walk around, the carp seemed to be fairly well spread and the whole lake seemed to be fishing quite well, the only area that looked devoid of carp was the famous swim known as bailiffs, whilst fish showed everywhere else, this normally productive peg looked like a dead duck as far as catching carp was concerned!. Eventually we drew for swims and I couldn’t believe my bad luck, on my last trip to this cemex water I’d drawn last out of the bag and had to watch as all the decent pegs disappeared. This time I came out second to last and suffered the same fate!. I ended up stuck with ‘bailiffs’ and I knew straight away I’d be in for a struggle, what made it worse was the lake fishing very well and I had to watch as my mates banked an amazing amount of big carp, I haven’t counted them all but over the weekend at least 16 x 30’s came to the bank along with an obscene amount of 20’s!.

My own fishing over the weekend was poor, I was right about the bailiffs swim not having any fish in front of it and I struggled big time. The best I could manage was a lost fish in the early hours of Saturday morning, I had a one toner on my left hand delkim which was fished on a silty patch at around 40 yards. I hit the rod quickly and it thumped over nicely as I struck into a solid lump. I was really pleased to be into a fish given how bad my peg was but that happiness lasted roughly 20 seconds before I felt that sickening feeling as everything went slack and the hook had pulled. I wound in and examined the rig and hook point and I could find nothing wrong so I rebaited and recast the rod.

Nothing happened the next day, at 1pm I wound in and went to the barbeque the lads had organised, I wasn’t feeling too good, I had a headache brought on through lack of sleep and I felt a bit sick, with this in mind I went easy on the food, just a couple of burgers and sausages washed down with a bottle of oasis rather than a beer. After the barbeque I took a couple of headache tablets, retied all my rigs and cast them out. As the evening wore on I began to feel a lot better, I had a bit of a sleep and when I woke up I had just one thing on my mind and that was moving asap as there was still no carp around!.

BBQ in the Cemex Sandhurst car park.

One of my mates was also keen on moving, he’d had 2 fish from peg 11 but he wasn’t happy, the swim he moved to was the second pipe, I’d looked at this swim and hadn’t fancied it so when he left peg 11, I moved onto the road bank and set up again, the move was a quick one, I was only fishing under my stealth brolly so I was packed and round the other side of the lake in no time. Once settled in I got the rods out and just sat watching the water. I couldn’t understand why my mate had moved out of peg 11, there were fish in front of it and the swim looked good for a carp.

I stopped up late that night to watch a film on my Ipod and it was midnight before I got my head down, I hoped for a fish as we got towards first light as this seemed to be a good feeding period on the lake. I didn’t have to wait that long, just an hour after settling down to sleep my middle delkim suddenly burst into life and my line was peeling off my infinity bait runner at a fast and steady rate. There was no way this fish was anything but a carp, the hookbait was a 16mm snowman presentation, a real mouthful that was meant for a carp. I hit the rod and sure enough there was a dead weight attached to the other end. I kept the pressure steady, not too much as I didn’t want a repeat of the hook pull I’d had earlier in the trip. The carp kited left towards peg 12 and I had to drop the rod tip and apply some severe side strain to stop the fish kiting through my mates line next door. I managed this but my heart was in my mouth!, everything held firm and I managed to get the carp close in and ready to net, the fish ploughed up and down the margins for a while and all the time I kept praying it wouldn’t come off. I don’t have many hook pulls, my rigs are extremely efficient and its amazing how one lost fish can play on your mind. I had no problems with this fish and after a long fight under the tip I eventually netted the fish.

I was relieved, despite so many fish being caught by everyone else I’d struggled and this fish had saved me from a blank session. I grabbed my head torch and using the more discreet red led lights I set up my unhooking mat, got my scales ready and sorted out my camera ready for the photos. The carp was a mirror and it was well nailed, no chance of loosing this one!. I weighed the fish at 22lb 14oz, not as big as I’d hoped but it had prevented a blank session and considering how bad I’d drawn, I was well pleased with this fish!.

22lb 14oz Cemex Sandhurst mirror carp.

I rebaited the rod with another snowman hookbait and cast it back out. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and I slept in until well gone 8am. I was due to be off the water at 4pm that day but I wanted to leave earlier to avoid any rush hour traffic. I had some breakfast and began packing up, there were quite a few carp in my swim cruising round in the upper layers, these fish appeared over all 3 of my baits during the morning and I left my rods out as long as I could whilst I packed the rest of my gear away. Sadly nothing happened and at midday I wound my rods in and packed the last of my gear into the car.

Sadly I believe this will be my last trip to Cemex Sandhurst. Just like Linear Fisheries, I believe Cemex are now getting greedy. The introduction of the Cemex plus ticket at a cost of £35 per year has meant a big increase in the price of fishing not just Sandhurst but all Cemex carp waters so for a second time, I’m now retiring from day ticket carp fishing to concentrate on my club and syndicate tickets. In this day and age £25 for 24 hours fishing is just wrong, putting an extra £35 on top is down right despicable and I hope Cemex come to their senses and abolish this fee, one things for sure, I’ll not consider returning until they do.

Tight Lines.

JRC Stealth Brolly Review

2009-06-07T14:45:00.002+01:00

Spring is well under way now and summer is just around the corner, after a winter of day only carping I’ve started fishing nights again in the last month or so and I’d forgotten just how handy it is having a decent brolly for overnighters.

The JRC Stealth Brolly is my chosen system for overnighters, the stealth covers my bedchair and sleeping bag easily and leaves me with plenty of room to store my gear at the back of my bedchair. What I like about the stealth brolly is how fast you can get set up, I’m a short session carp angler and I’m always watching the water and looking to move onto showing fish, the speed of which I can put up and take down a stealth brolly really does help me stay on top of things and I can’t recommend this carp shelter come brolly highly enough.

The JRC Stealth Brolly easily covers a Bedchair and Sleeping Bag

The stealth also has an infill panel available to turn it into a bivvy but to be honest, I never used mine such is the protection you get from the standard brolly with sides. You only need six T-Pegs and two adjustable bank sticks to fully secure the stealth brolly, although personally, I rarely use more than the 4 pegs you really need to secure the built in storm sides. These 4 pegs on there own mean the brolly is very very secure and I’d only use the extra two pegs in extremely high winds.

At the moment, Britain is plunging into recession, this doesn’t necessarily mean lower prices for our fishing gear though, our currency is extremely weak at the moment and as such, imported goods are tending to cost more. Most of our tackle manufacturers shipped production to the far east many years ago to help boost their profits and these same companies are now being forced to put up the prices of things like bivvies and brollies. The JRC Stealth Brolly has been around a while now and as such, its price has reduced considerably over the last few years. This makes the stealth brolly an extremely attractive looking investment if your on the lookout for a shelter for winter day fishing sessions and summer overnighters.

My JRC Stealth Brolly from the side, no Bedchair showing means you're nice and dry and 4 t-pegs is usually enough to secure.

The stealth doesn’t cost the earth and its very practical, being a brolly it will fit in the centre of your holdall no trouble at all so there are no extra bags to carry like you’d have with a bivvy, ideal if your travelling light and looking to move quickly. I’ve actually had my stealth brolly for 5 years now and I’ve no intention of changing it. Next time I need a new shelter I’ll certainly be buying another one the same as I need that ability to move quickly and to keep an eye on what’s going on. You can see more of what goes on around you from underneath a stealth brolly than you can sat in a two man bivvy. This itself has the potential to put more fish on the bank, it’s so easy to miss a carp rolling if your inside a bivvy but even lying in your sleeping bag you can still see a lot of water from under a brolly and I find this invaluable when it comes to my short session fishing.

If you’re looking for a brolly, give the JRC Stealth Brolly a serious look, in this day and age its cheap, practical and ideal for a carp angler!.

Winter Carping Pt7

2009-06-02T18:36:00.000+01:00

After opening my 2009 carp account with a 14lb 6oz common last week I was back at the lake the following Saturday which was the 24th January. On my way to the lake is was getting increasingly agitated as the fields either side of the road were white with frost. The closer I got to the lake the worse the frost seemed to be and I had a nagging feeling that I might be driving towards a frozen lake!. I was already most of the way there so I didn’t bother turning the car round and going home. When I arrived I found the lake half frozen but fishable although I needed to do a bit of work to reach the area I wanted to fish.

The angler who was on last week was on again, he was in the bay but he didn’t have a lot of water in front of him and I scratched my head wondering why he hadn’t dropped into my open water swim instead?. The answer to that question came soon enough as a carp rolled against the ice in the bay, I looked at the rolling fish and sure enough another 3 shows followed in quick succession. He’d beaten me to the fish again. I’m not one for getting up early to go fishing, I usually arrive at the lake sometime between 10 and 11am and this early bird was beating me to the fish!.

As well as no carp, my swim also had other problems namely a lot of ice that needed shifting, between me and my usual winter hotspot was a strip of ice that was roughly 20 yards long and about 10 yards wide, this sheet of ice was blocking me from casting so I needed to move it. I cast over the ice and slowly retrieved my rig until it got caught up in the ice. At this point I dropped the rod tip to water level and slowly applied pressure to the rod. At first nothing happened but after a few seconds the rod tip began to spring back so I applied some more pressure and again slowly the rod tip began to spring back. I literally pumped that big sheet of ice into the margins were I could break it up. It took me 15 minutes to move the ice from 40 yards out into the margins. It was 15 minutes well spent as I could now cast my rig onto my favourite spot which I duly did.

The second rod went out to the left as close to the edge of the ice as I could cast, as the ice melted I would recast this rod as far over to my left and as far towards the bay as I could possibly get as this was the area the fish were occupying and I had to get as close to them as possible to give myself a chance of catching.

The angler in the bay was having a good day, I saw him land at least 4 carp and I suspect he may have had a few more besides the ones I saw him land. This would be the kind of result I’d expect to have if I was on my own but my late arrivals meant a second best swim for me. I badly needed rid of the ice as it was preventing me from getting a bait into the area the carp were holding up. Just after midday I had the good fortune to feel a breeze on my face, over the next half an hour the breeze got stronger and slowly but surely a massive raft of floating ice slowly moved away from the bay and started to break up. By 1pm the lake was completely ice free!.

I wasted no time, as soon as I had a clear path to my left I wound in the roving rod and whacked a rig and mesh bag as hard as I could towards the entrance to the bay. The rig landed perfectly so I made a decision to leave it there for the rest of the session, I was still slightly off the fish but with an angler in the bay and no ice to hide under I was convinced the carp would push out to were my left hand bait was, with the hotspot already covered this was to be my last roll of the dice for the day and it was time to sit it out for that all important run.

By 3.30pm I was looking at my watch and thinking I’d blown it, there were carp in the area I’d cast the roving rod but nothing had happened, the hotspot rod had also remained spookily quiet and with less than an hour of my session left I was beginning to resign myself to a blank. Its funny how fishing goes sometimes, you expect a run and it doesn’t come, you don’t expect one and all of a sudden your bite alarm springs into life!. That’s pretty much how it was on this occasion, it was 15.50pm when the left hand rod tip suddenly pulled round and the alarm sounded. All I could think about was how much of a relief it was to finally get a run!.

The carp swam towards me very quickly, from roughly 100 yards range it was under my feet in less than a minute, I knew what was coming so I loosened off the clutch on my reel and sure enough, as I gained contact with the fish close in it ran hard and I had to give line quickly. The carp wasn’t a particularly big fish so I had it under control quite quickly, experience has taught me to loosen the clutch when a fish swims towards me because they invariably run when they’ve put up so little fight. With the carp in the margins I just kept a steady pressure on and wore the fish down until it popped up on top and went into the waiting landing net.

I was relieved to say the least, I really thought I was going to blank and I really didn’t deserve that!. I secured the net and got on with setting up the scales and camera. The carp weighed in at 13lb 6oz, another average size fish for the water. I have to say I made a complete mess of the pictures, for once I wasn’t paying attention and in my haste to get the fish back to the water I didn’t take the angle of the sun and the position of the tripod into consideration. The result being a shadow across the carps tail that is in the shape of the tripod. I realised I’d done this but I wasn’t going to subject my carp to any more time out of the water than necessary so I made do with the pictures I had and released the fish back to the water.

This 13lb 6oz January winter carp saved a blank!

With one carp caught I suddenly felt another fish might be on the cards, my hook bait was still on so with time running out I quickly attached another pva mesh mesh bag and whacked the bait back out to the same distant spot. Again the cast was good and I sat down to see if my last half an hour would produce a bonus fish. Instead of packing up at 16.30pm I made do with putting my gear away and sitting it out a bit longer, I was convinced another run was just minutes away and I ended up staying until 17.00pm in the hope of another bite. Despite half an hours overtime the run never came and I finally conceded defeat and packed up.

I did my usual stint with the spod before leaving for home and it was completely dark by time I left. On the way home I thought long and hard about fishing this water for the rest of the winter. With another angler consistently being there earlier than me I was going to struggle and that’s something I’m not used to on this water having had it to myself for so long. I already have my fishing plans in place for 2009 and I’ve started to consider a change of venue for the rest of the winter. I’ve got a week or so to sit and reflect on the change of scenery I’m thinking about, it will certainly mean less runs but at the same time, bigger fish than low twenties would be a very real possibility and right now the thought of somewhere new to tackle is very appealing.

Tight Lines
Mark

Winter Carping Pt6

2009-01-25T11:12:00.000Z

I can’t believe just how cold its been over Christmas and new year!. Prior to this fishing session I’m writing about now, which took place on Saturday 17th January, my last winter carp session was on boxing day!. With the lakes iced over for a few weeks I eventually decided to make a start on reviewing some of the fishing gear I use and I published my first review on kryston silkworm braid last week. I’ve also added a few new links to this blog, notably Mo's Co Pva, mo has been supplying carp anglers with pva for years and I use his gear myself, you’ll find a link to mo’s ebay shop in the right hand navigation under ‘recommended sites’. Also added to this section are a few north west based ebay shops, northern monkeys owner Julian Grattidge has a new ebay shop called ‘Darkside Tackle’, Trafford Angling Supplies and the Cheshire based Koala Products. Ebay is a great source of cheap fishing tackle and these guys are local to the north west area so give them your support!.

Saturday 17th January was a cold day, if it wasn’t for the fact that we’d had wind and rain prior to the weekend I wouldn’t have bothered going but I suspected the lakes would be ice free and as I pulled into the car park my thoughts were proved right, the water was bendy and that was enough for me.
I wasn’t alone on this session, there was another carp angler on the water and he had beaten me to the fish. The carp were stacked up at the entrance to the bay and he was just about on them, I couldn’t really drop in on his left hand side as my own angling etiquette wouldn’t allow it, I wouldn’t have been happy if it was done to me so I wasn’t going to do it to someone else!.

I had very little choice but to set up in the main area of the lake, this at least gave me access to my faithful hotspot so I covered this area with one rig and I put the other just off to one side, both rods were just fished with pellet hookbaits and a small pva mesh bag. I was in for a struggle today, the other guy had the fish covered and he was first into a carp, he was also second and third into the carp as well as he picked them off from the bay entrance. My swim remained quiet, nothing showed in front or on my right but I had the hotspot covered and this spot has very rarely failed to produce at least one carp on each winter session!.

The first few hours of my 6th winter session had been quiet, I was sitting watching the water when I had a single bleep came from the delkim. I sat and watched but nothing happened for a few seconds, I wasn’t sure if it was a carp or not as it was quite windy by this time, I glanced at my watch and it was 1.30pm, as I looked back up at the water my delkim started a very slow run and as I went to grab the rod I watched my monkey climber slowly pull up. I hit it and sure enough I found myself attached to my first carp of 2009. I was pleased to be into a fish, I’d have hated to start the new year with a blank!.

The fish didn’t do much, it just kited from side to side all the way in and after a few minutes in the margins I eventually slipped the net under an ‘average for the water’ common carp. That’ll do me I thought, I gathered my unhooking mat and scales, set up the camera and got on with weighing and photographing the fish. The common turned the scales to 14lb 6oz, not a small fish and not a big one either but it was my first fish of 2009 so I was happy to at least get myself ‘off the mark’ so to speak.

First winter carp of 2009, a common of 14lb 6oz

I covered the hotspot again, 1.30pm was an hour earlier than my boxing day capture from the same spot so I had a bit longer left this time and I was hopeful of another fish. Once I was settled down it was back to the waiting, I was slowly getting more and more restless as time ticked by. My reason for this was that evening time is usually regarded as the best time on my winter carp water and I was convinced a second run would come. I held on and held on in the hope that the hotspot would give up a second fish but it never did. I even stayed an extra 15 minutes until 16.45pm but it was all in vain and I couldn’t add another carp to my now running 2009 tally.

I even left the rods as late as possible before spodding in some pellets ready for next week, doing this put me at risk of getting wet as the rainy clouds where looming in the distance. I managed to get my gear in the car just in time and as I pulled out of the car park the heavens opened and it lashed down!. Despite only catching one fish I left feeling lucky I was still dry!

Carp Tackle Review - Kryston Silkworm

2009-01-18T14:14:00.002Z

I first started using kryston silkworm in 1994!. At the time, I’d moved onto a small north wales club water that had a pretty severe weed problem. Prior to fishing this club water I was quite happy with my merlin/multistrand combi link, I was catching a lot of fish on the combi link but when I came up against the weed I started to struggle a little.
The weed I was fishing in was silkweed and a hooklength material like multi-strand was a complete nightmare when fishing in it. As the strands separated the last few inches of my rig would get clogged with silkweed and clearing the weed off my rig became a real problem. Once the fibres of multi-strand were damaged the last few inches of my rig would be weakened and I just couldn't risk a loss of breaking strain, after all, those last few inches of your rig down to the hook are vitally important!.

Krytson Silkworm, use it with confidence!

I was desperate for an answer to the multi-strand and silkweed problem so I began to look at alternative hooklength materials. At the time one particular braided hooklink material seemed to be very popular and it seemed to be standing head and shoulders above everything else, that hooklength was the famous kryston silkworm.
I had nothing to loose so I went out and bought silkworm in a couple of different breaking strains. The one I eventually settled on was the 25lb version and the day I bought my first spool started a long association with kryston silkworm that is still going strong today!.
I could make a few quotes about kryston silkworm based on the information on the kryston website but this is a blog and I’m reviewing silkworm based on my own findings. Nearly 16 years after I first used kryston silkworm I’m still on the very same hooklength material. Yes I’ve tried other materials for short periods but carp fishing is about confidence and I keep coming back to the products I find the most reliable and I promise you, kryston silkworm is one of the very best, it’s just a superb hooklength material.

Lovely Capesthorne hall carp that fell to kryston silkworm

I like 25lb silkworm because its so supple, coated braids seem to be all the fashion in carp fishing at the moment and yes, they work very well but they lack the suppleness that allows for a more natural movement of your hookbait and for me, this natural movement is a big plus because I want my hookbait to behave as naturally as possible when a carp sucks and blows at the bait. I believe carp reject your hookbait because they've worked out that its attached to something and without suppleness this is far easier for them to do hence me preferring silkworm over a more popular coated braid.
Not only is silkworm supple, its actually quite thick in diameter compared to most hooklength materials and I think this thickness is actually a benefit if your using it as part of a basic knotless knot setup. Used in conjunction with a nice down turned eye hook like the kamasan b175, kryston silkworm helps create an extremely effective carp rig that turns and hooks carp easily.

Use with a pva stringer or mesh bag to avoid the odd tangle

The only problem I've had with silkworm is the odd tangle, tangles can be reduced by using a coated braid but you also loose the suppleness of your hooklength thats so important. The answer to tangles with silkworm is to use a pva stringer or mesh bag, pva is quite cheap these days and theres a link to Mo's Co in the recommended sites section of this blog, buying from mo is cheaper than paying top price for your pva in the tackle shop, ditto for kryston silkworm, i buy mine from ebay to save money!.

20lb 8oz mirror from 1994/5, silkworm proved to be superb for fishing in weed!

Silkworm certainly helped me unlock that small north wales club water all those years ago, being braid it was easier to get the silkweed off my rigs without damaging them and being so strong I had no problem landing all of my fish from some very weedy areas. Any doubts I had about silkworm rapidly disappeared and my confidence in this hook length material is now so great that I just don’t bother fishing with anything else. I took most of the residents of capesthorne hall on 25lb silkworm and capes is one of the most pressured carp waters I’ve ever fished!. I also use silkworm when I visit heavily pressured day ticket waters like linear fisheries and yateley sandhurst lake. Silkworm has worked brilliantly on all of these waters and a whole host of others too. If you’re just starting out in carp fishing and are confused by all the different materials available to make carp rigs, try kryston silkworm!, I promise you it really is one of the best hooklength materials out there.

Winter Carping Pt5

2009-01-04T14:46:00.000Z

After 4 nice doubles on the 22nd December I was keen to get back to the lake on Christmas eve, I set the alarm for 8am and when it went off I woke up with a splitting headache and I felt sick. There wasn’t going to be any Christmas eve fishing session for me this year so I rolled over and went back to sleep in the hope that a few more hours might see me right.

The next chance to get out fishing again was 2 days later, I was fully recovered by then but unfortunately the weather had taken another turn for the worse, gone was the mild weather and lovely westerly wind that had brought me 7 carp in the last 2 trips. Instead, bright sunny conditions and a bitingly cold easterly wind were the conditions that greeted me when I rolled into the car park on boxing day morning.

The conditions may have been poor for catching carp but they were very good for spotting them and I found the fish within minutes of getting out of the car, they were occupying the centre of the lake just off the back of the cold easterly wind. Occasionally a carp would poke its head out of the water and I even saw the odd back breaking surface as the fish tried to take advantage of any warmth the sun had to offer. The carp were well within casting range of my open water swim so I set up there and slowly put my rods together.

I put my first rig on my prebaited hotspot at 40 yards along with a few freebies, this spot was proving to be very consistent as usual and my intention was to keep a rod here whilst I would drop the other rig in areas I could see the fish in order to pick them off. With conditions being so bad I wasn’t very confident in the roving approach, it always seems to work best when there is a big wind on the water to disguise any lead splash.

On my last session I had set up on a huge shoal of carp that had eventually vacated the area I was fishing, I had caught two of them before they left but leave they did. These carp were not liking lead weights on their heads at the moment and sure enough, just 10 minutes after casting a 2oz lead in amongst the showing carp, they had disappeared. It was an hour later when I spotted the carp again, they had moved off towards the out of bounds area and they seemed to be holding in an area that was around 90-100 yards out and slightly to the left of where my first cast went. I decided to try again so I wound the rig in, clipped on another small pva mesh bag and tried again. I planted my feet when casting and stepped into the cast to generate the extra power I needed to reach the fish as they were right on the edge of my casting range. My 2oz lead weight landed around 90 yards out and this was the near side of where the carp could be seen.

With my cast made I sat down to see if the fish would move again. I was disappointed when they did, the next time I spotted a carp they had moved out of range and I was left scratching my head wondering how to get a bait anywhere near them. Today, they just didn’t seem to want to know. A change of tactics was called for so I simply left each rod where it had been cast. It was going to be a waiting game today and I simply had to keep quiet and wait it out.

Having abandoned the roving style I just sat and watched the water, I had a bite to eat and a drink from my flask and around 1pm I fell asleep!. I slept for around an hour and when I woke up and had another look for the fish I found nothing had changed. I was sitting and thinking about blanking when at 2.30pm the hotspot rod suddenly let out a single bleep, before I had chance to focus on the rod my monkey climber pulled up to the top of the needle as a full blooded run developed.

That good old hotspot, its such a consistent area, it had saved me from blanking on numerous occasions over the last few winters and the area had come up trumps again!. I hit the rod and sure enough it arched over and took on its battle curve. The fish took very little in the way of line, just the occasional shake of the head before it began kiting to the right. Steady side strain kept things on track and in the margins I had a great fight with a common that just didn’t want to give up. Eventually the carp had no choice and as the fish tired, I slipped the landing net under a nice mid double that at least meant I hadn’t blanked.

I secured the net and got the camera and weighing gear ready, once set up I lifted the fish out onto the unhooking mat for a closer look, the carp was nailed in the bottom lip as usual, a clear example of just how effective my basic carp rig actually is. With the carp unhooked I weighed it in at 16lb 2oz, a nice common that was slightly bigger than average for the water and a nice result on what was a very very poor day for carp fishing!.

16lb 2oz Boxing day common that saved a blank!

After a few quick pictures in the sunshine I returned the carp to the lake and got on with trying to catch another one. I still had a few hours left so it was well worth trying the hotspot again. I recast my rod and again topped up the swim with a small handful of pellets that I just scattered around the area to try and pull in any passing fish.

Unfortunately nothing else occurred, the carp that had moved out of range of my roving rod decided to stay there and as they didn’t drift back over as the day went on it became obvious that I wasn’t going to have any luck on that rod. The hotspot also stayed quiet and I had no more action from that area either. At 4.30pm I got the spod rod out and deposited another kilo of bait onto the hotspot. By now the temperatures where already below zero and I reckoned my kilo of feed would probably be the last food these carp would see for a while as a frozen lake would be the most likely outcome of the heavy frost that was now falling around me. I packed up and headed for home not knowing how long it would be before I returned again, this cold weather front looks to be in for a few days so this boxing day session may well turn out to be my last carp session of 2008.

Winter Carping Pt4

2008-12-28T00:28:00.000Z

I had a few days annual leave booked over Christmas and with Saturdays 22lb common fresh in my mind I decided a return trip to the lake was in order so I packed my gear early on Monday morning and headed back across Cheshire to my winter runs water.

Things had certainly changed since Saturday, the wind had eased right off and the carp had decided to show themselves. As soon as I pulled into the car park I was greeted by a carp crashing about 50 yards out and right in the entrance to the small bay off the main lake. I got out of the car and looked over at the area and inside 60 seconds and 5 more carp broke surface, in fact the more I looked the more I saw and the area was absolutely crawling with carp, it was an awesome sight with fish topping all over the area.

There was no time to waste, I had to get to work so I unloaded the car and headed for the bay swim that had been the scene of my boxing day and new years day twenties over last Christmas. I couldn’t get myself set up quickly enough, I had the rod pod down first and my two rods were put together in no time. My rods still had the pellets on from Saturday so I didn’t bother putting fresh baits on, I had to get the rods in amongst those carp as soon as possible so I just attached a pva mesh bag to each rod and cast them out. The first rig went off to right where a lot of carp seemed to be gathered and the second rig went straight out in front just on the edge of where another group of fish were showing.

I was settled in very quickly and I was expecting action straight away. Winter carp fishing can be a bit unpredictable, I thought I’d got my baits in quietly and that the carp hadn’t spooked but half an hour later I was having serious doubts about my swim, the fish had just stopped showing completely!. I made a decision to move the close in rod a bit further out into the middle of where the carp had showed instead of on the edge of the area, I had hoped to pick fish off without disturbing them and I’d obviously failed at that so I just went for the jugular so to speak.

I was actually contemplating a move to the centre of the lake when at midday all hell broke loose, the right hand delkim melted as a carp picked up my pellet and bolted for the horizon. I was on the rod quickly and after just a few seconds of playing the fish the left hand rod did the same!. With 2 fish on at the same time I was in trouble, I had to end the fight with the first carp as quickly as possible so I applied more pressure to try and bring the fish to the net. The carp actually felt quite decent, not as heavy as a 20 but certainly better than average for the water, this prolonged the fight and all the time I had the fish circling the other rod was running!. Eventually I netted a nice mirror, I secured the net and grabbed the second rod, by now this fish was quite a way out but it was still on. I had a job to cut down the distance between me and the fish in case it kited either side as I had bushes trailing in the water that might cause problems. Luckily the fish came straight into the net with very little fight and 5 minutes later I was stood there looking down at two carp in my landing net!.

I had a feeling of déjà vu, I’d caught a common and mirror brace from this swim on the 29th December 2007, just a week short of one year ago. Here I was again in the same situation, as I did then, I got my sling sack out and retained one of the fish whilst I weighed and potographed the first fish, the mirror weighed in at 16lb 12oz and after a few pictures I released this fish and brought the common to the unhooking mat, the common proved to be slightly smaller at 14lb 4oz but together they made up a nice brace of winter carp. Luckily everything had gone smoothly and I was happy to have both fish returned to the water safely.

First of my winter carp brace, a 16lb 12oz winter mirror

Second of my winter carp brace, a 14lb 4oz winter common

I rebaited my rods after my two fish and covered the same areas of the lake again. I sat back expecting some more action but after an hour nothing had showed and the area that looked like a carp stock pond two hours earlier was now empty of fish. I had a bite to eat and a drink from my flask and contemplated a move to the centre of the lake. After giving it until 2pm I finally made that move to the middle of the lake and to my prebaited hotspot. With the carp moving into the main area of the lake, this area would surely give me another chance before I went home at 4.30pm.

I put a pva mesh bag onto my hotspot at around 40 yards, the second rig went slightly off to the left about 50 yards out, this was an area I figured the carp may pass through on their way to the main area of the lake and the out of bounds area. Over the next hour I saw quite a few carp crash and they had moved out of range and into the out of bounds area. The fish obviously knew where to go to get away from angling pressure!. There was an odd fish showing closer in so I was hopeful of another carp before I went home.

I had to wait until 15.40pm before the run came, out of the blue the hotspot rod took off and my right hand delkim burst into life. This fish kited to my right and gave me a bit of a scare as it came close to an over hanging tree but some steady side strain had the fish close in and after a short fight in the margins I netted my third carp of the day. On the mat I carefully unhooked the fish and started my weighing process, on the scales I had 15lb 4oz, a few pictures followed and I returned my carp to the water, a nice mid double winter common to go with my brace of carp from earlier on.

Third winter carp of the day, a 15lb 4oz common

I had my rig back on the hotspot again for the last half hour of my session, by now a few carp had rolled in the area and I was convinced the hotspot rod was going to produce another fish. By 16.25 I had all my gear packed away with just the rods and the net to go. I looked at my watch waiting for 16.30 exactly before I wound in and started baiting up again. I was going to leave the hotspot rod till last as I was sure something was going to happen. When 16.30 arrived I walked over to the rods and just before I picked up the left hand rod it bleeped once, I paused for a second and sure enough the left hand rod in open water suddenly pulled round as a run developed!. I wasn’t expecting that, I was convinced it would be the hotspot rod but I wasn’t complaining, I hit the rod and began bringing my fourth carp of the day to the net. Everything went well and eventually I netted another nice common. I had to go digging in my rucksack for my scales and camera but eventually I got everything set up and my last carp of the day turned the scales to 16lb 8oz, another better than average fish for the water.

I was just about to wind in when this last minute 16lb 8oz fish took my bait

The light was fading fast and I still had work to do before I went home, I packed the rods away and thankfully the hotspot rod didn’t go before I wound it in although I was still half expecting it too!. Once my gear was packed away I got on with spodding in some more bait as I was planning a return two days later on Christmas Eve. It took me a while and not for the first time I ended up spodding in the dark. With this task duly completed I headed for home more than happy with my four late December carp.

Winter Carping Pt3

2008-12-21T00:05:00.000Z

Last week I got out of bed on Saturday morning, looked out of the window and promptly went back to bed!. The weather had been so cold I didn’t think it was worth going fishing. It was milder last Saturday but the rise in temperatures was too late to thaw the ice in time so I went Christmas shopping instead.
The following week was Saturday 20th December 2008, the weather had stayed mild all week with quite a few days topping 10 degrees, on top of this there was quite a big wind blowing and I really fancied my chances of putting a couple of winter carp on the bank this weekend.

After an uneventful journey across Cheshire I pulled into the car park for my first look at the lake. No fish were showing but they didn’t have to today, I went and stood in my usual peg and surveyed the middle area of the lake, there was a straight westerly wind piling straight into my swim with white capped waves crashing over my bank, it was perfect conditions for fishing the area I’ve been spodding bait onto every week before I go home.

I didn’t waste any time getting the rods out, I had them assembled and baited with a pellet each in no time, both rigs were accompanied by the usual pva mesh bag of freebies and I cast one rod straight onto my baited area and the other rod slightly off to the right and slightly behind my first bait. The baits were being fished at around 40 yards range but I still needed to put a bit of effort into the casts as the wind was quite strong.

I back leaded both rods and turned round to go and get my sounder box out of my bag, I got half way to my rucksack when one of the spools on my infinity reels started hissing away!. I turned back and grabbed the rod and sure enough, a quick strike saw the rod go over and I was into my first winter carp of the day. The fish kited to my right and I must admit it caught me by surprise, by time I realised what was going on the carp had taken out my other rod and left me with a bit of a tangle. It didn’t stop me landing the fish and after a 5 minute fight under the rod tip I netted my first fish of the day.
Untangling the mess wasn’t too bad once the carp was on the mat and with both rods out of the way I secured the fish in the water whilst I readied the camera for a few photo’s. I weighed the fish first and the scales gave me 15lb 2oz, a nice old common and a good start to the day!.

15lb 2oz winter carp made it a quick start to the day

An early carp like this generally meant a good day was on the cards, my fish had come at roughly 11.15am and I was confident it wasn’t going to be my last fish of the day, it was just a case of how long I’d wait for the next fish and how many I’d end up with!. Nothing much happened after my first fish, I watched the water but nothing showed which was unusual on this lake. The mild weather was giving me confidence but I couldn’t understand why things were so quiet?.

It was 2.30pm before the same rod on the baited spot was away again, I had no trouble avoiding my other rod this time and after a spirited fight I slipped the net under a small common that had a bit of a gammy mouth. I went through the usual unhooking and weighing and despite its small size I took a picture, more for the blog than anything else as it wasn’t a particularly big fish at 10lb 8oz although all carp are welcome on a short winters day.

10lb 8oz, not massive but all carp are welcome in December!

I had just under two hours of my session left so I quickly sorted out my rig with a fresh pellet and attached a new pva mesh bag to the hook before dropping it back on my baited spot at about 40 yards range. I watched the water closely for the last few hours, I saw one fish crash out in the out of bounds area of the lake about 180 yards out, this fish was off the back of the wind which seemed a bit strange as it was so mild and my two fish had come literally in the teeth of it. Another fish rolled off to my left at about 60 yards range and I thought about covering that fish with a bait but with less than an hour to go and two fish already coming to my net I decided to sit tight and see what developed.

I’d had my stealth brolly up during the day and with an hour left I decided to put it away, this meant I could sit and watch the water sitting down instead of standing as I had done for the last few hours, I poured myself a coffee from my flask too and just sat in the wind watching the lake for more rolling carp. I was busy looking at the bay behind me when a single bleep from the left hand delkim focused my attention on the rods. There was a big pause before a second bleep occurred. I had a feeling something was going on so I got up and walked over to the rods and as I did so my monkey climber suddenly shot up to the top of the needle as a full blooded run developed.

I was on the rod quickly and my light strike was met with a solid resistance. It took me a while to get the fish moving towards my bank, playing the fish in was a slow affair and I must admit, at the time it didn’t really register that I might be attached to a decent fish. As with most big carp, this one was like a dead weight compared to low doubles that are usually quite lively but the penny still didn’t drop for me?. I’d like to say I had a dogged fight under the rod tip but this particular carp just came straight up on top and waddled straight into my waiting net. It was only then that I caught a glimpse of the fish itself, it was another common and the gut on this carp and the shear width across its back meant I was looking down at a December twenty and a nice early Christmas present!.

My unhooking mat was hanging in a tree drying so I got it down and set up everything to weigh and photograph the fish, I’d actually began putting everything away in readiness to bait up so this carp caught me on the hop a bit. On the mat I zeroed the scales and hoisted the fish up, it was well over the 20lb mark and the needle settled on 22lb 10oz. Well I was delighted, I’ve had a few twenties from this Cheshire carp lake over the years but I didn’t recognise this one which made it all the more sweeter!.

22lb 10oz, a big winter carp from the North West

I put the rod back out again but there were no more pickups this time. I got the spod out not long afterwards and deposited a kilo of pellets and maize onto the spot I’d just taken my three fish from. It took a while to get the bait in and it was just about dark when I’d finished so I headed off home happy that I’d taken a December 20 after all that cold weather a few weeks earlier!.

Winter Carping Pt2

2008-12-14T08:13:00.001Z

I was listening to the radio earlier today when the announcer reading the weather stated that we’d had the coldest start to a winter in 30 years!. I didn’t doubt this for one minute, when I banked my first and only double figure carp of the winter so far I actually felt like I’d got out of jail on that trip because the temperatures were so low.

I kept an eye on the temperatures prior to my second fishing trip of the winter and again they were low all through the week. When Saturday came around I very nearly didn’t go because I thought the lake would be frozen over. I always have a back up plan when it comes to my winter fishing so I packed my rover lure bag so I could visit the river dee if the lake did happen to be iced up.

Luckily for me I didn’t need the lures so the pike were safe for another week. When I arrived at the lake it was clear of ice and thankfully there was no fog this time either so I had a good view of the lake. I made my way to my usual swim that covers a large amount of water, the odds were that the carp would be somewhere within casting range so I got myself setup up and cast both of my rigs to what I call my ‘starting spots’, the areas I’ve caught regularly from in past winters. One of these hot spots had done me a carp the previous week so there was always a chance. Whilst I waited for a bite I kept scanning the water for signs of fish moving.

It wasn’t long before my best mate the local robin was being a nuisance again begging for food, I didn’t mind feeding him but he didn’t seem to understand that he wasn’t supposed to crap on every item of fishing tackle I had with me!. I continued scanning the water for most of the day but no carp showed. That might not be much of a big deal on most carp waters but the lake I’m fishing is exceptional and it’s very rare not to see at least a couple of carp roll during the daytime. These carp are so prolific in winter that I’ve even witnessed upwards of 50 shows when the lake has been half iced over!. Today however, I wasn’t seeing anything and it wasn’t until I listened to that radio announcer that I realised just how bad the weather conditions have been this winter.

Cheeky little robin perched on my rucksack!

I continued watching the water for signs of carp right up until 4.30pm when it was time to go home, it had been the quietest winters day I’d ever known on the lake, the temperature barely made 4 degrees all day and with the light fading it was getting very cold very fast. I made haste when it came to putting bait in my swim and I was finished and on my way home in record time!.

When I got home I could feel my throat tightening and the next morning I succumbed to a cold which stayed with me for most of this last week. I’d recovered enough to go fishing this weekend but the temperatures hadn’t. The lakes had been iced up all week but on Thursday night into Friday morning the temperature rose a little and it began raining. Rain is good news when the lakes are frozen up and I hoped a bit of the wet stuff would get me fishing. I delayed any decision on going until I got up the next morning and checked the weather websites and had a look out of the window.

When I got up I logged onto the internet and had a look at the bbc weather, the temperatures hadn’t come up very much and looking out of the window there didn’t seem to have been much rain during the night. I doubted there was enough of a thaw to have made the trip worth while, there was always the pike fishing on the river but that was going to be my only option and as I’m mainly a winter carp angler I based my decision to not go fishing on the fact the lake would definitely be frozen over.

This brings my winter carp fishing up to date, one freezing cold blank with no carp showing and one abandoned trip due to the lake being frozen over. I hope that announcer on the radio has some better news about the temperatures for next weekend!.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Winter Carping Pt1

2008-12-07T11:33:00.000Z

After a long break from carp fishing I finally felt like I needed to be on the bank again so on Saturday 29th November 2008 I paid a visit to the old winter carp water I’d done so well on in the past. This Cheshire carp water is well stocked so there’s always a chance of some action but I hadn’t reckoned on the weather!.

I woke up early on Saturday morning as I wanted to be at the lake in plenty of time to have a good look around. Unfortunately I found myself packing the car in freezing fog. I actually contemplated not going at one point, not only was the fog hazardous to drive in, it’s probably the poorest conditions of all for catching carp, specially in winter!.

I wasn’t going to be deterred, it had been nearly 11 months since I’d banked a New Years Day twenty from the lake and I was ready to renew my chess match with these lovely commons. I drove a bit slower on the way to the lake due to the fog but eventually I pulled into the car park to get my first view of the water. It was certainly foggy, the first thing I looked at was the margins, sure enough they were ice free despite it being freezing cold so at least I could actually get the rods out.

Due to the fog I couldn’t see very much so I unloaded my fishing gear and made my way along the bank to my usual winter carp swim. I’ve fished the lake for many years so I knew the swim well, my new plan was to get the rods into areas I know have produced for me in the past then sit and wait for the fog to lift so I could watch the water and hopefully work out the carps location. The out of bounds bank was about 200 yards straight out in front of me and I could barely see it, I could just about make out the tree line through the fog and that was enough to give me the line I needed to cast on. I quickly put the rods together, tied a couple of new rigs on and dispatched two peparami hook baits along with a small pva mesh bag with a couple of freebies in. I could only guess at the range my baits were cast but I did step into the casts and I gave each rod a good overhead thump, I’m guessing they landed somewhere around 80-90 yards out as I didn’t see either rig hit the water due to the fog!.

Once the delkims were set I settled down quite quickly, I didn’t realise it was so cold, there was ice forming on my monkey climbers and at one stage my main line was actually frozen to the tip rings until i freed it!. The resident robin was on the scene as soon as I arrived so once I’d got everything sorted out I gave him some food. That was a mistake, he turned out to be a real pest and after crapping on my rucksack, chair, flask, mat and bait box I’d just about had enough of my feathered friend!. I stopped feeding him and decided to try and watch the lake, the fog had lifted a little although I still couldn’t make out the colour of the leaves on the trees opposite.

Winter Robin, I made a mistake feeding this little fella!

I was scanning the water for signs of fish when at 11.45am the left hand rod suddenly burst into life without warning, I was quite stunned, these were possibly the worst conditions for catching carp yet the spool on one of my reels was going into meltdown!. I jumped up and hit the rod and it arched over nicely as I felt that characteristic thump of a carp on the other end. I kept the pressure steady and the fish came slowly towards my bank, there was a few bushes in the water down to my right and I did think these might be a problem at one stage as the fish kited over to my right but some consistent side strain kept things on track and after a short fight in the margins I slipped the landing net under my first carp of the new winter season.

Well that was a good start, nothing had showed so I must have pretty much landed in the right area as the bait had only been out for just over an hour. I quickly set up the tripod and camera and got the unhooking mat and scales ready before lifting the fish out of the water. It was a nice common, not a massive fish by any means but most welcome on such a cold day. I weighed the fish at 12lb 2oz which is probably an average sized fish for the water. I rattled off a couple of pictures and released the fish quickly so I could re-bait my rod and get another hook bait back out to the same area.

12lb 2oz winter carp caught in icy and foggy conditions

My re-cast was good and the fog had lifted enough for me to see my rig land this time. The next hour passed uneventfully and I had a brew from my flask and some ham sandwiches I’d brought with me. Around 1pm I caught sight of a fish, it rolled in the area I’d picked my carp up from and I already had a bait there so my hopes of catching another fish rose considerably. Another hour passed when a slow run developed on the same rod, I was on it quickly and as I wound down and struck I expected the rod tip to pull over but it didn’t, I just hit fresh air instead. I checked the rig over and everything seemed in order, I paid particular attention to the hook point and this was ok too so I put another pva mesh bag on and recast my peparami hook bait back to the same area.

As the afternoon wore on the fog lifted enough for me to see the golden colour of the remaining leaves on the trees in the out of bounds and late afternoon the clearer conditions allowed me to spot a couple of carp that rolled in different areas. As it was getting late I just made mental notes of where I’d seen the fish and then got on with putting a little bit of bait in to give them a little taster and hopefully encourage them to hang around my swim.

It was so icy my landing net froze solid!

With my baiting up done I headed for home around 4.30pm I had a hard time packing up as my landing net had frozen solid after the morning fish I’d caught. I’d been trying to get my net dry by shaking it but every time I propped it back up against a tree it would be as solid as a board 15 minutes later. I did manage to get the net back in it’s bag after wrestling with it for a while. The frozen net was an indicator of just how cold it was and I left for home happy that I’d opened my winter carp account and happy that I’d caught a carp with the odds stacked against me.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Lure Fishing Session for Pike

2008-12-04T18:21:00.002Z

The last time I went fishing I was feeding carp on the top and floater fishing so it seemed a bit strange to be heading out pike fishing on my next session. October is traditionally the start of the pike fishing season though, I’d managed to miss my first piking session due to prior commitments so when the second Saturday in October came around I was ready and waiting to go with my lure bag.

Most of my pike fishing is done with lures these days, they are just so convenient, neither you or your car ends up smelling of dead fish after a session and as far as I’m concerned that’s a good enough reason to stick with the lures!. For me, lure fishing is about searching out potential spots pike might be held up. It’s a very mobile approach and in a typical lure fishing session I’ll cover 3 or 4 different waters in the same day. This makes my sat nav extremely useful and I rely on this little gadget to get me around the north west from lake to lake with no fuss, if you’re an angler that visit’s a few different waters or travels any distance, a sat nav is a cracking device to have.

The first lake I visited was one of my old stomping grounds for carp, a nice Cheshire mere that also contains a few pike up to mid twenties. Most pike in this water are small I thought it might respond well to a lure fishing approach. The first swim I tried was one of the car park swims, I knew from previous experience that a few pike had been caught here in the past so I investigated the swim with a large mepps aglia spinner. I started off on the right hand side of the swim fishing shallow at first and moving slightly further left with each cast until I’d covered the swim in an arc.

Once I’d covered the swim I did the same again but I counted the spinner down a little to fish it at a different depth, I fished around the swim at all different depths but no takes where forthcoming so I had a wander round with my rod and decided to try near a set of lily pads as it seemed like an obvious ambush point for a predator like the pike.

I started again on the right of the swim but nothing happened until my mepps aglia got near to the pads. On my third retrieve a small pike had a snap at my spinner, I didn’t hook the fish but I caught site of a characteristic green flash of a pikes flank. Previous experience has taught me that I’d probably get a take next time the spinner went through the swim. The take didn’t come first time through the swim, it came on the second run through. As the lure came near the pads the pike grabbed it properly this time and I had a short battle with a jack that had no chance of getting away as I was using a 20lb wire trace and 30lb breaking strain power pro braided mainline. I placed the pike on my unhooking mat and used a pair of forceps to remove my spinner, the forceps are ideal for avoiding a pike’s sharp teeth and I’d recommend them to any budding pike angler. Once the spinner was removed I weighed the fish at 4lb and took a quick photo, even though it was small, it was still my first pike of the season.

My first lure caught pike of the new season took a mepps aglia spinner

I couldn’t get another bite after the small pike so I tried a change of tactics, I switched my mepps spinner for a spinnerbait and tried in amongst the dying lily pads themselves. Spinnerbaits are excellent for this type of fishing as they don’t get caught up easily. I was able to retrieve my lure through the pads in the hope of finding another pike. I did see one pike strike in the pads but it was in an inaccessible area that I couldn’t reach and there was no bites for me in the areas I could reach so I moved on.

The sat nav got me to my next lake in no time at all, I couldn’t fish this Shropshire mere without a sat nav because its in the middle of nowhere and very difficult to find. I’ve never known a county with so many single track roads as Shropshire!. The second lake was rumoured to hold a few pike but rumours were all I’d heard. There were a few carp anglers in residence on this lake so I had to give them a wide berth. You never can tell where carp anglers are actually casting too so as a general rule I won’t go within two swims of them. This didn’t leave me with much water, just the margins and a tasty looking set of snags that might hold a fish if I could get a lure close enough to them.

I started with a mepps spinner again working from right to left then I worked the swim again at different depths, I went through most lures and plugs I had but with no luck at all. I have a feeling I might get lucky on this lake but it will be on another day when the carp anglers aren’t around as they were occupying all the areas that contained lily pads and I reckon the pads would probably give me my best chance of a pike on this lake.

During the afternoon it had begun to rain lightly, it was that horrible drizzly type of rain and after an hour of standing out in it I was soaked so I quickly decided to call it a day rather than visit a third water. There will be plenty of time to catch more pike this winter so I headed home with just the one small jack to my credit but at least I was off the mark.

Tight Lines.
Mark.

Indian Summer Carp

2008-12-04T18:20:00.001Z

The weekend after my return to yateley I was a little bit stuck for a venue, the weather had been very nice for nearly a fortnight, real indian summer conditions with temperatures nearing the 70’s. Unfortunately the really high pressure associated with settled weather conditions meant the going was likely to be tough on the carp fishing front. With this in mind I opted to visit a well stocked Cheshire runs water to give myself a chance of getting a bend in the rod.

As soon as I arrived at the lake I had a feeling I’d catch, it was just a matter of how many. The carp were on the surface in numbers, as I stepped out of the car and looked across the lake I saw a lot of backs breaking surface on the far side and nobody fishing round there!. I grabbed my gear straight away and headed round to the swim that was full of fish. After dropping my gear and watching for a few minutes I decided floaters were the best line of attack and fortunately I’d taken a couple of bags of chum mixers with me.

The only problem with using floaters was the bird life, there was a large amount of seagulls on the lake and they would cause problems for me sooner or later. I began to feed mixers slowly, just half a dozen at a time to start with. It didn’t take long for the carp to show and interest and the first bait was sampled and taken within minutes. I continued feeding mixers and slowly the fishes confidence grew as more and more carp joined in. I’m amazed I managed to avoid the seagulls for so long, a few of them even flew over my baited area and ignored it despite seeing the carp getting stuck into the floating baits, a sure sign nobody had been floater fishing on the lake for quite a while!.

After an hour and a half of constant feeding with the catty my swim looked like a jaccuzzi, there were carp everywhere with their mouths out of the water scrapping for every last mixer. The swim was nearly ready for a hookbait so I slowly began to put a floater rod together. I set the rod up with a drennan sub surface controller and a 10lb drennan double strength hooklength that was 5 feet long. A single mixer superglued to size 10 esp big t raptor hook completed the setup.

I was just waiting for the superglue to dry on the hookbait when two ducks appeared from nowhere and charged straight through my swim grabbing every mixer they could. I continued to feed the mixers as the ducks had their fill but it was another hour before the carp started to get their confidence back again, just as they did a swan arrived on the scene and set me back again, next to arrive were the gulls and at one stage I had a swan, a couple of ducks and about 30 gulls all over my baited area grabbing every last mixer, in with these birds were the carp and they weren’t going to miss out on their free food. My answer to the birdlife was to step up the feed and I simply hammered in the mixers, the birds had their fill and when they couldn’t eat anymore they simply drifted away and watched from a distance, even the gulls had their fill and half an hour later I was sat with a swim full of carp again.

The carp were a little more wary with the disturbance from all the birds and they kept coming back for seconds every so often. I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t really going to get the carp completely preoccupied because of the birds so I changed tactics and set up a zig rig. I knew the water was roughly 3ft deep so I set up a zig rig with a 2.5ft hooklength and a small monster pursuit boilie pellet for a hookbait. My new tactics were to put the zig rig out slightly to one side of the baited area and to continue feeding mixers to try and build the carps confidence again.

The zig rig had been out maybe half an hour when the water erupted and my delkim suddenly burst into life. I was on the rod straight away and after a spirited fight I landed a small common that I guestimated to be around 6-7lb in weight. I took a quick picture on the mat and returned the fish then continued to feed more mixers whilst I sorted out another hookbait for the zig rig.

Zig rig caught common of around 7lb, the first fish of the day

I was fishing again a few minutes later, this time I put the zig closer to the feed area. It was perhaps another 30 minutes before I had a repeat of the last run, the water erupted again and again the delkim warbled its tune. This fish turned out to be a small mirror of perhaps 4lb. I returned the fish unweighed and set the zig rig up again with another fresh boilie pellet. By now I was fishing right in amongst the feed area and it didn’t take long to receive another blistering take. Unfortunately this fish kited to my right and I had to pile on the side strain to try and keep it from getting round a marginal bush. It was a real hang on for dear life moment and sadly my hook length parted as my line came into contact with the submerged branches of the tree.

My swim went a little quiet after loosing the fish and before I could build the carps confidence again the wind sprung up making it impossible to feed more mixers. It was blowing straight in my face so my mixers just kept getting blown straight back at me. As well as feeding mixers during the afternoon I’d also been feeding in some large elips pellets from hinders. With this new breeze blowing I simply switched to my usual knotless knot hair rig and fished on the bottom instead.

Switching to bottom fishing produced my 3rd carp of the day

Switching to bottom baits produced another run half an hour later and after a spirited fight I netted another small common around the 7lb mark. By this time I was knackered, feeding mixers for over 4 hours with a catty really does take it out of you so I called it a day with just 3 fish to my credit. Judging by the amount of carp that had been in my swim I should have had more but you just can’t avoid problems with birds ruining your groundwork. They’d been a real pain for me on this session and they’d cost me dearly, judging by previous floater fishing sessions on this water I’d have been looking at catching over 10 carp for the session. At the end of the day, you can’t rush the carp through to pre-occupation on chum mixers. It takes time to build them up with careful feeding so its hard to avoid our feathered friends. I’m now thinking of buying a laser pen to help me out next time!.

Tight Lines.
Mark.

Return to Yateley Sandhurst Lake

2008-12-04T18:18:00.000Z

Last weekend I finally made a return fishing trip to Yateley Sandhurst. The trip started with a short journey to my mate Steve’s in Runcorn. Once at Steve’s I loaded my carp gear into his motor so we could share the fuel costs and I left my car on his drive. I packed my sat nav too and this incredibly useful device got us to yateley angling centre to collect my day tickets and then onto the lake with no difficulty at all.

Safe arrival courtesy of the sat nav

I knew the fishing was going to be a struggle, the air pressure had been continually rising all week and we were greeted by a flat calm lake that didn’t exactly look inspiring. I spent a fair few hours walking round the lake looking for carp but very little showed. The odd carp I did see were up in front of the car park peg and I had no chance of getting near them as the lake was busy.

Having spent most of the day looking for carp I resigned myself to picking a swim from the best of the rest as it was getting late. The swim I chose was peg 13, I’d fished this swim on my first sandhurst carp trip back in may and caught a thirty from it. The wind was pushing down the lake towards peg 19 so I had a hunch that 13 might be worth a look. I got my rods set up and cast my rigs to the same area I’d caught from last time. On my previous trip I’d witnessed an amazing display from the sandhurst carp as they topped and rolled in this area so it seemed logical to fall back on my limited experience from the last session.

The night passed uneventfully and I was disappointed not to have some kind of action at first light. I left the rods out until 9.00am whilst I had some breakfast then wound in and went for a long walk around. Other anglers would be going home during the day as the lake was exclusively booked for the weekend so I wanted to get an idea of where I was going to fish later on.

After 2 hours of walking round I knew the fish were up at the car park end and if I drew well I’d get on them and be in with a chance. I returned to my swim at 11.00am so I could cast out my rigs again. The previous day only 2 fish had been caught and both came within 10 minutes of each other just after midday. With two carp coming out so close together time wise I thought this might be some kind of small feeding period so I wanted my baits out through this time of day just in case.

I’m so glad I did get the rigs back out. At 11.45am one of my snowman hookbaits was picked up, I was watching the water at the time and hadn’t seen anything when right out of the blue one of my delkims burst into life and the line peeled off the spool at a good rate of knots!. After my initial bemusement I quickly slipped into routine and hit the rod. Sure enough it arched over and after no movement for a few seconds I eventually felt a kick on the end from what felt like a decent fish. The fight was a bit of a stalemate for 5 minutes or so, the carp took no line but neither did I make any back. The fish wasn’t snagged, it was just a heavy weight on the end of the line and eventually the steady pressure had it moving towards me.
I’d hooked the fish about 50 yards out and once I’d managed to get it moving it came into the margins quite quickly, again the carp never took any line and looking at it in the clear water I could see it was a nice fat mirror that looked to be around mid twenties. I was a little nervous when the fish was under the rod tip but I needn’t have worried as the fish was well nailed in the bottom lip and I could clearly see this as the fish slowly rolled into the waiting net.

I must admit I was delighted to see that fish netted, I hadn’t been fishing much over the last few months and when I sat and reflected, I realised it was my first decent fish since I’d caught a 22lb 4oz mirror from a no publicity Cheshire carp water back in mid June!. I left the carp in the water whilst I got on with the business of weighing and photographing my fish. I put the unhooking mat on the road behind my swim and set up the tripod and camera ready for a smooth photographing session. I weighed the mirror at 26lb even, a nice fat fish that was in reasonable condition. My mates Steve and Gino were on hand and with their help I had the weighing and pictures done in no time. I released the fish back to the lake and watched with a big smile on my face as it drifted out of sight.

26lb Mirror from Yateley Sandhurst Lake

The lads were due at the lake just before 2pm and not long after I’d released my carp, the first of them arrived to have a look around the lake. I recounted my capture to them as they arrived and filled them all in on where I thought the fish were. Once everyone was present we had a draw for swims for the rest of the weekend. I was actually relieved to have caught as I came out second to last in the draw. Not only was the car park end of the lake stitched, I’d lost peg 13 as well and I was left with little choice but to pick from a handful of no hoper pegs!.

I opted for peg 19, this peg gave me a big view of the lake and at least 3 swims either side of me were empty. I was hoping the lack of pressure might see a few fish move into the area but they didn’t!. I had to sit and watch carp show up at the car park end and the lads up there managed to catch a few fish over the weekend. For me, my catching was over and I had to make do with the barbeque on Saturday and the fireworks that went on each evening. Despite looking hard I didn’t see a single fish up my end of the lake and I blanked the rest of the trip.

Peg 19, shame the carp were up the other end!

At the end of the day you pay your money and you take your chance, the draw had been unkind to me on this yateley trip and I accepted that I was very lucky to have caught my 26lb mirror when I did!. If I hadn’t insisted on fishing through that potential feeding period in the middle of the day I would certainly have blanked the whole trip.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Finally Fishing Again

2008-12-04T18:17:00.000Z

Carp fishing is different things to different people, nearly 20 years ago I was literally consumed by it, after Kevin Maddocks best selling book it became known as ‘carp fever’ and back then I had it big time!. These days I can take it or leave it as far as carping goes. I’d not actually wet a line in about 5 weeks before this weeks session, the desire to get out there and catch just isn’t there at the moment and there are other things in life besides fishing!.

What made me go fishing this week was a pending return to yateley sandhust. Having not been fishing for a while I figured I might be a bit rusty so I opted for a night on a tricky Cheshire carp water I’ve been visiting occasionally this year. If nothing else at least I’d give my fishing gear a bit of an airing ahead of my next sandhurst trip. I guess it was the thought of going back to sandy that got me out again, there are just so many big fish in the lake that you can’t help but get excited about a trip there and after my last sandhurst trip I can’t help but wish for more of the same!.

I arrived at the lake early afternoon on Saturday, the first thing I noticed was that the two best swims on the lake were taken. These swims are so consistent that at this point I’d usually be on my way to another lake straight away. What made me stop was a carp cruising round on the surface, it was very visible and I stopped to watch it for a few minutes. It’s funny but the more you watch the more you see and after 5 minutes I’d seen enough carp cruising to stay and fish one of the lesser swims, for once, the fish were stacked up somewhere else other than the two point swims that give access to the out of bounds bank.

Naturally I set up in the swim that had the most fish present, it was late afternoon when I finally got settled in with all my rods in place. I staggered a couple of rigs at 30 and 40 yards range which is where the bulk of the fish where cruising round, obviously the carp were on the top so I wasn’t expecting much action until the early hours of the morning at least. The third rod I fished just beyond my two bottom bait rigs on a zig rig with a piece of yellow foam as bait, this was fished 3 feet up from the bottom in roughly 6 feet of water.

My aqua m3 wasn’t really necessary given that it was flat calm so I left it packed away and just slept under my jrc stealth brolly, one of my mates called it ‘classic September conditions’ but as I sat there under the brolly watching a flat calm lake with a full moon beaming down I knew it was going to be a struggle.

JRC Stealth Brolly, my home for the night on this session

I was a little disappointed that none of the cruising fish had shown an interest in the zig rig I’d put out, I believed the zig offered me the best chance of a fish given the conditions but I remained biteless despite my best efforts. As darkness fell I got the feeling the carp had done a runner on me and this was confirmed by the shear number of fish that were now showing in front of the out of bounds so the best I could hope for would be a chance in the early hours.

It was 5am when that chance came, a single bleep from the right hand delkim had me awake and what seemed like an age later but was probably only a few seconds, the rod ripped off to the tune of that lovely warbling sound. I’d almost forgotten how good it feels to hear your delkim going into meltdown whilst the spool of the reel is whizzing round!. I hit the rod and it arched over nicely as I made contact with the carp on the other end. The fish ran right but steady pressure brought it back to where I’d hooked it. I dropped the other rods so as not to get into trouble later in the fight as it felt like a good fish. After 5 minutes of steady pressure I hadn’t actually gained any line on the fish, it was still roughly where I’d hooked it 40 yards out and it was feeling quite heavy, the fish had made a couple of runs in different directions but I wasn’t making much headway in the fight. It was at this point I made a text book error, I increased the pressure on the fish in the hope of at least getting it moving towards me, I knew it wasn’t snagged, it was just big and I should have known better despite having not been out for over a month!. A minute after increasing the pressure on the fish I felt that sickening feeling as the line fell slack and the rod lost its battle curve, the hook had pulled out!.

I sat and reflected on what I’d just done, what a stupid mistake, it might sound daft but when playing big fish I usually take a step back to calm myself down and I run things through in my mind, I’m usually telling myself to go easy and just keep it steady but I hadn’t done that this time and I was kicking myself for loosing what was obviously a very good fish!.

I checked the rig, it was all in order and I couldn’t see any problems with it so I recast the rod and topped up with a couple of odyssey xxx boilies and returned to the bedchair to see out the rest of my session. I sort of knew there wouldn’t be another run, given the conditions I did rather well to get any kind of action at all. It was a shame I couldn’t bank a carp to boost my confidence levels prior to sandhurst but I had at least re-learnt an important lesson, never try and rush things!. If I’m fortunate enough to get a run or two at sandhurst next week I definitely won’t be putting extra pressure on any fish I hook!.

I fished on until 11am in the morning then had a bite to eat and packed up, even on the way home several hours later I was still annoyed with myself for blowing a very rare chance to catch a big fish from this tricky cheshire carp water.

Obviously there won’t be an entry for my blog next week as I’ll be down at yateley. The story of my sandhurst return will be posted on 28th September so until then, tight lines.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Line Aligner Carp Rig

2008-12-03T18:23:00.002Z

A few months ago I joined a north west carp syndicate, one of the rules of the syndicate was that no long shank hooks were allowed. No long shank hooks was a pretty vague statement so I read the rules closely and it was recommended that a hooks shank should be no longer than that of a drennan super specialist hook. I knew straight away that this meant my beloved Kamasan b175's were on the banned list of carp hooks I could use for the syndicate and it sort of left me with a bit of a problem. I’d been using the kamasan b175’s in conjunction with a knotless knot since 1995 and my confidence in this hooking arrangement is extremely high, its probably the most efficient carp rig I’ve ever used!.

Prior to my usual carp rig, I’d actually used drennan super specialist hooks and as they were on the approved list for the syndicate it seemed logical to go back to them and fish with the rig that Jim Gibbinson made famous in the early 90’s, the line aligner. The line aligner and the knotless knot/b175 setup are very similar and they both work the same way, in fact I only switched to using the knotless knot because it was so easy to tie, both rigs are extremely efficient hookers of carp so it was no great hardship to use the line aligner again.

Tying the line aligner is reasonably straight forward, I actually start by tying a knotless knot the same way I would if using the b175’s. With a b175 the rig would be finished at this point but unlike the b175, the drennan super specialist hooks don’t have the 45 degree down turn on the eye that gives the rig the ability to flip over. This ability to flip comes from adding a piece of 1mm soft rig tubing which both extends the shank and adds the flip effect.

Knotless knot ready for the 1mm soft rig tubing that forms the line aligner

With the knotless knot tied I take a needle and thread the other end of my silkworm hooklink through the eye. At this stage I thread the needle through the tubing and bring the needle out through the wall of the soft tubing as can be seen in the picture below, pull the needle out so that hooklength runs through the tubing and exits through the tubing wall.

Threading kryston silkworm through the tubing wall

At this point the tubing can be slid down over the hook shank and manipulated so that where the silkworm hooklink exit’s the tubing wall is on the ‘inside’ of the hook eye the same as the knotless knot.

The tubing positioned so the silkworm exits on the inside of the hooks eye

Once this is done the rig is completed by cutting a 45 degree angle in the end of the soft rig tubing, the angle of cut is vital and the best way to describe this cut is to refer you to the picture below. As you can see the line comes out of the tubing on the inside of the hooks eye and the 45 degree cut in the rig tubing is on the opposite side going away from the hook.

Cut the tubing at a 45 degree angle and the rig is complete

Once the line aligner rig has been tied you can try the finger test on it. Pull the silkworm hooklength over your finger and try to manipulate the hook point so that its always away from your finger and won't catch hold. The hook point will always stay away until you hit the 45 degree cut in the rig tubing, at this point the rig will always turn and dig into your finger and you’ll never actually manage to pull it over your finger without it flipping and catching hold.

Try the finger test, the rig will always turn and dig into your finger.

I believe the line aligner works on the basis of the carp not actually knowing it's picked up a hookbait, hooking occurs when the rig actually tightens to the lead. The knotless knot works the same way, the 45 degree down turned eye on a kamasan b175 hook has pretty much the same effect as the 45 degree cut in the rig tubing on the line aligner. Both rigs are extremely efficient hookers of carp and having switched back to the line aligner for syndicate use I’ve remembered just how happy I was with this rig for catching carp.

Tight Lines
Mark.