New pole christened with carp PB...........

   

  This week I used my new pole for the first time and I must say I am really impressed with how solid the pole is with no bending when used at its full length although with the final section on the pole does become noticeably heavier.  The power sections equipped with black hydro certainly stood up to the task of landing carp and the odd lump and I felt just as in control of the fish as I did when using my really strong elastic on my margin pole.  I have not had enough fish on my match sections to judge what the limitations of blue and white hydro elastic are at the moment to comment.

 

 This week I purchased a roller for my pole and decided to go with a Sensas tripod V roller and well it rolls!! A nice touch is it comes in its own carry case and it also fits nicely into the back pocket of my rod holdall so its easy to carry round.  Once I am done updating the River and Still water sections of the blog I am going to add another page aimed at providing an in depth review of some of the kit I use.

On to this weeks fishing adventures.

Wednesday Evening

  Wednesday evening gave me the first chance to use my new pole and with £4 in hand for an evening day ticket I made my way to Flushing Meadows Fishery and boy did I get my monies worth.  I arrived not long after 5pm and was greeted by two very upset anglers packing away, cursing how bad a days fishing they had experienced. After querying the peg and bait they had used I knew exactly where to find a nice pre-baited swim and as luck would have it they had used the same bait as I was hoping to lure a crafty carp with. 

  As the target species would be carp from 2lb to double figures I only took my two power top sections fitted with black hydro and straight away set up two rigs one for the margins and another for the far side shelf.  In went two large cups of corn and meat and I settled down to a nice up of coffee while I scanned the areas for signs of fish and straight away I could see the tell take swirls on the surface made by the tail of a feeding carp over my baited area.

  In went a rig with a piece of sweetcorn on the hook and after a few tentative minutes the knocks on the float caused by a fish feeding were replaced with the float "zooming" under and the new pole got a chance to cut its teeth on slightly below average common carp.

First fish on new pole:

The fish was slipped back and the dreaded blank was averted, in went another pot of bait and after a short wait another very obliging carp was soon onto the bait waving its tail to signal its soon to be surrender, which was not long in coming and what a lovely marked fish.

second carp of the session:

 The next two carp came in really quick succession and I remember after landing the second fish looking at the clock and it only being 6.15.

The next two fish making the total to four in just over an hour:

 The first hour was a complete opposite to the second hour as the swim got invaded by the millions of veracious skimmer bream that live in the pool.  I knew though to get the carp back in I needed to keep the bait going in so after every skimmer I potted in a full pot of bait.

  It took over an hour for a carp to move in but when it did it was in another league to anything I had ever hooked on the pole and I couldn't move it off the bottom of the pool, the black hydro had been purposely set on the light side as not to bump the skimmers but despite this I still felt in control of the fish and was able to turn the carp when it made deep lunges for the deep water in the middle on the pool.

  Because I hooked the fish in the near margin it meant I could easily add more sections to the pole and keep above the fish and let the elastic tire the fish out and the first time it came to the surface I took my opportunity and quickly scooped the fish into the net.

7lb 7oz an new personal best!!

 My personal best carp at this point was just over 6lb and my hands where shaking as I folded the mat and hooked it onto the scales which settled on 7lb 7oz a new personal best carp!!

  Alternating between my two swims and hook baits I managed to keep the fish coming, and took four more carp, three of which are shown below, the one missing came while I gladly paid my money to the fishery owner.

I was quite clear at this point the fish where on the feed and I had the whole pool to myself!!

  At 8.30 I had to call it day, not because my arm was aching from all the carp or the fact the fish had stopped feeding but the reason was one that doesn't pop its head up much in a fisherman's lifetime and that was I was fresh out of bait!! One large tin of meat and two tins of sweetcorn GONE!!  

  A quality evenings fishing nine carp and countless skimmers all for under 7 quid for bait and the day ticket.  Great value for money!!.

Saturday 6th August


After hearing rumours of yet more free fishing on offer I made a trip to a new venue on Saturday with my dad we found a real gem of a place taking just under 18lb of carp in just a morning session alone.

                                      

Sunday 07th August

  Sunday saw both me and my uncle visit a desperately low River Dee, our chosen venue was the free stretch at farndon and we arrived nice and early and due to this being a prolific spot in winter the car park was empty.

  My uncle settled down in a open swim hoping to make to most of the little flow to trot a float down while I set up to the right of a tree fishing the pole.  My uncle made a good start getting a few fish on the float while I could not buy a bite on the pole even going down to a size 20 hook and a pound bottom hook length, something was not right at all.

  I paid my uncle a visit to chew the fat on what I could be doing wrong and could only think of one thing, pike!! Deep down I hoped it was a pike it would certainly rescue a poor day on my behalf!!.  I returned to my peg and decided to try the opposite margin and had two fish in the net straight away, finally some fish I thought but as quick as I caught them the swim died again.

  It was becoming obvious no mater what I did it wasn't going to work, I tried shallow, deep, near in, far out.....nothing while all the time I could hear my uncle striking at bites just 15 yards up the bank. Then after hours of trying to work it out the answer was there as plain as day for all to see as just inches from my keep net lay a pike in wait and in a split second he was off under the tree to my right.

 Having only 4lb line and a float road to hand it was going to be a battle if I managed to lure this fish from under the tree but as the past weeks have proven as long as the pike is in your swim you wont catch so out went a small roach.

Unlike past weeks where the pike took the live bait almost instantly this pike took a good 10-15 minutes to give in to the rhythmic pulses emitted by the roach trying to get away and when he did all hell broke loose with the pike tail walking trying to spit the hooks.  The line held and after an electric fight the fish was in the net and on the bank.

  Weighing in at 4lb 7oz he had obviously been feeding well recently as he had a proper belly on him and after taking a few seconds to admire the variety of colours on the fish I returned him to his watery home a bit further up the bank.  

I had a few more fish from the swim after this fish was removed and decided to finish the rest of my flask of coffee on my uncles peg.  While I was there my uncle was getting some small dace and roach but not the type of fish you expect to catch from this venue and it is very noticeable on there that you can catch consistently but the bigger species like chub don't seem to turn up.

The water was really clear close in and I could see the fish as my uncle was bringing them in but in a split second it also became very apparent that a pike had also not missed the precession of silvery food being reeling in all morning and decided it was time for dinner and nailed a roach as my uncle was bringing it in.

Usually you just see a swirl and its good night but this pike had taken the fish and was still on and heading for the middle of the river.  My enthusiasm in grabbing the net was short lived as my uncle said that the pike will spit the bait out as soon as we get it to the top.  With my uncle on a one pound hook length this battle looked to be a short one but the longer it went on the more the excitement grew with the fish pulling line from the reel at will and making lunges for snags only for my uncle to somehow turn it.  It was a good five minutes before we even saw the fish and it looked a decent pike and it was with the first showing the pike spat out a chewed up roach but the pike was still on the end of the line.

  The longer the battle went on the more it looked like he might just get this fish in and after a real tussle he managed to get the fish up to the top and heading towards the net, I made a lunge for it with the net and it went in first time only for it to jump right out in mid air, was that our chance gone???? hopefully not as if we lost it now it would be down to me.  The fish now seemed to know what was coming and found a second wind almost as if it had just been hooked and the epic battle continued till eventually he managed to get it to the top again and this time there was no mistake the fish was in the the net and on the bank.

To our amazement my uncle had hooked the fish inside its mouth, how the line did not get cut on the pikes teeth I do not know but my uncle wasn't complaining.

 

  A quick weigh on the scales showed the fish to be just under 5lb at 4lb 15oz and I safely returned the fish back to the swim I released the other fish.  These two pike covered up what was a really poor day on the Dee hopefully some rain will not be far away and give the river a much needed flush through.

On a final note if the person who arrived around 11.30 on Farndon is reading this and is wondering why they had a really bad day it could be that two jack pike where released in your swim within an hour before you arrived!! I really didn't have the guts to approach him and tell him!!

Till next week 

tight lines

Danny