A warm welcome
to this weeks blog update and thank you too all the people who got involved in
the thread I posted on the maggot drowning forum about the River Mania
idea. The general consensus was that it was a great idea with many people
embracing the idea and saying it is an event they would look to enter if it
came into fruition which was great to read. As of writing this
introduction to the blog there has been no more information released on this
event but as soon as any news is broadcasted I will include it in the following
weeks update.
Over the past
two weeks I have purchased the licences I will need for the foreseeable future
in my Environment Agency licence and the Warrington Anglers Card. I must
say I was really impressed with the new way you pay online for your EA licence
and was even more impressed with the rapid delivery as I paid online for the
licence on the Thursday evening and the licence landed on my doorstep in
Mondays post, cant argue with that. The Warrington Anglers Licence I have
a bit more trepidation about as I wonder just how much use I am going to get
out of it as up to date I am yet to fish a water on this card with my recent
trips being to Flushing Meadows for my main blog and Curlston Mere for my mini
carp blog which both are venues not on the Warrington Anglers Card, ultimately
the longevity of this licence will come down to how good the other waters are
on the River Dee and I think even more importantly how much the other new
licence we are looking to purchase takes over our fishing time.
The carp mini
blog is taking up a lot of my free time at the moment and I am not complaining
at all in fact to quote a well known phrase “IM LOVING IT”. The challenge
of getting the rigs, baiting levels and timing of the trips right is all
fuelling my enthusiasm for this quest and I have a feeling it may start to
overspill into the main blog from time to time, for example, I am thinking I
need to test these rigs out on a venue I know holds a lot of carp to make sure
what I am doing actually works so I am thinking of getting my carp anglers head
on next time I go flushing meadows and have a relaxing session sat behind that
buzzer. All carp anglers will tell you confidence is a massive thing and
I have found the demons in your head do show up really quickly! Knowing my rig actually
works will be a worthwhile exercise.
For anyone
interested in keeping up with my mini blog chasing a 10lb plus carp the blog is
on a page link on the top tool bar or you can find it on the link below, please
remember this is my first time dipping my toes into the world of bite alarms,
hair rigs and boilies and mistakes will and have been made lol….
Between fishing
of a weekend and the trips to bait up and fish curlston mere I have been in
contact with Calor Gas about a future product review that should feature on the
blog in the coming weeks and is something I am really looking forward to
getting stuck into as the item looks top quality and testing it out and
reviewing it I know is going to be loads of fun.
“Gusts bring out the roach”
For
a few weeks now I have been the only angler on my trips to the bank and this
continued into this week’s trip as well I had my Warrington Anglers Licence in
my pocket but upon flicking through it I found myself struggling to find a
venue to fish that pricked my inner angler.
I sat a while in my car a pondered my options and decided that I would
travel and do another session on Flushing Meadows fishery so it was back in the
house for a warming cup of coffee before I set off for the fishery around 6.45
in time for it opening at 7am.
As
many of the regular readers of the blog will know we are really early birds on
the bank often arriving at our chosen pegs well before the first sign of
daylight and I have to admit these past few weeks I have missed that part of my
angling day in my opinion there is no better feeling than being at the
waterside as the world around you wakes up.
I
arrived at the fishery as the farmer was heading back up the track from opening
up and there were already one or two cars parked up. I decided to fish the island pool again but
this time I fished the back of the island hoping to encounter some of the carp I
had seen the man last week get into. I
set up two rigs both on polystyrene pop up balls with a number 8 shot below the
float and another an inch or so from the hook, one rig was for under my feet to
my right amongst some overhanging brambles and the other was for tight up close
to the island, my bait for the day was maggot and I also decided to bring a
long a tin of chopped luncheon meat.
The
pool was flat calm as I set up with the only disturbance coming from the pair
of Canadian geese that had decided to call this pool home searching for an
early breakfast. This place being in the
middle of the countryside you are always guaranteed to see your fair share of
wildlife and it was whilst plumbing up I spotted a owl gliding low over the
field to my right, obviously returning home with a last meal of the day, its
sights like this that make if for me, whether it be the buzzards around midday
or the fox grabbing a drink in the late evening before its nocturnal hunt for
food I just love being in and around the daily lives of these most beautiful of
British wildlife.
The
session began with me feeding maggot on my inside line and as is always the
case with this heavily stocked place the first bite of the day wasn’t long in
coming with a small rudd at the front of the dinner queue. I early bite is always a promising sign no
matter what the size of fish and I was straight back in followed by a generous
sprinkling of maggots. The swim was
coming along nicely with the rudd being edged out with some nice roach.
The
swim had carp written all over it what with its overhanging prickly brambles
and deep margin but my chosen quarry failed to show themselves in this swim,
most people would have been disappointed by this lack of carp action but not me
I was in my element catching some clonking roach the two other guys fishing the
pool must have thought I was mad taking pictures of the roach I was catching.
The
quality of the roach fishing was really surprising as roach over 10oz kept
coming one after another and it again left me thinking what the net would have
looked like if keep nets were allowed on this fishery.
Whilst
catching these roach close in I was periodically feeding the island margin with
small pieces of meat this act alone was becoming difficult though due to the
increasing wind that was blowing from left to right. I continued to catch roach on the inside line
till the better fish dried up and the smaller fry moved back in when this
happens its always time to change swim as feeding these fish off on maggot is
nigh on impossible.
The
wind by now was blowing in intermittent gusts so I knew fishing the far shelf
was going to be hard but I knew the rewards would be there. My first put in close to the margin saw the
float zoom off straight away and I was into my first carp of the day and boy it
went well on the blue hydro elastic.
The
second put in again saw another small carp take the bait and this continued for
a good hour where I would quickly fish in between the hard gusts of wind and
each time I was rewarded with a small carp or nice roach. It was just after returning a carp the farmer
called round for the money and the lads to my right must have asked if they
would be allowed to move as no sooner had he left they moved to the pond
further up which was protected from the wind by a high hedgerow.
I
continued to fight against mother matures and caught a few more small carp but I
eventually had to give in when my pole was blown so hard it caused the whole rig
out of the water. It was clear the fish
where there but common sense had to prevail and I quickly packed in my gear and
moved over to the pool the other two lads had moved two.
I
settled into a peg that I had a deep margin to my left and a shallow margin to
my right it’s a peg I have never fished before but after pluming up I was
confident of a few fish. The swim a
mirror of the previous close in swim in that it was full of roach with only one
difference the roach where really small roach and almost certainly last years
fry. I decided to make the most of it
and just go all out to see how many fish I could catch and it was great fun.
It
was while putting another maggot on the hook I noticed some dark shadows in the
margins of the swim down form me and upon closer inspection where found to be
quite large carp sucking at the margins.
The inner child in me was released and armed with my white hydo elastic
and a top section of pole I proceeded to sneak into position to try and catch
one of these carp. My first chance came
as one moved right into the margin below me, I gently lowered a piece of meat
into the swim but straight away the fish turned and boiled away from the margin
DAM!! The margin was thick with carp and
it wasn’t long before another fish moved in, in fact two of them moved into the
margin this allowed the inner specimen hunter in me to come out as I gently
lowered a piece of meat into the swim but this time I held the bait in the
surface film of the water.
The
carp was straight on to the smell as it began searching for this new smell in
its area and it wasn’t long before I made its search really easy and down the
trap the meat went and the fish turned and literally hooked itself. The elastic oozed from the tip of the pole
and from experience I knew I was into one of the better carp in the pool and
boy did it fight with me resorting to sinking the tip under the water at times
to increase the drag on the fish. The fish
was having none of it and every time I got it close in the edge I could not for
the life of me get it off the bottom, time and time again the fish came close
in and effortlessly glided back out into the middle of the pool.
After
what seemed like a lifetime the fish came to the surface and I took my chance
to net the fish, result!! My first proper carp of the year and I was made up
with this fish as it was in mint condition and a really nice fish to look at on
the bank and it was straight over to the unhooking mat for a quick picture and
to be weighed.
The
fish went 6lb 6oz on the scales and wrapped up a really enjoyable day on the
bank and I would say it’s the first session I have been out on my own of late
when I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I had
a few more trys for another carp off the top but ultimately the rain moved in
and I called it a day.
Till
next week I wish you tight lines and leave you with this picture posted on
facebook this week.
danny
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