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| DIARIES & STORIES |
26 / 11 / 07 |
My Approach to Winter Carping |  | |
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MARK HODSON
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“T-Rex's 'Metal Guru' was No.1 nine months before I was born and my earliest fishing memories were of cold, blowy winter's days with my dad fishing off the beaches of Norfolk and Suffolk”, says Dave, who hails from Devon.
But it wasn't long before he was into carp fishing, a particular facet of angling that he's much preferred ever since. Dave absorbs all the information he can about his favourite species, dissects it, and then uses it to carve his own somewhat unique path to catch Britain's most popular species. He is more competent than most at all methods for catching carp and like most specialists he prefers to catch the biggest fish, but enjoys the smaller ones along the way.
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Dispelling the myths of winter carping - First session
I arrived at 4pm - a luxury for me as the Mrs was on a half day, so I got to the lake able to take my time setting up. A stiffish easterly was blowing across the lake, ideal for two of the swims I'm targeting as it means the wind is on my back, making baiting up with small baits easier, but unfortunately these were taken, so I dropped into the 'summerhouse' swim which would mean an 80yd chuck to the spots I want.
The only problem was the two guys already fishing were fishing towards these - not that close, but from their angle it would look like I was on top of them, so I decided to drop short onto the back of a small bar that runs left to right across the swim. The boilie rods were baited with 10” Mantis hooklengths, size 8 Mugga's and a snowman rig, with a paste wrap. These were dropped into place, roughly 20yds apart and approximately 100 16ml baits of each type around each rig. The pop-up rig went another 20yds to the right and I settled down to listen to the football.
The last dregs of sunlight
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Just as it got dark, the two guys packed up. Typical! I was in two minds whether to put the rods longer, but as I'd put out most of the freebies already and the wind had got up I decided not to bother.
9pm and a rod is away with a stuttery take - the middle rod fishing the HiNuVal, but unfortunately the fish snagged straight away - unusual as there aren't many in there! I tried most things I could think of, and I'm pretty sure I felt the hook pull at one point so I pulled for a break, but luckily the hooklength snapped so didn't leave any tackle out there. New hooklength and the rig's back out.
At 10.30 the same rod is away with another twitchy take, and after a big initial run a short scrap follows and the first fish is in the net. Got to admit I was a bit surprised it was on the milk, but I'm not knocking it! The winds dropped, a big bright moon is out and its jolly nippy!
1am and its off again - a flyer this time, to another mid double. Really cold now, Milk bait again. Hmmmm!
”I was a bit surprised it was on the milk”
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That's it for the night, pack up at 6.30 and it's back home for a shower. Other than a couple of liners to the B5, I was quite surprised there was no action - it's normally a banker bait, but there's plenty of time yet!
Maybe I dropped just right with the milk bait - if I get the same swim the rods are still clipped up so I'll stick the B5 on the spot next time - but then again, the make up of the Hi-Nu-Val with the additives should be pretty damn attractive. The only thing I might try different is shortening the rigs a touch to see if that cures the twitchy take business.
Scores On The Doors:
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Hi-Nu-Val |
Essential B5 |
Pineapple Pop-up |
Takes |
3 |
0 |
0 |
Fish Landed |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Biggest Fish |
13ish |
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NEXT - More next week in Session 3!
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| | Discuss this article, 1 of 4 messages, read more: |  john conway (CSG - ACA) | |
| Posted: 26/11/07 12:53:00 00 | Interesting Dave at least you've got a bench mark now!
Did you take the water temp? |
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