THE TRUISM: YOU ONLY GET OUT OF FISHING WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT Stuart: I was lucky enough to have been recently accepted into a local syndicate. The lake is approximately eight acres and looks an absolute dream to fish. The depths vary from 8ft and run off to 3ft in the shallows at the far end of the fishery where reeds, islands and features are in abundance. There are less than 40 members which means the fishing is un-crowded and at times secluded. The entire venue is tree lined with mature oaks and pines cloaking each angler from the elements thrown at them. Each swim is carefully cut out to ensure comfortable space for even the largest of bivvies. Within each swim there is a bench or table made out of natural materials to make the angler at ease and comfortable throughout his session. The carp grow to 30lb with a fantastic bi-annual programme where small fish are swapped for pristine beautiful fast growing carp. In a nutshell, although I have fished many great looking venues, this has to be one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen and the perfect place in which to cast and set my traps. My first session was last week; I planned to fish from Thursday through to Sunday on my own with a view to start to uncovering its secrets by trying a magnitude of methods until hopefully I struck gold. I received a call from Big Rik on the Thursday night stating he had managed to get himself untangled from work commitments and that if I could wangle a guest ticket for him the following day he would make big waves to get onto the venue with me. I walked around the venue at a slow pace and started to make mental notes of swim access and above-water features. I paid special attention to the far end where the features were and watched out for reed movement and blows. After about an hour I decided where I was going to fish based on my observations and my watercraft which clearly indicated that the fish were at the far end in the shallows. I set up as the sky started to darken and nightfall closed in. I fished two baits on the bottom and one popped up. All three rigs however were fished with light leads and long booms on the basis that I had a minimum of 1 foot of silt all over. A few single beeps resulted in a quiet start but at 4am my left hand rod squealed into action and I made contact with a feisty fish that 2 minutes playing resulted in a snagged outcome into the tight reed bed to my left. I rebaited and recast and set my reel drag to an even tighter position. First light came and went, a couple of phone calls later and by midday Friday Rik had appeared at the gates. I reeled in and walked the path back to the car park where I passed 5 anglers all set-up with rods cast out. What was interesting was that none of these anglers were present the day before but more importantly none had walked past me to view the swims that were free below me or to get an understanding of where the fish were before they set up! Big Rik: Well I arrived in a flurry of puff and sweat. It was a fair old trot from the van to the gates of the fishery having to negotiate steps, slopes and a very narrow bridge. Stu duly unlocked the gate for me and we made our way down the bank towards the area that he was fishing. Along the way we briefly stopped and asked the fellow anglers if they had had any success during the night or this morning. Aside from one or two bream, all had been quiet. When we arrived at Stuart’s swim I could see why he chose it. Good reedbeds and numerous sets of pads, which are notable fish holding areas. Within 10 minutes I had seen three or four different reed clumps being shaken by moving carp. The swim next door looked as good as his and with the nearest other angler, three swims and 75 yards away, then I was more than happy.
Looking at the swims past Stuart’s, then I couldn’t understand why the anglers we had passed, who were all fishing open water, hadn’t gone past him to those feature-laden spots. Later that day and the next, I was to find out that the swims they were fishing had no obvious underwater features. The lake was formed by the damming of a stream hundreds of years ago, so there are no gravel bars to find, and on lakes this old the original stream beds are normally non existent. With a large head of bream in the lake, then I couldn’t understand the attraction of open water that the other anglers had chosen. From experience, bream are a shoal fish and they like enough space to move around. Tight areas close to islands, pads, reeds, etc, although they will hold bream, tend to be in lesser numbers than open water swims. Yet again, more reasons to not be in these open water swims. No baiting up was taking place, other than what appeared to be a few token ‘pults of some boilies. No marker rods were in evidence either. These guys must really know their spots well and with hardly any bait being put in then they must know how to attract the carp. I knew the lake held bream, so how much bait to put in? Would it feed them or would it attract them? So, bearing in mind that nobody else was baiting up and seeing that I had what appeared to be a few fish in my swim, then I did the obvious and safe thing….. I piled the bait in. I ‘pulted out about 3kgs of boilies over a 3m x 2m area for one rod that was fished in a channel between a reedbed and a set of pads. Another rod was fished next to a reedbed with a wider spread of bait (about 2kgs) and the third rod was fished over a mix of 3kgs of fishmeal and ground pellet groundbait soaked in salmon oil with a gallon of maggots over the top. Did anybody else catch? No, not even a missed run. Did I catch? Yes, three carp and I lost one to a hook pull. Did Stuart catch? He took one tight from the reeds and lost another. Did we work at our fishing? You bet your life we did! Myself and Stu were constantly discussing the lake bed, the surrounding reeds, etc, the best presentations, etc, etc, in an attempt to fine tune our fishing. Everyone else on the lake? They dropped in the nearest swims, chucked their rods anywhere, got their house up and the kettle on and then socialised in each others swims. Stuart: What astounds us both as keen carp anglers is the time and effort people put into arranging a session just so they can sit there and moan about lack of activity. If we’re going to put the effort into substituting our nice warm comfy beds for a bedchair in a bivvy far removed from home comforts then why can’t we put in that little extra effort and walk that little more distance to a suitable swim which at the very least looks as if it might produce? When I got to the lake I spent and hour looking around, I concentrated on the obvious features when the investigation of open water seemed liked it might not produce. Yes I fished for three days, but in doing so I opted for a swim that to me and my sense of watercraft gave off the best signals for producing. The other anglers on the lake, as Rik stated, sat comfy in the car park swims then continued to moan about how the fishery was fishing shit and how they rated the water as a really hard venue. First time we fished it, we hit gold. Were we lucky? I don’t think so! The moral of the story is simple: add your own experiences to lady luck and increase your chances of catching. Spend that extra half hour or so selecting your swim, take into account all the elements and features around you in addition to any and all the watercraft you have managed to muster up in your fishing career and set your traps in the most likely of places. If you fail to do that then you need to ask yourself a question: Are you ‘Camping or Carping’? |
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