Donno 2017

To a day ticket for a change and a local one at donno. I meet up with Colin and a couple of his work mates who want some help sorting there rigs and bits and bobs. We only fished the afternoon on a Friday so if you know the place you will know it gets hammered so there was a few on when we turned up. Colin was already down there when I got there so I just jumped in the swim next to him Colin was not fishing just helping the lads out. I had a chuck to the far margin which is lined with reeds and good spot to start, I wanted a couple of rigs really tight to these reeds so I clipped up and used the distance sticks to be as accurate as possible. I then put out about a kilo and half of boilies along the reeds which took a while with a throwing stick and one boilie at a time, I wanted to make sure they all went where I wanted them well some did end up in the reeds lol. After a couple of hours there had been a few fish showing short of my margin spot by about three rod lengths. I did move both rods and put them around the area the fish started showing but after a good hour nothing happened. Time for a change with the fish still showing on the same area and no take, I shouted over to Colin to tie me a five foot zig up with a little pop-up. He had all the zig kit with him so he soon had the perfect zig ready to go. I only changed one rod over to a zig and put this in the area they were showing. After ten minutes the zig was off with a lovely little common. I soon had another zig tied up and both rods out there in the area. But the weather changed with a few minutes of good rain which stopped them topping, a while after the rain the fish started showing again but this time proper crashing tight against the reeds on my bait so one rod was changed back to a bottom rig and put on the spot tight to the reeds and again a few minutes after the rod was off and this time it was a better fish. After a good battle in open water the fish was soon getting close to the bank and huge reeds on my bank lucky for me Colin was on the scene ready to land the fish.

As usual Colin ended up with wet foot as he stepped out to far to get the fish in the net lol good old Colin. This was a better fish and a good looking one shy of the twenty mark but still a good capturer. Nothing else happened in the next hour so I decided to call it a day and get off, I asked the other lads fishing if they had owt and only one lad had a run but lost it so not a bad days fishing then bonus.  

The Railway pit for the last time.

My last visit to the railway pit before my ticket runs out. There is only one reason why am not getting this again is the bailiff, to be honest hes a real pain. I hope in the future I can return here with my lad and enjoy this place like my Grandad, Uncles and mum that have fished this very lake in the past. Well on to the session I turned up late one evening to find the lake empty which was a bonus as I want to get a bed of bait down on a spot ready for a first light session. I was still in the time limit for the lake as this is a day only water. Arriving at a old spot I fished regular in the past I could tell it had not been fished for a while or someone is covering there tracks well. Its a great spot to fish from you can almost see the whole lake from here. I returned the next morning just before first light with a empty car park bonus for the weekend. The lake was deadly quiet apart from the waking birds not a fish in sight but confidence was high for a bite so I got the gear set up and two rods on the spot. I sat back and watched the sun rise at the far side of the lake, its nice to sit and take these moments in and people wonder why I get up at silly times to go catch a fish well thats just part of the bigger picture. I sat for while watching the water and then the right rod ripped off and I was in to a angry fish, after a healthy battle and one last lunge for the snag on my left I slipped the around my prize.

Buzzing away I lifted the net to have a little look and was surprised the fish was not a lot bigger after that scrap still pleased with my self I left the fish to rest before taking a mug shot. After slipping the fish back I repositioned to the rod on the spot and sat back for a little while hoping to get a quick bite but it didnt happen so I was pleased to leave the lake with my last capture. As I loaded the kit in the car the bailiff turned up at the gate and again asked me for my ticket its not like he didnt know who I was as he said my name when I asked, well I showed him my ticket and left without kicking off lol.

The Railway pit 11-12-2016

One last session before the year is up, this year I haven't been on the bank very much so a bit of baiting the night the before was in order. I baited a old spot of mine with a couple of kilo of boilies to get them on the spot for first light as this is a day only water I planned to get there for first light. On arriving at the lake just before first light I was not surprised to see the lake empty. I got myself round to my spot and got the gear set up, with both rods on the spot and ready to do the business I sat back with a smoke and cup of coffee. I thought a bite would come quite quickly as these fish love there bait but it took two hours to get the bite I was waiting for. The fight started off slow until I had the fish 10 yards off the bank then it woke up and gave me the run around under the rod tip trying to dive for the sanctuary of a near by tree. After a hair raising battle under the tip near the snag it finally went in the net.

The fish was just under the 20lb mark and I was pleased with that so pictures done fish sent back on its way I packed up and headed home with a smile on my face. I have not caught many fish this year so I was pleased with myself for this capture.

Show time

Its that time of the year again show time first up is the Carp Society Show at Sandown. This will be the fourth time i have attended this show and its one of my favourites. I was on the Castaway Pva stand again this year with a new stand which looks the nuts, all the products have new packaging which really pops out at you with a black background and bright green lettering. Once again it was a great show for the brand with the regulars coming for there yearly top up and new customers trying us for the first time. Its always great to meet up with old friends and make new ones at the show.

The next show was the Brentwood Show another great show but this it was a little slower then previous years but still plenty of laughs where had and good to talk to old friends again.

The best show of them all was next the Zwolle Show in the Netherlands, its a long old day with a seven hour ferry crossing and a few hours driving which is not to bad as me and Dave share that part. Arriving on the Wednesday evening we checked in to our home for the week which i can only describe as like a Center parks, we had a six person house which was really nice. We had Yvo our Dutch consultant and Mark our German consultant staying with me Colin and Dave. There was two other german team members with us but they were staying with Pete owner of Deception Angling. Its a huge show much much bigger then any of the uk shows. With five halls of stands there is loads to look at but there is so many bait companies there knocking out cheap bait people love it. You see them with a wheel barrier full of packs of boilies but i have looked at some of them and i would not use them on my waters thats for sure. There is a big pool in the last hall for the bait boats which are something else some of them fly round its mental. The show went very well much better then last year, its was real hard work last year with the language barrier with none of us speaking anything but English but this year with three Dutch and three German guys on the stand it was a breeze for the boys. To be honest me and Colin felt like a spare part on the stand so we had plenty of time to walk round and check out all the gear. Plus a nice walk around the local town a few times a day lol. On the last night we all went in to Amsterdam for the night which was such a laugh with Colin and Dave never been before a walk round the famous Red Light District and a couple of bars and cafes on the way had to be done.

Northan Social time

Its social time five of us had arranged to meet up and hit a water together for two nights. The venue was up North from me so me Colin, Chatt and Shaun loaded two cars with gear and headed up North to meet up with Major Melt himself Dave.  The water is Daves local which he has done very well on after pre baiting with Duster Baits Nutrix. He had been putting bait in knowing we were coming up for a session so we were all hoping to get in on the action. The bait was the key or so i thought but we seemed to get our wires crossed with Dave, Dave had been pre baiting the spots with just boilies which was fine but for some reason we all thought he had been putting seeds in from Duster Baits but he had not. When we tried to order some Nutrix Particle mix we could not get it in time for the session so Dave arranged to pick a nut mix up from another company which i wont name in this blog. The mix is from a very popular company i have heard a lot of good things about but and this is a big but the mix was terrible all the ingredients had been cooked separately and then added to each other in the bag so we had ground nut just chucked in the bag on top of the rest of the seeds. When we spodded out the mix some of it floated which i was not impressed with. Me and Colin have made some great seed mixes over the years and we could tell this was just done by bulk for the market and was not the best it could it be. I only put two spods out of the mix before i decided to just put boilies over the spot.

We had a right laugh as we were all close together for a social we spent most of the first night in Shauns Rod Hutchinson 2 man bivvy well i say 2 man its huge you can get three bed chairs in it so it was comfortable for five of us to sit in.  We had seen plenty of fish topping over the lake and a few over mine and Shauns spots, we were next to each other and both buzzing waiting for a rod to go off but nothing happened i had a re chuck to make sure everything was sound but still nothing happened until darkness fell.

At around seven o'clock my right rod ripped off we all flew out of the bivvy and i was soon in contact with a fish. Colin and Shaun got in the water while i was playing this one ready to net it, everyone was waiting to see what i had on but it was hard to see anything with a thick fog over the lake which we had not really noticed how thick it had got sat in the bivvy. Finally the fish topped out in front of us and i guided a Common over the cord. Everyone let out a cheer we had one and this gave everyone a confidence boost. Me Chatt and Dave got the cradle and cameras sorted while Colin and Shaun unhooked the fish in the net and let it rest in the margin. On the scales the needle just tipped the 20lb mark which we was quite surprising as it looked a few pounds heavier in the cradle.

Pictures where taken and i was a happy man to get a bite as soon as she was back in the lake i wrapped up to the spot (#16wraps) and got the rod back out certain of some more action. Back in the bivvy the mood was even better then before with everyone confident another rod was going to go off soon but the hours ticked by with nothing more happening that night. We all woke in the morning a bit disappointed nothing had happened but with another night to go everyone had plenty of time to get a bite. Not many fish topped that day which was different to the day before and didnt do much for our confidence but we plugged on and had another good laugh the next night. Just as we got tucked up in the bag for our last night Daves rod ripped off and he was into a fish, it had started raining now so i lifted my door to see how dave was getting on but as i did he lost the fish while trying to put his waders on. That was a bit of bad luck but it was a good sign of some fish in the area so may be another fish is on the cards. Nope we woke in the morning with no further action so we had some breakfast and got the gear packed away leaving the rods till last. Well we had all enjoyed the session but it was time to head home i was glad i managed to winkle one out, was that down to the seed mix everyone had put because Dave baited another spot with just boilies to get that bite so it could of been.......... #16wraps.

The Mighty Trent 2016

The Mighty Trent is where i planned to do most of my fishing this season but the best made plans dont always work out. I have only done a handful of sessions due to other commitments so its been a disappointing year. the start of the season was in flood not the way i like the rivers, i know a lot of river anglers love it when its up and coloured but i have found these conditions hard to find the carp and to be honest i have never done very well in these conditions. Am not fussed about catching Barbel the main species am after is the Carp, i know there is some big old Barbel in the Trent and i would never turn my nose up to a good double as they do give a good account for themselves. I find the carp do fight a lot harder and longer then the Barbel pound for pound.
Me and good friend Colin plugged away at it and have both been rewarded for our efforts, we fish the same swim on one of the stretches which is a big peg with plenty of room allowing us to both get in on the action. The man in the up stream swim is the bait man he will put all the bait in his swim and up stream, the man in the down stream spot only baits the margin this allows both anglers to get some action. Usually the man down stream will end up having the hot swim but with only the man up stream baiting up this will allow the fish to pass by the man down stream to the baited area the man down stream is just trying to get a bite from fish passing through to the bait, we found this is the best way to fish when doubled up in a swim.

Colin was the first to get a bite and what a first bite to get, his first river Carp a lovely mid double Common. It was a real special moment and one i am proud to of been apart of. I did manage to get the camera rolling and record most of the battle and it really was a good battle as you can imagine, Colin was proper buzzing with his first river Carp capture. It was a couple more sessions before i got in on the action and slipped the net around a lovely little fully scaled Trent Carp, i also had a double figure Barbel shortly after.

I have to say that session was all down to Colin as he stayed up most of the night regularly baiting the swim up while i got my head down lol. Both takes came in the small hours and we thought there would be more to come but that was it for that session. Colin also had a lovely double figure Barbel on another session, we also had a few bream between us but surprisingly no Chub. I hope to get out more on the Trent in 2017 but i see most of my time being taken up by a new ticket i have which is mainly still waters.

The big pit July 2016

A recent trip to my local gravel pit was a success with this minter of mirror. The lads Colin and Shaun had already done a night and invited me down to do the next one with them, it was a good spot for a bit of a social with three swims close together but still have plenty of water to go at. I found my self a couple of nice spots to fish on, one down the margin and the other two in open water. The margin spot was baited with a kilo of Duster Baits Matrix,

 I put three big handfuls around the spot I was fishing and then used the throwing stick to bait the margin past my spot.  The idea being there will be a long line of bait for around 60 yards to draw the fish to the spot. The spot in open water was also baited with a wide spread of Dusters Matrix fishing two rods with a 25mm Pva stick on each of crumbed Boilie. The evening past and everything was quite so we all got our heads down. My margin rod let out a bleep waking me up around two in the morning, seconds later the rod bent round and I was on it in a flash. After a epic battle trying to keep the fish away from the over hanging tree I finally slipped the angry mirror in to the net. I decided to sack this one till first light not something I do often but done right I don’t see a problem.

 I was well pleased to see this minter in the morning light and very pleased with the pictures.  That was the only action we had but what a fish. The method which slipped this one up was a chod down the margin using Pva foam to make sure everything lands perfect. Well pleased with that result.