Still searching for that double

It was back to Robbie's pool at border fisheries this weekend as it has been fishing very well of late, In search of a double figure Carp.
And the morning started really well, with my first cast I had a great take which resulted a lovely almost golden Carp of around a couple of pounds.

I had started the day fishing with a cage feeder filled with a 50-50 mix of pellets and groundbait and corn on the hook. This method has produced some good fish from the middle of the pool, it seems however that Toby's method of float fishing corn over micro pellets tight to the margins produces the bigger fish.

The fish above was another good sized fish of 9lb that Toby has had from the same margin that was home to three 8lb-ers last week, and a cracking 18.8lb fish for our mate Liam on the Thursday. All of which fell to the same method. But I am a bit stubborn so stuck to fishing out in the middle with my swim-feeder on, occasionally changing hook bait from corn to worm then I'd have a go with meat. But the fish didn't want to feed on what I was offering. So in the mean time I changed over to the float rod and fished for some of the Rudd, which would strip me of my maggots on the drop. I was only fishing at about 8 inches deep but if I hadn't gotten a bite after a minute or so, my maggots would have gone and I just hadn't noticed. The surface of the water would virtually erupt as I flung out a few maggots its great fun, the silvers are nearly one a chuck and are great sport when the Carp don't cooperate. I was bagging up on the Rudd and some really tiny roach with my little puddle chucker float, when I caught a good sized fish for the stamp and was unsure what it was. At first I thought it was a really big roach but on closer inspection I could not figure out what it was.

I have since decided that it must be a short of hybrid but of what origin I'm not sure, I'll leave you to work it out and if anyone has ideas please let me know.
Toby was still fishing the margins with great success and pulled out some great fish again, even managing to catch one on his new idea for hook bait would you believe it a wine gum! Eventually I followed suit and tried fishing the margins for a while with the float rod. I was just moaning to Toby that it wasn't fair as my bits at the inside didn't seem to hold any fish, when my float buried and I missed it!   In went another hand full of micros and I flicked my float out, I saw a fish rooting around in the rushes at the side of me and could barely contain my excitement as I expected the float to disappear again, I sat at the edge of my seat for a few minute hoping the float would go at any time and just as I settled back down to wait patiently off went my float, and this time I connected expecting a beast. Was a bit of shame it was only a few lbs but at least I had managed to bag one from the margins and it was one that I would have liked to get a picture of, but my side kick was far too busy catching fish of his own.

Despite some good fish and even one from the margin for me, neither of us is yet to bag ourselves a double figure Carp. But it is still early in the season and yet again we had another excellent day on the bank, even if my friend is enjoying the better fishing at the moment. While I was catching the loins share of the pike over winter he did say his time would come in spring when we started after the Carp, and it sure looks like that for the time being.

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Starting to get the hang of this

Our buddy Liam joined us again this weekend, so it was back to our local club water for another crack at Robbie's pool on the Border fisheries complex. And what a session it turned out to be!
We started off early as usual arriving at the pool just after 6:30am. With mist still on the water it was a lovely looking morning and the fish seamed to be in a biting mood. Toby true to form landed the first Carp of the day with pretty much his first cast at about 7 o'clock, a lovely little common of around 2.5lb that fell to maggot feeder with meat on the hook.

I followed suit shortly after with a nice mirror which was a bit bigger, but fell to the same tactics of a small maggot feeder and piece of punched spam. The little carp from Robbie's don't half fight and I had a good old scrap on my really light quiver-tip rod and 4lb line, I was half way round the pool with this one giving it far more respect than it needed as I made sure not to lose it

I had a switch to lob worm on the hook for a while (that's what I the great one that got away on last week) and start to produce some real quality Roach up to about a lb


Our old friend Liam had to wait quite a while before he managed to bag himself a carp, but his patience was rewarded mid-morning with a nice little fellow of about 1.5lb that fell to a single grain of corn ledgered at a couple of rod lengths out.

 
What had started out a nice morning had become very changeable, one minute the sun would be shining the next it would be tipping it down we even had a good round of hail. As the morning wore on, when the sun shone we couldn't get a bite from the carp lines and with Rudd topping around us it was out with the waggler rods. Either set really shallow or with no weight on the line at all and maggot on the hook the Rudd near the surface were easy pickings and of a nice stamp too. A chap who was fishing across the way had hooked into a good fish on the pole and was having a hell of a time getting it up from the bottom. As we watched the action unfold Liam and I had a little competition to see who could catch 5 of the Rudd the fastest, it was great fun and I found myself getting wound up if I had to change bait. Our floats barely had time to settle before we would have another fish on, and after about 10 minutes I had won 5-3 much to Liam's disgust. It was time for round two and Toby had put the carp rod down and joined us Rudd bashing on the float. The gent over the way was still doing battle with the big carp that was stretching his elastic as round two got under way. The second little fun match was won quickly and easily by Liam 5-2-2 and after just over an hour we finally got to see what the fellow the other side of pool had hooked into when he landed a lovely 16lb common. The rain came down again so it was back out with the carp lines for us, with the hope that we could catch a cracker like that. This time I opted for a couple of bits sweetcorn on a quick-stopped hair rig and a cage feeder, which was full of a 50-50 mix of dark method mix and course pellets of a couple of different sizes. Making up my ground bait like that seems to not only do the trick with the Carp but it also makes pretty expensive groundbait go a lot further.

We started to put together a good run after lunch picking up Carp throughout the afternoon at regular intervals all falling to fairly natural baits like corn, worm, meat and maggot. Toby had five carp which seemed to get bigger every time up to just under 9lb , mostly coming in the margins over a bed of micros and with polarised glasses he could see them moving in and out of the swim. I was well chuffed to have banked my best tally of carp to date landing six over the course of the day. I had one on meat another on sweetcorn but the rest all fell to my favourite bait to use the trusty(and cheap) garden worm fished either over maggot feeder or cage feeder. Liam bagged 3 little carp and a hat full of Rudd and skimmers. All in all it was one of the best days fishing so far this year and as the weather warms up things, as they say can only get better
   

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First Carp of the season

Having still not managed to catch a Carp this season after several attempts, we fished on Robbie's pool at  Border fisheries with the hope of a change of luck. Our mate Liam joined us again this weekend too.

We all started of with a different approach this week, Toby started off on the pole, Liam the method feeder and I started on the the waggler. It didn't take long for Toby and I to get good swims going. Both of us fishing with maggot on the hook, over loose fed maggots every chuck. The stamp of Roach and Rudd is really good in Robbie's and it was great fun bagging up on silvers. Liam had started to get a few twitches on the rod as the Carp moved into his swim and found the free offerings from around his feeder. After about an hour Liam's perseverance paid off and this lovely coloured Carp was his reward                            

Not backwards in coming forwards I quickly changed over to the method feeder and stuck some corn on the hook. I'm not sure however that the fished had got the script as I started to catch some quite nice skimmers. Not the Carp I was after but my first fish using the method feeder, Its a technique that I really like using so I'm glad that its finally starting to put a few fish on the bank

Things started to slow down on the method feeder and after an hour or so without a bite, I made the change to maggot feeder with a lob worm on a quick-stopped hair. I'm really fond of this new invention and find it excellent for hair rigging worm, its also really good for punched bread.Worm started to do the business and I was soon catching some quality Roach and Skimmer Bream.
This was the pattern until my rod bent round and from the feisty fight could tell it was a Carp. Admittedly it was only marginally bigger than the skimmers I had been pulling out all day, but never the less it was a more than welcome addition to the days bag. I played it very carefully as I really didn't want to lose it and was well chuffed when my first Carp of the season was landed.
I spent a little while playing about with a pellet waggler, trying to get the hang of another new method. In the mean time Toby and Liam having both changed to a waggler were enjoying the good sport that the silvers in the pool have to offer, catching Roach and Rudd almost one a chuck.
Not having much success with the pellet waggler I changed back to the maggot feeder, to fish out the remainder of the day.
I had a cracking bite at around 5pm and my rod nearly came off the bank sticks, before I stuck into what can only be described as a "zoo creature". Which I had on the line for a good 5 minutes pulling me this way and that, I was doing quite well with the 4lb line I had on, and started thinking this could be a new personal best. It was about then that my hook link gave out and I was left gutted with nothing, other than another "one that got away" tale.
Still at least I finally managed to get my first carp of the season on the bank, and have had a taste of the big old Carp that live in that little pool.
I may be back this week to see if I can tempt that beast back onto my line........

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Bank Holiday Bagging

This weekend we were lucky enough to get on the bank twice, and having had a couple of tough session recently, our thinking was to up our chances a little and fish some slightly easier waters.

On the Saturday we fished  Dovehouse pool  in hough nr Crewe, a small farm pool just under a couple of acres, which is known to hold some good size Carp and Tench, plus plenty of slivers. I fished method feeder with a couple of 8mm spicy sausage pellets, for the Carp and Tench, and set up a small waggler with a couple of maggots on a size 18.
It didn't take long to build up a good swim on the waggler rod. I was soon catching small Gudgeon with every chuck, keeping a steady trickle of maggots going in, I was building up a nice tally.
My Carp rod however remained very quiet. Not knowing the pool very well I cast around a bit, to try and get a feel for any features that may lay beneath the water hoping to find a fish or two. Yet all morning, my yellow bobbin didn't move an inch, not so much as even a line bite. Toby was having much the same luck using a similar approach, float fishing and having great fun Gudgeon bashing, no joy on the carp line fishing up around the island, with a running lead and popped up boilie on a hinged stiff link.
On speaking to a couple of guys who arrived shortly after us, we found out that last week the Carp and the Tench had been taking a liking to small halibut pellets.
We changed our hook bait and hoped this new advice would pay dividends. We cast back out and got back on with the very serious business of catching Gudgeon, while waiting for a run on the bigger rods. I have not had such great gudgeon fishing since I was a lad on the Shropy Union canal in Nantwich, and in all honesty it was a delight. Having had a fish-less session last time out, it was good to back amongst the fishes. The end of the day was soon upon us and we must have had a good 150 fish, all gudgeon save for one solitary Rudd.

On the Bank Holiday Monday we spent the afternoon down at Border Fishery on Three island pool. We fished on pegs   12 and 13, which turned out not to be so unlucky. Toby's rod tip was bent round with a cracking take, only minutes after his first cast. Pulling him hard into the first of this years lilies, he had a good fight on his hands on relativity light tackle. I stood on wait with the net thinking the battle was almost won, the 4-5lb mirror made a dash for under the staging that Toby was standing on, never to be seen again. After unhooking the method feeder rig from the staging under his feet, Toby cast out again back to the edge of the lilies. Using my little rod with a maggot feeder and a couple of the grubs on the hook, my quiver- tip was just light enough to show a tentative bite from small Rudd I had attracted to the swim. After putting three or four on the bank with the feeder, I started to miss bites. The fish in my swim had started to gain confidence and were trying to take the bait on the drop. With that I changed to the waggler and fished a bit shallower, this seamed to produce more bites and a better stamp of fish.

This skimmer was one of about 4 or 5 of a similar size, that I managed to bank over the course of the afternoon. Toby had hooked up and lost another carp in the lilies, so decided to join me fishing on the float. This move soon saw Toby catching a few silvers, the best of which another skimmer Bream. Yet again Toby managed to hook up another sizeable fish, only to lose it again. This time the size 16 hook wasn't up to the job and left Toby more than a little frustrated. The Carp may still be very illusive but in the end we another great afternoon silver bashing at Border.

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New PB Perch

This weekends plan of action was to finally get up to Lymm Dam to fish for Pike, last time we tried to fish Lymm it had a lid on it. 
A much milder week hear in the North West meant that everywhere was now fish-able again and there was a match on The Bay Cliff side of the Dam, so Toby and I fished the church side. The Bream in Lymm Dam are said to run to double figures so with that in mind we had a rod each set up for bin lids and another with float ledgered dead baits.
Using a large maggot feeder I tried to build up a nice carpet of the grubs for the bream to come and munch on, while working round with the float rig for the pike trying to find some features to fish to.

 Then the heavens opened and we were battered by torrential rain for what seamed like forever. I had to fight with my brolly continually, as it turned inside out with every gust of wind, when I did manage to keep it upright the rain still soaked the left hand side of my so called waterproofs!
In the mean time Toby who was much drier in his bivvy was becoming increasing agitated by the lack of any form of bite or indication on either rod, I too had not had so much as a knock. But that was really the last of my worries I was soaked and pretty fed up.
I made a quick phone call to our friend Liam who was fishing with his son at Border to find out how the weather was closer to home, the weather was ok and so was the fishing, he was bagging up on Roach and Rudd and Michael had lost a good Carp.
Without further ado we packed up and headed to join the fun on Robbie's pool, I had my first Roach in just under an hour after packing up at Lymm.

Single Maggot under a waggle was doing the damage and we  had a merry hour or so finally catching fish again after such slack couple of weeks.
We had the Canal style water behind us, and a move again would mean we could spend the last hour with the wind off our backs comfortably under our umbrellas and have an impromptu little match.
All armed with a waggler and maggots we more or less took it in turns catching nice little silvers with Toby gaining the edge with his swim hold the slightly bigger fish, as Toby and Liam continued to chalk up fish after fish, I couldn't get a bite again.

Liam had decided to call it a day and was walking past me as my float suddenly disappeared again, asking was it a good fish? I replied I thinks its a bit bigger than my 2lb nylon hook-link. From the dogged fight I wondered weather it was maybe a Barbel or Chub as it tried to get into the inside margin, but once it got near to the surface, I could see those red stripes that are unmistakable.
Once landed and quickly weighed I could sit back well and truly chuffed with a new personal best Perch of 2.6lb

For more information on rigs, set ups, bait and tackle please have a look at our brother blog

On The Bank Technical specs