Goodbye 2013 Hello Good Times!!

For me 2013 has been a year of frustration and discovery. Frustrating because of my lack of discipline and it wasn't until late, very late in the season that I got my head straight and found a quiet little lake to get back to my roots and start racking up a good catch rate.

Early on in the year we were focusing on Q lake for Ks looming UKCC qualifier. The first session proved quite successful with a nice mid-double common falling for a small white hook bait cast to the bottom of a bar in early February. It was bloody freezing but I thought I was in for a good season.

Early Start To The Year

For 2013 I thought I would open my bait options a bit and decided to go for a split between DNA Baits S7 and Nash Baits Monster Squid Purple, and to be fair neither bait really produced for me during the year as I wasn't focused. I did manage another fish from Q lake over a bed of Purple MS and it was the most stunning fish for me this year. A big plated mirror. 

Very Happy With This Fish

Aside from the few fish from Q Lake I really struggled. For some reason I would always be late getting to lakes and being day ticket venues (Three Lakes being one of them) the better swims would be taken and I would have to try and make the right choice from the pegs that were free. And if I did drop in to the pegs I favoured I seemed to over complicate things and would run out of time before I could rectify my mistakes. But that's learning and towards the back end of the season I realised that I was over complicating, using rigs that were just not needed and it was then I went back to my PVA bag approach and started to catch again. A method I will never underestimate or ignore again!! I came back around after a good chat with Julian C after a depressing 48hr I spent on Three Lakes with fish in the swim and me being unable to capitalize, so thank you Jules. Helped me get my head out of my ass! And a big thank you to Mark Watson for reminding me a rig doesn't need to be complicated to catch fish and long live the Twisted Blowback! 

So late on in the season I was reminded of a small local lake with a great stock of carp were I could relearn the basics and get back in tune with my fishing. Strawfields lake as it came to be known. I never had anything big from the place but I never blanked, and always came away with multiple runs and sometimes two in the net. Simple solid bags or multi-rig pop ups cast to the edge of weed beds, reeds and over hanging trees never seemed to fail. As the water was a boilie free one I decided pellet, hemp and corn would be the way to progress and after putting out a few handfuls in any spot it would soon be fizzing with fish feeding and dropping a bag in usually resulted in a quick bite. 

Not Massive Fish But With A Bit Of Bait They Could Be! 

I've lost count of the amount of times I have seen lads turn up with a battery of rods and pods, chucking in handful after handful of boilie (which is only allowed as hookbaits or crumb) but then going home with a dry net because they had no intention on working for a bite. It really gave me a huge boost going back to basics and re-learning how to angle. 

With the weather dropping cold and the days shorter meant my fishing taking a back seat to work. I've had to grab as much overtime as I could to pay for my syndicate ticket next year aswell as saving for a house deposit but what fishing I have done has been at another of my favourite small waters, a little lake called Stillingfleet. There are two lovely big 20plus commons in the lake I would love cradle but until I get them I will make do with some of the most stunning fish I have had the pleasure to angle for. 

Lovely Commons In This Lake

So that's basically were I am now. I have my ticket for a very special lake next year again thanks to Jules for asking me to be a part of the lake he affectionately calls Jurassic Park. I will be spending 90% of all my fishing time on the lake with the odd afternoon or morning session on Stillingfleet. 

I have also decided to remain on just the one bait for next year but am really struggling on which to choose. I love the DNA S7 range but also the NuttaS range. Its going to be a tough call, a few have said just split it and use both but I am not sure if that will weaken my odds, for now thou I think using both baits separately between three rods will hopefully give me an early indication on which bait the Jurassic fish will prefer. Then I can switch all the rods to that bait and get a few on the bank.

Now all I need is the weeks to settle down and once normal service resumes I will be back on the bank in 2014 full of gusto and beans! And I have a new hat! 

Tight lines folks or keep em slack for those that do. 

Matt.