Practice What Is Preached

In my last blog I covered what I would be doing for the most part this winter, and a few weeks ago I put those tactics into action and had a cracking session on a little lake near Selby called Birches. Here's how I got on.

The clocks have changed and with that came brighter mornings, however I was still up at dark and out the door just as the sky was beginning to lighten with a golden autumnal sunrise. The lake I was heading for, Birches, was only half an hour away so before long I was at the gates waiting for the bailiff to open up. Being first at the gate gives you a good chance of getting the swim you desire and I got the one I wanted. A swim called Lonely Point. It's predominantly a double peg but at this time of year the lake doesn't see too many anglers and those it does see, tend to be match/course anglers who prefer the wood bank and it's close pegs so they can chat while bagging some of the crack roach the venue offers.

I decided to set up on the right of the point and target the plateau shelf as I thought this would hold a few of the lakes residents. However, after a few hours nothing had materialised in the deeper water and I had seen a few fish crashing out in the far bay. The only peg that can fish this water is the left hand side of the point, handy for me. I decided not to put leads on there heads straight away but instead trickled a little bait in. Ten S7 boilies every 15 minutes or so and after an hour it was plain the fish were intent on staying in the area, continuity crashing out regularly.

The nature of the peg, there is a great big tree on the point end, meant that to reach the fish I had to put a lead around 80 yards away while skimming tree branches to my right and avoiding overhead phone lines half way to the bay, I had to punch the leads so they travelled fast and low, thank heavens for bringing my beefy rods!

I Hope That One Day I Will See It Again, But Bigger!

I moved all my gear to the left of the peg and then punched out my rods. On my right hand one I decided on a hinged stiff rig with a pink peril fluro popup. On the left a critically balanced bait, an S7 wafter tipped with a piece of white corn.

It didn't take long for the first fish after moving the rods and it came in the shape of a stunningly small but fully scaled mirror, this came to the wafter rod and left me with my confidence sky high! I soon got the rod back out and topped up the swim with another 15 baits.

I sat back and relaxed for a while but the clock was ticking and I was hoping to bag another fish before I had to go. Even though I got to the lake early I also had to be off before I would have liked. Anyway, with coffee in hand I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with the rig, was it tangled? Had I caught a leaf as it skimmed the tree? I stood up and was about to bring in the right hand rod when it tore off! Now the fish in this lake are possessed and go mental when they hooked and this little guy gave me a right old run about! 

I was blown away when it went in the net though. Without a doubt one of the most stunning fish I've caught, and I doubt it was even over eight pounds! 

What A Fish! I Was Blown Away. 

After slipping this one back I really was thrilled. The rest of the lake seemed to have quietened off but fish where still showing in the back bay I was targeting so I kept the bait going in. After a while I felt something was off and brought in my right hand rod. It was a good job as I must have caught a branch and the hook point was masked! So I redid the rod with a yellow PB pop up tipped with white corn and added a few foam nuggets to the rig before I recast it, but as I was just about too my lefty rattled off and then stopped. I had my hands full but dropped everything and hit in to nothing when I lifted the rod. Gutted, but I fired out the right hander and redid the left.

After I sat down and sulked a little from losing a fish I made a brew and stared out over the bay, another two fish showed over the area and then my left hand rod pulled up tight and battle was commenced. The fish kitted right and tried to get behind the point and snag me up but keeping steady pressure on it brought it around the point and it fought well in the margins. I saw it was a better fish as it was twisting and turning. I was hoping it was a twenty pound fish and when it went in the net and I got a good look at it, I was convinced it would hit twenty. And it did. At 20lb 4oz it was a very welcome fish for late October.

Lovely 20lb Common To Finish The Day Off.

It marked the end of the day but I really had a great time and on a day when I may have struggled elsewhere I feel I picked the right venue for the day and what I wanted to achieve, a few fish on the bank.

I also brought my cameras along and managed to catch some of it on film, I hope you enjoy it guys.

Thanks for reading.

Donk.

www.hobocarper.blogspot.co.uk

Winter Is Coming

With the challenges of short, wet and cold days and generally awful fishing conditions, how do we make the most of the time we have to bank a few winter fish? Well this is what I will be doing this year, the same as I have for the past few winters. Commercials.

By a commercial water I mean is the more well stocked course angling lakes designed for match as well as pleasure anglers. Lakes like Horseshoe at Pool Bridge Farm in York, Acorn at Raker Lakes and Barlow Common in Selby. These lakes see anglers pretty much all year around and anglers, mean bait! The fish in these lakes seem, to me anyway, a lot more active in the colder weather and I believe it is the steady stream of bait from the match and course boys that does it.

Last year I spent most of the winter on Acorn at Rakers. It's not a demanding water but the elements can be against you with very little in the way of bank-side vegetation to keep the cold winds and harsh rains off of you. However all the swims are pretty solid and bivvy pegs go in great, so a sturdy brolly or day shelter will help your time on the bank be as comfortable as possible.

Brolly Drying In The Sun After A Winter Downpour.

I love being out in the bitter cold. The banks are quiet, the fishing is obviously harder than at other times of the year but winter has a magical feel where I don't mind if I blank or not. Aside from a shelter I still tend to travel as light as I can. Sometimes, even on small ponds like Raker, it can be a good thing to move if things don't quite feel right. While you could probably cast to every inch from any peg, these lakes tend to be on a complex of several lakes and you may find the bailiff tells you that one of the other lakes is fishing its nuts off and a move will be in order. 

I suppose everyone is different and they want different things from their fishing. For me winter fishing is all about being out and making the most of the time I have at hand and getting a bend in the rod. If that means I need to head to waters that have a higher stock level but a low weight stamp then that's perfectly fine with me. 

Cold Wet December Day Last Year, Worth It.

There will be tons and tons of winter articles gracing the magazine shelves in the next few months packed with winter tactics, I won't claim to know the best tactics that's for sure, but I think most of them will be the same, single, bright, high-viz pop-ups with maybe a pva stick of attraction. Or those wriggly little blighter's, Maggots. Something I think that will come up a lot this year will be the use of zig rigs. A tactic I will definitely be working on one rod for sure. But something that works for me is a very short high-viz pop-up, so that will be what graces my other rod.

Single Bright Hookbait Cast To Showing Fish, Result. 

I did try spombing out a bed of bait on one of the winter waters last year but it didn't seem to work for me, I don't know if it was the lake or me but the fish certainly didn't respond to a bed of bait in the depths of winter. Maybe it was the conditions, maybe it was the bait itself, maybe this year will be different, who knows. 

This festive season I plan on targeting the same waters, most probably with the same techniques, and I'll probably catch the same few fish but in all fairness, I will probably catch more than the people who think fishing commercials is beneath them. That it is not proper carp fishing. Well, while those people are sat at home wishing they were fishing, I will be out there doing it. 

No matter the size I love catching them all. Roll on the winter and fingers crossed for a few more overlooked stunners. 

Tight lines.

Three Lakes

In the historical market town of Selby, in the heart of Yorkshire, lies a truly stunning complex of lakes, Selby Three Lakes. Dug over 80 years ago, the Lakes have seen some magical fish on the banks. From it's beginnings as three separate lakes to then forming one large lake and then back to two lakes the fish have certainly seen their fair share of disturbance and turmoil, however that has not stopped the lake coming on leaps and bounds and the fishing following suit.

Recently I have ventured out in to the world of film-making, only small scale ideas and I thought back to my biggest project of late, which was my Julian Cundiff 'Live and Uncensored.' In that video Jules mentioned about building a portfolio up, a profile on which others could base your work on. So I approached Roger Hind, aka Bullet, the head man at Three Lakes and asked if I could do a video for his lake as I have spent a fair amount of time there and he said yes, crack on. So I did.

A Stunning View From Every Peg

I decided to capture my footage over several trips to the lake, not all of them fishing. In fact I did a quick over-nighter, a few hours walking around after work and then a longer weekend session to get images and recordings from separate areas of the lake with hopes of landing a fish or two.

Even though Selby Three Lakes is sandwiched in-between a 'rock and a hard place', the rock being an industrial estate and the hard place a retail park, you could just as well think you were in the middle of an Oxfordshire estate. It is just magical to behold. 

Anyway, on my first session I didn't manage to bank anything other than footage from a lovely swim called the Old Gate. I've fished this peg a number of times over the years and know that the pads on the far bank are a must for presenting a bait too. But this peg also holds a number of other features often forgotten. A large tree to the right of the swim, just visible in the picture above, can really hold the fish as a lot of natural food will fall from this tree and the carp just hoover it all up. To the left of the swim is the end of a large bar that is a patrol route. I slipped two rods on the pads and one of the bar but also scattered a little bait under the tree to see if anything should show up. The morning arrived with a stunning sun rise but nothing else and I packed away to head to work only to be returning in a few more weeks. 

Hidden Corners And Gems Of Green

The hight of summer was upon us as I made my way back to Three Lakes. The flora and fauna were at its peak, the lilly pads large and buoyant and butterflies danced with each other getting ready to bring new life in to the world. It is a majestic time of year.

I was meant to be joined by a good mate of mine on the session but unfortunately work interjected and it meant I had to go it alone, not a bad thing as I like my solitude on the bank, but sometimes it's nice to have a social. And someone to stand in front of the camera! I am not the most camera friendly person. Oh well, I move on. 

I was booked in to the House Bay swim for my return session to grab some more footage and do some final scouting around the lake. I arrived at the lake around lunch time on the Friday and had a quick walk around to see how much pressure was on the fish. Most of the main pegs were taken and plenty of lines were in the water, hopefully this pressure would push the fish around the lake. I made my way back to my swim with half a game plan in my mind. I knew the peg a little bit from a previous trip but thought I would just have a quick lead about before I set my stall up. I found the main bar that runs from the spit to the house bank and clipped up with all intentions on fishing the backside of the bar over a spread of DNA S7 boilies and particle. I decided that two rods would be on the bar and I would put my third rod on the far bank near the moored boat with a sprinkling of chopped boilies around it. Rig wise I opted for semi-stiff hinged rigs on my bar rods, one with a PB fluro pop-up and the other with a bright red one, and a simple blow-back solid bag rig on the other rod with a Korda Fake Food pink dumbbell.

The Boat In House Bay

Once all the rods were out I set up home and put the kettle on before doing a little filming. As I was putting the camera away I spotted a fish head and shoulder under an overhanging willow tree on the far bank. After seeing nothing else I decided that it would be silly not to drop a rig on that spot. I wound in my left hand rod and flicked it out toward the trees, after a few recasts adding extra yards on the clip each time, the rod was soon clipping the branches as my rig landed on the spot with a good clear, hard thud. The foam popped up to the surface and I knew my PB pop up was 'On the money!' so I fired out 20 or so boilies around it. And sure enough not an hour later the rod rattled off as I was on the phone to mate Mark, unfortunately on my behalf the clutch was a little on the loose side and I didn't manage to set the hook fully, resulting in the fish dropping off as I changed the angle of my rod to prevent it reaching the snags.

I was pretty gutted to say the least but checked the rig and found the hook still sticky sharp so I re-clipped, re-cast and re-baited in no time at all. If the fish was still in the area I wanted to get a rig on it first time and to try and make it slip up again. After 7 bream takes on my middle rod in the space of a few hours I decided that no matter what I put on that bar the bream would take! Double pop ups, double 18mm bottom baits, they would have them all! As I was playing in the 7th bream I looked over and saw another fish show on the far bank near where I had rebaited. Once the bream was unhooked in the water I decided to place my middle rod on the far bank as well and leave the bar alone. I switched the hook-bait back to a single bright pink pop up and fished it to the edge of the lilly pads near the over hanging tree.

By the time the rod was in place the day was cracking on and I got myself some tea before turning in for the night. It had been a long day, my sleeping bag engulfed me and I was soon away with the fairies. The night passed uneventfully but just at first light my middle rod signalled a take with the bobbin smashing in to the rod blank and the fish kitting left on a tight line, the fight was nice and straight forward until it got in to the deep margins at my feet where it keep diving and lunging trying to get in the lilly pads to my left. It was a great feeling when I finally slipped the net under a rather tired leather carp of around 17lb. I transferred her to my retaining sling and let her rest while the sun came up and I had enough light to get some self-takes done.

A Stunning Old Warrior.

With the photos done and a little filming for the video, I slipped the fish back and settled back to watch the water for any other signs of fish. The following day was super frustrating on the fishing front, the wind had turned and was now blowing up the other end of the lake and fish where crashing out in water in front of occupied swims so all I could do was to keep trickling bait in, hoping the sound and smells would draw the fish back into my baited area. Sadly nothing else materialised for this session other than getting some more great shots for the video and I packed away on the Sunday morning happy that I had accomplished several things from this session.

The first and foremost was catching one. I have spent a long time fishing this lake and while I have had success in the past, the last few sessions I had done were disastrous. So to get a stunning upper double, topped with getting some camera footage as well, really made the session for me. Obviously the other reason I was smiling as I pulled out of the carp park was because it was mission accomplished. I had gathered enough footage to make a promotional video for the lakes which Bullet can now use for his own doings.

Next came the really fun part in editing and splicing it all together to make a three minute long video. It is something I really enjoy doing as I can sit and piece together all the parts, grab some music I feel will suit the video, not just some generic stuff that every man and dog seems to use.

So that's it for me guys, hope you enjoyed the blog and the video below. Thanks for reading.



Matt.

A Majestic Time

A few months ago while browsing Facebook, I noticed a post pop up from Mark Pitchers detailing a group tuition he was planning on holding a few months later on Majestics Pool. With out hesitation I messaged him for more details. To fish with one of the countries top carp anglers on a lake I've been wanting to fish for a while was a no-brainer for me. I sent him my deposit the same day and secured my place on what I hoped would be an awesome experience.

The Man Himself

It was a good few months away and with each passing day I got more and more excited. Not knowing exactly what to expect I wanted to go in to the experience with open eyes. I use a few of the Fox products, my mainline and terminal tackle storage, but not much else and as Mark had mentioned we would be given a small selection of end tackle then I was game to give it a try. He also said bait would be provided, but this left me in a bit of a quandary as I am a DNA Baits team member and Mark uses Mainline Baits, but I needn't have worried as boilie and pop ups were not needed on this trip.

The afternoon before the session I loaded the car, checked that I had everything I needed and then popped to the cinema with the wife to watch Guardians Of The Galaxy. It set me in a great mood and when I got home drifted off in to a fitful sleep. I woke feeling refreshed and ready to take in everything Mark had to offer. The drive to Beverly was uneventful and I was soon heading down the winding back roads that led to Majestics, thinking I had got lost at several points! The lake was stunning and as I unloaded the car in the car park Mark turned up in his van and walked over to say hello. As we stood chatting, the rest of the tutorial guys turned up and Mark decided that we would draw our swims as this was the fairest way. Two guys picked their swims then it was my turn, I drew peg 6, which turned out to be a peg called Willows.

Willows Commanded The Small Island 

In front of me was a small island which was an obvious fish holding area and it was the first spot that came to mind for dropping a rig on. I got my house set up, rods on the rest and then put the kettle on before I went to meet Mark back in his HQ. He was going to run through what he would do to target the fish on this particular water. He ran through a selection of rigs including zigs, which is something I was wanting to cover with him, so I listened intently to Mark's stories on using zigs. He highlighted the importance of being super accurate when it comes to setting the depth of your zigs. He also showed us his blow-back rig and a semi-stiff hinged rig, more on these later.

In The Car Park Peg, HQ!

Next we covered what bait he thought would suit the session on this lake and pulled out several bags of sweetcorn from the bucket at his side. Yeap, sweetcorn and nothing else. This would be interesting. I have never fished straight corn before, it has always been mixed with either pellet, or boilie crumb etc but Mark went on to explain the benefits of using the universal carp catching bait. We all know there is not a carp swimming that won't tails up over a bit of yellow and if there is nothing else in the swim then the carp will go nuts on the golden kernels.

The rig he showed us to fish over the top consisted of two grains of a Evolution Baits corn stack fished on a blowback rig which was constructed slightly different than I normally would do. For starters the hook size blew me away, a size 4 SSBP Fox Armapoint! It just didn't seem right having this piece of ironmongery hanging under two pieces of fake corn but I put my faith in the man and soon he was sending us to our swims to construct rigs and get fishing!

Once I got back to my peg I got chatting to the lad who had fished the night before in the next peg up and was just leaving. He told me that fish had been crashing out just off the snags on the island in front of my swim during the night and he thought they would still be in the area. With this in mind I decided to tie on just a lead to my marker rod and flicked it out the 30 or so yards towards the snags. The lead landed bang on first cast and as I felt it down I got a good solid 'donk', I clipped the rod and then cast it to the right of the island, it was the same distance and the lead hit the deck with pretty much the same reaction. Now if it was me fishing normally I would have flicked out two solid bags on those spots and scattered a good amount of boilie around them, Mark however asked us to put our trust in him and fish with corn so I removed the lead and tied a Spomb on to my marker rod. The idea was to fish our rigs on top of a few handfuls of the golden kernels so I filled the midi-spomb and cast about 4 loads on to each of the spots that I had found, ready for the rigs.

The Corn Rig, A Slightly Different Hook-bait Arrangement But The Idea. 

The Corn Rig is dead simple to tie. Take a length of Fox Camotex soft and stripped away the last 6 inches. A small hair is formed in this section and then the hook-bait attached, then slip down a small piece of silicon which would be for the blow-back effect. Next, after threading on the hook and setting the silicon so that the hook was sitting perfectly balanced, all that is needed is a nice neat Knotless knot which should leave about an inch of supple braid before the coating. That's about it a side from tying a long loop on the end of the rig and threading on a anti-tangle sleeve. With the bait being critically balanced and the semi-stiff hook-link material, the anti-tangle sleeve just helps push the rig away from the lead set up. I fished one rod with yellow corn and the other with pink corn, both balanced so that the eye of the hook was touching the lake bed.

Rigs on and rods clipped up I put the yellow corn to the right of the island and the pink to the left. Both went crack as the lead hit the bottom so I was super happy with my clipping up around marker sticks. A few fish where cruising just below the surface in the bay in-front and to my left and it looked good for a roving zig so back off with the spomb and on with my marker float set up. Mark had highlighted the need to make sure every inch was accounted for so I measured the set up from lead to float tip at 13 inches and then flicked it out in to the bay. The depth varied from 4ft to 5ft but after a few cast I found the majority of the water was 5ft deep on the nose. The fish where very close to the surface so I made a zig at 4ft 4 inches so that the Zigaliner hookbait would be presented in the very upper layers of the water column. Mark suggested using black as our hookbait colour so I flicked it out and finally sat back for five and watched the water.

After about an hour I was just deciding what to do when Mark walked around. I told him where I had my rigs, on what baits and also length of my zig. The conditions looked great for zigs and Mark wondered why my zig hadn't been taken. He suggested tying my zig slightly longer, to say 4ft 8, so I got cracking. Another black Zigaliner and a size 7 Fox SR hook where attached to a 6 foot length of zig line as Mark suggested moving my right hand rod and attaching the new zig to that, two zigs at different depths would help pin point what depth we need to fish at. We were just discussing where it would be best to cast too when the bobbin on my right hand rod crashed in to the rod blank and the tip pulled hard around to the right. Fish on! As I lifted the rod I heard Mark laughing behind me 'We won't move that rod then!' The fish came in quite straight forward but had tangled in my middle line and there was a ball of weed on the line as well. Mark was there with the net and soon scooped the fish up as I walked back in the swim to keep the line from tangling even more.

A stunning common languished in the net and Mark thought she would go over twenty. I hoisted the fish in to the cradle to be unhooked and Mr Pitchers zero'd the sling. I lifted her up as the excited, self-confessed carp freak read the dials, 21lb 6oz. Excellent! I was over the moon. Mark nipped back to his van and had his camera in no time. He took some amazing shots.

Stunning 21 Pound Common On A Simple Corn Rig

With the pictures done I released the fish and then got to sorting the lines out. It was a right mess but I didn't care as I had bagged a stunning common after only a few hours and I had one of the top anglers in the country there to fist bump the victory. Mark left me too it and went around to give the rest of the guys his time and expertise. I got the rods back out and decided to lengthen the zig that was already out and just as the lead had touched the bottom my middle rod signalled a take but the clutch was a little slack and the fish took me straight in to the snags on the island and as I gave it a little pressure the hook pulled, something I have suffered with recently on a few other trips. It was my fault, the clutch needed to be super tight. On reflection the rig was most definitely too close to the snags. But that's carp fishing and I just hope I didn't put too much stress on the fish or damage it in anyway. 

I was definitely sulking but got on with checking the rig, wrapping and clipping up the rod then recasting. It took a few attempts but once I was happy with the rig I baited the spot with another three spombs of corn. The day was ticking along and darkness was approaching when my right hand rod burst in to life. I was on it as fast as I could, the clutch was tight so the fish couldn't take any line whatsoever, it did however kite right on a tight line and try it's best to get under the trees between me and the next peg. At the last I managed to turn the fish and it powered off back towards the island to seek sanctuary. I managed to steer it back and soon the fish was languishing in the bottom of my landing net. I was buzzing. It looked a good fish as well and was most definitely a new personal best mirror carp. 

I unhooked the fish in the net and let him recoup will I sorted the rig and rod for recasting. Then I zeroed my scales and transferred the fish to my sling, 25lb 8oz. A new PB mirror. I was bouncing around my peg. What a session. 

Scaly 25 Pound Mirror, Same Spot, Same Rig.

I made sure the retainer was secure, with my prize all safe and sound, while I recast my right hand rod. I also brought in my left and removed the zig rig. I replaced this with a semi-stiff hinged rig that Mark showed us with a Wraysberry candy stick hookbait I had drilled out and plugged with cork. It was very similar as the rig I make but with a few minor changes. I flicked about 40 to 50 S7 baits around the clear area Mark had told me of to my left in open water and cast the rig in the middle of it. 

Once the rigs where in place I gave Mark a quick ring to let him know the fish was in the sling and what it weighed. He was delighted and would be round soon to do the pictures. I couldn't believe the session so far. It had been amazing. With the photos done Mark went and cooked everyone a bit of a BBQ with delivery to each swim, now that's service! As Mark came round with my burger I put the kettle on and made the shattered bloke a nice cup of tea and we sat and chatted for a while before heading to bed. 

About half an hour later I had a weird stuttering occurrence on my middle rod that may have been a fish trying to rid the rig so I decided to bring it in and check it out. It was about midnight and a thick wet mist had come down which made visibility poor but I could vaguely make out the island and knew that when clipped up I would be able to tell from the drop if I was back on the spot or not. Anyway as I was checking the rig over my right hand rod screamed into life. Again with the tight clutch the fish couldn't take line and again it tried to get in the trees to my right. What a fight. All I could do at one point was hold on as it flat rodded me heading back out to open water. After what seamed an eternity in the dark and wet fog the fish was finally in the net. Relief swept through me. I couldn't get to the hook in the net so hoisted her out on to the waiting cradle. The hook hold was phenomenal. A good inch back in its mouth and there was no way she was coming off. I got the net and rod out of the way, zeroed the scales again and lifted my prize, 25lb 10oz! Another mirror pb. I was just overjoyed at this point in the session. I got her safely in the retainer and redid my rods before dropping Mark a little text message. All I got in reply was 'Boom!' And I soon saw his headlight come on as he trudged around the lake to do the honours.

25lb 10oz Of Hard Fighting Mirror, A New Mirror Carp Personal Best.

Marks tuition comes with the whole package, not only the knowledge and experience but also the excitement, the passion, he does your photographs not matter the size of fish and always, always puts you first. Once we had done the pics we let the fish return home and had a celebratory fist bump, with explosion and a cup of tea. Then it was back to bed for the pair of us with big cheesy grins and the lot!

I Don't Even Drink Tea, Now That's Carpy! 

I woke at about 5am, the wet had kept me up most of the night with droplets gathering on the tree branches above me and then drumming on the top of the brolly. I was sat watching the watch and saw some fizzing coming from around the island but after half an hour nothing materialised. I had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right with my rigs, pitch black and a horrible fog must have affected my recasts, so I brought in the right hand rod first and sure enough it was maybe two feet to the left of the spot that had been producing, in a bit of weed. With the rig de-weeded and fresh foam nuggets attached it was soon making its way back in to the lake and I hit the right spot first time. I followed this with three mini spombs of corns and then redid the middle rod but replaced the pink corn with yellow. 

I was happy with my left hand rod. The hookbait was drilled and corked so I knew it would still be buoyant and it was on a lovely clear spot so I knew it was presented well. I had noticed a few fizzes coming up from around the area which I hoped were fish grazing on the scattered boilie I fired out the night before.

Stunning Morning On Majestics

The morning started to move along and soon I was thinking of packing the gear away a bit at a time but just as I was starting to consider it my right hand rod barked a take and I was soon battling another of Majestics angry fish. Like all the others she tried to get in to the trees to my right and when that failed headed back out to open water but it wasn't long before I had her in the net and looked down to find another stunning scaly beast. This time she went 22lb 6oz and was what I thought a stunning end to the session. However with photos done and time creeping along I thought I would recast anyway and chance for another one while I was packing away. Mark again came around and did the pictures for me and we had another cuppa while soaking in the mornings activities. 

22lb 6oz Of Scaly Goodness, Boom.

I honestly couldn't believe the session so far. It was just, epic. The most apt word I can think of for it. I'm not a big fish angler or have access to waters that contain huge amounts of 20-30 pound fish. I scrabble around on day ticket lakes, except for Jurassic which is heaven away from the madness, for mid doubles so to have had four twenty pound fish in a 24hr session was a pure red letter day for me.

As I was starting to load the barrow with my bed chair and other bits I heard a fish crash out behind me and I turned around to see the ripples coming from the island over the middle rod and thought I couldn't be lucky enough to get a take from that spot, and I was right I didn't get a take from my middle rod but instead my right hand rod absolutely tore off and this fish decided it wanted to make a bee line for the reed beds to the left of the swim on the far bank but it was soon sulking in the folds of my net and looked to be a touch smaller than the others. Mike, who was a regular on the lake was up in the next peg along chatting to the lad there and came down and helped weigh the fish, which surprised me as it went 20lb exactly. Mark again did some pictures and we had another fist bump. Five twenty pound fish in a session. I don't know who was buzzing more, me or Mark!

Needless to say it was now time to pack away. Marks next group was due in a few hours and I had had my fill for certain. I loaded the barrow up and headed back to the car park with a huge smile on my face. As I loaded the gear up in to the car Mark came up and shook my hand and said I had angled really well and even though it was a tuition I didn't need many pointers, just some fine tuning, which made me feel even better. I had caught all my fish off my own back, Mark just guided me along and showed me what he would do on this particular lake. In all honestly if it was just a normal session, I would have fished the spots I'd found with out a doubt, but like I said I would have used solid bags and wafters with boilie as my food bait. Mark said that doing that I might have still caught, but not the numbers I had. Maybe one day I will go back and use the tips and tactics he taught me side by side of what I would have normally done and see what happens. We shall see. 

Till We Meet Again Majestics.

With the car loaded Mark got the gate and gave me a big grin and salute as I pulled out of the car park to start my journey home. Its been a few weeks now since this session and I still smile when I look at the photos and think of the banter and mannerisms of one of the countries best. Mark had taken on the challenge of a group tuition, his first ever, and was totally shattered but never let it stop him from being attentive and engaging. I would totally recommend Mark to anyone wishing to improve their carp angling, in fact I have recommend him to a friend at work and they have booked Mark for a pairs tuition next year. I'm also thinking of booking Mark for a 'One to One' session at some point to go over some of the points we touched on at Majestics. 

Well there isn't a lot more I can say on this session. It was one I shall remember for a long time to come. Thank you Mark. 

Tight Lines.  

Lesson Learnt, Confidence, Never Leave Home Without It!!

Since switching from NuttaS to S7 in the later part of spring this year my season had gone from strength to strength. It could be because it has resulted in a new personal best, or the fact that every fish I have had this year from the syndicate has fallen to it but what ever it was this bait has given me a huge confidence boost. The confidence was up well and truly until a recent, quick over night session....

I have so many projects on the go at the moment and so much flying around my brain that I made a monumental mistake. One of the projects I've got is a lake promo video for Selby Three Lakes Day Ticket and I managed to get some good footage just walking around the lake but decided that it would be better to grab some footage while I was fishing. So I rang the lad that runs the lake, Bullet, and got booked on for a Monday night after work.

Now here is where I messed up. For the past few sessions on my syndicate I had been doing the same thing and it had been working for me. Finding a nice little spot I know fish visit and baiting it with half and whole S7 and fishing solid bags over the top. Anyway I decided to take a bait to Three lakes that I had never used before. On to a venue that, to be frank, I had struggled my ass off on. And I know exactly what most of you are thinking, why you retard?! I don't really know, maybe I was thinking of using something that the fish may not have seen on this particular water. Something that isn't known for attracting the bream and tench. But anyway the deed was done and that was all I took with me.

So armed with a new bait I'd never used and my overnight gear I headed to the lake and went for a wonder around. Unfortunately the pegs on the majority of fish were taken and I decided to drop in to a swim called The Old Gate as I had fished it before. It was also the peg I had my first ever Three Lakes carp from so I decided to fish it more for nostalgic reasons than anything else, but as I was setting up a fish rolled on the pads straight out in front of me, that would do, I thought.

Pads Lining The Old Gate Swim

Anyway from the get go, even after seeing that fish roll, I was never really confident. I just felt I was missing something. I was happy with my rigs, the spots and conditions and seeing fish in the area was even better. But the bait was just not doing me any favours, it may not have been the bait, the fish may not have visited the spot and I may have still blanked on S7 but I would have had my confidence with me. I'm not going to rubbish the other bait at all as I spoke to the guys who produce it and they seemed to think that it would work on that particular water. Anyway the inevitable happened and I ended up packing away the next morning to a stunning sun rise caught on film but nothing else.

I took a valuable lesson away from this experience. If you want to try something new then don't go all or nothing! What I should have done is taken what I was confident in and another bait if that was what was recommended, or I should have just not bothered with the other bait at all and trusted myself and my bait. It was a harsh lesson learnt. From now on I will only take what I am confident in. Whether it be mixed with particle to create a large bed of food items that will keep them guessing.....................................................

A Banquet Of Food Items

Or on its own, which if I'm 100% honest in my opinion is the best way to fish with DNA's S7. From the sessions I've done recently the boilie approach certainly has done me well. All but one of my syndicate fish have come from a standard whole and halved bait strategy and now looking back at past mistakes and failures, I can see where I have gone wrong when I have not implemented it. I suppose that is another great thing about this sport, I am forever learning and that is what keeps me coming back for more!

S7 Capture From My Syndicate

I have locked my faith in a bright high visual hookbait at the moment, I feel matches my feed baits really well, but wonder if I am missing out on bonus fish by not having a food bait attached to my rig. I guess that will be a test for my next outing. Fishing two rigs as close as I can with the two different hookbait options and see how well I do. I am really looking forward to getting out and putting all my ideas to the test. And not just the hookbait colour but type as well! I love a wafter or pop up so will be giving the new Evo hookbait system an outing soon as well. 

Confidence, Will Improve My Chances Next Time

Anyway I have just finished a batch of off-white pop up S7 hookers which I need to sort and stuff in to an air drying bag to harden before the next outing, just in-case the pink doesn't do anything for me ;) so until then I will leave you with my over-boosted DNA post and get back to doing what I do best, not much.

Later Folks

Matt.

Work Parties And You, A Good Fishing Combination!

Its only been my first ever year on a syndicate lake and like most before me had heard about taking part in work parties. The first work party of the year was back in March and we spent the days clearing fallen trees and sorting the paths with a good few brews in between because it was bloody cold! At this gathering it was clearly pointed out that we would be having a second weekend which would be spent erecting an otter fence around the lake.

Since then there has been a lot of work going on in the back ground and Ian, one of the committee members, had been down and killed a lot of the undergrowth and weeds on the backside of the track so we would still have the full usage and space the track provides. The other week we got a text message off the man himself and dates had been set for us to carry out this essential work.

As it turned out I couldn't make the Sunday and decided that it would be rude of me not to fish the Friday night, allowing me to be at the lake and ready for the 9am start, in addition to this it also meant that my daughter could join me for the night and we could spend some quality time together.

The Hog!

The car was packed and I took a big risk in bringing just my Nashy Groundhog SF brolly instead of the usual 2 man bivvy. There was a small amount of logic behind this and that was because the last time I had taken the bivvy away I ripped out one of the rear pegging points, which wasn't very clever of me! And I prayed that the two bed chairs would fit underneath the brolly, or it didn't rain, but living in the north where it is always a bit grim I didn't hold my breath on the rain front.

Both Chairs Under, Snug!

 Not that I needed to worry as both my old simple bedchair and my big Indulgence fitted underneath the massive arms perfectly and I even had room at the ends of both chairs for storage! Bonus!





The lake had been super weedy for about a month prior to my trip and on the way to the lake I had to come up with several action plans in my head. My main attack would be to get in Outlet swim if it was free, as this swim had the biggest clear area in front of it due to the water depth and it was also a swim I was familiar with having fished it a few times now. I would say that it was my favourite peg on the lake, closely followed by Point and Willow. Back up plans were to jump in to either of the other pegs nearer the Hut and drop two rods in the margins and leave it at that, or just set up camp and not fish if the weed was too bad. As luck would have it when we arrived there wasn't another soul about! And the weed had started to disperse in certain areas. Perfect.

When entering the grounds the first spot you come across are the overhanging trees opposite Outlet and as I peered over the reeds I noticed a few dark shapes moving under the branches and decided to trickle a small amount of bait on to the hard spot and head around the lake. I saw a good few fish in several of the swim that were choked with weed and as we headed back to the tree spot the water was a bit clouded up so decided to bait the spot a bit more and set up in Outlet like I wanted.

With the rods made up I set to getting them on the spots. Now the hard spot I found and baited is directly under a break in the branches of a large overhanging tree and it can be a night-mare getting a rig on the spot without it clipping branches and ruining my solid bag presentation so this is were my distance sticks come in to play. It may only be a 25 yard cast but if it falls to close then I'm in the soft silt, if it goes too far I'm in the trees so I would rather be super accurate than 'risk it for a biscuit' and I know 6 and a quarter wraps gets me on the hard stuff each and every time! So that was my middle rod on the money and my right hand rod was going to the reed bed to the right of the trees. Exactly the same distance drops me to the bottom of the margin shelf so that makes life super easy. With a cracking tree line for a night time marker as well I know as long as I hit the clip just right on both rods they are on the money.

The Perfect Tree Line!

As the reed rod is a much cleaner cast I fished this rod with a multi-rig pop up about 2cm of the bottom with a Northern Special pop up and a slight scattering of bait around it consisting of crushed and crumbed boilie and some special little fishy pellets. The only rod left really didn't have much room due to the weed in front of me so I decided to walk it down the bank slightly and drop a solid bag under an over hanging bush and then walk the line back slowly ensuring it was nice and low to the bottom. By now time was creeping along and my daughter soon chimed that she was getting a little hungry so we made some tea. Hotdogs and pasta. I think you can't beat eating well on the bank. While hotdogs arn't exactly the best food in terms of fresh and super healthy they are pre-cooked and pretty tasty so don't require frying. Combined with a sauce made from a tin of tomatoes and some herbs and chilli it went down a treat!

Tea Time!

Once we had polished off tea, washed up and let it settle with a bit of light reading for me and some loom band making for Jamie we decided it was time to settle down under the hog and watch a movie. Now I don't normally bother with having all the creature comforts with me but with an 11 year old in toe I thought it best to bring my iPad along loaded with the Lego movie and enjoyed being curled up watching it while under a sinking sun. Bliss, the only thing that could have topped it off would have been if a rod had tore off. And my luck must have been in because 10 minutes after the credits my left hand margin rod absolutely did!

I was fishing with a fairly tight clutch (same on all rods due to the weed) and a drop off in-line set up which nailed the fish and sent it in to a frenzy. To my surprise the fish tried getting further down the margin than in to the weed in 'open' water which was great as it tired itself out in the deep margin rather than ploughing into weed bed after weed bed. Once it was in the net I looked over to see a head poking out of the brolly asking me if I had caught one and once I told her I had she was out of the sleeping bag and standing next to me looking in the net 'Woah Dad that's awesome!' When you hear things like that, for me, it makes all the hard work so worth it! It was such a shame it was just dark as I would have dearly loved to get a shot of the stunning upper double common in the day light. Her colours were just amazing. Black backed, golden flanked and with a creamy white belly. Stunning.

Stunning,Stunning Fish. One You Had To See In The Flesh.

Prepared!

With the fish returned to her gin clear home it was time to get a fresh bag, which had been prepared earlier, looped on to the main line and dropped back in the same spot. No bait, just the pull of the bag mix and hookbait. Once the line was settled I laid back and put the kettle on. J had gone back to sleep by now and I was super happy that I hadn't blanked! It took my tally up to four fish from the lake and I was chuffed to pieces.


I finally dropped off and nothing occurred during the night except a liner which woke me about 3 am. I dozed some more before being awoken at about quarter past 4 by the middle rod almost being ripped from  the rests. I got to the rod and by the time I had the fish had kitted right and pulled the tip so hard it had caught up on the right hand rod! Nightmare! By the time I had detached the rod from its snagged brother the fish had gone back along the line it had kitted and headed in to the weed! Lady luck was most certainly shining on me as the fish was on the surface, thankfully dropping the lead in the weed, and I got her to the net in good time, once she saw the net though the fish powered off in search of sanctuary again but was soon tamed and languishing in the bottom of my net. Fish number five and another stunning common! I was over the moon. As it was still a bit dark I decided to hold the fish in my retaining sling and for an hour before doing the honours. J was out like a light so self takes where in order.

Number Five. Long, Powerful And Pristine. 

That was the last of the action this time and soon it was time to pack up and get ready for a day putting fences up. What a thoroughly enjoyable session and to spend it with my daughter and bag a few fish as well, what more can I say than fantastic.

I did a little video while I was on the bank so I hope you enjoy it.

Tight lines folks.

Julian Cundiff - Live

A few weeks ago now I was chatting to Julian Cundiff about how my fishing at Jurassic Park was going and how I intended on doing a few video blogs to run along side the written aspect here and he thought it was a great idea. He also said that he would love to get out and do some filming himself but didn't have the time. So we put two and two together, came up with three, tried again and finally settled on me doing some filming for him. We are both fishing the same lake, sometimes at the same time and it made sense.

We set a date and decided that it would be best to get to the lake early so we had plenty of time to set up and decide on the plan of action. I decided on doing the night before and set up in Outlet swim after my previous success. Unfortunately nothing materialised for me the first night and as dawn broke I decided a move was on the cards and went for a mooch around the lake. I found the fish milling over a clear spot in front of Willows and didn't hesitate on moving. Just as I was in the middle of setting up in the new home Jules turned up and we had a chat and a brew. From not seeing anything the night before and the fish being in front of the hut Jules opted to fish the point a few pegs up from me and as he got to setting up I got to filming!

Before we did the main video Jules spent some time talking to me about the lake. I have only been a member since the beginning of the year and even though I had had a few fish it is always handy to get some local, expert advice! Jules talked to me why he thought his Mush was an advantage over a standard boilie approach. I had a bit of success fishing over boilies on Jurassic but took the man's advice on board and will include it in my approach the next time I head over.

But anyway we got Julians rods out and soon had the camera rolling. I must point out that I made a very bad error and hadn't set my video to record in HD so the film came out grainy and took a bit of editing to get it half decent, but with a film like this it only needs to be heard which is more than ok.




Jules managed to bag himself a few carp during the night including a stunning mid twenty common and I also managed to get in to the fish and landed this stunning 17lb common.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks.

Keeping It Simple

Since joining my north Lincolnshire syndicate at the beginning of the year I've done nothing but think about the place. Julian said to me when I got the ticket that the place would spoil me after spending so long on day ticket waters, he certainly wasn't wrong! While the lake isn't massive or have huge amounts of big fish there is just something about the place that puts you at ease with the world. I had done several nights on the lake during the late winter and had been content to just sit and watch regardless of if I actually caught anything. But as the trees got greener and the water warmer I was hoping for a little action but nothing had materialized for me.

I had been following some advice from a few regulars, which I think would be folly to ignore, but it just wasn't working for me. I know a few lads had caught one or two and I was chomping at the bit to land my first from the venue so decided that a change of tact was in order. I was using a combination of NuttaS boilie, particle and ground bait to create a mushy, sloppy bed of bait and putting various coloured pop ups over the top. After a chat with the two Jasons at DNA Baits I came away with a much better idea on what I was going to do. I decided to ditch the full on particle/mush approach and just keep it simple with a bucket of chilli hemp and S7 boilies.

The next trip planned was a much longer session than I had previously done so I intended on making full use of the time I had. It was early May and the carp would surely be on the move? Jules had done an overnighter and had a lovely common out a few nights before so I was a bit more confident. The conditions didn't look the best with high temps and pressure but according to the forecasters it was to change on the Wednesday, we shall see Mr weatherman!

I arrived at the lake just after 10am on Tuesday and grabbed a bucket and some water, put on my trusty modified shades and went for a walk before deciding on where to plot up.

The water was very warm and I was hoping the carp didn't have 'other things' on their minds like the ducks had! I've never seen so many ducklings on a water in my life. One family had 8 of the little guys in tow.

Several families of geese had upwards of 5 chicks they defended fiercely from anything that came near them so the water was alive with activity making spotting fish difficult.


I did managed to see a group of fish making their way through the islands and in to the shallow water where I watched a few fish tilt and feed just behind a low lying weed bed. That was all I needed to decide on the area so I dropped my bucket in a swim and headed back to the car to load up.

I got back in the area and set up one of my rods with a bare lead and flicked it the 40 or so yards to where I had seen the fish tilt up, and sure enough it was a really smooth area in-between two small weed beds. I clipped up just before the lead pulled in to weed and then wrapped the rod between my distance sticks. I did the same with my Spomb rod and then dropped about 12 Spombs in the area and got to making the rods up.

I decided that I would fish two rods on the area and then I would have a third rod to a small inlet on my right with just a few loose baits around it. I got to work sorting out my bag rigs which consisted of a supple braid tied to a Nash Twister hook fished blowback style and when used in conjunction with a balanced bait in a solid bag is a rig I have 100% confidence in!

I changed my bag rigs early last year after a session with Mark Watson on the A1 pits. He was giving me a bit of a casting tuition while we were on a social and I was using a version of the KD rig at the time. We got chatting on rigs and Mark showed me the Twisted blowback. He showed me how to tie it and explained the benefits of having the shrink tube kicker, and why he angled the cut off.

During that session Mark had several fish up to 32lb and the hookholds were immense. Much better than any I had. So after the session I went home and bought all the bits I needed, rings, Twisters, shrink tube etc and tied a few of my own up.

 I had a fantastic year last year up until Autumn fishing bags over boilie with the Twisted blowback on a few day ticket waters. But over the winter I started to over-complicating things and shied away from my go-to method of solid bags over boilie. I have no idea why, maybe seeing too many videos of other anglers or such, so this session was a back to basics session for me and I went back to my old faithful.

With several bags tied up and both rods clipped up to the distance I dropped two bags on to my baited spot and flicked a short Chod in the edge to my right and settled in for the day ahead. I noted a few fish coming in to the shallows but they skirted around the margins ignoring the open water, they obviously knew they were being fished for, however I was still confident that come darkness they would come in and feed with a bit less caution. So as the sun set behind me I recast the rods, both with semi-buoyant artificial hook-baits compressed in bags made from a mix of pellet and crumbed wafters. Happy with everything I settled in for the night and indulged myself in my book via torch light.

I woke as the sun crept over the tree line on the far bank and was making a brew while watching the coots diving on my bait, enjoying a free meal. After a few minutes of watching the wildfowl fill their boots my middle rod gave a few bleeps before ripping off, at first I thought it was a coot until no bird resurfaced about the bait and I struck into my first carp from the lake. With the water being so shallow it wasn't long before the angry little carp was charging across the surface. First it went in too my left hand rod and then in to the waiting net. A celebratory jig was most definitely in order and after that I got the little guy unhooked and safely in the retaining sling while I sorted the rods back out and placed two fresh bags on the spot.

A stunning bar of gold in the morning light. I was so made up with this fish. I wasn't the biggest in the lake but certainly gave me a huge confidence boost. After suffering carpers block for the past few sessions at the syndicate and on other day ticket waters it was the most welcome carp for a good few months.

Unfortunately nothing else materialized from the spot and as the sun got higher in the sky I decided to wind in the rods and go for a walk to see if I could spot some fish. This was a new thing for me. I've always been one to sit on a spot if I've committed a fair amount of bait to it, hoping that the fish would move on to it. So to wind in was pretty alien to me. As soon as I had wound the rods in and stepped out of the brolly the wind decided to pick up, and with a force on it as well. As I made my way to the windward end of the lake I noted a few fish heading down in to the deeper water, they were following the wind! I had decided on moving before I had even got to the other end of the lake but seeing a few fish feeding hard under the trees right in the corner of the lake cemented the move and the area I would target. I made my way back up the lake and soon had the barrow loaded.

Once all the gear was in the swim I walked around to the over hanging trees and introduced about half a kilo of mixed size boilies, 12mm, 15mm, barrels and halved baits but decided against putting in any hemp. I wanted to see if I got their attention with just the S7 bait.

I'd already had a fish so any thing now would just be amazing. The wind picked up and soon the sides of the brolly shook and the rain pattered above my head as a large low pressure front came in from the west. Mr Weatherman was correct!

Settling back with my book was all I could really do as the weather rendered me indoors for the time being but soon the day light began to fade.

I was confident with both the rods on the far bank and the third in the edge to my right under a second tree. Everything looked spot on and I was content being tucked up in my sleeping bag watching as the rain licked the water.

I woke to a savage liner at around 4.30 am and was sat up in bed looking at a calm lake and noted a small amount of fizzing coming from near a solid bag.

I must have drifted off and I was woken by my middle rod pulling up tight and the tip bending round. I darted out of bed and lifted in to the fish. To begin with the fish headed straight towards me to the left and popped up to the surface for just long enough for me to get a glimpse of it before powering off down the lake. She took 20 yards of line in the first run and soon I had her under control again heading towards the net before charging off again. My knees where shaking and I dropped the net twice as nerves got the better of me. I managed to compose myself and finally slipped the net under the fish. I stared in wonder at the fish sulking in the folds of my net and I knew I had landed one of the bigger fish from the lake. And at 25lb 10oz she was a new personal best for myself.

Again a small pva bag of mini pellet and crumb with a pink fruity squid artificial barrel as the hookbait was it's downfall and it has given me such a massive confidence boost in everything that I am doing. After the pictures had been done I settled down with a brew and some breakfast before getting ready to head home.

I learnt so much on this session now I'm more confident in my approach and bait. My rigs worked to perfection and above all else I learnt a move is not to be scared of if needs be. I'm learning my water and the fish behaviour so fingers crossed I land a few more from this special water in the near future.

Matt.