Q, Festivals and C4Hs!

June has been an interesting and fulfilling month for me with lots going on.

Kierans UKCC was mid month so we decided to get a practice in at the beginning of the month. We booked on the lake and picked pegs 4-6. I decided to fish peg 6, Kieran went in 4 and his dad fished peg fives water from four with Kieran.

The day was quiet and the wind was hacking into pegs seven and eight but we gave it our best and I walked away with a lovely big plated mirror going 14lb+ on the scales.

Nice mid-double mirror from Q. 

A few days later I managed to sneak a day session in at a new water. The little pond is a gem and I cant wait to spend more time here and get in to some of its older residents. This little cracker came to my first session and was caught on a Monster Squid Purple pop up over a light scattering of whole and half boilies.

Stunner, I think most would agree. 

Soon it was time for Kierans UK Carp Cup qualifier on Q Lake in York again. Kieran will give his account of exactly how we got on but the lad fished out of his skin and walked away with his head held firmly high bagging a stunning 24lb Common on the last morning. 'Love you Entity!'

After a few more quick sessions resulting in a few more blanks Carping 4 Heroes was upon us. I picked Kieran up from the train station at Sherburn at 8.55am and we were on the road for 9am. The drive down to Biggleswade was quicker than we thought and we were soon at the gates of Manor Farm Complex and after a quick chat with Simon who was running the C4H event we decided on having a walk around the complex. The lakes really are quite stunning and nothing like what I had expected. We stumbled on Winters lake and it truely is an amazing looking water, weedy, reed lined and some massive fish to boot! We found one of the lakes residents sunning itself in a weedy bay, all 30lb+ of albino grass carp! It stood out like a sore thumb but also had a few other very nice fish following it. As we made our way back to C4H HQ we met Joe Turnbull and got chatting, mentioned the albino we had seen and then headed back down with Joe to have another peek.

The event was a resounding success and a lot of praise goes Simon Bangerts way for organising the event and making it a great weekend and if it wasn't for his team of marshals none of it would be possible so thanks guys.

A few more day sessions here and there and a quick overnighter on Selby Three Lakes ended the month. I am finally getting to grips with Three lakes, now even after a year off the lake, I have been doing my research and had fish in my swim, unfortunately the only take I had I lost the fish. But that's fishing. I am back on there very soon for a 48hr session ( a rarity for me ) so I really can not wait for it.

Till then.

Tight lines.

Matt.

My little slice of heaven.

It's not very often we find a lake that has virtually no angling pressure these days, especially in the area I live! So imagine my surprise when I stumbled along a small intimate lake not too far from the market town of Selby that, from what I heard and have seen, holds a good head of carp up to the 20lb bracket.

When I pulled the car into the car park I was blown away by the beauty of the place. Tree lined with good solid pegs, reeds and large weed beds. Perfect. I took a walk around the lake and saw plenty of fish in every peg so I decided to set up away from the entrance in a bay that just looked too good. It was my first trip to the venue and I decided that the weed beds in the bay would be the most obvious feature to fish too as I didn't want to thrash the water to a foam with a marker float. With the weed beds coming to the top I could make out the edge quite clearly so a cast with a bare lead found that where the weed finished on the surface it indeed finished on the bottom too.


Baring this in mind I decided a pop up bait would be best as there will most likely be a few strands of the green stuff kicking about and I wanted the baits to sit a pretty as possible. I set one rod with a Chod rig on a diffusion leader and finished of with a Monster Squid Purple pop up. On the other rod I decided to place it where the weed bed split to the left and the lake bottom looked much clearer. I pulled out the multi-rig combi-link for this spot as I feel it would offer the best presentation on the clear bottom, again tipped with a Purple pop up and using a Fang Twister hook with a short kicker.

Multi-rig Combi-rig

As the lake has a boilie ban then I went armed with pellet and some hemp and fished the MS pop ups over the top. The day was one of the warmest we had had so far this year and the carp were making the most of the sun, basking in the weed that lined 90% of the pond. No amount of riser pellet was going to shift them on the surface yet alone a bait five foot below them! 

As the day drew on I had a 'lead' around the lake to get used to any features etc and I found that the lake bed is compiled mostly of silt but a nice soft shallow silt. Around the margins it firms up and a nice 'donk' gets transmitted through the rod when the lead lands on them. 

At around an acre and averaging roughly five foot in depth with a lot of natural features and from the look of the carp, a lot of natural food, I think I will thoroughly enjoy the time I will be spending on the bank. I had been set up in the larger swim for a few hours and decided that I would reel in and head down the lake to try tempt any carp that might be around in the weed free, lilly padded corner. I was hoping to see if any took a liking to some pellets of the surface but after an hour of trying and several large rudd destroying every riser pellet I put out I decided to reposition the bottom baits in the main swim for the last hour. About ten minutes after the Chod rig had been placed a short distance off the weed on the harder bottom it ripped off and I was soon playing my first fish from the venue. 

Small but a cracker.

The little guy ran me ragged in to the weed and a few lilly pads but he was soon in the net and at about 9lb it wasn't the biggest fish I had seen that day but was a real stunner. Now I can't wait to get back and next time I have some little edges tucked away that I reckon will put a few more fish on the bank. 

Matt. 

Part II - Manor Carp Lake York

Manor Carp Lake York is a 2 acre reed lined lake on the outskirts of York near the little village of Bolton. It is set in some lovely countryside views and has 5 pegs which makes it very intimate and gives the lake a special feel.

I had a 24hr slot come free and I decided that with the recent changes to the weather and lakes starting to switch on then why not give the place a try. I arrived at the lake 12 noon on the Friday and was greeted with an empty lake, fast, cold northerly winds and hailstones! Not the best conditions at all. But I always enjoy the time on the bank even if I don't catch.

I decided to start off with a single bag and multi-rig cast out to some likely looking spots. As I was in the double peg (1 and 2) I cast my solid bag to the white sign and the single bait to the cut through while I set the Supa-Brolly up!

Supa-Brolly

So after a few hours of rain and wind and then sunshine I decided that I would pick a few spots for bottom baits and then have a roaming zig rig set at 6ft using the new Fox Zig Aliners. 

Zig Aliners.

This is a very , very neat little product that makes setting zigs up a doddle. Still nothing had shown itself to me and I was not feeling confident in a bite. My good friend Leon turned up to keep me company and eat all my Chilli to boot! 

I knocked up a new bag mix with some liquids and boilie crumb. Then using the coated in-line leads from Liverpool Carp Leads I knocked up a few fresh bags for the evening ahead. These leads are great value for the money and are also of the highest quality. My favourite of the range are the leaf coated leads that blend into many a lake bed. 

I start of by taking out the plastic insert and separating it from the rubber bead.

Plastic Insert Removed

I thread on the rubber bead to a diffusion leader and add a quick link to the end.

Bead Pulled into Lead

The bead pulls into the lead neatly and then leaves the clip ready for the hooklink which gets pulled almost fully into the lead.

Clip Pulled into Lead with Hooklink Attached

Once the hooklink is pulled into the lead I know that when a fish picks up that rig and feels the hook point then the heaviest part of the lead will help drive the point home. With this set up once the fish has been hooked and the lead has done its job then the clip will leave the bead allowing the lead to fall away from the fish. Hopefully not letting the fish to use the lead to rid the hook. 

As the session wore on the weather got progressively worse with temps dropping to zero and the wind not letting up until the small hours in the morning and I packed away drawing a blank. Even so I had a wonderfully relaxing session out in the country side away from the rat race. 

Heres to blanking chaps! 

Insert Ghosty Here!