stevetheangler

Firstly, I’ve had to make corrections to the reported weights of my two carp captures of Sessions 7 and 8 both of which I seem to have reported at weights of 1lb more than the correct ones… the ‘why’ will be explained later in this missive… :)

Anyway, on to the latest expedition report…

Thursday, 17th April, Liz and myself set off for the club’s tench and bream pool (AA-B) making a slightly earlier than usual start from the home at 0630, as it being Easter Monday it was expected that the banks will be crowded later … well, in the 60’s and 70’s from my memory if you arrived at ANY water (canal, river or pool and including the roadside storm drains LOL) after 0700 you’d have a long wait to get a swim effectively looking at ‘dead man’s shoes’ ie waiting someone to pack up so you could jump into their vacated spot! But it seems that is no longer the case as we had the entire pool to ourselves until around 1100 or so when one other arrived … followed by no-one else at all! So we easily grabbed our intended pegs, even the late arrival elected to fish as far as possible from us diagonally across the pool … and he probably didn’t even know of our existence and neither us nor the car would have been visible to him…

Liz and I fished one peg apart at the top end of the pool each facing one end of the pool’s small island…

Liz elected to fish the feeder and I, as usual at this water, elected to fish lift method using a 3AAA Premier driftbeater float….

First thing on arrival was to bait up my swim with about 10 cricket balls of the usual feed mix of cereal crumb mixed with meat, corn, dead maggot, etc, etc before setting up my fishing station and tackling up my rod…

My rod in use was my trusty 13’ Hardy Matchmaker (IMHO the best float rod ever made!) and it was used in conjunction with 6lb mono (Daiwa Hyper Sensor) main line with a 6” hooklength of 6lb braid with size 12 hook, and as said a 3AAA driftbeater float. The float was set at 12” overdepth (plumbed with plummet at the top of the hooklength so all hooklength lay on the bottom PLUS the 12” overdepth then added) … bulk shot to just balance the body was added around half water depth (24”) … and an SSG shot was added as the anchor shot at the top of the hooklength (later I added a further AAA shot about 2” above the SSG to aid stability)…

First cast was made at 0745 … and first fish was hooked at 0747 … but it was not to be as it gained sanctuary in a yet to surface patch of lilies. Still it looked very promising for the day ahead…

But, apart from a few float trembles, all was quiet then until 1045 when a tench succumbed to my worm bait… and this is where I tell of the reason for the weight corrections of the previous sessions. The tench, successfully landed, the landing net was removed from its pole via the quick release adaptor I use and placed in my unhooking device (Korum Fast Mat) … out come my scales and a weighing is done … 6lb 1oz less 8oz for the net = 5lb 7oz a new PB!! Elation!! :) However, I decide to check the net weight and its 1LB 8OZ, 1lb heavier than I’d allowed, so fish was actually 4lb 9oz, NOT a new PB which still stands at 5lb 2oz. And with those two carp from previous outings I’d also allowed 8oz and thus were reported 1lb heavier than reality … and I’ve now corrected those past postings. I think the error arose from when I used to weigh in a weighing sling which was 8oz wet but the landing net is 1lb heavier…

Still more small twitches and waving of the float followed until 1230 when I hooked into what appeared to be a bream on cheese&garlic paste but unfortunately it rolled and the hook pulled…

More of the same until I switched bait to ‘blackcurrant jelly bread’ when the bites – if not the hooking – became much more frequent and resulted, at 1415,  in the hooking of a carp of probably 5lb-6lb which I saw but which also threw the hook before it could be landed.

1500 … we packed in for the day and headed to the pub :)

Liz had a few tweaks and small pulls over the day but ended on a blank despite trying maggot, meat (dipped in strawberry dip), corn, etc.

ASIDES

Recipe for ‘Jelly Bread’… https://homemadeboilies.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/jelly-bread-baits-for-mr-crabtree/

The jelly can be replaced with gelatine with your personally desired flavours added too…

PLANS

I’m off out again tomorrow (Thursday 21st), same place… and hopefully get the same peg and fish my jelly bread albeit that I’ll up my hook size to a 10 or even an 8 as I think the size 12 I was this session using was a bit small for the bait.

Monday, thinking that Liz may be tempted out again to the pool…

May 9th we head off to Skipsea Sands in Yorkshire for a week and will hopefully have at least one day fishing at Mill Pond in Ulrome, a small pool a few minutes from the Parkdean site we’ll be camping at and which we fished and enjoyed on our last visit there.