Boddingtons 30/6/11

So after much deliberation, I treated myself to a day out at Boddingtons on Thursday.

Leaving the house at 0530, I arrived (after several diversions) at about 0700. Having scaled the bank, set off and settled into peg 81 - the peg being chosen based on the general advice (go for 75-95), the fact that the lower platform was dry and that there were a few fish moving.

Initial attack was the pole at 11m - large expander on a size 8 to 0.20mm line and 22 elastic, fished on a 0.6g rig at full depth (about 4ft+) over 4mm pellets.

Three bites in 4 put-ins resulted in three carp - 9lb, 7lb, 5lb and then bites started to get iffy - the roach had arrived and were knocking the pellet off the hook. I persevered with a few different approaches, hard pellet produced two foulhooked fish (7lb and 9lb both landed) and paste didn't do any better.

I experimented for a while, but try as I might I couldn't get back into the carp on the pole line with any degree of consistency. That said, the roach were quite catchable will several examples up to 12oz falling to large expander.

After 60 minutes of frustration, I re-fed the line and rested it for a few minutes whilst watching a guy a few pegs up bag a few fish on pellet waggler. (My back up plan).

I gave it another 30 minutes on the pole with no success and so moved onto pellet waggler with 8mm pellet for hook and feed set 2-3ft deep. 30 minutes and nothing. So I fed a margin line and carried on... nothing.

A switch to the margin got an immediate carp bite, but shed the hook. And going back in only produced roach. So back to the pole line (roach). Margin (roach). Pellet waggler (nothing).

And so it continued until lunchtime. Despite other anglers catching on the pellet wag and having the odd fish in the swim. I couldn't buy a bite out there.

I tried different things to avoid the roach, but that switched everything off.

So in desperation, come lunchtime I soaked a few pellets and set up the method feeder. 2nd put in the tip started to rattle, but when the bite happened the fish pulled straight out, with the brand new 14 hook straightened out.

A switch to a size 10 with a long hair and 2 x 8mm pellets later and I got a quick bite that tore off all round the peg. Assuming a good fish I took my time, and was a little disappointed for find a foul-hooked 8lb mirror on the end.

I carried on and this time a few casts later a mirror of 10lb 8oz was safely landed, and shortly after that a mirror of 13lb 8oz. But that was that. Additional goes on the margin and pellet wag failed and home time was beckoning - it's a long way back to the M25.

Chatting to the regulars suggested it was fishing very hard, the guy next to me had caught 15 carp on pellet wag, but it was hard (and he was starting to have roach problems), and some anglers in the 30's and 40s were blanking completely. Apparently there were many fish spawning in the very low numbers.

So not a disaster (85lb caught), although 50lb of that was in the first hour or so, but 2+ hrs of unproductive pellet wag in 30 minute stints didn't help. If only I gone onto method sooner, but hey, that's how it goes.