Arrans Lake (Entire Farm) 25-8-15

Every now and then I get the urge for an easy day’s fishing. It might just be for a bite a chuck or hopefully a nice bag of match carp, but with this year quickly disappearing and no big catches to report I bit the bullet and went for some easy fishing. By all reports Arrans Lake (Entire Farm) had been doing some amazing things in matches , so this seemed like a good time to give it a bash. I’d done my homework (methods, pegs and depth), phoned to check availability, cleaned my kit, packed extra bait and headed off before 6am for an early start.

I drew up to the venue (a new one to me) at about 0620, to be the first person there (no surprise there). I had a quick look at pegs and headed on to the far car park. After christening the portaloo, I loaded my kit on the trolley and stopped around about peg 13 – a fairly unremarkable peg with no snags but on a prominent arc into the lake.

Whilst setting up I fed the 3m line a few times with some 6mm pellets. This apparently can really produce. I got out my top sets, pole, roller etc. Set up the landing net, put on a specially tied rig on a top set (0.19 Reflo, 0.2g Drennan 6, size 8 B911X) added an 11mm expander and dropped it in at 3m where there were tail patterns appearing already. I had high hopes of a few bites since I bumped a fish while I was plumbing up.

10 seconds, bite, elastic, brief fight 3lb, mirror carp.

Feed (small amount only). 10 seconds, bite, elastic, brief fight, 4lb common carp.

Feed (small amount again). 15 seconds, bite, elastic, rig comes back (possible foul hooker or lost pellet).

And that became the pattern of the first hour. Sometimes I’d have to wait like a minute for a bite, other times it would be instantaneous. But the fish were there already in numbers. Typical fish was 2-4lb in weight with a few smaller and a few slightly better ones

By 0730 I’d caught 100lb of fish (all that is just under an hour – my previous best was 87lb of fish in 60 mins, but on that day I couldn’t keep the fish coming). Then it changed – the fish really turned up, despite being in 2ft of water they started churning on the top, almost as if spawning and completely oblivious to my actions and me catching the odd fish, and ravenous. If I fed they churned more and providing I pinged a few pellets in they stayed put from 3m out to right under my feet in 6 inches of water. In my many years fishing I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and what’s more they weren’t going anywhere.

This was the scrum of carp in my swim by 0730

I played around with the rig – up in the water produced smaller fish, down the edge slightly larger, in the scrum too many foulhookers. So I tried a short top 2 instead and at 2m out I was on the edge of the churn and fishing the bottom produced regular strong bites.

0830 and my count was up to 250lb. Another PB 150lb of carp in an hour! Hour three the same with a little freelined pellet in the scrum to pick out the bigger ones (up to 8lb) that had moved in, 400lb of fish in three hours – you get the idea.   

And on it went. By the time the owner came round and collected my £10, I was up to 450lb. Even he was amazed at the number of fish in front of me; there was easily 100lb of fish visible at any one time just swirling on the top.

This caused a few problems – the odd foulhooker, the odd smashed rig and gatecrashers in the landing net (on numerous occasions I’d net both the fish I was after and others in the way), I didn’t count the gatecrashers in my ongoing tally, but I wondered if they would count in a match?

By the 500lb mark I’d used just three pints of feed pellets, but was running out of 11mm expanders for the hook (I’d prepped a second batch earlier in the session), so a switch to a smaller hook and some 8mm expanders, then some 6mm expanders kept the bites ticking along. It didn’t take long to pass my previous best day’s tally of 554lb and it was still early.

And so for the rest of the day it was a case of feeding, changing the presentation (particularly the depth) and fishing in and out of the main scrum of fish. Trying to pick up the odd bonus fish and generally trying to keep things ticking over. I lost a bit of momentum on a few occasions, and sometimes I could wait a couple of minutes for a good bite (more 11mm expanders would have helped here I think), but the fish kept coming and the weight kept building.

After fishing for 6 hours I had caught over 800lb of carp (and one rudd) but still the fish sat there asking to be caught. At this point the rain started and everything started to get more difficult to fish quickly with the landing net and umbrella causing problems, but I now had a target in mind and was going for it.

At 1430 I caught my target fish. It might not look remarkable as a common carp, but it was a major milestone that I’m not sure I’ll ever do again. 1000lb of fish in a single sitting – under 8 hours. Amazing. And still the swim was alive with fish - even more than when I started.

The common carp took me through the 1000lb barrier

I may not rush back to Arrans any time soon and I suspect I may never catch that quantity of fish again, but if catching this kind of thing floats your boat then you really need to get down there – I suspect the world 6 hour match record will be going soon, and 800-1200lb could be quite possible to the right angler on the right peg on the right day. 

This was the scene when I packed up - amazing there must be 200lb of fish on the top alone

Catch List:

Commons: 100

Mirrors: 150

Rudd:1

Total weight: 1000lb

Tylers Common 23-8-15

Every year I set myself a target - fish three new venues. This might not sound like much, but it forces me to try some different things rather than sticking to the same old tactics in the same old places.

This year has been highly disrupted, and it's only now that I could think about new places and one place that was on the to do list was Tyler's Common near Brentwood, Essex. A quick phone call on the Saturday confirmed there were pegs available for pleasure fishing and the Horseshoe lake was recommended. A little homework ensured, checking blogs and match reports to find a list of better pegs and the usual pole and pellet approach was prepared. 

I arrived at the venue just before 7am, loaded the trolley and headed on down the various slopes to the Horseshoe Lake, it's not a long walk, but not insignificant either, but I could tell the slope on the way back might be a little tiring - hopefully my kit would be lighter on the way back. 

I settled in on peg 4 - one of the form pegs on the lake, it was not hard to see why with an overhanging tree on the left that screamed margin fish, and catching in the margin was a known tactic on the venue. 

The margins and a source of much frustration

Unusually for me, I decided to fish the margin as an opening gambit having fed the line as I set up. Even at that time in the morning there were odd swirls, it was looking promising. But then reality set in. 

Firstly, my lovingly prepared expanders either floated or fell apart (this is the second week I've had problems and these pellets were new from a different source) and when I did get the rig in the water the bites were typical iffy things that knocked the bait clean off the hook. I set up a lighter rig with smaller hook for corn an 8mm banded pellet, but this fared no better.

Over the course of the first two hours I hooked at least half a dozen carp and watched even more bow wave away from the pole, but I didn't land a single one. I'm happy to admit the odd one or two was foul hooked, but by no means was that the case for every one. 

Eventually I managed a small carp of about a pound. This seemed scant return, especially given the reputation of the venue and the excellent peg. I tried a few different approach, tighter feeding, further along the bank, but nothing really worked. So I rested the line and went out on the pole down the track with 4mm expanders (I meant to put the 6mm in my bag and picked these up in error). The track produced skimmers and one carp to small expanders, corn got nothing and sonubaits 8mm was duly ignored too. 

Up in the water failed as well, so it was all about chopping a changing for lots of frustration and not many fish. 

Just after midday I decided enough was enough and set up a method feeder out towards the island where there were fish moving. This didn't produce any bites either, but whilst a sat there watching the tip do nothing, I fed the inside again, but this time much closer than I'd been fishing - probably just past the top 3 line. Interestingly, within a few minutes there were fish all over the bait. It was time to have another dangle. 

The island run all the way along the lake and are a natural fish holding area

Sure enough by feeding close and offering either 2 4mm expanders or a grain of corn on the hook, I started to pick up some fish. Not rapid and not massive, but the fish were there and despite one or two foulhookers, the fish began to flow. Mostly small, but with a few bigger fish up to 8lb 8oz, over the next hour or so I started to put a little run together. 

Finally! Some carp action

I packed up just before 3pm as the rain eased off and had to drag the gear back up the slopes to the car (and yes it did seem a long way on the way back). It had been a frustrating day, I had managed a few, but just wish that I'd been a bit more prepared and had tried the line a bit earlier and then I might have had a real day to remember. Next time I would try punched meat on the pellet line, make sure the expanders were fit for purpose and hope to pick up more bites that way.

Catch List:

Mirrors:3

Commons:12

Skimmers:10

Perch: 1 

 

Total weight:50lb

Club Lake 16-8-15

The least said about this session the better. Following a quick recon visit the previous Friday, I decided to give one the the local club lakes a go for a few hours on Sunday morning. 

Lately I've struggled at this venue, for some reason the carp have gone iffy and the bream have disappeared, but I thought that since I hadn't had a go for a good few years it might be worth a visit. It wasn't.

I arrived to find only one peg gone, so settled into pole fishing up to the island. Setting up I found my expander pellets had gone to mush, so it was paste and corn as a swap bait. I quick 6lb mirror on paste suggested a good day ahead, but that was that, but a few roach and skimmers for the next four hours. I returned home reminding myself why I'd stop fishing it in the first place. Ho hum.

Three trips down the Colne

Ever since Hartleton I've been a bit rough: A horrible, nagging cough that started mid-June has been annoying me somewhat meaning that opportunities to go fishing were limited. However, once I started to feel a little better I snatched a few short sessions on the local river. 

The first trip was on July 19th (I still cant believe I missed the first month of the season!) and although I fancied having a go for some bigger fish, a bit of trotting with maggot was decided upon. Although the first peg (the bend) was low and didn't fish well, every other peg I visited produced fish - lots of fish. In fact I probably caught more fish than most visits I recall, and some fish putting in appearances in unlikely pegs. Although there were no monsters, there were a couple of nice trout and a lot of perch in some of the spots I normally wouldn't look at. In fact the fishing was so good that after three hours I'd only made it half way up the stretch I'd normally cover in this time. This is the joy of summer river fishing when it all comes together. 

Hopefully it bears well for the rest of the season. I finished with 65 fish, lots of roach and perch for a good 10lb. Not bad for three hours. 

The second trip was a week later on July 25th, but this followed torrential rain the day before.I was hoping that most the rain had not yet made it into the water course. I was wrong. I was met with a river in considerably flood, well up and a revolting colour. But since weekend fishing time is limited one has to press on and see what you can do. 

Well? It was difficult. Some pegs made presentation almost impossible in the flow, but by carefully working the various swims I picked up a fish or two. I finished on a mere 15 fish, including a little brownie from the same peg as the week before, but clearly from the photo it's a different fish. And that was the highlight of an otherwise tough morning. 

The third trip on 9th August was planned to be a bit different, the aim was to target the lower weir for a barbel. The plan was to alternate between legering for barbel near the lip of the weir for 30 mins and then trot on maggot for 30 mins, and to keep alternating until I'd had enough. Needless to say the barbel did not play ball, although I managed to pick up about 30 small fish on the maggot along with a handful of respectable perch. A brief look at some other swims (the disabled peg and the post) also produced nothing in the barbel stakes, and before I knew it, it was time to go.