The New Lake, Where Things Begin

The New Lake, Where Things Begin.

                Since I have fished the lagoon which is in one of my previous blogs, there is a small lake very close by that I have finally got my membership for. It is a small 4 acre lake packed with some stunning fish, fish that I am now going to start a campaign for and try and fit in at least one night a week to try and outwit these awesome specimens. The lake is set just outside Cambridgeshire around a 25 minute drive away; it took me by the scruff of the neck and screamed carp at me.

                I have always been the one for fishing huge expanses of water so I can hit to the horizon, but this lake really is something else, I’m going to explain what I’m going to be doing over the course of the year and how I am approaching this lake, not forgetting the advice that I have picked up along the way as well.

                I have been keeping up to date with the fish that have been coming out and I have lost count of how many fish, this lake has a good head that are over the 25lb mark. The record was around 37lb which went over 40lb just before spring, unfortunately this fish I wanted to target died a year or so ago, not to worry there are around 5 carp that I will be targeting, it is a good thing as it means If I catch the target on my first session I have got what I came for, but there are plenty of others so my work will be cut out on this venue. Unfortunately until I have got what I want from that lake it will remain nameless, some people that I speak to regularly may know the name of the lake already.

                This is really about what I am going to do to try and make the most of my time on this lake in terms of tactics and other things I’ll be doing, they are as follows :-

                This is the first chance I have got in front of me to properly target a water despite having a love of moving from venue to venue to keep my options open, I have been on a bait which I love made by Velocity Baits call NV-R, this bait smells pucka and I haven’t been on a session where a fish hasn’t taken it. I use this bait in different arrangements; I use the stick mix and a combo of other bait in solid bags, a real favoured method I use ANYWHERE. I also use the 14mm boilies in the same scent, these are brilliant, I have slid the net under carp of 21lb using this very bait so this won’t go a miss either used in solids or using one of the ranges pop-ups on a Choddy which will be explained.

                The fish in this lake are heavily fed on Mainline Cell; I want to try and do something different and use bait they may have never seen before which I’m not 100% sure of at this point in time. I will be using the Velocity Baits RE-AKT for the few weeks leading up to the winter months as it is dark and fish simply love it. Then I will be using a bait call ZUB-O through the winter months as I tend to use low key and less potent baits in the winter hopefully giving me an advantage, this bait is a mottled white colour and looks washed out and the fish love this bait as well.

                I will be using the baits in different ways until I find a way that the fish are confident with, if they prefer a spread of bait than a greedy pig style method then the spread will open the way for me to use in future sessions.

                Onto the rigs, I have a lot of faith in Combi rigs as they really are something special, they are camouflaged into any lake bed because of the flouro boom and they look great and in the right situation they really do rise above other rigs. The other one I will be using on a consistent basis is the good old Chod rig, I have been playing about with this rig and shown different ways of tying it up and I definitely have my preference of ways of tying it, but there is a lot of bottom dwelling blanket weed so I will have to play about with the size of the Chod rig until I find the optimum depth.

                Over the next couple of weeks I will be switching across to Nash Tackle, they have a great range open for use and they will all be received greatly into my fishing, I have 2 patterns of Nash hooks in my tackle box, one being the fang twister which I shall be adopting into my Chod rigs and I will show you how to tie one up in my next blog, hopefully it will be finished next week providing I can get onto the bank first thing in the week.  

                I really do hope things settle in quick with my first session next week, not just this but the winter is right on our doorstep, I shall be writing regular blogs on night sessions,  48 hour sessions and even the odd short session with other odd sessions throughout the winter on other venues. Hopefully if it can be organised, a few sessions with special guests as well this will make things more interesting.  

                College is finally upon us again so it’s back behind the desk to finish of my qualification stepping into the world of work next year, keep reading to see how I get on over the next few months.  Follow me on twitter - @Rosst93 and like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/RossTierneyBlogPage

World Carp Classic 2012 - Lago de Bolsena, Italy



Peter Micula - PVTV 15



                It's finally the end of august and time for the World Carp Classic held at Lago de Bolsena in Italy, after being awake for a full day and having to be at college for 1:30am, we are airport bound - Gatwick. We finally arrive and get to the drop off point making way straight for customs to get to our departure gate, everything sorted and walking through the scanners, it screams out as I walk through, after being searched I am clear to proceed. After getting into the departure lounge we make a bee line for Maccy D's, a sausage, egg and cheese bagel went down a treat. We get to the departure gate and are on the plane to Italy, we flew over Bolsena as we flew in from the north of Italy it was huge!

                The plane touched down and we were soon in the 30 degree heat ready to travel to Bolsena around 2 hours from the Fiumcino airport - in nothing but Fiat 500's. We reached Bolsena and pitched camp for the next few days until all the preparation side of things is complete, we made a short walk to the water’s edge to see what the lake looked like.. It was simply breath taking so we all went swimming for a couple of hours and I was fantastic.

                Friday evening was soon upon us, there was a gathering in the bar of some of the anglers and visitors from Bivvy City, after grabbing a much needed beer from the bar, I met and spoke to Mr and Mrs Spomb, really nice people and I am glad to have met them and some of the stories they had about recent trips. After countless games of table football a small rivalry begins losing some games I have found a table based game I am okay at without mincing things.

                We spent a fair bit of time in Bivvy City during the day on Saturday thus moving onto the pasta party in Marta, myself and my colleague Paul spoke to the reps of Wiley X, they are glasses representatives from the America based company, the glasses being ballistics tested and 100% polarised as seen in the pictures. Sunday was eventful first the Gladiator Games hosted by Carp Connections Hans Ssingh, i was pulled into "the pit" to face a 6ft+ Dutch fisherman on a 9kg horizontal lift to see who lasts the longest, I held my own for a matter of minutes but unfortunately lost, then the fun part, a wader race  by which Shuttleworth College faced Carp connections undertaken by Paul Wixcey, storming into an incredible lead, he tried his hardest they came up trumps, then a Shuttleworth vs Sparsholt just ended in a full on water fight rolled onto the evening parade through Bolsena town, carrying the national flags following a horse drawn cart with Ardy Veltkamp leading us was good, we then walked through the church with the flags and held them on the stage for the 2011 Madine champions of Germany to replace the trophy on a stand.  A short walk to a pizzeria with the Shuttleworth team accompanied by media team member Randy we sat and had a pizza - had to have a traditional Italian pizza whilst we were here. The peg draw was soon finished at the peg draw after a quick tidy up and we were back at base camp thoroughly knackered and time for bed and a cooked breakfast in the morning, result.

French Team - Big Fish Richworth
With The First 20kg+ In Our Section



                The night was pretty rough, waking up around 12-1:00 with a dodgy stomach and a few shooting pains I managed to slip off to sleep again and woke at 7:00am with a continuation of some stomach upset, after a wash and something to eat and a lovely cup of English breakfast tea, my stomach was feeling better already, bivvies down and gear away ready to move, I am stocking up on water and other supplies to keep me and my partnering marshal Jack going until we go back to basecamp for a shower.  A couple of mile stretch of our section was covered and introduced ourselves to the anglers and some rest was taken, sat reading Crafty Carper Magazine and chilling out. Back at the marshal station and food and supplies was dropped off and sat in the Bivvy trying to evict an ultimate swarm of mozzies and other bugs the citronella candles were put just inside the doorway of the bivvy and they seem to be doing the trick with several casualties swimming in the molten wax things are looking up for a bite-less night, time to wait for some dinner to come through.

                Radio activity is showing that fish are being caught just round from us on the lake in the ATT section, our Italian team had a fish but the Starter of the ATT section marshals weighed up the fish, it was a 3.6kg Common. 11:35 was soon here, the HQ now offline, time to climb into the sack and try and get some sleep before the section check to weigh any sacked up fish from during the night, if any have been caught.

A Lovely Fish, It Was Decided To
Give Him A Good Soaking!!



                Woken at 1:20 to a fish that needed weighing in PVTV section being a common weighing in at 13.5kg - absolutely stunning fishing dark and very muscular. After an eventful night a few more fish on the cards, in ATT peg one a 6.4kg Common, ATT peg five a 5kg Common. Whilst on our rounds first thing in the morning in PVTV a 7.0kg Common was reported, again another poor looking day in terms of weather more rain persisted. Another few fish to PVTV 8 being a nice sized 14.9kg Common, ATT3 a 12.0kg Common, ATT5 3.5kg Mirror and in ATT1 a 6.3kg Common. These results show that the fish are well spread unlike Madine being held in one prolific section of the lake. Just as I am sat typing this out my attention is drawn to PVTV15 again with the angler in the boat with a bend in the rod, we soon take a wonder down and weigh the fin perfect pretty common weighing in at 3.0kg.

The 22kg+ Common Peter Micula Had
When We Were Squaring Up Papers.



                Finally at 1:00pm the rain has stopped and the water is still thrashing the beach in front of us, the rain had been going since I got up first thing in the morning. After dealing with 3 fish in one peg with a pretty mirror as pictured, we finally had a lump and a half, an 18.2kg(40lb) Common landed in ATT01 also as pictured we got back to basecamp only to e pulled in both directions to ATT03 and PVTV08 to weigh fish but transport was at hand so a 40 minute job was turned into 10 minutes, now in the comfort of my bivvy I am off to sleep as we have been instructed to stay in our bivvies even if the anglers get a fish but it must be sacked until the morning so some much needed sleep catch up is 110% on the cards! Feeling absolutely shattered I eventually get out of bed at 8;00am, the section is already actor but the sun looks like it'll be putting a much slower angle on the result until this evening progresses on.

Greeted By Camera Crews The 22.5kg(49lb 5oz) Common
Was Hoisted For The Media Cameras, What A Stunner!



                A few more fish on our section after 3:00pm brings PVTV15 over ATT01, ATT01 are on 107.8kg of fish whilst the fish that PVTV15 caught brings them up to 125.6kg pull out a lead on our section, so far they are that far ahead they are the PVTV and ATT section leaders with a good weight of fish and most importantly catching consistently! The rain continues pouring, soaked to the skin we had to previously had to make a trip to the end of our section ATT05 to resolve some issues, whilst doing so the English Old Ghost Team manage to get there first fish on the scoreboard. I am sat in a soaking wet t-shirt sulking in my bivvy, I thought we were in Italy not still in sunny England - this weather resembles something we have once a week without fail in England, as soon as we leave Italy the weather will perk up, which would be typical! Rather than being sat out in the fresh air or socialising with the anglers, the rain has halted that considerably, so I am sat reading Crafty Carper Magazine which is keeping me entertained. Another relentless evening soaking wet I gave up trying to keep dry. Another couple of fish before I go to bed to wake up at 8:00am. Up and awake I set off to weigh in some more fish as follows;-

01:30am - 11.5kg Common ATT01

05:30am - 06.0kg Common ATT03

06:00am - 03.7kg Common PVTV15

06:30am - 03.0kg Common PVTV15

08:48am - 13.6kg Common PVTV15

10:25am - 13.9kg Common PVTV7

11:56am - 08.9kg Common PVTV15

12:20am - 21.1kg Common PVTV14

13:01pm - 08.8kg Common PVTV15

14:15pm - 12.7kg Common PVTV15

14:16pm - 09.0kg Common PVTV15 

We Really Were Over The Moon
For Peter, He Truly Deserved It
Well Done Again!



                Finally after the spell of action I am picked up by Mike to go back to our base. Sitting down trying to fill out the paperwork as soon as possible he kindly treats us to some lunch. There are now 4-5 marshals on out section which will ease the pressure and the tireless work. The paperwork had to be continued and finished off before 8:30am, at this time it was 11:00, there were some really good looking big fish 18.2kg and a 22.5kg(49lb 5oz) common to our pegs this means we pick up the biggest fish and a hot contender for 2nd/1st place overall. I eventually got to bed at around 3:15am and had to be up as early as possible to try and radio through the 40. With that done I am waiting for the media team to get to us for some filming and pictures! The fish was reported to media; Peter was over the moon with such a stunning fish. Plenty of pictures and filming were all done. Barely any fish were caught during the day on our section, temperatures pushing 25/30 degrees turning the fish off, the evening was also slow and barely any fish only 3 fish in our section were weighed in total on the last morning.

Last Fish After The Hooter For Ian
Chillcott, Result To The 2012 Champions



                The sweep of the section completed and we're gathered in PVTV15 with the 2012 champions along with Ian Chillcott and his camera crew filming the celebrations of the winning team, which was a good laugh.  All the gear packed away it's back to bivvy city for tonight’s ceremony and the champions to be crowned. The sun is about and it's going to be another scorcher once again. Well it has been a good event meeting and catching up with people I had met last year at Madine, I have met some amazing people some of which I hope to meet up with over the next year or so, I will say that in a few year’s time I shall be competing – Watch This Space!

Damsel Practice Session

                 After wishing I had entered the UK Carp Cup and being too old for the British Young Carp Angling Championships, I am hedging my bets on a small local charity match. The venue is Manor Farm Fishing in Biggleswade on Damsel which was and still is a fly fishing lake but has been converted into a mixed coarse lake as well. This is the complex where I have been testing products for Velocity Baits for quite a while, but moving around venues I haven’t been here for a while. I must say it’s good to be going back.

                Onto the session objectives:-

                With the weather for Drayton only resembling classic “Great British” weather and making product testing incredibly difficult, I have taken this opportunity to test the NEW Colour Glugs which were featured in my last couple of blogs. There isn’t one method I am going to home in on particularly, but I have definitely headed in the direction for my favourite method- Solid Bags and also a couple of Zigs.

                I always use a different mix. I find this helps to keep my options open and it will be suited to different venues especially if the fish don’t switch onto one method or mix at all.



                I always tend to do a couple of laps of the lake, rather than making a bee line for one swim, I do have favourite swims on different lakes, as does everyone I am sure even though some people seem to hide it. I always tend to look for the fish. After all you don’t want to go for a good looking swim in terms of being comfortable and not have a single fish in front of you. 

                Onto the natural colour glugs. You’re probably thinking what are they? Being honest when I saw the videos on the Velocity page on Facebook and other videos I had seen, they are absolutely amazing in the ways that they react. They are a visual attractor as well as being a cloud creator. The glug isn’t scented at all although this isn’t saying you can’t add your own attractors to them if you want to. They can be used for the following –

1.       Glugging hook baits before casting especially singles or choddies.

2.       Glugging mesh bags

3.       Injecting into solid bags using a needle – good edge!

4.        Putting in zig mixes to “out cloud” other anglers.

                During this session I will be using most of the colours and trying to see which are the more productive colours of the lot. I don’t usually use glugs on my hookbaits but it has come about that during the Spring, Summer and Autumn they come into their own being extra attractive rather  than just a boilie or a standard flouro bait on their own. They have changed my fishing and have created a new edge.

                The Session –



Small Damsel Lake Common



                I eventually arrived at around 9:30 about an hour later than planned. I had a wander around to find a swim. After finding a big swim with fish in front in the big bay at the top end I’m taking up the task of deploying my rods. I am casting both rods around 30-40 yards out.  I'm using the Natural Colour Glugs on both rods; left one on red and the right one on white. I made up my Spomb/zig mix and put around 10 spombs over the top to start with. The left rod is having some reaction straight away so the introduction of 10 more spombs is on the cards.

                 After a bit of persistence with the zigs, I leave the swim to settle for a bit and see if anything kicks off immediately. I had a bit of an issue with my sloppy mix and it is too lumpy. Its only recently I have taken to the zigs so I’m not all that with the mixes, ha-ha. A bit of a change on the right hand rod; a medium solid bag was attached and cast to a small U in the reeds to my right as I saw a fish crash there earlier on. This was smothered with the White Natural Glug.

                12:05 saw an absolute screaming take on the solid bag next to the reeds, only to add some confusion when I felt it bang its head and the hook the pulled, gutted! The rod is recast with a smaller bag hopefully to entice another bite, again with the Natural Flouro Glug smothered on the outside.  After that unfortunate spell I have the rod recast a bit further to the left and within 20 minutes the rod ripped off resulting in a very feisty 6lb common. It was caught on my special solid bag mix coupled with a 14mm Mulberry pop-up.

                A spell of no action came and so I recast the rods with 2 bottom presentations on, the left rod being - 14mm NV-G combo with a bag of crushed HD Readies, the right rod was another solid bag with the proven mix in. Hopefully I can get 2 more quick bites. Things have slowed right down, with things going through my mind including leaving the rods out another 30mins and then recast at least one back towards the reeds, hopefully the boilies have defrosted and are useable so I can bait the reeds up with them.

                Finally another take. The rod with the NVG Combo on was fired out at range, a single line bite then the rod ripped off resulting in another mid to upper single. The rod was soon fired to the same place but no line clip so a good cast to the spot trapping the line to kick the hooklink out before it makes contact with the water surface.



Lightly Coloured Damsel Common



                The right rod was once again positioned even tighter to the reed opening to my right with another solid bag smothered in the natural colour glug. Let’s see what happens. Not long after repositioning the right hand rod, the tip wraps round and springs back signalling a pick up, then the tip begins to slowly pull round as the rod screams off again, resulting in another single figure common. Result. As I’m sat scanning the water I spot a fish roll around 10 yards to the right of my right hand rod. Hopefully I'll get a bite soon!

                No action followed that fish crashing yards from my right hand rod, so I brought it in and threaded on a new bag. This was then dispatched back to the reeds, this time with NVR glug poured inside the bag. This is sometimes just as effective as smothering the outside.

                Not long after the solid bag being in the reed spot, it absolutely screamed off. The fish kited 20 yards across that margin and went solid. I tried to free it for around 20 minutes and nothing, eventually the line gave way. Devastation for me as I know it was a good fish especially as I have been catching regularly on that rod. Another rod is re-positioned this time fished locked up in hope to stop the same happening again. Another half an hour and nothing else occurs. I think with the disturbance on that rod has moved the fish out. 

Home for me. Now I have the information I have needed - in other words a good successful session with a good few bites. Until next time, keep reading.