A Good Wintery Session.

            After planning on getting back down to the reservoir for another night, the weather turned and was a bit spiteful for my liking, within the town I live, we had snow for around 4 or 5 hours and I didn’t fancy it. After purchasing some new rods as my old rods had taken a beating, where better to go than to Chestnut Pool in Langford. This is a good lake to get a bend in the rod or two. Where I fished it in the snow I didn’t expect it to be that difficult getting the bites going so a strategy was planned which has paid off for me over the past few weeks. I decided to use bottom baits with my ever faithful snowman on the business end, this consisted of a 14mm NV-R Boilie tipped off with either a white or Pink Pop up, and this was coupled with a small bag mix that even the biggest carp couldn’t refuse. 

            I woke up at around 5:30am to get myself up and pack the car as I was out the previous evening; this took a mere 15 minutes. With all the car packed and ready to go I set off to get up to Langford, I arrived at around 6:45am, I was the only car outside the gates, result! Just after 7:00am a good friend from college came up to meet me so we could have a bit of a social.

2nd Fish - 13lb on the Dot!

            Pete came out to open the gates and I headed straight for the car park, no-one was in the peg that I wanted which was a right result, considering how early I woke up ha-ha. Ticket paid for and the barrow loaded and it was off to the swim to put some fish on the bank. We got round there and as Pete rightly described it, it was like the Somme as the ground was so boggy, nothing I can’t deal with. The rods were out along with a couple of boilies put out in the throwing stick around the 2 rods fished tight together. This is usually a good tactic to catching a lot of fish on high stocked venues, having the rods close together.

10lb 14oz Mirror.

            Both rods on the money and its game on, or so we thought, nothing we could seem to do would scratch a bite until my sirens let out a screamer, I was seen playing the first fish being a feisty little common, no longer had I put this fish back and the right rod ripped off and I was found doing battle with something a bit bigger, after a short battle she was in the net and spun the scales round to 13lb. This shows that the snowman was working and the rod was put back on the money every single time. A fresh bag and 20-30 boilies followed after the rig, a little and often baiting pattern was to there to get the fish feeding as they were, getting nailed every single time it was a pain getting the Fang Twister out!

Small Common

            As the afternoon went on, I managed to keep a good steady flow of action coming which is why I was putting the bait out, in some cases I had only just put the rod down and as I was putting bait out over their heads the rods were ripping off, it just shows that they don’t spook off some grub. Another couple of fish were put on the bank with another low double at 10lb 14oz was unhooked and pictures taken, then the rod straight back out. As I was playing a fish one of josh’s rods ripped off and he was into a small mirror which was his first of the session. I love this type of fishing, really speedy and keeping the bites coming.

            As the day got on, I had a simultaneous take. One fish was staying deep and really showing an account of itself from which I knew was a fair bit bigger than the others feeling roughly the same as the 13lb Mirror earlier on in the session. As I got it in the net, I looked and said to josh “that’s the biggest yet! I’d say a mid-double at least” we got her on the matt and weighed here and she spun the scales to 16lb on the dot, what a lovely chunky fish, there’s always one fish that makes my day and she did it! 

Small Mirror.

           The bag mix I was using was incredibly basic; it consisted of the New Velocity Baits White V-Cloud Ground Bait with the addition of the Velocity Baits NV-R Glug to make it a bit more attractive. This was put into small golf ball bags as I usually tend to go no bigger than that as you don’t want to preoccupy the fish or feed them too much on a big stocking like PVA Bag. This was threaded onto my favoured snowman setup consisting of 15lb Braid, size 10 Nash Fang Twister Hook with a Safety Bolt Bead with no pin holding the clip in place so it was running, this is my usual day ticket setup as the fish can’t shake it, plus with the snowman setup the fish was getting nailed every single time!

Similar Setup to What I Was Using, Same Rig.

            The session moved on and it was getting late, the barrow was then packed and I was setting off home with a good amount of fish on my second session this year on Chestnut Pool, for a few runs as a morale booster, social or testing new gear it is a great venue well worth a visit. I’m sure I will be back before we all break for the summer hopefully getting amongst them again.

16lb Mirror What a Fish to End On!

Thank You for Reading!

Ross.

Follow Me on Twitter - @Rosst93

Back In Business! 24 Hour Session.

                After weeks of not catching, I thought that my best bet to get a bite was to get on the reservoir for a night whilst the pressure is still low, not forgetting when it is empty as well. I managed to get down to the reservoir at around 11am, I was greeted with a few cars in the car park, after a quick mill around and a quick update on catches from the bailiff I find myself barrowing the gear to  a decent peg which I have liked since day one. I made way to the lake with a spod mix in mind but unsure of whether to use it or not, in the end I bit the bullet and put some bait out, I put out 15 spombs of the mix and set about thinking what I want to present over the top of it, the one thing that sprung to mind was the snowman presentation featured in last week’s blog. That went straight on the left rod, a Velocity Baits 14mm NV-R Bottom bait and a Velocity Baits 10mm Pink Shelfish popup.  

 



Adding the New V-Cloud to the Mix(Still Under Test)



                After dispensing the mix of – Bird Seed, Sweetcorn, Halved NV-R Boilies, (New) V-Cloud Powder, NV-R Stick Mix and some NV-R glug I set about presenting two rods over the top. Before all of the baiting up I clipped up my left rod at around 9 ¾ wraps around the sticks which is about 39 yards, it seems short but I was happy that I was clipped up just before the shelf drop off. I then clipped up the right rod at the same, however, I got the spomb set up on my spod rod and I clipped this up at 9 wraps, the reason I did this is when the rigs with the leads are cast to the spots, they fall towards you, and knowing I’m fishing in roughly 10ft of water this left me a reasonable margin to get the rods on the money.

The Finished Mix, Caused a Massive Cloud in the Water.

                The left rod was the first to go out on the spot, hitting the clip first time. The second rod was a chod rig with a 16mm Pineapple popup on my usual preferred method, this was also cast on the spot in hope the pop-up was on the near edge of the baited patch.

The Chod Rig(Please Click if You
Can't See It)

                I had the rods in up until 3pm and made the decision to recast and put some more bait out across the top and freshen the hookbait and put a fresh bag on, 5 more spombs topped up the spot and the rigs repositioned, I left the rods in up until the evening again refreshing the bags and hookbaits. I was sat scanning the water whilst waiting a month of Sundays for my cooker to boil the kettle so I could have a nice hot cup of tea. After all this it wasn’t completely dark so I could still have some gauge on movement, throughout the evening up until 8:30 I spotted two fish crash on and behind the spot which left me in confidence of putting a fish on the bank.

3 Baits Which Have Done Well For Me - Corn, Particle Mix and
NV-R Boilies.

                9:00pm soon came round, half in a doze, I am awoken to my siren belting out a twitchy one toner... I’M IN! A good battle with a wiley carp which first I thought was a pike, where it was thrashing its head around so much, I slid the net under a stunning low double common weighing 13lb 5oz.  All the mat and weigh gear was sorted out, the desired presentation had nailed the common, she wasn’t coming off! I set up the self-take gear, which I set up straight away with some testing before hand in the garden, a few fruitless pictures later I managed to get a good shot of me cradling her. It made it so much better as I hadn’t caught on the reservoir since November, so this capture was a good ember to the fire.

13lb 5oz of Pure Gold Common, First Time Self Take.

                I slipped her back in the weigh sling and returned her safely. I then had a beaming smile on my face and set about getting the rod back out which was done effortlessly with a head torch. A fresh hook bait and mesh bag, I wrapped the 9 ¾ turns round the sticks and got the rod back on the money in hope for some action later on in the night. An hour passed and an odd occurrence on the left hand rod which had be sat bolt upright on the bed chair, nothing unfolded so a fresh bag was soon put back out. As I lay gazing out across the lake, the heavens opened and the wind began to howl across the lake, at times was a bit hair raising but I was fine tucked under my brolly in my sleeping bag. As the rain continued pouring, the rod I had recast melted off very slowly, as I lifted the rod there was an odd resistance, as I got the fish in the margins, it was a bream of 3-4lb which was unhooked and put back straight away.



The Bait That Did Well For Me!



                With the rain still pouring it made it a bit of a pain trying to get the rod back out or set round the bank sticks, so a blind cast was made and I was sure it was near as dammit.

                The night moved on and only line bites to show through the night, I was still really happy with what I would be going away with, it saves a blank and adds the first (hopefully of many) to the list of captures to follow, maybe night sessions instead of days on the reservoir may be the pick of cards, but we’ll see how time gets on. Once waking at 9am I fired up the stove and got the kettle on and had a nice hot cup of tea before packing up the barrow to set for home.

                This session has added a good buzz, I will be returning hopefully on another overnighter.  

Thank You for Reading!

Ross.

Follow Me On Twitter - @Rosst93

A Return to the Reservoir!

            After spending a week or so at home with not visiting the reservoir, it is about time I got back down there. The first reason is to get out the house, and second reason, I haven’t fished there for a while. After ordering new tackle, a new bag and a new neat tackle box, I had a selection of rigs tied up which gave me the buzz a bit more. I had spoken to a few anglers before making the drive down there and have a look around. 

A Good Winter Combination When Coupled With Glugs!

            I got down to the lake to find a van in the car park, the lake was frozen over but I still had a walk round to lay out which swims I’m more likely to go to, if the lake is busy and any other swims I fancied, providing I hadn’t seen any fish in the meantime. In some ways it may have been a wasted journey? Definitely not as I wanted to see the state of play in terms of the ice which was over an inch thick.

            After a friend kindly taking me down to the Brentwood carp show, after reacquainting with some friend and contacts, I got my hands on some new bobbins to carry on my tackle tartness ha-ha!

            I managed to compile some advice on which is the best method to use through the winters, which were zigs. Some people may say “what’s the point they’ll be on the bottom!” this isn’t entirely true; in the water you have a thermocline layer which is the changeover of warm to cold water. With all the ice sinking, the temperature may be all over the place so there may not necessarily be a warmer layer at the top.

Always Tight Lines When Using Zigs.

            The zigs sit in the warmer water which the carp, albeit cold blooded, they will sit in the warmer layers hence why the zigs are just as effective in the winter months that in the summer months, this is the plan of attack which will more often than not be going out on at least one rod unless the fish are respond well to zigs up in the layers.

            I got down to the lake later than planned however, I had a whole days fishing on my hands being able to stay as late as I’d like to. I went for the religious lap round the lake chatting to the local anglers, although there was only one on, and looking for signs of fish, I didn’t see anything but going on previous information I got on the back of the wind which sometimes pays off on some of my fishing as it did a few months ago on the same bank I have got the rods out on at the moment.

            I got 2 rods out quickly, both on zigs cast to around 14ft of water fishing between 3 and 6ft up from the lake bed with hook baits glugged in the Velocity Baits NV-R liquid, this is a good tactic for fishing for bigger fish or on day tickets that boosts and enhances the attraction of the zig hook bait. After leaving the zigs out for a little which I recast to a different area and then reset the bobbins bow string tight. Usually on this specific reservoir I wouldn’t use bowstring tight lines mainly as slack as I can get but if the fish are up in the layers, I don’t need to worry too much about line concealment.

One of my "Go Anywhere" Bottom Bait Presentations.

            The day rolled on slowly, I was watching the water like a hawk in between recording a video to coincide with this blog which will be following very soon. I didn’t see any tell-tale evidence of fish moving in front of me and very unusually no line bits from the tight lines? I thought that the fish may be sat dormant in one of the corners or sat somewhere out of the way of the angling pressure which in some circumstances wouldn’t surprise me. 

            I then got a message telling me the atmospheric pressure which was consistent throughout the day which was sitting at 1,000Pa, I was recommended to put on a bottom bait to see if there is anything lingering in the depths, to which I put out a bottom bait rig consisting of 15lb braid, Size 8 Nash Fang Twister, with a piece of silicone on the hook pinning in place a NV-R 14mm bottom bait with a 10mm Pink Shellfish Pop-up and a piece of shrink tube to act as a kicker to finish the rig off with the addition of a piece of putty to fully pin it to the bottom of the lake bed. This was cast just to the right of the swim with a small mesh bag of crushed NV-R boilies dipped in the glug to increase the attraction as with the zigs.

Another Brilliant Zig Rig Presentation Used to Great Affect
At Different Venues.

            This rod was put completely slack with the line lying fully on the bottom and was left for quite a while before re-casting over an hour later to a different spot. I had settled on a roving type method to try and search out the water in front of me at least trying to scrape a bite or two, after the rods were positioned back out on the lake bed I went and had a look in the swim 2 metres next door to me and to see a better angle of water, I watched for a few minutes with no signs of fish in the area. The wind was hacking down the lake in to peg 27 on the left from the car park so I cast into that general direction before deciding to move later on in the session.

            I decided to move a few pegs round into the wind and put 2 rods straight out and laid the rods on the deck. After the rain continuing pouring down on me with no brolly, I stood in hope for something to come from this drenching. The rain finally stopped and I stayed put in the swim for a little while longer and set up the stage stands to stay for another hour in the swim.

            Unfortunately it’s another point to the fish with no fish banked again. However, I’m still going to keep plugging away as I’ll get a result eventually and it may be back to my preferred way of tying choddys and putting them out and keep roving around the lake to search out the water a bit more, but on a better note I have a night planned to brace the cold weather.

Thanks for Reading! 

Ross.

Follow Me on Twitter - @Rosst93