A Slight Disaster!



After driving for 27 miles (14 to the lake & 13 to the next venue) I finally found a lake I can settle on, the late I went to originally was frozen over, so then I drove to a trusted venue to find all the lakes were free of ice. The sun is out and there's not a breath of wind, well put it this way I'm sat outside in a t-shirt... Maybe spring is finally here?

The First Rig That Went Out.

           I find myself sat on Becks Lake, I have fished this lake hard in the past having some good results, the biggest I have had from this specific lake was 22lb, a nice long lean common. As the suns out and it's bright, I put out a small Nash Zig Critter tied up in a way that will be explained in a minute, the left rod had been put to a small break in the reeds on an underused day ticket method, a popup maggot rig. The reason that I put the left rod down in that gap is because I saw some tell-tale signs of fish as I was having a wonder around.  

The Zig Critter Rig, Explained Further Down.

If the fish begin to switch on I have a small air dry bag of around half a kilo of Velocity Baits ZUB-O boilies in 16mm, hopefully helping to combat the volume of bream in this specific lake. There is an increasing volume of bird life on this lake and they have made it a nightmare keeping baits on the bottom, let’s just hope they don't come across my zig.  

The zig rig I have put out is sitting at around 7ft which is about a foot or so below the surface, I will slowly draw it down to find a good level. An hour or so had passed, the rods were reeled in and the barrow albeit with a flat tire was loaded and it was on the move, I moved I to a swim where there was a light warm breeze hopefully moving the fish into the marginal bay on my left hand side. I have caught plenty of fish from these margins in the past so hopefully there's something patrolling.  



The Rods In The Second Swim, Laying On The Deck.

I get into the swim and one rod is straight out my favoured pop-up rig with a 10mm Velocity Baits Pink Shellfish pop-up and a small mesh stick of the White V-Cloud Ground bait. This rig was dispatched to my left hand side, just into the entrance of the marginal bay. My second rod still with a zig attached was cast 20 yards into open water to my right hand side. No bank sticks were set up just the rods laying on the deck with a loose clutch was all that was needed.  

After seeing some movement to the reeds to my right I left the rods out another half an hour to see if anything moved to got on the feed but nothing happened.  

Soon after the rods were brought In and hooked onto the rod rings it was a move to swim number three, again a swim I have most faith in as it is one very unsuspecting swim with a small marginal set of reeds. One rod was put in the margins, this time the same pop-up rig with 2 grains of Enterprise corn and a small mesh bag of the V-Cloud dipped into the NV-R Glug. As I was sat up by the trees, I put the bank sticks into the ground and turned on the receiver, after all I don't have supersonic hearing to hear a clutch ticking ha-ha.           

This Mix I Use With Confidence when Trying to Get A
Quick Bite. Also A Good Winter Mix.

I’m just quickly going to explain how to tie my zig critter rig for the up and coming months. 

 

           Unlike the other zig bugs, the new critters don't have a hook through them; this allows you to tie the Critter on hair rig style with a multitude of sizes and patterns of hooks to choose from. As you may see you can just half blood knot them onto the line but this restricts the critters "natural movement". I allow the natural movement by tying them in an unusual but affective way.  

           Rather than half-blood knot the critter on the line, I thread a piece of NXT Zig Flo through the small ring on the critter then tie a small loop, this allows the critter to move under its own weight or without the whole zig having to move.


           I then tie a 12 turn knot less knot onto a size 10 Nash Fang Twister hook; this is so it goes down to the small knot on the created loop. I then thread on a small piece of clear shrink tubing, this is slid down over the knot, and this should be so that the critter still has full movement. This is the steamed down straight opening up the gape of the hook.  

           I use a big hook like this as the bug will rotate and fly into the fishes mouth, hooking the fish hard and allowing a stronger hook hold compared to a small hook, again you can lower the hook size but this is down to personal preference.



Some of the Components For The Zig Rig.

           Using a critter is different to using foam as you want to keep it looking and moving natural. To finish the rig I thread on a hook link kicker to propel it away from the lead and then perform a 7 turn half-blood knot onto a small swivel. When I fish zigs, starting from around 2ft below the surface in the warmer water and then making my way down 1ft at a time is the best way of searching out the water, for example, the lake I'm fishing is 14ft deep, I start at 12ft and then work my way down, providing that I had enough critters, I’d have one at each depth tied up and change them every hour to an hour and a half, especially if I intend on staying static. alternatively to give you a good chance, the adjustable zig would be a better option, starting with a zig tied up at 6ft, and then rising it 6ft would get you 12ft, then take it down a foot at a time or alternatively, start at the bottom and raise it a foot, this way is a much better way as you are keeping disturbance to a minimum. The New Zig Critters are perfect and natural looking hook bait... let's see how I get on this Spring/Summer on this presentation! 





Please Click the Picture to Enlarge It To See The Method!



It appears to me that this warm weather and low pressure hasn't stimulated the fish in any way, which I thought they'd at least be having a zig or two. I just hope that this weather is here to stay(touch wood!) and that I can finally start putting some fish on the bank, with no fish to show I feel that there was nothing wrong with my rigs and that the weather had a point of confusion to the activity of the fish.  

Next week I am on work experience with a few lads from college so I will try and keep you updated with any fishing I am doing over the seven weeks, let’s just hope I can bag one or two whilst I'm away.

 

Thank You For Reading!

 

Ross

 

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