Velocity Baits Flouro Glug Review

Velocity Baits Flouro Glug Review

Part One!



The Three Colours - Red, White and
Orange!



            After being on the Velocity Baits product testing team, I have been asked by Miles to test the flouro glugs when I’m next out on the bank.  This is just a quick review to say what my first impressions and other thoughts on the glugs are before getting on the bank to put them through their paces to see how they stand up to vigorous testing.  After seeing pictures on the Velocity emails we regularly receive, Miles recommended the new flouro glugs, they are made from natural products and they don’t pose any harm to the fish. I haven't really read into these glugs myself but have been tempted or should I say persuaded to use them within a blog, primarily for reasons stated below.

            I haven’t been the one for using these types of flouro products but after all I am part of a team to help get the best out of the products, and after all there not going to do any damage to my fishing in any way. I am an avid fan of solid bag fishing so there are lists of things I’ll be doing to see how they do –

1.     Injecting the glug into Solid Bags – Testing the PVA friendly qualities and to see if it affects the bait on the inside of the bag.

2.     To see what happens to the colour on a scaled down version of the lake bed.

3.     To see how it copes when I glug PVA mesh bags of pellet(HD Readies)

4.     Identify how they help the attraction of pop-ups specially using the yellow with the Pineapple pop-ups.

5.     To see if the flouro glug brings me quick bites as opposed to using normal bags on their own.    



Use With Solids to Add A
Halo In Your Swim!



            On the flipside of using these points to help me see what the glugs do, I’ll be testing the consistency and also the colours of the glugs, this will be the make or break point, after all you don’t want a thick flouro glug that’s going to be transparent as a window and not look very good or have a poor consistency, also testing how long they last in the water on a small scale. I am a fan of using solid bags where ever I can get away with it, I use them on high stocked day ticket waters and even on small waters where you don’t have so many fish, they are a good tactic if you want to keep disturbance to a minimum in your swim whilst people are piling in particle and other bits and pieces, however, I’m not saying that is a bad idea because when I get to know a water I love using particle and loose fed items, it keeps the fish in the area and makes your swim more interesting. I am a sucker for using the Spomb and the Mini Spomb after mastering spodding quite quickly.



My Solid Bag Mix



            I will be using 3 different coloured glugs which I will review individually and they will all be included in my favourite PVA bag mix – NV-R Stick Mix, C2-R Pellet(1.5mm) and The M&M’s(1.0mm). The glugs will be injected into the bag using a 5ml Syringe, the reason I use a small syringe is because you don’t want to overdo it, after all you’re after a bite, not trying to make your swim look pretty and decorate it under the surface. (ha-ha) - This method will be going into my fishing from now on, from  devising this pva bag mix there is all sorts of sizes of feed that will entice a bite, with the use of these glugs this will be a killer tactic on the bank - lets see in the next stage of the testing!

             After receiving the glugs first thing in the morning it gave me the rest of the day to test them and to see what they are like, I must say I am presently surprised by the glugs, here are my thoughts on the colours -

White Glug: - The white glug is brilliant, it clings on to an array of hookbaits and it looks brilliant, this may be a good idea when fishing on silt to help your bait show up or even in weed to add a small halo. There is no scent to the glugs but being a visual attractor it’s excellent! the small bottle makes it look almost like a bottle of PVA glue, which I thought it was to start off with but then after looking and feeling it it has similar properties but I know it wouldn't have been swapped, the glug is awesome and will be put throroughly through its paces in the next few weeks.

Orange Glug: - I have never been a fan of using orange hook baits, having the option of this colour is excellent, it clings onto the baits well and it looks amazing, the colour quality is outstanding and it will again stick out like a sore thumb! The neat little bottle finishes it off nicely, there isn't any other rubbish to go with it, just the bottle on its own, plainly for your use and in which ever way you wish to use it, there are various other colours but i have been sent these and each will be used in all the same ways to make a fair test.

Red Glug:-  Being a fan of the NV-R boilies and other baits, this will tie in quite nicely adding another spectrum of colour to the lake bed when fishing with either bags of whole boilies or using small 50p(quick bite) bags. This again sticks to the baits well and has a consistency the same as PVA Glue, amazing! This is a great colour and is a darker than the other two, it is said that either lighter colour glugs and darker colour glugs do just as good as each other, I'm not phased in the slightest that this is darker than the other, it may be better than the others? We shall see.

            The glugs are amazing when coupled with pop-ups or even bottom baits, this may prove a killer on really dark lake beds, adding the white in may cause some interest as the fish would have never seen these sorts of glugs before, it may mean that they will bring you a few more bites being so bright the fish won’t have any choice but to investigate the baits and hopefully you’ll have one or 2 during your session.

            These glugs are even PVA friendly; this is a bonus when you use glug the outside of your bags as I have started doing in my own fishing. Glugging your bags adds that extra attraction and pulling power, adding this to the inside of your bag boasts attraction and leave you standing out from the crowd as such. Internally glugging or externally glugging your bags work just as well the smells don’t over power the scents of the bait. It also leaves the option of glugging the hookbaits, no matter how dark or light they are, the picture shows the gloopy texture of the glug and how it clings tightly to the hookbait.

            Enough jabbering on, if they look this good at home, then I wonder what they look like and how they fair on the bank, meaning I’m going to take a trip to a high stocked lake to try and get the best from these glugs.. Keep reading and you yourself could be using these glugs in your fishing. Until Part 2..

To get onto Part Two, follow along on this page, for other information or all things fishing, like my page on Facebook - www.facebook.com/RossTierneyBlogPage or even follow me on Twitter - @Rosst93

           

Short Evening Session

Short Evening Session!

After getting let out of college a bit early I was scrambling around in the shed frantically tying up solid bags. I set off in the car with my brother and arrived to see the swim that I wanted to be free. I open the lid of the bucket with my solid tied up and under arm the bag out. After watching copious tench cruising into the small bay, I am sat on the floor lapping up the scenery and watching the fish cruise around. I am then uplifted by a savage liner on the rod, I look into the water and see a small plume of bubbles rise to the surface, then another set of liners just to evolve into nothing. I feel excellent, no worries at home, college work/assignments are pretty much up to scratch, its days like these where I love being down at the lake. When ever I think about doing a short session, I think of a couple of things, where are the fish? and what am I going to use to not spook them easily, well the approach is answered.

The presentation I am using is nothing extremely difficult. I am an avid fan of using solid bags where ever I can, especially on short sessions I must say! The bag mix is - 1mm The M&M's pellet, 1.5mm C2-R pellet and some NV-R stick mix. Before casting, I take a 5ml syringe and squirt a liberal amount of glug over the bag before casting to maximise attraction. I have devised this solid PVA Bag mix out of some bait i have in the shed, i also have deep faith in all of it as i have caught on all the bait that is included in the mix, minus the NV-R stick mix, although getting my string pulled using that shouldn't be hard to go by! The fish are going absolutely mental, tench have other things on there mind, although I wouldn't mind a tench as I haven't caught one for a year or so now!

As I'm sat in the margins watching for signs of fish, I grab a bottle of the Kiana Carp Bait Smoke Goo(Corn Twist) and start messing round with it to see what it looks like, looks brilliant! I see a few carp moving, they look like submarine in this lake! This is the place where the magic happened and where I caught the pictured - 23lb 10oz Mirror. As I'm sat by the rod, the stow lifted to the top and held there.. but unfortunately nothing unfolded from that activity. Next time I will be a bit more prepared, I will still fish the solid bag mix, instead of fishing one rod, I  will have 2 but with either a piece of black foam on a zig or a Nash Zig Bug to test what happens. Sorry the pictures aren't excellent I didn't pick up my usual fishing camera this time.. woops!

Next week you will find me down at Richworth Linear Fisheries on Brasenose marshalling for the Korda Carp Team England Trials, alongside the carpfest happening nearby, you your about, come and say hello!

Until Next Time - Keep Catching!

Question and Answer

Special Guest Question and Answer!

             This month is certainly a special one, an email saw the progress of a new blog that will hot things up a bit, through chatting to the man for a number of weeks and generously reading my blogs and helping me a tad, I asked for the assistance of Julian Cundiff to do something special for this specific blog. He didnt even hesitate with giving me an answer a straight "yes" was all it took to add the final pieces of the jigsaw and here it is enjoy!

              Here is a short question and answer scenario, hope you learn something or pick up another perspective answer from Jules :-

Q. What is your most memorable capture within your carp fishing days?

Jules - I guess catching the 49-06 and 38-12 and 31-12 in 24 hours at Church Pool is right up their Ross.



Jules Clutching an Amazing Capture at
Nash Church Pool.

 Q. For new angler starting to fish harder lakes, what are the top 3 tips you recommend to get started?

Jules - Listen to what others who have been successful tell you+fish only that water+spend more time day and night looking rather than fishing.

Q. Anglers across the country have a "pet hate" when fishing what is yours and how did it come about?

Jules - Not really got one other than bait boats being used by able bodied anglers to deposit bait and end tackles to places they cannot cast to.

Q.  If there was one rig that you wouldn't fish without, which would it be?

Jules - Multi-Rig with a Nash Diffusion leader, lead clip, lightish lead and fluorocarbon mainline...Steamed hooklength natch.

Q. What is the one question you are always asked on the bank or in person at shows on a regular basis?

Jules - How do I get sponsored Jules.

Q. Everyone has there own favourite pattern of hook fished in there own way, which is yours?

Jules - Nash Fang 8 for Pop Ups.

Q.  Which lake would you go back and fish on for another season?

Jules - Savay or Drax.

Q. A majority of anglers ask, "how do I get into the magazines" - what are the top 5 tips that you recommend for anglers to get to the next
stage in their fishing?

Jules - Photograph everything + go to all the shows + find a prolifoc winter water + show loyalty to a bait and tackle firm and send pics in asap.

Q. If there was one thing you wouldn't go fishing without, what would t be and why?

Jules - Coffee cos I am addicted to it drinking 20-30 cups a day.



Q. I'm sure every angler has seen a bag of boilies at some point, which make and scent of boilies are your most favoured over others?

Jules - Nutrabaits Trigga Ice ATS with elevated GLME from Rollin Baits.

Q. In between your busy lifestyle and social life, how many sessions do you get on the bank a week?

 Jules - One to two overnighters every week rain and shine, summer and winter, blanking or bagging !!

Q. Is there any fish in specific that you are targeting at the moment? What's its name and weight?

Jules - Clarence from 3-Lakes Selby which is a stunning mid to upper 30 !!!

Q. What's the most embarrassing thing that has appened to you whilst fishing?

Jules - Crapped in my hood by accident in Kent with no spare clothes....

Q. There are a lot of tactics that some anglers deem complicated, do you think you have to use complicated tactics to catch wary fish or do you think that simple is just as good?

 Jules - There is no answer-what is simple to me may be complicated to others and so on....I do what I 'think' it takes to catch em....


Q. What is the nicest meal you have cooked for yourself on the bank?

Jules - I am rubbish Ross....The best food is food I have scrounged off others.

Jules, thank you for your time it is much apreciated to incorporate you into another one of my blogs.

         Well, there we have it, Julian Cundiffs fishing summed up in a nut shell. He is a true inspiration and a class angler, he inspires so many people and give good advice, dont hesitate to ask him other questions at shows or on the bank. Put yourself forward and get you name out there so you can become like him some day, anglers dont get sponsored over night it takes time, effort and a heck of a lot of patience, making contacts is a good start as you have more people to keep in contact with in the angling pipeline.

Until next time, thank you for reading and hope to have some more material for you very soon.

Keep Catching!



Taken By Surprise

Taken by Surprise!

                After weeks and weeks of not catches on many of the sessions I have done, I finally made my way to another lake about 2 minutes from my doorstep; a mate had persuaded me to join him down the lake on his return from the World Catfish Classic in Spain last week.

                On the first of the 2 evening sessions I decided to adopt a float fishing tactic as the tench are notorious in this lake, they won’t turn down a maggot or two at the right time! Skimmer after skimmer I was watching Rich surface fish for the carp which was amazing seeing the odd lump scooping the biscuits off the surface.

                A few hours past and a few missed bites for him then suddenly he is into a fish, being as lovely dark chestnut 18lb Mirror followed by a 10lb common then the pick of the bunch and smashing his old 19lb 9oz pb, a 25lb Common. When it was in the net he said to me “that’s the smallest of the lot!” I then quickly reacted and said “no way! You have a 20 in there mate!”



The Nicest Glug I Have
Ever Smelled!



                Struggling to lift the fish out of the water because of the weight of the carp, rich came to my rescue and hoisted the carp straight onto the mate that I had very kindly lent to him to use on the session, the fish gave him a bit of stick on the bank as it didn’t really fight, the scales spun round and settled on 25lb. Loads of trophy shots of the fish were taken and the fish was then returned to its watery home. When I have been down to the lake with Rich he had come close to tear the amount of times he hadn’t had anything but mozzy bites and no fish to account for. This day session made it extra special to see him bag 3 fish and the 25lb common topping it off really put the cherry on top so’s to speak!

                After seeing Rich bag the big common I didn’t have time to get surface bait out myself and I headed off home confirming with Rich that I’d be down with him the following evening. After waking up feeling like death that morning I chilled out and did bits and pieces around the house and then phoned the big man to see if he was there and he was what a result!

                After loading the car I got up to the lake and got to the swim which I would be fishing, I managed to get my rig amongst the fish but they were more finicky than they were the previous evening, after 2 hours gone by I was mucking round just under arming dog biscuits and getting them around 20 yards off the bank, the most gob smacking sight I saw was when the carp were taking them close in, I wound the rod back in and took a few casts and left the rig in that very position.

                After playing round with short and long hooklink they found something wrong with the short ones so I put a 13ft hooklink on with a size 10 Nash Fang Uni hook with the imitation dog biscuit hooked straight on from there. I was just packing away my pouch and all my other bits and bobs when I heard a huge “CRASH!” on the surface where my rig was… I was in! The fish took a while to come in ripping line from the spool and charging over 10yards and getting 5 yards before it done me again. The fish tore through the marginal cabbages which worried me as I didn’t fancy losing the fish, and then it came up, hit the surface and Rich swooped the net underneath it.



23lb 10oz of Stunning Mirror



                Just as I looked at him the previous evening, he looked at me and said “What was your old pb?” I then replied “22lb 13”. We knew that this was over the 22lb mark and it spun the scales to 23lb 10oz, my first carp from this lake and I was really proud to have it off the surface and I was buzzing so much I could barely keep back the flurries of laughter and screaming in sheer excitement, the fish had a few trophy shots taken and I got in the margins with her and put her back by hand, over joyed I let out one more battle cry “YYEESSSS!” With my end of the session finished I phoned my dad to let him know the news and I set home in the car on a high, a long overdue fish and it was caught with style, here starts off this year’s run of 20lb carp!

Until Next Time – Keep Catching!



Bigger and Better Things.

Bigger and Better Things.

       There most likely has been a sever delay on my writing and other happenings on twitter recently, I obtained a job doing some delivery driving for Pizza Hut, I did so many shift I didn’t have a social life and I was fully knackered at the end of the week and was craving a session to chill out and finally wet my line again.  I finally find time in between doing assignment work, which I had 5 due in the week of the 30^th April, I managed to get them all done over the weekend and text a good mate from college to go up and have a wonder around some new lakes that I have never even seen before, I take this a fresh start to try to catch some fish that I fancy targeting and hopefully making famous over the next few months.



The Fox Rapide System/Solid Bag



            After pacing round a couple hundred yards of otter fence I had found the missing ingredient which I was waiting to add into the “carp fishing recipe” with some stunning carp I am definitely fishing there for the time being, I’m going to name it the secret lake for my own personal reasons. We then looked around the lagoon that resides next to the small secret lake to see just an expanse of water which holds some stunning fish to my mates knowledge, looking at this lagoon and the secret lake I took up the decision to get onto the lagoon for a nights fishing after getting some of the college work done with reigns over my fishing time, not forgetting it taking over my social life.

            After taking a visit to the local Tesco I look through the pages of the recent Carp Talk magazine to look for some more inspiration, I see it littered with huge carp; hopefully I will be seeing my cheesy smile in there very soon cradling a secret lake carp!

            I have been thinking through the tactics that I will be using and they aren’t complex by any stretch of the imagination, they are as follows:-

·         Solid Bags of Velocity Baits The M&Ms pellet in 1mm with an NV-R pop-up

·         A 9-10 inch hair rig with a size 8 Korda Choddy hook with  Velocity Baits 14mm AK4-R pop-up(red), coupled with a small PVA bag of the NV-R stick mix.

            As I’m a member of the Velocity Baits members group there has been a huge amount of 30lb+ fish caught on the bait so I have no reason to change and hopefully enter that list myself.

           

            I will be coupling these tactics with a Spomb mix yet again simple and very affective and hopefully to the lagoon carps taste:-

·         7.5kg – 10kg of Bird seed(from a farm shop)

·         2.5kg – NV-R Boilies in 10mm

·         NV-R Stick Mix

·         Tin of sweet corn

            I see this spod mix as a very simple yet affective Spomb mix, it boats attraction and it had all the small food items in hope to keep the carp in the swim investigating for more food tripping one or two up along the way, in another sense of this I hope that the carp do not get pre-occupied on my free offerings and to stumble upon my rigs. I am in great favour of using solid bag tactics; they are ever so simple to tie up once you get the hang of how it’s done, I have at least 5 tied up for when I’m fishing, I then tie one extra up when if I catch a fish on them, this has been made oh so easier with the new Fox Rapide system which I greatly fell in love with when I saw it on Facebook and watched videos of it on YouTube, amazing!

Anyway enough chat onto the session ahead:-



Prepartion is Key



            After rattling off the assignments I was tasked to do I made my way up to the lake at around 11:00am enjoying the 25 minute drive, I am greeted to swim of choice, just what I like when I arrive at the lake. With being able to park behind the swim on the agenda I stand and examine the water for about 10-15 minutes in order to see if there are any chances of quick bites with the pre-tied solids.

            I line up to horizon markers to where I want to position the traps along with the Spomb mix, I cast in a direct straight line with just a lead tied onto the end of my main line to see what the lake bed consisted of. I then clip up to a clear spot at round 90 yards range... just for the record I haven’t tried hitting 90 yards in the dark so this could end badly! I then press 2 bank sticks in the ground to clip up the Spomb rod and the other rod to save disturbance. With all this done I then begin to mix up the carpy grub that I will be using which has all been pre-cooked by yours sincerely.

            I then set about putting around 3kg of the mix to the 90 yard spot. With all the bait deposited I leave the spot to work SOME magic whilst I begin setting up the bank sticks in my swim and get them all sorted before enduring the task of putting some more Spombs of bait out to get the rod out onto the spot. With both of the rods banged hard on the clip and myself brimming with confidence, I then set both rods on the sticks and set about setting up my mammoth of a bivvy which is a 2-man bivvy, I’m not exactly the biggest of fisherman but I love the space and with all the downpours I don’t exactly fancy being washed out of my small Maver brolly fed up and soaked wanting to go home!

            Bivvy all set, rods all set, swim primed with carpy grub and sitting in my chair firing up the stove for a well-earned cup of tea I peer endlessly at the water to see what’s going on, no signs of activity as of yet but hopefully some goings on under the surface will be a good starting point.



My "Bits Bucket"



            I was craving a night out on the bank as I have been a good lad and stayed at home to do college work when I could have been on the bank, I believe I deserve it, one night shouldn’t in theory do any harm, I haven’t done a night since the BYCAC back in August last year when I reached the finals, that was the last time I did a night. When college is all cleared out the way I’ll be aiming for one night a week or even one night every other week most definitely!



Lovely Glugs!



            With everything in prime position and endless amounts of bacon an sausages on constant on the stove, there was no action, I took the idea of re-casting the rods with fresh bait and changing one rod to double pop-up corn and a very carpy bag of NV-R stick mix with the matching glug, both banged the clip and I was happy. I have been fishing the lines incredibly slack to reduce disturbance, bow string tight lines are a massive no no!

            The night goes on and with the burgers cooking away the left rod lets out what appeared to be a savage liner that had me on the edge of the chair, what will unfold? Unfortunately nothing unfolded from that liner but I retired to the bivvy after a few rounds of double burger rolls.  I lay there with my eye lids slowly closing telling me to sleep so I did just that. Lying in the most awkward position my arms went dead, that’s not the first time that’s happened by hey ho! With no carpy action during the night I wake up to some light rain, I fired up the kettle and sat back for a further half an hour, still nothing, time to load the car and make the trip home.

            This has been an enjoyable session, I will be returning to “The Lagoon” very soon seeking some action from the stunners that reside in there.

                                                         Thanks for Reading!         

Curing the Carp Fishing Itch!

                Well this blog hasn’t gone particularly well this time around, the reason being is that I was hoping to be reporting from a new fishery which I have visited in the past with some stunners, that’s one for the next couple of weeks I think!

                As I haven’t been fishing for a few weeks I decide to go to a highly stocked water to see how I go, armed with normal gear but fishing light as I’m only fishing for smaller fish. This is a highly stocked lake known as Chestnut Pool in Bedfordshire, a good lake for shed loads of bites. I am going armed with tactics that I deem as perfect tactics



Small Crafty Bream



                I’ve air dried some 10mm boilies and some 12mm boilies to create good steady amount of bait hopefully enticing quick bites as the fish should snaffle the lot all in one go. The fish take well to single baits; I’ll fish both rods on singles which you’ll see a bit further down. Where I was working at the Carpin On show I visited the lads at Velocity Baits to pick up some bait, I got some NV-R pop-ups in 10mm, AK4-R in 10mm/14mm and some pop-ups that smell great – Mulberry in 10mm/14mm. They are bright baits and I have full confidence in getting a bite or 2 off them for sure! I’ll be using a small braided pop-up rig, I’ll be coupling this with a small 2.5oz lead on a Nash Diffusion Bolt Bead and a metre length of Diffusion Rig Tubing, call it over kill but the less visible the better for me anywhere I fish.  I’ll be concealing the bait on the cast with a small PVA nugget as I won’t be using small mesh bags, this is one thing I always do when fishing singles to eliminate tangles.



The Swim I Settled In



                You may think to yourself “why not sit on the bank for a night?” I have been thinking that I but I have to find a quick cure for the carp fishing itch somehow and a few bites will kick off a good mood and a good steady drive to continuously get on the bank as often as I can! I haven’t really got to the lake on time to have pick of swims, this time I’ll be there just before gates open so that I can nab a decent peg before anyone else does, it always turns out I get stuck in a swim where I haven’t seen any fish.. I suppose I need to push myself to get out of bed earlier to get there for a decent choice I guess!

                I arrived at the lake later than expected, not to worry as it wasn’t overly busy, I picked a swim a short distance from the carp park as the side I wanted was busy with night anglers. To start the session off I cast and clipped up both rods tight to the island in front of me, I then used a mini Spomb to spread the 10mm and 12mm NV-R freebies, both rods were soon on the money and I was sat back on my chair firing up the kettle.



My Spod Rod Set-up



                The weather has been up and down for  the past few weeks, it hasn’t settled on one specific temperature or weather type, as I woke up this morning the temperature gauge on the car read “2.5degrees” and the car was fully frozen… so much for spring. On the left rod I have a single 10mm Mulberry Pop-up and on the left I have a 10mm AK4-R pop-up, they are 2 flavours that I haven’t tried before. Where I was fishing slack lines the right rod had tightened up slightly, I lifted the rod and felt some resistance on the end; I was in battle with a small bream. After the event with the bream he was unhooked and I decided to put a Zig on the right hand rod. 



The Left Hander



                As soon as the zig is out into open water I am topping up the island with 5 spombs of boilies over the top of the rod that is left over there, I was scanning the lake when my left hand rod let out a flurry of beeps and then went into meltdown, I struck into a very angry single figure mirror, but I wasn’t bothered as it was my first fish of 2012. The rod was soon back out on the spot and then I topped up the swim with another 5 spombs of boilies to keep the swim going, I was receiving liners whilst the bait was going in across the top of the rod. The kettle was soon back on and another cuppa was on the go, the action seemed to have died down for about three quarters of an hour so I put another few spombs of bait back out over the rods, as I get the bacon going on the stove my left hander goes off again and I’m in battle with another small carp and that puts 2 down for me, it wasn’t very big about 6lb or so but more than welcome to my first carp session of 2012.

                The rod is soon back in with some more bait and I’m then sinking my teeth in to a long awaited bacon sarnie, well I’m glad I waited as it was lovely!



                The rod is then soon picking up indication as there is liners happening quite rapidly, I get a sudden occurrence on the zig rig, the bobbin cracks the rod blank and falls down and does nothing.. Maybe just a savage liner. At this point I have used around 1kg of the boilies that I air dried which isn’t bad going, the mini Spomb is brilliant as it makes light work of baiting up and make fishing so much better. The weather today has been really up and down, a lot of patchy cloud as I was observing the skies movements, the cold snap last night into this morning didn’t affect the carp as the bait kept on going into the swim.



The First Carp of 2012

                Just as I pick the phone up to phone a mate from college the left hand rod tears off and I’m in battle with my 3^rd carp of the session, the fish is soon in the folds of the net and another single figure fish to add to the tally. Every fish that I have had has been absolutely nailed so it shows there competing for the bait and there not put off by it, just a bigger confidence boosted for me. I look into the air dry sack to see how much boilies I have left, I have used about 1.5kg of boilies over on rod and there is still some time to get more out onto the spot. I never use to be a big boilie fan as I was constantly using maize on my local venues to great effect; I was catching an average of 5 carp a session on the same lake amounting to an astonishing amount of fish. These boilies have a great nutritional value for the fish and are packed with all things healthy, they are a good boilie and can be digested easily which is what I like.



                Another lull in the action and some more bait put over the left hand rod, a few minutes later the rod is off again, this time this fish is doing all the fight out in the lake rather than in the margins, he is soon in the folds of the net and is a mirror of 9lb. A steady run in the action keeps me going, rather than waiting for one fish on this session a few have come along and it has brightened my spirits no end.

                The last piece of activity was a sudden drop back on the left hander again, I’m on it like something from a martial arts film, but it doesn’t fight, it’s another bream, but not to worry if I had the 2 bream it’d have saved a blank if anything! This session has taught me that the mini Spomb can be used to great effect, the fish like a lot of bait and there not put off by how much goes out obviously don’t go over the top and fill it in. this is one method that I will carry on using throughout the coming season and hopefully to great effect.



The rods Finally Get Some Excercise.



This draws a close to this month’s blog, don’t forget you can follow me on twitter @Rosst93 – keep catching!



Short Session Roach Fishing.

This is only a short one this time, it was the first session where I had a little bit of success managing to get on the bank for something a bit different and to try another method.

                With carp fishing put on the back burner for the time being, I decide to dust off the float road and the feeder rod and head off for some Roach fishing. I set off to the tackle shop first of all to get myself a pint of the best Roach bait... MAGGOTS!

The Tackle I Was Using



                I returned home and loaded the gear into the car and set off for the lake, Coots Corner. As I get through the gates I see that the top lake is crawling with anglers so I lose out on that one. I pull up and unload the gear; I set for the third swim along on the bottom lake as a majority of the pegs are free. The method in question is a light quiver tip, the best method I feel on this lake for singling out the bigger Roach, I tie on a maggot feeder; this is tied on with a single over hand loop so that it is lying free on the bottom. Then I tie on a 5 inch 4lb hook link with a size 16 Guru MWG hook on the end. The feeder is filled to the brim with maggots to ensure a good liberal feed spread on the bottom.

                The rod is cast to the left of my swim a few times; I decide to set up the float rod to see if this could bring a bite. As I'm setting up the float rod I get a nice wrap round, I strike into a nice 1lb 8oz Roach this puts a nice grin on my face at a roach like that is a great start for me!

Nice 1lb 8oz Roach on the Feeder.



             With a good start to the session, I started off a little and often baiting strategy, catapulting a few maggots over the top of the feeder, this seems to bring a few more nice sized Roach, the action seemed to have slowed down a little bit. The float rod never managed to come into play with no fish on it, so I bring in the feeder rod for another appearance this was good as I managed to bank 3 more Roach losing one, there are good decent sized Roach in this lake, they seemed to have grown in leaps and bounds since I fished it in my early days of fishing.



The Drawing of the Set-up.

                Its days like this one that draws me into fishing, I love catching these thriving smaller species, the lovely small silver flash through the water brings it back, the fish put up a lovely fight on the light rod that I was using. This is a good way to fish for these Roach; they see a waggler float on a day to day basis, so the maggot feeder is a great way to catch them.

                 Using a little and often approach with the maggots seems to have brought the fish in quicker than waiting for the feed to release from the feeder, as much as I give out banter about float and feeder fishing, I love it!

               

This is the end of the short blog for this session, I'll be at the Carpin' On show with college next weekend, and then out the following weekend, in hope that the nicer weather has kicked the fish into touch, hopefully banking some nice carp.

Until Next time, tight lines and Keep Catching!

Dont Forget To Follow  Me On Twitter - @Rosst93. Keep In The Loop Of My Blogs As They Happen And Things Unfolding On The Bank.