by ……..Martyn Russ a.k.a VooDoo
When we arrived at the Caravan site in Cornwall the weather was just on the change and there was still grey clouds in the sky but thankfully that didn’t last long and the sun was soon shining making it an almost perfect holiday. The weather had turned perfect and the lakes, all 11 of them, were set in a very picturesque setting and i found it relaxing sat fishing and taking in the scenery.
The first day i decided to take on the main specimen lake called Pats Pool witch holds the record 68lb Catfish and Carp well over the 30lb mark. Unfortunately there were a lot of other fishermen there and all the swims were full. I was told as it was a bank holiday that the locals had descended on the lake and therefore it was currently being over fished. Each angler throwing in 1 or 2 kilos of bait trying to get the fish to feed was actually having the opposite effect and there fish were not playing. Although the going was tough and it was hard to get them feeding i managed to capture a greedy Roach that decided it likes 10mm Yellow Sardine & Anchovy Boilies
The next day we hade decided to try one of the pleasure lakes and fish together as a group. We all set up in swims close to each other and started feeding. It wasn’t long before we were hooking into fish. My mother was the first to catch a Carp and continues to catch constantly for most of the day including Rudd, roach and Bream. Brian was concentrating on the margins and was hooking into some tidy size fish whilst i was trying my luck out into the middle of the pond on a waggler. It started off slow with loads of small fish pestering my hook bait but soon i was catching some nice fish including Carp, Roach, Rudd & Bream. Brian was the first of us to catch a Tench and a quality one at that.
The third day of fishing i had once again decided not to be put off by the first attempt and go back to Pats Pool, the main Specimen lake, and try again to see if i could get a big Carp or Catfish. I once again fed up my swim but this time instead of just using standard rigs i decided to try out the new Zig Rig Aligners and see if i could get any results. After talking to many of the other anglers around the lake no Carp have been caught in over a day and a half so they must be due to feed soon surely. The lake had had a days rest from anglers throwing in buckets of bait so it should have settled by now. I fished one rod on a normal Chod rig with the Fluorocarbon Fishing line i got from Total Outdoors and the other on a zig aligner with a black body with yellow hi-visual foam. It wasn’t till just after lunch i had my first screamer. The alarm sounded and the line zipped off so up i jumped and struck into my first carp from the lake. It wasn’t the monster that i was looking for but just under 4lb it was a very welcome site especially as no one else caught anything else that day.
The final day fishing turned out to be the best days fishing i have had in a long time. Again the weather turned sunny and calm and we decided again to fish on the pleasure lake closest to our caravan. We chose almost the same swims as last time with the exception of me as i moved to the opposite side of the lake and decided to fish one rod on feeder using running rig on 61b Fluorocarbon fishing line with a size 14 wide gape Carp force hook. I then decided to also fish the pole and have a bit of fun with the smaller fish. I fed up my swim and it wasn’t long before i was hooking into some tidy fish. Most of the fish i was catching were all above 1lb in weight and a lot of them were carp. I also got a beauty of a Tench and would you believe a tidy Perch on Tuti fruity corn.
The day continued very active and i was catching fish after fish, in fact so many we lost count. I know for sure it was over 35 carp, 6 Tench, 8 Bream, 9 Rudd, 3 Roach and 2 Perch. This is not including all the fish my mother and Brian caught and Brian managed to catch the biggest of the holiday over 11lb Carp. The day was so active we were absolutely exhausted when we got back and needed another holiday to recover. We really enjoyed our fishing adventures down in Cornwall and i for one cant wait until we go again. Now the weather is improving and getting a lot warmer you will find me fishing almost every weekend so we have a lot more adventures to come.
Be lucky, Wet Nets & Tight Lines…..
