By Martyn Russ
Eager to get our first longer session of the year we decided to
go down the evening before and prepare the swim for the night and try and get in
a couple of early bites to the session. The actual forecast was for cloudy days
with a storm slowly moving in but as we actually found out there was a heat wave
set for the second day. Unaware of the incoming heat we arrived at the lake in
the early evening and set up camp on a large double swim on the railway bank, as
its known to the regulars, and chose the double swim right next to the centre
slues. Apparently as the slues brings in natural food it was looking like a good
area to target along with a good open stretch of water with and island as a
feature and a gravel bar that runs the top length of the lake and partly around
the back of the island.
I set up the Korum Multi Shelter and John put up His TFGear
Speed Light Force 8 2 man Bivvi. Camp was up and its was time to get the rods
out and start fishing. I had decided to use the Korum Rods, 3.5lb 12 Foot
distance rods coupled with the Korum KXI 80 Reels with Subline 15lb that has a
slightly deeper spool holding more line than a standard bait runner that gives
you that little extra casting distance. Also the Korum 3 Alarm bus bar with the
KXI Alarm and mini bobbins. John was using The CK Fusion Experts 2.5 12 Footers
with The Grandslam Pro Frees pools with Ultima KR Pro 15lb Silt using the Black
Zero Alarms and Dual Rod Stalking Set. As The lake is very silt, with deep silt
in placed and soft, we both decided to use as light as lead as possible. Using
tungsten tubing and quick change swivels we had a selection of rigs to try
ranging from bottom to pop up and rigs and also a couple of zig’s in case they
were up in the higher layer of the water.
I used one rod to fish the slues to the left of our double swim
and the other two out in the mid water. For the first day we decided to divide
our efforts with one using Nash Monster Squid and the Other The Red Ball Bait
from First 4 Fishing. We baited up our swims and using small PVA's with stick
mix and a few boilies around the swim we set our traps and waited. The weather
started to turn quite brisk as the night fell and was started to wonder if they
were going to feed as they had just started to spawn. Suddenly the rod in the
bay ripped into action on the Monster Squid Black and I was into a large carp
that bolted straight into reeds 2 foot from where the bait was laying despite
the rod being locked up tight to try and avoid the snags. Trying to lead the
carp out of the snag the mainline wrapped up and the carp was lost. I couldn’t
believe it, devastating when you lose your first carp and wonder is that the
only chance you will get on the trip. I re-set the trap in the bay and switched
the other rods over to the monster squid black to see if we could entice any
others. Hours passed into the early hours of the morning and both myself and
John wondered if that was going to be it. Suddenly 1am in the morning the rod on
the bay again ripped into action and despite being quick into the strike the
carp again bolted into the snag this time tethering up around the thick stem and
there was no way of shifting it which meant I was going to have to go in.
Freezing cold and right up to your chest I placed the chest waders on and in I
went. I slowly released the carp from the snag and just as it got free it shook
its head and spat the hook, big and chunk and gone. After all that I wanted to
scream. Could this be a sign of things to come, was the session doomed. Around
30 minuets after re-setting the bait again the bay rod went round and I was into
a small carp that again got into the snag and was off. My ego was dented and I
wanted the ground to open up. This surely couldn’t be happening.
By the morning I was feeling so low I just couldn't think what
to do. It was at that moment Johns Rod screamed off and he was into his first
carp of the session, again on the monster squid black he managed to stop it from
running around into the bay and finding the snag and was rewarded with a lovely
15lb 4 oz Mirror Carp. This boosted our moods and we started to prepare for the
day. We put out a bit more bait and waited. It was a couple of hours and I was
again into my fourth and again it tried to get into the snag. This time I
clamped down real hard and managed to get it to go around the reed bed keeping
it up in the water. John grabbed the net for me and I landed my first of the
session, a lovely 12lb , 8oz Mirror. At last the jinx was broken and we had
started to get the fish. Unfortunately that was it for the first day and the
swims died despite keeping the bait going in little and often. The weather had
suddenly changed and the day became so hot I ended up with terrible sunburnt
arms despite staying in the shade for most of the day. We were pleased we had
finally had some action but started to think what we could do to get then going
again. I decided to use the Korda goo to start them off and also a sudden bat
change to see if they fancied something sweeter and opted for Mainline Essential
IB Wafters on a balanced hook with the IB boilies on stringers covered in Korda
Pineapple Goo. Maybe a change in the morning would set them off.
Day Two – The Swim Just Kicked Off
Early hours came and despite having no sleep the night before
due to the stress of loosing the carp I managed a couple of hours and was up at
the crack of dawn watching the mist rise from the lake, The sun was coming up
and again it was set to warn up. Lets hope they wanted to feed before it gets
too hot again. I changed all the rods over to the new baits with stringers
attacked and set them out first thing again with one on the bay. Within 30
minuets of setting the new bait out my rod ripped off and was awarded with
another. Within 20 minuets of me landing mine and returning it Johns Rod Jumped
into action and he was again rewarded with a a nice common of 14lb 6oz.
The bait change had worked and we were beginning to catch fish.
We continued like this for the entire morning with small intervals and then the
bites would go again. The bay seemed to remain dead and we were getting them all
from mid water, off the bottom with the balanced wafters in approximately 8 foot
of water. The rigs we were both using were Size 6 Korda Krank hooks on the
N-trap Soft Semi Stiff Hook link at 5 inches with a size 15mm Balanced Essential
IB Wafters with a string of 5 15mm IB Bottom Baits and a small Stick of Stick
Mix with crushed boilies. Coating the hook bait with the goo seemed to be
working well so we continued doing it the entire day.
Wet Nets & Tight Lines
