Review Of The Swim
Before I knew it the right hand rod was away again, it was a savage drop back and the fish had kited at crazy speed down to the left of me, it was a hard and energetic fight. Eventually I slipped the net under another long looking common, that was two on the Mexican Hemp.
Mexican Hemp Caught Common
I got her back quick and proceeded to cast the same boilie out, it was undamaged and I am starting to think a slightly washed out bait might get picked up quicker. The bobbin was reset and before I'd even sat down, it was away again. Another hard fight resulted in another spotless common.
A Quick Common
I slipped her back, because I'd had a few fish off of this rig I decided to put a new hook-link on. It's now a rule of mine to change hook-links after three or four fish, it's clear that the hooks do start to blunt, in the past I have lost fish because the hook I was using had lost its edge. A fresh hook-link was tied on and out went the rig on the same spot. Some fizzy was starting to occur over my right hand rod and I was getting a few twitches, the liners increased and then it whizzed off. This felt like a slightly better fish, once again the fight was hard, I teased a nice dark common over the net. This was a lovely looking carp.
Tigernut & Maple
Both spots were working well, I topped both zones up with a bit more bait and finally had a chance to sit back and relax for a while. Things slowed up for a short time and it was nearing the end of the session. Just as I was starting to think about packing up the left hand rod was away. As I lent into the fish I could feel that this had some weight behind it, it felt like a torpedo and flew around the swim like crazy. I soon tamed her, it was an awesome long looking fish, I was very pleased with this one.
A Torpedo Of A Common
I decided to break down the rod and slowly get my things together. In the closing minutes the right hand one gave a few beeps and dropped back, this resulted in a nice bonus fish to end the session, this was a lovely dark carp.A Closing Minute Common
It had been a positive first session and goes to show that you can get results in a few hours fishing if you do it right. My plan was to come back a couple more times. Due to work commitments at the moment I can't be doing long sessions, because Blunts was a productive water it made sense to fish it when I can't put the longer hours in elsewhere, it was clear that you stood a good chance of catching a few.
Session Two
Just as before, on arrival at the lake I took a walk around to see if I could spot any fish, it was so hot, I was sweating buckets just being in the sun. There were a lot of fish in the upper layers, it didn't look like they were on the feed, just hanging out and sunbathing. I did spot a few feeding signs in the back bay, this swim was tucked right out the way and was very quiet, it had a nice shaded margin which looked like the perfect place to put a bait.
View From The Swim
The rigs I was using were exactly the same as my last session, the only difference was I changed the Tigernut & Maple for Octospice. Octospice is formed from a green lipped mussel base mix and was originally made for the french carp fishing market. I have used this bait in the warmer months for a few years now and it really does produce very well.
Octospice
Both rods were on my desired spots first cast, I put a couple of handfuls of bait over each rod. I didn't want to go crazy, it was very hot and I had a feeling that the carp may not be up for a load of food. This session started off slowly, there was signs of feeding going on over both spots but my rods stayed static, I decided to leave them, hoping that I might get a few fish when the sun started to go behind the trees.
A good 45 minutes went by before I got my first pick up, it was off the left hand spot, it instantly felt like a little scamp, as it surfaced I was met with a lovely golden common. She might have been small but was almost perfect looking.
A Miniature Bar Of Gold
I got her back, recast the same boilie out - 'it was nicely washed out' by now, set the bobbin and took a seat. From the initial amount of bait that I'd introduced, I could see by the silt starting to kick up that some carp had moved in. The next rod to go was the one fishing the Mexican Hemp, as the rod tore away I could see a huge patch of bubbles shoot up from where the carp had bolted. This take resulted in another colourful common.
A Mexican Hemp Caught Common
By this point it appeared fish were pretty much holding over both my baited spots, the fizzing and bubbling was crazy. I decided not to introduce anymore bait, this should result in the hook-bait being taken quicker. The right hand rod went back out but a little further along the far margin. I reeled in the left hand rod and put it right under the overhanging grass stems opposite from me. The right rod shot off instantly, it was an awesome fight resulting in yet another spotless fish.Clean As A Whistle
By this time the day was starting to cool down, a light breeze developed, it was perfect and a real pleasure being on the bank. I love being by the waters so much and at this point in my life it feels more like home than anywhere else, I feel like those of us who have not awoken the angler within them are really missing out on something special. I didn't have a lot of time left so I decided to reel in and come back in a few days for another quick session.
Session Three
Arriving at the water for my third session the conditions were very hot again. I spotted loads of fish in the front bay on the surface and there was obviously a good few kicking the bottom up. Luckily enough the swims that fished into the bay were all free, this was perfect. This session I wanted to try something a little different, I was going to fish over a lot of bait keeping the rig placements close to each other, I wanted to incorporate a little more attraction around my hook bait.
50/50 Milk Protein
My chosen baits were Honey Nectar and Banana Cream, these two blends have caught me a serious amount of carp, they're a 50/50 milk protein mix. When I start on a new water these two flavours of boilie are usually my 'go to baits'. Along with this I was going to be fishing ground-down 10mil boilies in a PVA mesh bag. For my bag blend I was using Bio CP2 Amino and Strawberry Fish, these two flavours would be combined in 'powder form'. Like I stated in the first part of this blog, these kind of waters are ideal for try new things on.
View From The Swim
Before casting out I filled the swim up with bait, signs of carp feeding on it appeared within a few minutes. After the initial application of bait I was going to add two to three handfuls after each fish. I pre-made my PVA mesh bags in advance so I could get the rig straight back out as fast as possible. Rigs were placed, liners occurred from the off, it was looking good.
The left hand rod was the first one to go, this was from the spot underneath the bush. It shot away up the channel, it gained so much distance in such a short space of time, when I made contact it was already half way up the channel to the left of me.
Banana Cream
The rod went straight back out followed by some more bait spread around the same spot, bubbles were still coming up so the capture hadn't seemed to of spooked them. Once again liners occurred almost immediately. The right rod was the next one to go, leaning into the fish I could feel some power, it felt like a pretty good carp, once again it raced around everywhere and took a fair while to tame, eventually she tired and I netted a mid double common, this was another long fish.
Honey Nectar
Before I managed to get the rod back out the other one was away, as it shot off I was in the middle of releasing the previous carp, I left her recovering in the sling in the waters edge whilst I frantically scrambled to get to the other rod. This fish came in fast, I felt that little added attraction in the PVA mesh was pulling quicker pick ups.
Little Scamp
Whilst both rods were out of the water I refreshed the hook links, put more bait in and then cast the rigs back out. Within a few minutes, to my surprise, both rods went at pretty much the same time, it was instant madness, I locked up the clutch on my right hand rod and left it on the buzzers, this gave me time to land one fish before attempting to land the second. Don't ask me how but I managed to land both of them ... Result!!
Double Whammy
Once again both rods were out of the water, I put some more bait in and recast. The session was going very well and it was clear that I was managing to hold the fish in the bay. Not to long after recasting the right hand rod was away again. Like all of the fish that have come before, the battle was epic, I soon landed yet another common.
Another Hard Fighting Common
The rod went straight back out, this time I didn't add anymore bait, I didn't have a great deal of time left and I wanted to see if I could get another one before my time was up. A few minutes past and the left hand rod tore away, this felt like a good fish, it gave me a run for my money.. that's for sure, she soon tired and I was left looking at another long common in the net.
She's A Fighter
This fish was the perfect ending to a very productive session, I feel the PVA presentation helped in getting me faster bites this time around. It goes to show that even if you are doing well on a specific water it still doesn't hurt to try something different. That might be the difference between a good session turning into a great one.
Session Four
I didn't have a great deal of time on this session, just over an hour max. When I arrived at the water it was very busy, I didn't bother walking around the lake, I headed for an avaliable swim, the one I ended up in was where the water narrows. To me these types of zones are 'passing traffic' spots, trying to pick the fish off as they move from one end of the lake to the other. This time I was back on the Tigernut & Maple, along with this I planned to use ground down boilies in a mesh bag again.
View From The Swim
I put a good spread of freebies around the bush opposite from me, I planned to fish one rod just off the main bulk of bait and one in it. I was interested to see if one spot would be more productive than the other. As usual signs of fish feeding started to appear very quickly, the carp in Blunts certainly aren't shy about giving themselves away.
Crushed 10 mil Boilies Combined
Just like all the previous sessions it really didn't take long for a fish to take the bait. The right rod was off like a rocket and I was into yet another hard fighting blunts carp. This fish was long and dark and fought like a beast.
Another Dark Torpedo
The rod went straight back followed by a little more bait, before I'd got the bobbin on my other one was away, this fish literally swam into the net, where it proceeded to wake up, he was a lively little fella.
Future King Of The Lake
Once both rods we back in I spread another two handfuls of bait all around the area, fish were still there, I could see them kicking the bottom up like mad, they were certainly loving the bait. By now time was ticking by and I didn't have long left, there was a quite period but things picked up and in the last twenty minutes I had a fish off of each rod.
From The Left Hand Spot
From The Right Hand Spot
I planned on coming back for one final session, my time on Blunts had been "great fun and great sport" and I'd learnt a little along the way. I'd kind of got the lake out of my system and was ready to go back to more challenging waters, I have a few plans in the pipeline.
Session Five
This session I arrived at the water for about 3:30pm, from past sessions I've clocked that this was the time that a lot of the anglers seemed to pack up and leave. By this point the weather had cooled off and there was a lovely calm breeze, it was overcast and looked spot on for a bite. I took a little time watching the water and decided to fish on the corner of the channel that lead into the front bay. For this session I was back on the Octospice but this time around I tipped both baits off with small imitation corn.
View From The Swim
Both rods were perfectly placed on the first cast, I put plenty of bait out, I could see feeding to the left of me in the center of the channel. I thought it wouldn't be long before they move in. A hour passed with no action not even a liner, then out of the blue my left rod was away, the bobbin was dancing, I lent into the fish to be met with a surge of power, it felt like a good one. It wouldn't give up the ghost and held on for a good 10 minutes until it finally retired itself to the net. It was one angry fish and proceeded to soak me during the photo process.
An Angry Common On The Octospice
I slipped her back, the rod went out and I sat in anticipation for another screamer. It didn't come fast, it was a good 30 minutes before the right rod tore off, again this felt like a better fish and fought so hard, once in the net I was surprised at how chunky it was.
Second On The Octospice
I was over the moon with these two fish and it was great to be able to end this blog with a couple of larger carp. My time on Blunts has served its purpose well, like I stated at the start of part one, all waters have their time and place in my angling, and they all play a part in the bigger picture. I must admit that I wouldn't want to fish waters like this all the time, I like a challenge but doing a quick burst of sessions once in a while can help with your overall 'angling perspective' and most of all they're really enjoyable. Never stop enjoying your angling
No comments:
Post a Comment