There's something about Blunts that always pulls me back, it's one of the more productive waters on the CAA ticket. I've mentioned before in a previous post that "every water has its place", and that's a point that I really stand by. I like to mix my fishing up, all the lakes that I visit are of varying skill levels and difficulties. Be it a water that holds elusive secrets, a large pit, or a small interment pool, it's all relevant in my book and I get a great deal of enjoyment fishing them all. I do however draw a line at heavily fished day tickets and commercial waters, they're just not my kind of places anymore, I love to target good, clean and healthy carp.
The aspect of Blunts that I love the most is how visual it is, the carp show themselves all the time and fizz up when they've moved in over your bait, there's lots of nooks and crannies for the fish to hide and it's a great venue to try new things. All the fish I've caught have been hard fighting, torpedo shaped and attractive on the eye. Whenever I fish the place I like to scale my tackle down, opting for 2 1/2IB test curve rods and lighter leads, this makes the whole experience of landing fish all the more thrilling. And I have to say that, "you've got to go a long way to find fish that fight as hard as the ones that haunt Blunts."
In the current 'carping climate' where apparently "big is best", the humble 'runs waters' are frowned upon by some, but to me, the people that carry this attitude around with them are the ones that are missing out. All these kinds of waters still hold their fair number of surprises. Below is a beauty that I caught on a short evening session a few months back.
A Proper Blunts Mere Common
Whenever I fish Blunts I always stick with boilies, on this session I wanted to incorporate pellets and ground baits, I was intrigued to see if it was going to help or hindered my results. I was going to be fishing fruity boilies over a mix of fishy and spicy flavours. The ground baits and pellets were all darker colours so my idea was to fish a bright bait over the top. I felt the overall combination of different smells and attractors could work in my favour.
Arriving at the water on the day of my session, the sun was out, there was a calm breeze kissing the waters skin and it was lovely and warm, the water looked very much alive. The trees were ripe, all their branches were covered from top to bottom in leaves, there was a thousand shades of green, everything on the bank was reaching for the sun. I sensed that the season was well and truly under way, there was a familiar smell in the air. It's a these times more than any other that I find myself experiencing an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.
Two Thousand Shades Of Green
It conjures up so many angling memories, reminding me of all the long summers me and my mates would spend pitched up on the banks of our local club waters, down in East Sussex. Our summer holidays were whittled away under both the sun and the stars dreaming, and chasing the apparent monsters that lurked within the waters, our waters. The magic number back them was "18", that was a monster carp to us, we'd 'wax lyrical' for hours about the possible secrets that were potentially catchable. We'd be out for weeks at a time, the waters became our home, our identity, the outside world was not important. The only thing that mattered was what could potentially reveal itself at any given moment.
They were magical times, back then carp angling was still very much in its infancy, it was pure. There's part of me that would give anything to have those days back, things change and they do progress, but do they actually change for the better? I don't necessarily think they always do. So many times I feel like a complete stranger within the world around me, common ground is something I rarely find. I believe my angling is really my only form of navigation, it's a compass in an existence that leaves me so many times, directionless.
Back To The Session..Whilst loading my barrow I could see evidence of carp all over the place, fish were jumping and topping, I could see plenty of feeding going on. I opted to fish the main body of the lake, this gave me lots of options, lovely deep margins, some very inviting tree lines and a variety of sunken bushes. I'd caught well from all these features but this time I was going to fish the open water. The plan was to fish sloppy ground bait in exactly the same way that I did when I fished zigs. The main difference being that I was going to add 'Salmon Marine' pellets and obviously be fishing both baits flat on the deck.
I wanted to have a high level of attraction drifting through all the layers, from what I'd seen, fish were on the top and on the bottom. My plan was to draw them in and hopefully draw them down, if I kept the feeding constant then both the pellets and ground bait would come to rest on the bottom. Over the top I was going to throw a few handfuls of my bright, fruity boilies, I opted for Banana Cream, the ground bait was 'Hot Chilli Hemp'.
Hot Chilli Slop
View From The Swim
My rigs were standard bottom baits fished on a 'blowback' with semi-fixed inline leads. Like I've mentioned before, nothing has to be complicated, concealment is a higher priority for me, using lots of unnecessary rig components can detract your thinking away from the job at hand, a simple rig in the right location will always put fish on the bank.
For newcomers coming into the sport, I can't even begin to imagine how confusing it must be, the best advice I can give is to find a small selection of rigs, maybe two or three that will deal with most situations that present themselves, master tying them correctly and gain understanding of when and where to use them.
A Tidy Presentation
After about 10 minutes of introducing my loose feed I already noticed evidence of carp feeding, plumes of bubbles were streaming to the surface all around my spot. I eased off the spodding and put the kettle on to have a coffee. It was very clear that they'd responded to the bait instantly, I took a seat and watched the feeding signs increase, the plan was to finish my drink, give the carp enough time to feed confidently and then place my hook bait literally on their heads with a gentle, 'feathered' cast.
My coffee was polished off, I could feel the caffeine starting to kick in, I picked my first rod up and made the most 'poetic' cast that I could muster. Feeling the lead down gently, my senses were through the roof, surely a bite was moments away. The back-lead was eased down the line, with the rod now on my pod I slowly started to tighten the bobbin up to the blank. Seconds later the bobbin was dancing, literally from out my fingers, the clutch was humming, a huge silt patch erupted just to the left of my spot and before I'd even registered what was going on, I had the rod in my hand.
Like every carp I've caught from Blunts, the chaos on the fight didn't disappoint, it raced around and was an absolute joy to play on such light tackle. Very slowly, I was "Taming The Torpedo", and when I eventually slipped the net mesh under the fish, I was met with a little dark common, the size was irrelevant, the process I went through to catch it was my focus.
Torpedo One
Setting her free, no time was wasted, I got the rod straight back out, now I could finally get my second rod sorted, with both rigs in position I put another 5 'spombs' over the top. The signs of feeding increased and it really got me questioning just how much the lead hitting the water actually spooks the fish. I feel that if the carp are really feeding hard and competing, they can become almost oblivious to whats happening around them.
Within minutes liners were occurring on both rods, the bobbins were twitching and I knew the next bite was seconds away. Sure enough, the right rod was the next one to whizz off, lifting into this fish, chaos manifested in seconds. It kited left to right, backwards and forwards and seemed to find 'goliath' type strength underneath the rod tip. Eventually tiring, I slipped another dark common over the net, it had a crazy 'paddle' on it, a proper little character.
Within minutes liners were occurring on both rods, the bobbins were twitching and I knew the next bite was seconds away. Sure enough, the right rod was the next one to whizz off, lifting into this fish, chaos manifested in seconds. It kited left to right, backwards and forwards and seemed to find 'goliath' type strength underneath the rod tip. Eventually tiring, I slipped another dark common over the net, it had a crazy 'paddle' on it, a proper little character.
Torpedo Two
At this point I decided not to apply anymore bait, I didn't have a great deal of time left, today really was a short session but with the two fish I'd had, it made the journey more than worth it. I could see that there were carp still feeding, I was continuing to get little knocks and indications. Time went by and no bite materialised, an hour or so passed and still no bite, the fish were still there because I could see them kicking the bottom up.
"Maybe they were getting preoccupied on the small particles and rejecting the boilies". This is a theory that I've had in the back of my mind for a long time, hence why I wanted to experiment with a slightly different baiting pattern today. I started to think that once the pellets and ground bait had been polished off, they might then pick the boilies up. I waited patiently, all the fizzing ceased, now there was just the odd bubble every now and again.
Everything appeared to fall silent, it was very strange, two quick carp and then nothing. It was in the closing minutes just as I was about to reel in, when out of the blue, the right rod was away. This felt like a slightly better fish, it was powering all over the place and once under the rod tip, it used the deep margins to its full advantage. Finally when she was ready for netting, I slipped another dark common in to my possession.
Blunts Dark Bronze
Even though it was a short session, it was also very interesting, when I've just stuck with boilies the bites seem to build up. As we know, in carp fishing there are so many variables, maybe my combination of baits was a little too confused? Maybe the carp actually do get preoccupied with the particles and ignore the boilies? Was my hook bait acting differently to the free offers?
This session posed more questions than answers, but it does demonstrate the importance of experimenting, anything that shifts and changes your perspective can only be a positive thing. If you leave a session with no questions then that means you think you've got all the answers, in most cases this just isn't the case. Either way, I was rewarded with three beautiful carp, and that's what it's all about. On my next session I'm going to simplify things and stick to a boilie only approach, then I can compare the two sessions results.
This session posed more questions than answers, but it does demonstrate the importance of experimenting, anything that shifts and changes your perspective can only be a positive thing. If you leave a session with no questions then that means you think you've got all the answers, in most cases this just isn't the case. Either way, I was rewarded with three beautiful carp, and that's what it's all about. On my next session I'm going to simplify things and stick to a boilie only approach, then I can compare the two sessions results.
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