Blunts Mere ' Adjustable Zig Obsession' Part 2

Carrying on from PART 1 this blog is going to be an account of my zig session up on Blunts Mere, it was the ideal venue to put my rig and my thoughts into practise. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I chose to go on a day when we had strong gale force winds and scattered showers. 

To give myself the best chance I needed to get out on the water when I knew the conditions were right. Those days you wake up with a session in mind and open your curtains to rain, wind and dreariness, it's all way too easy to give yourself a reason not to go and get out there, it's in these conditions that the fishing can be at its best.

Blunts is located in a valley but the lake itself is very high up, you've got to be prepared to take nature on the chin. On arrival at the water it was very clear that I was going to be beaten senseless but I knew if I could get into some zig caught carp, the fight was going to be worth it. 

Apart from the odd pleasure angler the lake was very quiet, I opted to fish one of the open water swims that gave me access to the main body of the lake. My plan was to draw the fish in using a sloppy spod mix, for this to work I needed an open water swim with no channels or detour routes for the carp to use to bypass my spot. 

A Gap In Clouds Gave Me Time To Sort Myself Out

First things first, I pinned my cradle and unhooking matt down with pegs, in the past I've learnt the hard way, it doesn't take much of a gust to make my monster cradle take off like a kite, I have, not so fond memories of chasing it over the odd farmers field or two on more than one occasion. 

Once camp was erected I rigged both my rods up with my adjustable zig - "explained in part one" - measured out 10 wraps with my yard sticks, put a PVA nugget over each hook and then cast both rods out. I've found the best way to cast any zig is to have a fairly long drop and apply a nice through motion to the cast. 

I then feather it down until I feel the "donk", doing this keeps everything streamline, the nugget on the hook will create a natural drag to the hook bait, thus keeping it nice and straight on its descent. The second I feel the "donk", I release the line from the clip, place the rod on the buzzers and very slowly start to release it, I don't let the line out too fast otherwise the bait could be dragged back through the water and snag behind the mainline. 

You'll know that the rig is functioning correctly because the line that's passing through your fingers will be tightening as the float works its way up to the surface. Once the nugget and float are visible, you then adjust to your desired depth. Because I have a 4ft hook link, winding down 4 1/2 foot will put my bait 1/2ft under the surface.

I wanted to be fishing both my baits at the exact same distance, my thinking behind this was, I planned to use the wind to my advantage, it was blowing from my left across to my right, my sloppy mix would be applied a few rod lengths to the left of both my baits. The direction of the current would then feed my slop through the layers of the water passing through where my baits were.

10 Wraps On The Yard Sticks

I decided to fish two different baits on both rods, my left rod would have the avid zig lite in yellow and black, topped off with a fake maggot. My right rod would have a brown cut down Bio Cp2 Amino pop up, also topped off with a fake maggot. Putting all my eggs in one basket and fishing the same bait on both rods wasn't really the way to go, I was interested to see if one bait got taken more than the other.

View From The Swim

Because the left rod was the closest to the slop entering the water, I fished my hook bait just 1/2ft under the surface. I visualised that by the time the loose feed gets near to where my right hand bait was, it would of started to fall deeper through the layers. I chose to fish the right hand hook bait 3ft under the surface, In my mind I now had every angle covered and it was just a case of keeping the feed going in, I wrapped my pocket rocket around my yard sticks at 10.5 wraps and then got my sloppy mix made up.

Both Hook Baits

I kept my slop really simple, using Starmers 'Halibut Marine' method blend, it's very potent with lots of bits and pieces in it, it's a lovely washed out grey colour that would marry with the waters dull tones perfectly. I didn't want anything too blatant, the last thing I wanted to do was spook the fish before they'd even had a chance to feed. I kept the consistency relatively thin and wet, I didn't want it sinking too fast.

Halibut Marine Method Mix

The Perfect Cloud

Everything was set and ready to go, I loaded my pocket rocket and started to apply my slop making sure each cast kissed the clip, I wanted to try to keep disturbance to a minimum. After a few minutes I'd found my rhythm and I intended to keep it up until I got my first bite. A short time passed before my right rod gave a single bleep, the rod tip was gently quivering. 

I lifted into it 'first fish on' and what a dam fine feeling it was. Blunts fish scrap really hard and after a modest battle I slipped my first zig caught carp of the session into the net. It was an immaculate common, a perfect reward for the painful thought process I'd gone through to try and make this style of fishing work for me.

A Common Caught 3ft Under The Surface

Once returned I wrapped the rod ten times around the sticks and got it back out to the same spot, the depth was set and I proceeded to feed the swim again. Just like before, I was going to keep feeding until the next fish came along. To be honest it really didn't take too long for the same rod to go off again, it gave one bleep and the rod tip fidgeted slightly. I gently lifted into it and the tip arched round, this felt like a slightly better one, kiting all over the place, I held on tight, soon enough there was another common being teased over my net mesh.

Another From 3ft Under The Surface

The orange colouring of its scales illuminated in the scattered sun, a few photos were taken and away she went. I repeated the process again, this time feeding the swim for a few minutes before casting my bait back out. I could see the slop in the water, morphing and expanding along with the wind, the approach was working like a treat. The hook bait was cast out, this time I set it at 4ft under the water, the other rod, I set a foot deeper, maybe it was up to high in the layers, hence why I hadn't had a bite on it yet. 

Once again I found my rhythm with the spod, it was becoming strangely therapeutic and with each cast that was gently feathered, hitting the clip perfectly, a real sense of satisfaction was washing over me. I've made my views pretty clear in the past about spodding being overused, I have nothing against it whatsoever, for me the situation has to lend itself to it. I was starting to get a sense that spodding over zigs might not work on waters that see a lot of spod action, it could have the reverse effect. I will put this theory into practise on future zig sessions.

The Gardner Pocket Rocket, Perfect For Crosswinds

  

By this point I knew that the swim was now engulfed in a fog of stinky Halibut Marine method mix, I was thinking that it was almost impossible for a passing carp to ignore it. The feed kept going in, time went by and both rods remained static, I stopped feeding and relied on the bait that was already in the water to continue working for me. 

I sat down and had a rest, sparked up a coffee and soaked up the somewhat bleak atmosphere that the lake was holding. The clouds were broken and scattered, the wind became tame, come late afternoon it was fairly calm. Due to the change in the conditions I decided to minimise the feed, I didn't have much wind to obscure the rocket hitting the water so I cut down to a couple of spods every thirty minutes or so. 

As I sat looking at my rod tips I could feel I was in the process of falling into one of my many "angling trances" but I was suddenly pulled back to reality when my left hand rod arched around, the tip was juddering violently. Leaning into the fish, it propelled sharply to my right, desperate for it not to wipe out my other rod, side strain of the highest order was applied. She turned, and to my relief bolted away from the other rods position. 

The fight was immense, once in the net I paused to admire yet another zig caught common, this fish was reminiscent of a torpedo in shape and another fine specimen. It was my first bite off of my left hand bait, it goes to show that repositioning it at a slightly deeper depth was the right thing to do.

First Bite On The Avid Zig Lite

Once released I got the rod back out with no time to waste, the afternoon was starting to tick by now, I carried on feeding the swim, half expecting to get another quick bite. Nothing materialised and it got to the point where I was starting to feel pretty weathered from all the casting in and out. The therapeutic sense I had for spodding a few hours ago had turned into 'teadium', I was nearing the bottom of the bucket so I thought I'd get the remaining slop into the swim and then knock it on the head.

For the remaining hour or so I finally had the chance to take a proper seat, the spod rod was now packed away, I sat gazing out over the water. I could still see signs of my mix colouring up a large area around both my hook baits. My attention shifted to my right hand rod tip, it was bowing slightly, then almost straight away the left rod tip was doing the same. I instantly thought that a carp had taken one bait and ploughed through the other rod. I had visions of extreme tangles in my mind, I lifted into the right rod to be met with a solid weight, the left rod was still going.

Double Take

As I started playing the first fish it became apparent that both rods had fish on, luckily I was using my 8.5ft margin creepers so holding both rods at the same time wasn't too much of a problem. The difficultly came when I tried reeling both in together, it was nothing short of chaos. 

I was juggling both rods around, desperately trying to keep the fish away from each other, not an easy task, with both being attached to zigs it was one hell of a challenge. God knows how I did it but I managed to land the first fish without too much of an issue. The second fish was giving me a proper fight, it felt heavy, tugging and diving all over the place. Eventually she tired and it was comfortably in the net. 

What a crazy way to end the session, I carefully unhooked them both, got a few trophy shots and returned them safely home. A double take produced two fine looking commons and I felt so bloody happy that I'd finally had the chance to eradicate my zig obsession, it was getting slightly out of hand.

First Of A Double Take

A Perfect Common To Close The Session

There's nothing quite like packing up when everything has gone according to plan. Zig fishing is something that I will be focusing on more in the future, I know there's still a lot I need to get my head around and I'm fully aware that it's not a "one size fits all" style of fishing. I genuinely don't think that all waters will respond, especially in regards to spodding over the top, on pressured waters I feel this could hinder me.

If you've stuck with me on these two zig fishing blogs, I'd like to thank you, there's been a lot of theory and descriptions, I wanted to explain it in a way that made it clear to understand and hopefully it's made sense to you. If you still doubt zig fishing as an approach, trust me, it works, but you've got to be prepared to commit, persevere and put the time in, if you do, the rewards will come, finally, if you choose to use the rig I've shown, and you catch, please do let me know. 

Blunts Mere 'Adjustable Zig Obsession' Part 1

In this first post I'm going to explain to you how I go about setting up my adjustable zigs and share my thoughts about the approach as a whole. The second part of this blog will be accounting for my zig session on Blunts Mere and the fish I managed to catch. A lot of this blog is theory based so please bare with me, I'm going to explain everything as clearly as possible. I know that a lot of people can't quite get their head around zig fishing, I was one of those people until I made the decision that I was going to really dedicate proper time to it.

As you all know by now, there are no secrets with me, if I find an approach that works then I'm more than happy to share it, if you then adopt it into your own fishing and catch, that makes it all worthwhile. I purposely haven't read or watched anything about zigs because I wanted to draw my own conclusions. As explained in my previous blog, I've come to a point in my angling where I had to commit to this specific style to feel that I'm moving forward, as an angler I want to learn as much as I can about everything that's involved in catching carp. 

Like everything in life that we choose to focus on and indulge in on a regular basis, it's very easy to become stagnant, single minded, and reluctant to step out of our comfort zone. Despite what some people might think, I feel we only really learn from our mistakes, and we only master something by perseverance and a healthy perspective. I find the common problem that can occur is when we don't learn from our 'shortfalls', and proceed to continue down the wrong path, blissfully unaware that we are making the same errors. This can be so painfully true in regards to carp angling and even more so in drumming. 

As a drummer I wanted/needed to be moving forward all the time, I refused to stand still and when I felt that I was stuck in a rut I made dam sure that I was aware, I'd then proceed to make changes, and in doing so, push ahead, the whole process might of led me to 'boarder line insanity' but it was a path I was destine to walk.

It's basically the same situation with my fishing, once you've found a spot that works, find another, once you feel you've made good headway on a water, move on to another ..... it's continuous, doing this widens your experience and over time your "angling mind" expands, when this happens I find you're in a position where you can read the waters in front of you in a far more analytical way. 

Years ago I use to get so negative when I didn't catch and the frustration that I felt would cloud my whole viewpoint. Instead of stepping back and asking myself "why I wasn't catching" and "what I could do to change things" I'd pack up and leave the water in a negative fog, and 9 times out of 10, I'd go back to the lake on my next trip and proceed to fish it in the exact same way again, I wasn't moving forward, I was simply standing still.

Nowadays I take at least three positive things away from each session, blanking or catching, for example, "my casting was accurate", "my solid bags were well tied" and "my baiting was spot on". Once these points had been acknowledged then I would start to think what I could do next time to successfully land a fish or improve my chance of getting more bites. 

I started looking upon my time on the bank as a continuous long term journey rather than a series of single sessions. It took a long time for me to master this train of thought but once I did, my perspective expanded and it goes without saying that my catch rate improved as well.

Zig Caught Common A Few Winters Ago

Cutting out all the above and putting it in the most simplistic way possible - "To expand, learn and improve on anything in our lives, we must be willing to put the time in, acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them." And now this brings me on to adjustable zig fishing, it's been a long and frustrating journey but it all seems to have fallen into place, and all the points I have made so far had to be put into practice to make 'the zig' work for me. 

And so we begin..

There is no doubt that zig fishing can be an effective form of catching carp, it's logic that if a fish can detect a single hook-bait obscured within a lunar landscape on the bottom of the water, they sure as hell can hone in on a static single bait fished in the middle to upper layers. 

Does zig fishing work on every venue? this is debate-able, I'm leaning towards "No", I don't believe it does. Just like bottom bait fishing, all waters are different in regards to what the carp are willing to take, there are so many variables, some feed over big beds, some don't, some take singles, others, light spreads of boilie, some respond to spodding whilst others switch off as soon as spods start exploding everywhere. So taking these points into consideration, it's common sense that some lakes wont produce when 'zig fished', the carp might well eye them up but not feel comfortable sucking them in, obviously this could change over time. 

I wanted to give myself the best shot of catching so I decided on a water that I felt gave me the best chance. Blunts Mere is a productive venue that holds a lot of carp, I decided that this would be the perfect place to give a focused adjustable zig session a go. I'd been obsessing about zigs for so long and it was consuming any mental space I had in my mind for anything else, I needed to beat the curiosity out of me at the first given chance. 

The day that I chose to go we had winds of 50mph and bouts of very heavy rain. I thought that this would be the perfect conditions, all the natural food would be spinning and twirling through the layers and the crazy chop on the surface would shield the disturbance from my spod hitting the surface. I was planning to get so much slop into the water that it would be impossible for the carp to ignore. I wanted to use the strong winds to my advantage. - 'more on this in part 2'

In the image below you will see a black leaf holding in the upper layers of the water, this was when zigs really started to make sense to me, it held without moving for well over 45 minutes. I started to think that the lake was probably littered with different objects of all varying shapes and sizes delicately holding and fluttering about. 

The Eureka Moment

First things first was how to set up an adjustable rig that was going to function properly. During my 'obsessing' I had been bouncing lots of ideas around in my mind regarding rig components and how I wanted to use them. I started thinking about how you setup a marker float, took the blueprint of it and adjusted it accordingly. 

The first thing that I really thought about was the lead, in my mind this was now going to become an anchor, I wanted something that would hold the bottom allowing me to adjust the depth of the zig without it being periodically dragged along the bottom. If I was to be able to focus on moving my bait up and down, carefully searching out the depths, the whole setup had to be foolproof.

 Carpy Chris 2.5oz Slug Is My Lead Of Choice

You will see in the image above that I've made the lead "safe", what I mean by this is, I've eliminated all the parts that could create tangles. I've slid a silicone sleeve over the swivel and attached a 'running ring' in place of the swivel eye, the line will now be able to move freely through the running ring with less chance of getting clogged up. Because of the leads shape, it will plug nicely into lakes with softer bottoms - a perfect anchor.

Now on to the next piece of the puzzle, for the 'adjustable' element to work correctly every time, I needed an anti-tangle setup that would not only cast well, but upon landing, able me to adjust the depth of my bait accordingly. To do this I opted to use buffer beads and a large wooden bead which I call "The Spacer". 

Buffer Beads And Spacer

On the cast not only do the buffer beads and spacer cushion the lead against the float, they also stop the float itself from getting clogged up in the silt and any debris on the bottom that the lead might land in, as we know, if the float doesn't have the ability to rise up, the rig is rendered useless. 

Depending on what type of bottom I'm casting in to, I will adjust the number of beads to suit. For instance over gravel I will use between two and three beads, over silt and muck I will use anything up to five. Doing this ensures that the rig will operate properly upon landing, on the cast both the beads and spacer create a boom that naturally kick the float and hook link away.  

3 Bead Lead And Spacer Arrangement 

'Standard Clear Lake Bed'

4 Bead Lead And Spacer Arrangement 

'Silty Lake Bed'

On the second image above you'll notice that I've compressed some tungsten putty on to the spacer, this is to ensure that it sinks and slides down the line staying clear of the float. All I want suspended up in the water is the float and my hook bait, I don't want anything out of the ordinary to spook the carp. 

For my zig float I use a large 'Fox Predator Float' and simply turn it upside down, this specific float has a silicone sleeve that your hook-link swivel can slide into. it's super buoyant and easy to spot on the surface of the water, if your vision is poor you can always add a fleck of colour to it with float paint. I know that there are floats on the market that are solely specified for zig fishing but any predator float will do the job equally well.

Large Fox Predator Float 'Upside Down' 

Once all the above rig components are on the line then you are ready to attach your hook-link. I favour a link between 2ft to 4ft, anything longer than that can make casting tricky. I find 4ft perfect because it's not too long and it means that the float is exactly 4ft under the hook-bait, this keeps it away from any feeding fish and minimises the chances of a passing carp coming into contact with it. The below image shows the rig setup below the float, you'll notice that the four beads and spacer are naturally kicking away from the lead.

Rig Setup Below The Float

Now we move on to the hook-link section, I've gone through a fair few different lines that are designed for zig fishing, to be honest I haven't been very impressed with any of them, they seem prone to twisting and kinking easily. The material that I find the best to use is 'Rig Marole Specialist Mono' in 10IB and 12IB breaking strains. It stays nice and straight, doesn't kink or twist and has great knot strength, it's a very workable material and very hard to spot when in the water. 

In regards to hook pattern, both the Nash Fang X and Twister hooks in size 8 are perfect. Because of the Twisters angled eye it creates a nice natural curve without having to use any silicone tubing. The Fang X is an aggressive hook pattern which is well suited on a rig such as this. For camouflage and covert purposes I wouldn't use any hook bigger than a size 8.

Vital Components

I set the hook bait up exactly the same as I do on my pop up rigs with the only difference being that my bait is touching the hook, I want the carp to be nailed the minute it mouths the bait, also with the bait being pinned close to the hook I feel it helps in disguising it. If you use a long hair you've got to think that the hook will be more visible floating up in the water.

Now on to the hook bait, it can be a minefield when deciding what one to use, not only are there so many now on the market, you've got to consider what a carp is most lightly going to have a go at. In darker water I feel that your oranges and yellows really come into play, we've got to think that the carps vision is slightly obscured. 

In clearer water dull colours like brown and black will stand out very well without being overbearing. On the day of my session I decided to go with a mixture of yellow, black and dull white, this made perfect sense to me because the water wasn't really clouded up, in fact it was clearer than usual. 

Don't Be Afraid To Experiment With Your Bait

In the image below you'll see how I set my hook bait up, the hair is very short and locked in place with a tiny piece of silicone tubing. The hook in this picture is a fang twister, you'll notice that the hook is sitting at a nice aggressive angle. The hook bait is an 'Avid Zig Lite' topped off with a buoyant imitation maggot. The maggot sitting on top of a fleck of yellow and black might just nail a curious carp, anything that mimics a natural bait is a sure fire winner in my book.

Simple But Effective

The rig is pretty much finished now, one last touch I like to add to ensure against tangles is sliding a 'anti-tangle' sleeve over the swivel of the hook-link. This is to make sure that the link is kicked away both on the cast and upon entering the water. Anything that maximises the anti-tangle properties of the rig is a must, you want to feel at ease knowing that the presentation is functioning correctly after every cast. 

You usually know if a tangle has occured because the float won't rise to the surface, I can say that after countless casts I think I've suffered from tangles about three times. This was due more to my casting style rather than a fault in the rig setup. I will explain more about how I cast this rig in part 2.

Anti-Tangle Sleeve Over A Size 8 Swivel

Once your hook link is tied and ready you simply attach it to the mainline 'that's running through the centre' of your float and slide your swivel into the silicone sleeve, you're now ready for the cast. Because the swivel slides into the float I feel that this enhances the "self-hooking effect", not only that but if you get a crack off the swivel will release from the float safely. To ensure this is the case, I rub a little Vaseline onto the hook link swivel so it releases without too much effort.

Slide Hook Link Swivel Into The Floats Sleeve

Finished Rig

To conclude this post, I've been around the houses with different rig combinations, looked at all the gadgets on the market including some of the 'zig kits' available and I can confirm that I'm 100% confident in using the rig I've explained. 

The key to a good adjustable zig rig is making it nice and streamline without any cumbersome booms or connectors, none of it has to be complicated. Simplicity is the key and whatever components you use, make sure that each one is relevant and has a role to play.

If you follow the blueprint of a marker float setup you really can't go far wrong. I hope what I've explained makes sense to you, I've been as thorough as possible. Part two of this blog will show the effectiveness of this approach, it turned out being a great session with lots of action and I look forward to sharing it with you. 

CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO

Braxted Front Lake 'Turning The Page'

Winter is now well and truly behind us and I can safely say that it was very productive for me, so with no time wasted I found myself looking towards spring and summer, and as usual my expectations were realistic, taking into account we have the "pre-spawning - spawning - post spawning" periods to get through. Once the warmer weather comes it's very easy to think that the carp will be on the feed instantly, but from past experience I know that this is not always the case. 

It's all so very weather dependent, if the heat comes quickly I find it can really kill the fishing outright, and if the temperatures climb fast over a short period of time the carps inner system starts to sense reproduction. Taking all this into account I felt that I needed to still be subtle with my approach, especially when it comes to my bait application.

I was now treading water until I could get back onto my Chelmsford waters, I participated in an out of season work party up on the Braxted complex, this would allow me to start fishing from the 1st May. It felt great to be back on the banks of Braxted, replacing the rods with a set of secateurs and a rake. I spent a few hours trimming back the swims and raking the paths, the water looked rested and very inviting. 

Spiritually I felt great, I was giving back to a venue that had provided me with so much adventure and some pretty special carp over the previous season. I talk so much about connecting with the waters that you fish, helping to maintain them connects you in a completely different way, "respect the waters that you fish and they'll reward you in more ways than one". 

Braxted Front Lake, Resting Out Of Season

During this time I was still doing the odd session on Burrows but fishing was terribly slow, I wanted to use my time wisely so I'd made the decision that I was going to focus solely on 'adjustable zigs', at least until my Chelmsford ticket started. It's an approach that I'm desperate to understand and like everything in life, you have to commit and dedicate a vast amount of time to something that you have little understanding about. I knew that if I didn't do this now, it would be a style of angling that would always take a back seat. 

I look upon zig fishing as a "discipline within a discipline", I compare it to jazz drumming, jazz is a completely different style  of playing, it involves a completely different mindset and series of techniques to master it. Zigs are exactly the same, in my mind fishing for carp on the bottom and the top are two 'main stay' approaches. Zigs can be a grey area for a lot of anglers, mainly because they've never really committed to them. 

There will be many future blogs dedicated solely to zig sessions so I won't go into anymore detail just yet, but whilst giving them a good go down on Burrows, I managed a lovely mid-double mirror, proving that they do work, and in the period before writing this blog entry I've had a great deal of success on them, I look forward to sharing what I've learnt with you in the not too distant future.

A Mid-Double Mirror Caught On A 7ft Zig

So here we go.... the page has turned, a new season, new dreams and a sense of expectation glimmers on the horizon line, there's fish to be caught, waters to be conquered and many more blogs are yet to be written, my journey is infinite and with each month that passes in my life, my quest to catch carp is forever prominent, there's no time to rest, it's an itch that's always there to scratch and in my mind it's forever open ended. 

As usual I have no real targets or desires to catch 'big carp', I just want to continue to maintain consistency everywhere that I go. Any fish that graces my net, no matter what size, is all part of a vast angling portrait, catching is what it's all about and I know that, once in a while a special fish will pay me a visit and each will be respected, admired and sent back home safely. All my waters are like unfinished stories, I've had a modest introduction on all of them but I'm eager to explore new chapters. 

Because of how 'modern carp fishing' has progressed in recent years I seem to feel inclined to periodically mention that 'bounty hunting' type angling is as far away from what it's all about for me. I must admit that I do find myself somewhat stumbling when I'm surrounded by 'the catch at any cost mentality' and I find that I have to keep on separating myself from it. The challenge that I find hard at times is to keep away from the ever growing conflict and stupidity that seems to be steadily plaguing our sport. 

Opening Day

The start of May finally arrived, with my tackle cleaned, fresh rigs tied and a knot of nervous excitement in my stomach, I loaded the car and journeyed on up to Braxted front lake. This session was going to be relaxed, I knew on opening day there was going to be a high chance that the complex could be packed out with eager anglers wetting their expectant lines. I had no set plans, on arrival I would scope out the situation and fish accordingly. My main motivation on how I would be approaching the session would be based solely on my past experiences.

As I arrived at the water the car park was rammed, back lake was full, obviously the reservoir was busy, front lake seemed to be fairly quiet. Most of the anglers were on the nearside bank, I opted to fish the far bank well away from the crowds and made the decision that I was going to fish only a few yards out from the rod tips. The water was surprisingly clear and the usual marginal cover was just starting its process of growing back.

It's Good To Be Back

I walked up the margin of the bank I was planning to fish, staying off the sky line and being as quiet as possible, I looked to see if I could spot any fish close in. Just over half way up I saw a small shoal of about three carp cruising within yards of the bank. They were three good looking commons, this was enough evidence for me and witnessing them was more than enough to light the flame of excitement. Rushing back to get my gear, I felt inspired, it still never ceases to amaze me how excited I still get at the prospect of casting out.

With the barrow now loaded I stumbled back to the nearest swim to where I saw the cruising fish, I ended up setting up where the 'life buoy' was. This put me directly in the middle of the water, my plan was to move if I was lucky enough to get a bite. Today wasn't going to be a 'heavy' session, I just wanted a relaxed afternoon reintroducing myself to place. There was going to be plenty of time in the future to really knuckle down to things. 

The bait I'd chosen to use was a mix of Honey Nectar and Raspberry Ripple, they've both worked really well on front lake in the past so I decided to combine them. I was going to be fishing mesh bags with 4 freebies in, 5 baits on each rod in total including my hook bait. I was going to be fishing semi-fixed rigs on both rods. Looking closely in the margins, a lot of the dying weed had turned black, there were strands scattered all over the place. Because of this, I decided that I would use all black components, leads, tubing etc. Aesthetically I wanted my traps to sit as natural as possible in their environment.

Dark Components

  

PVA Tape On The Hair To Stop Tangles

Finished Presentation

Thinking back, I've never been one to over-complicate my rigs, I have about four that pretty much cover any angling situation and I wouldn't class any of them as being particularly "modern". It's been said thousands of times but it still rings true, "rigs don't have to be complicated". On review, the times that I have tried to get over technical, it's nearly always resulted in tangles and hook pulls. Developing your understanding of both the waters you fish and the carp that live within them is a far more productive outlet to expel your mental energy, if you're not careful, too much focus on rigs can detract from your watercraft, as we know, it doesn't matter what rig you're using if there's no fish out in front of you.

Back To The Session

With both rods rigged up and ready for the cast, two sly underarm swings saw both my baits enter the water with not so much as a faint splash. I felt both rigs down, each communicating to me a nice soft thud, I was on clay, which was exactly where I wanted to be. With back leads applied and lines now semi-slack, this gave me the chance to sit back, spark the kettle up and once again soak up the reasons why I love the Braxted complex so much. 

Everything looked clearer and richer than what I remember, as I focused my eyes through the trees over on back lake I could just about make out a few bodies fidgeting from swim to swim. Every so often a slight murmur could be heard from the adjacent anglers, it was busy but everyone seemed to morph into the environment really well, it was clear that all of us were very happy to be fishing the 'CAA' waters once more.

View From The Swim 'Right Rod'

View From The Swim 'Left Rod'

As you can see in the images above, I wasn't fishing very far out, this is because most of the margin drops down really close in. You're in 10ft of water a couple of rod lengths out, fishing a bait near the top of the slope and another towards the bottom can be very effective, the slope itself is very steep.

A few hours ticked by and I sat content knowing that I was in with a good chance of a bite, as the afternoon passed, the anglers on front lake thinned out until I was the only one left. It was perfect, quiet and approaching "the magic hour", bite time was upon me and my focus was concentrated on both my rod tips, I didn't take my eyes off them. 

Before I knew it the left rod arced round and the clutch was whizzing, I grabbed it, as I applied the pressure the fish took off tight down the margin to the left of me, I held on, let it tire and steadily eased it my way. As it approached my landing net mesh I could see two fish, the one that I'd hooked and another just behind it, pretty much following it into the net. It was bizarre, I'd heard of this happening but had never actually witnessed it myself. Maybe they were best mates sharing a bit of grub together? once my fish was in the net the other one soon bolted. I found myself gazing at a common carp that screamed perfection, scales fell to 13IB.

First Of The Season From Front Lake

The fish was scale perfect and yet again another prime example of why I'm prepared to whittle away my days on front lake. After a few shots I got her back and upped sticks to a swim two spaces down to my left. My reason for this was, because I'm fishing so close in I knew that I'd most probably spooked any other carp that might be mooching around. Moving swims gives me a clean slate and rejuvenated confidence that I could steal another bite.

I adopted the exact same tactics, the only aspect I changed was my rig positioning, it was clear that the fish were moving around in small groups so I decided to fish both baits close to each other, doing this might get me more than one bite, especially if more than one fish comes across the bait at the same time.

View From The Second Swim

Again, both rigs entered the water with little disturbance, bobbins were set and I sat back feeling confident that another carp might come my way. Afternoon had now melted into evening, it was 6:30pm, I was going to give it another hour and then call it a day. Shortly before I was just about to reel in, the right bobbin twitched, there were a few bleeps then the rod was off. 

The minute I lifted into it I knew it wasn't a carp, it felt frantic but there was no real power to the fight. As the fish got closer I could see through the clear water a bright orange eye, I'd caught one of the resident tench, and by the looks of it, it was a pretty good size, it gave a good account of itself and as I slid the net under its smooth green frame, I felt it was the perfect way to end my first session. Scales sunk to 7IB.

A Welcome Tench 

What a tidy little result, I've always had a soft spot for Tench ever since I caught my first big one from Piltdown pond when I was about 15, it was the first proper fish that I had on my feeder rod, I have so many great angling memories and with each session that passes, a set of new memories will be created and drawn upon many years down the line. Like I've mentioned before, our angling journey never stops, it's constant, mine will end when my last breath leaves me - that's a pretty poignant thought.

All in all I was really pleased with my first session back, I had a lovely carp and a bonus tench underneath my belt and its put me in good stead for my future sessions. I feel so optimistic about the coming months, I don't want to rush anything, I'm going to take it all in my stride, keep my expectations realistic and continue to aim for consistency, and as we all know, consistency can bring with it a few larger surprises.