Imberhorne - 30/07/09

I had planned to arrive at Imberhorne by 08:00 but after struggling to drag my butt out of bed it was closer to 09:30 by the time I got to the lake so it was no surprise to see my favourite swim already occupied. After a quick walk round the lake I opted to fish the far bank corner swim which looks down the length of the lake, it was the perfect swim to put my new quiver tip rod through it's paces with a bit of method feeder fishing.

I reached straight for my new Korum Neoteric and as the Carp don't run huge here I opted for the lightest of the three tips (2 oz). I'm rapidly becoming a big fan of the method feeder and part of that is down to how quick and easy the setup is, tie a quick double overhand loop knot in your mainline (I was using 8lb mono), thread the loop through the tail rubber of your feeder, clip the loop in your line onto the the feeder and secure the tail rubber in place. At the business end I was using a size 12 barbless Preston Innovations 4" method feeder hair rig that was secured in place by a simple loop to loop knot. The feeder itself was one of the new 24 gram Guru x-safe elasticated feeders that only hit the shelves a few weeks prior so it would be interesting to see the results. The bait of choice for the day was two Sonubait 11mm halibut soft hooker pellets, these things absolutely ooze oil so I had no doubt the Carp would be on them as soon as they hit the water, the method mix I had chosen was the new Bait Tech Envy hemp and halibut mix.

I cast out to the middle of the lake and within 30 seconds of setting the tip it wrapped completely round and I was into my first Carp of the day, it was only a few pounds but I don't think I've ever seen such a pristine fully scaled Mirror.

By now the sun was high in the sky and the temperature was well into the 80s, I almost felt sorry for all the people stuck at work, almost, thankfully for me the giant pine tree in my swim was providing me with plenty of protection or so I thought (more on that later.....).

Around about lunchtime I was joined by quite possibly the cutest and fluffiest baby fox that I've ever seen, he come bounding along the bank without a care in the world and got to within ten feet of where I was sitting before clocking me, freezing in his tracks and then slowly slinking off. The little scamp would return a further two more times throughout the day no doubt looking for a free meal.

The fishing itself was pretty relentless and after six hours and 15 Carp I decided to call it a day, I didn't manage any fish over 4lbs but when you consider the glorious weather and picturesque surroundings to ask for anything more would just be greedy.

It was only when I went to pack up that I noticed that the shade the tree provided had come at a price as my rod bag and rucksack were completely covered in bird droppings, when I got home I noticed my back and shoulders were covered too, oh well, I suppose it is meant to be lucky.

Readers Lake - 26/07/09

After being stuck up Sheffield for two weeks to renew my non destructive testing tickets I was itching to get back on the bank so when I got a text from a mate asking if I was up for some fishing this weekend I jumped at the chance. The aim was to meet up at 07:30 and be fishing by 08:00, the venue of choice was the always scenic Readers.

I absolutely love catching Tench and with the good old fashioned British summer still going strong I thought I had a genuine chance of a Tinca today. I decided to fish with one rod first and the setup was a pretty standard one for float fishing, Drennan Power Carp Waggler, Shimano reel, small waggler float and a size 14 barbless hook fished straight through on 6lb line. I'd brought a myriad of baits including maggots, worms, sweetcorn, soft hooker halibut pellets and luncheon meat and was confident that even if the Tench weren't going to play ball then the Carp would.

Readers responds well to fishing in the margins so with that in mind I plumbed up and decided to fish six inches over depth on the margin shelf which is where the Tench love to patrol. It was literally a bite a chuck with the usual suspects (Roach and Skimmer Bream) falling to either corn or soft pellet, with that in mind I opted to put down a bed of small pellets to try and entice the bigger fish into the swim. It didn't take long for me to hook into my first proper fish but I lost what I suspected to have been a foul hooked Carp so I decided to shallow up to dead depth. I was soon into another fish but again I lost it, from the nature of the fight and previous experience on this water I suspect it might of been a Tench as it felt more like a solid lump compared to the Carp which tend to go absolutely mental when hooked.

By this time my friend had already managed to bank a few including a fin perfect 8lb Common on ledgered luncheon meat and a 11lb Common on a fake dog biscuit so the pressure to salvage the 'match' was well and truly on. With that in mind I set up a second ledger rod and hair rigged two 11mm soft halibut pellets fished tight to the edge of the island a tactic which showed instant results with a small Carp coming to the bank within two minutes of casting out. Unfortunately there is a lot of debris around the island so not only was it difficult to present a bait but as soon as I hooked a fish it would immediately head straight for the reeds and I only managed to land one of the four Carp I hooked into.

Back on the other rod after having my float smashed to pieces by a Carp I opted to free line a cube of luncheon meat in the margins and just to confirm that it wasn't going to be my day I hooked and lost a further two Carp including a small Ghostie. Time to call it a day methinks.

For all my effort I could only manage two Carp and a few silvers, my mate finished the day with six Carp including a couple of nice lumps proving that everybody gets lucky at least once in life, it would of been a different story if I had banked every fish that I hooked.....

4-2

Curses!

Readers Lake - 11/07/09

Readers lake is without doubt one of the most picturesque lakes in the Isfield portfolio and the fishing is usually pretty good too so whenever I get the opportunity to fish there it's a no brainer. The plan was to meet my friend Graham at 07:30 in a nearby pub car park and then drive to the lake to hopefully be fishing by 08:00.

The best thing about Readers is you never really know what you are going to catch, Carp, Tench, Bream, Chub, Roach, Rudd, Perch plus some exotic oddities like Goldfish and Ghosties this lake has it all. After a quick walk around the lake we opted to fish in between the two islands which would give us both a feature to fish to, as an added bonus I also had a set of pads in the margins just to the left of my swim. For me there isn't a nicer looking fish in our waters than the Tench so that was the target for today, I've caught them to just over 4lbs from this lake but I know they go bigger.

Readers has a sudden drop off in the margins and this is where I've had the most success from, the plan was to float fish strawberry sweetcorn and worms in the margin and feed hemp and small strawberry pellets but I'd also brought other Tench favourites like prawns and luncheon meat to try. Setup was nice and simple as I was using my trusty Drennan Power Carp Waggler combined with Shimano reel and 6lb line straight through to a size 14 barbless hook. I'd also opted to use my brand new Korum Neoteric as a second rod which I would use to alternate between ledgering maize on a hair (boilies are banned) and fishing on the top with dog biscuits depending on where the Carp were showing.

The first action of the day was from Graham's swim as he lost two decent Carp early on, one of which almost dragged his rod in whilst I was doing my best to distract him by demoing my brand new rod. My first fish of the day fell to the float in the form of some small Roach, Gudgeon and Perch that all took liking to my corn and worms fished tight to the pads. By midday I had also managed this small Carp that was caught off the top on a dog biscuit fished tight to the island.

As the day progressed and with action few and far between I decided to swap my surface rod to a ledger so I could stick it on a bite alarm and focus more of my attention on the float. The bait of choice on the ledger was double maize fished on a hair, I was still holding out hope of a Tench or two but as I flicked the bait out to the edge of the pads and baited the area heavily with hemp I suspected Carp were the more likely quarry. Within an hour of casting out the ledger I had caught two small Carp of maybe a few pounds each but by the end of the day had also managed to lose four more fish (hook pulls) which I had half expected when fishing tight to the pads and having to bully them a little.

Meanwhile on the float heavy feeding the margins was starting to pay off as I added a further two Carp late in the day including this lovely Common which I estimated to be about 6lbs.

I finished the day with four Carp and some small bits and pieces but for the first time in a while it felt like I'd earned my catch. Despite trying every tactic, bait and rig going Graham managed just two Carp plus a few Roach and Perch.

4-1 baby!

Roosthole Pond - 05/07/09

By the time we arrived at Roosthole it was already 08:00 so it was hardly surprising to see our favourite swims already occupied, a quick walk round the lake and we eventually decided to opt for the two adjacent swims partly because of our previous success here and partly because I was too lazy to walk any further!

Setup was the same as always on this venue, 3.25lb test curve Free Spirit X.S.E rods, Shimano Baitrunners with 15lb mono and semi-fixed bolt rigs. I'd prefer not to use as heavy mono but the constant casting of heavy bolt rigs plus PVA bags takes it's toll and I'd rather be cautious than leave baited rigs in the water. Bait choice was, yep, you guessed it Dynamite Baits 15mm spicy tuna & sweet chilli boilies but this time I'd also brought along some Dynamite 15mm spicy shrimp & prawn boilies to try (they smell as bad as they sound) plus some fish based glugs to try (they smell even worse than they sound). A small PVA bag of halibut and trout pellets was attached for every cast.

In previous trips to Roosthole the action has always been instant but sadly it wasn't to be this time as I had to wait over an hour for my first proper run, after a half hearted fight I was rewarded with a small Mirror Carp of maybe 6lbs with the shrimp & prawn proving to be his downfall. By this time my mate had already managed to hook two Carp (losing one of them) plus a small Bream, as always with Graham his fish coming to the bank via every snag in the lake.

Normally the middle of the lake has always been the most productive for me but as it wasn't happening today I decided to change tactics and cast as tight to the overhanging tree on the far bank as I dared. This immediately paid dividends as within 2 minutes of my baits hitting the water I was rewarded with one of those screaming runs that every Carp angler loves and this double figure Mirror.

From that point on the action was relentless as I was rewarded with a series of runs that resulted in a further three Carp banked (none of any size) plus a solitary Bream of about 1.5lbs. The only disappointment for me was that I managed to pull out of a further five Carp, next time I plan to use slightly heavier leads to try and get a better hook hold when the fish bolt.

Despite fishing just ten yards to my right and doing exactly the same Graham was struggling to buy a bite and only managed to land one other Carp plus a few Bream to his earlier haul, that meant I ended the day with a commanding if not insurmountable 3-1 lead in our 'match' series.