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.