I'm gonna need a bigger boat! River Carp fishing.

It's no secret that my local river holds carp but they are far from easy to catch. One reason being access to the best areas is limited. A long walk carrying all your carp gear is not something most people want to do. And to be honest neither do I! So when I was lucky enough to be given an old Avon inflatable boat I knew this was going to be my way of targeting the nomadic river carp. I did a dry run and inflated the boat in the garden to see if I could fit everything I needed in it. There was not much room but I could fit the minimum in it I needed to fish effectively and safely.

I had dabbled with a bit of bank fishing on the river in the past and caught my 1st river Carp. A small but mint common. This time I had the boat so set about baiting a couple of spots that are hard to target from the bank. The reason being that if I was going to spend time and money bating I didn't want to make it easy for someone else to gain from my effort. But if they did I would accept it as nobody has exclusive rights to fish a specific spot. Unless they own the venue of course.

When June 16th came around I had to work so I got everything ready for an evening session. I was thinking of maybe doing the whole night in the boat. But it would not be the most comfortable nights fishing in that cramped space! I got to the river about 4.30 pm and set about getting the boat into the river. The excitement was building! With everything loaded the electric motor set me off down river. I was cautious about gunning it to the spot as I wanted to make sure I had enough power to get me back! I did see one Carp on the way to my chosen spot. It was a small common of about 10lbs in weight not far from the area I was going to fish. I wondered if this could have been the same fish I caught a couple of seasons earlier?

A few minutes later and I was anchored up in my chosen spot. The weed was not bad but the cabbage lilies in front of me would make my lines stick out like a sore thumb! I had my weed rake with me so I made a clearing to allow a better line lay. I baited the spot with a quarter kilo of my trusty homemade squid and shellfish sense appeal boilies. A mixture of whole and broken baits. I didn't want to bait too heavily as if a Carp came along I wanted it to find my hookbait easily. My rigs were 2 hinged stiff links but with a soft coated braid main boom just so they presented better on the soft river bed. And 2oz leads on clips. The hookbaits were homemade pop ups of the same flavour as the free offerings. 1 red and 1 white. I was not expecting anything to happen anytime soon as the weed raking may have scared away any Carp in the area?

Maybe I was worrying over nothing as a couple of hours later my rod was bending and the reel screaming as the white pop up was taken by a strong fish! I picked up the rod and was met by a surge of power from the fish. I had to slacken the clutch as it made off down river. Whenever I turned it the fish just ran stronger the other way! It tried to take me into the snaggy margin. Luckily I steered it clear otherwise it would have been game over! The fight was nearly over and I could see it was mirror. I got it over the net and as happens so often it decided it didn't like it and swam out again! I pulled it in again and this time I scooped up the net around it. Got one!

With the fish safely in the net I set about getting ready for unhooking and weighing the fish in the boat. I lifted the fish up and placed it on the mat. He was nose to tail to the width of the boat. I thought to myself I'm gonna need a bigger boat if I catch any bigger fish! The hook was never coming out as it was firmly in the bottom lip. I treated it's lip with anti-septic as always. The fish weighed 18lbs and was in mint condition. I slipped it back extremely content I managed to get a fish in my little boat and returned safely.

I carried on fishing into dark but only managed a reasonable Bream. I decided I didn't want a night unhooking those so I called it a day and steamed back to my car. It was dark but my head torch and hand held mag lite were more than enough to see my way up the river.

Surfice to say I can't wait to get back afloat again! Watch this space :-)

Slimy + tired = a great days Crucian fishing!

How many times has someone said to you "the fishings not as good as it use to be" or something to that affect? Well that's what people said to me about a Norfolk venue I wanted to fish for Crucian carp. Diss mere.

I got to the lake as early as I could at about 7am. Not bad considering I have a 3 month old son and was up a few times during the night feeding amongst other things! I chose a swim that had a nice over hanging tree and open water to target. I planned on using 2 rods. My trusty float setup was one and the other was my also trusty method feeder setup. I mixed my usual groundbait mix of fishmeal, krill and crushed hemp with a handful of sweetcorn. I baited under the tree with a few small handfuls of the mix and cast the feeder out 5 times to the desired spot in open water to bait the area. The 6th cast had a baited hair rigged 8mm pop up boilie. Next I cast out my float and sat back for a relaxing days fishing.

Next thing I knew the feeder rod was away! I struck and started playing a fish I thought may be a small Tench? Quickly the fish popped up to the surface and flashed its golden scales as it headed back down again. Much to my surprise it was a crucian 1st cast on the feeder! Before I could even net it I heard the clicking of my centrepin reel. I looked over to see my float rod bent round as a fish was making off under the tree! I netted the Crucian and grabbed the float rod to be met with a strong fish. This was definitely a Tench and it scrapped hard until it joined the Crucian in the waiting net. My 1st Crucian from the lake 1st cast! It weighed 1lb 8oz and I guess the Tench was double that.

After slipping the fish back I set about recasting the rods only to have an exact action replay of the previous mayhem! Suffice to say I gave up on 2 rods and went to using just the feeder rod. The action continued with another Crucian a little bigger than the previous one. This one weighed 1lb 10oz and was as mint as the 1st. 

I switched between using the float and the feeder as I do like to mix it up a bit to keep things interesting. I caught from the off on the float too as I had been trickling in bait under the tree to keep the fish there. I had a few more Tench and a couple of small carp which made it interesting on a light outfit! I only had 2 Crucians on the float.

Maybe they wanted to be in the deeper water as it was a bright day? I thought this as by lunchtime I had caught 12 Crucians to 1lb 14oz . Plus a few more Tench and many small Bream. All the Crucians were over 1lb. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent catching small Bream. I decided to call it a day as I was so tired! 12 Crucians, several Tench, a few Carp and countless Bream saw to that! If the days fishing I just had was not as good as it use to be I would have loved to have seen it at its peak!

My Crucian fishing rigs

Here are my two go to rigs when I am targeting Crucians.

The 1st is my float setup. I like to use a pole float as it is perfect for fishing under the rod tip. The small thin tip of the float does not get blown around in the wind as much as thicker floats and is a very sensitive presentation. I do something different to most when it comes to weighing the float Dow. Gone are the traditional split shot and in comes tungsten putty. I simply pinch on bits of Putty until I get the desired weight. This prevents the line from damage caused by pinching shot onto the line.

The 2nd is my feeder setup. I like to use the small Preston Innovations inline method feeders. For a hooklink I use a short length of uncoated braid. Hook is a size 10-12 wide gape. Bait is an 8mm pop up boilie weighed down with putty or a no 8 split shot. This is a highly effective rig and can out fish the float up to 10 to 1.

Enter the Dragon! Syndicate Carp fishing.

I didn't know it at the time but the 12th season on the West Stow Carp syndicate would be my last. But as it happened it was probably as good a time to leave as any. This is how I met up with a Carp older than me (37 at the time) and the most sought after Carp in the 17 acre Suffolk lake.

It was midsummer and I was starting a midweek session after the stunning Carp that inhabit the lake. The lake was quiet angler wise so I had a good chance of finding an area that would give me a chance of catching. After a walk around the lake i decided to fish a swim that gave me open water and an island to target. I saw a few fish show in the open water and there were nearly always fish around the island. I fired out a choddy towards the corner of the island and another to the bottom of a plateau in front of me. I scattered my homemade squid n shellfish boilies over the rigs and sat back to take in the atmosphere. Nothing happened that night and I was getting restless. I sat next to my rods scanning the lake and noticed a fish jump clear of the water up the top end of the lake. This was the sign I needed to move. And on a lake that can be very busy is not something you can do too often.

I got to the new swim that commanded a bay where the wind was pumping right into. I cast a choddy left to the bay entrance and cast a combi rig into the open water right on top a fish I just saw come up. No alarms. Just the rods on the ground and the net ready just in case. Suddenly the open water rod made a ping as the line pilled from the clip. I pulled into a strong fish that made me work hard from the off. It made several strong runs but each one less so than the previous run. It glided into the net and when I lifted it I knew it was a goodun! Surprisingly I was the only angler on the lake and it was Friday afternoon! I had to weigh it on my own (which was a struggle) and the needle spun round to 38lb 10oz. A new pb! I didn't recognize the fish at the time but it was a fish called "the Dragon" and normally weighed well over 40lb. He was probably around 40 years old and the most sought after fish in the lake. I managed to get a few good self take pictures to capture the memory of this special Carp.

That was not the end of the action though. Just minutes after returning the Dragon the other rod was away! Again a hard fight was sapping my energy and I had not recovered from the previous fight. Without too much drama I netted a very long common that was immaculate. Again I weighed and photographed the fish on my own. She weighed 29lb 10oz. Worth the move right?! Lol. 

I called it a day for that session but went back for a few more and had a few fish too. I was so happy to catch the Dragon and it seemed a fitting season to call it a day on West Stow for pastures new. I may go back one day as there are still some cracking Carp in there. But for now I have other waters that need my attention : )

1st Association of Crucian Anglers fish in at Marsh Farm.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the 1st Association of Crucian Anglers fish in at Marsh Farm Harris lake in Surrey. This is a venue I have wanted to fish for some time due the numbers of big Crucians swimming around in its water. To get there meant battling the M25 and Dartford crossing during the 3 hour drive! But it would be well worth it.

I arrived in the car park at 7.30 am and got talking to some of the guys who would be fishing too. We were all excited but maybe it was most exciting for the guys who had never fished there? In other words ME! Lol. We did the draw for pegs and I drew peg 45. Having studied a map of the lake i knew this swim gave me lots of open water but no island to fish too. I did consider moving into one of the free swims but stayed put as I wanted to give the swim a go.

I set up my usual two Crucian rods (float and feeder) and made up my groundbait. I cast out 10 feeder fulls to bait my chosen spot just short of half way out. It was a bright day so reasoned the fish may be in the deeper water. I was taken somewhat by surprise when my alarm sounded and bobbin SLAMMED up to signal an early take! I hit into a reasonable weight and thought it may be one of the many Tench. When I saw a big golden head pop up I had visions of one of the big Crucians that swin in the lake. I think I was too excited and guessed it to be near 3lb but it weighed 2lb 7oz. Which was an equal PB so I was extremely happy to catch it. I think it was spawned out and could well have been nearer 3lb a week earlier?

I set about making my camp for the night whilst casting out a full feeder regularly to keep the spot topped up. No more action happened until mid afternoon when a flurry of Tench came right up to when I reeled in for some much needed sleep around 11.30pm. I set my alarm for 4am so I could make the most of my stay before I was to leave around lunchtime. As soon as I cast out the Tench were on the feed. I landed a total of 14 Tench to 6lb but no more Crucians. The Crucian fishing was hard for everyone and only 7 were caught to 2lb 12oz. But the Tench kept most of the guys busy. So I packed up for home tired but happy. Even the drive back home didn't seem too bad.

A big thanks goes to everyone at Godalming AC for letting us gatecrash Harris lake for the night. And to Chris Netto, Lee Noakes, Chris Turnbull and all of the guys who attended for making the fish in a hugely enjoyable experience.

A rare catch. Fenland River Zander fishing.

When my mate Giles suggested we take his boat out for a days predator fishing I could not say yes quick enough! The plan was to head down to the river Lark in Cambridgeshire. There was one place in particular we wanted to fish as it was a haven for fish such as Pike, Perch and Zander.

However there was a problem. The river was high and visibility was poor to say the least! The area we decided to target was a much wider part of the river that is a holding area for everything that swims. Prey and predator alike. We anchored up in the start of the wider part of the river and started casting out lures. We managed to get a follow or two from Pike but they did not seem too interested. Probably due to the bright blue skies.

We headed to the other side as it was in the shade and we reasoned the fish may be there out of the bright light. First cast and Giles was into a Perch on drop shotted worm. He had several more as they were keen to feed. I had a few casts but really wanted to get into the bigger predators. The lures were not working but some lads fishing from one of the houses were catching Roach and using them as live baits when one escaped only to be scooped up by me! The Roach was dead so I decided to wobble it on a trace and 2 size 6 trebles. I had action right away with a couple of jack pike.

The sun was fading and i knew this was the best time to get a Zander. We repositioned into a deeper bit of water. I slowed down my retrieve hoping a Zed would grab hold. Sure enough thats exactly what happed and a fish made off in a hurry! I like to hit takes pretty early on to prevent deep hooking but knowing this was probably a Zander i let it take line for a few seconds as they are finicky feeders. I hit into it and played it to the boat. It was a Zander! In the net it went after a few powerful surges. This was a rare catch from the river Lark and i was well chuffed! At around 6lb it was a nice size to catch on light gear. I can't wait to get out on the boat again!

Early April Crucian fishing.

It had been nearly six months since my last Crucian session and I was gagging to get some fishing in as the worst of the winter weather had now gone. So an early April trip to Hinderclay lakes in Suffolk was in order. This venue holds lots of the bars of gold up to just over 3lb. 

I started off fishing in the margins with my usual pole float set up on the float rod. I also put out my usual inline method feeder with a Krill based groundbait with crushed hemp and sweetcorn. If the lake is not busy I like to drop a couple of handfuls of groundbait in the margins of a few swims to see if I can locate the Crucians before I get too comfortable in any one swim.

I could not buy a bite from anything other than a single skimmer bream on the float! However, my feeder set up did not let me down. I managed to get into the Crucians on the method feeder as well as plenty of Bream. I ended up with 3 Crucians over 2lb. Not massive but nobody else was catching them! I left on a high as everything about the conditions told me it was going to be a hard task!

 This lake has many Crucians over 2lb and is incredible fishing when you get them feeding in your swim. There have been a few captures of fish over the 3lb barrier and this is why I keep going back.

Fenland Pike fishing

I had been Pike fishing on still waters for the season so far and felt the needs to target moving water again. So a fenland river was to be the venue I would target. It was a good move as I found the pike in a deadly mood!

I started by putting out my usual dead bait rods. One with a half mackeral and one with a popped up eel section. It was slow going and no runs were fourth coming. So I decided to get the drop shotting rod out with a small rubber shad type lure. Well this was a good move as I was into a fish first cast! It was a small jack but was very welcome. Well 3 more cast I had 2 more jacks! I handed the rod over to my mate as he was gagging for a go. He caught 1 first cast too! He was very impressed with the drop shot method of lure fishing. 

I did keep recasting the dead baits just to see if anything would pick them up. And it paid off as i caught the biggest fish of the day on the popped up eel section. Only around 8lb but I was very happy to catch it. I only caught the 1 Pike on dead bait so they obviously wanted something moving to eat! Lol

Where monsters lurk! Big Barbel fishing.

One of my favourite rivers is a Great Ouse tributary in Bedfordshire and has big fish of every species. On this particular river it is near impossible to get a good swim at the back end of the season as everyone wants to be there for the late Winter feed they seem to go on every season! Me and my fishing buddy Mick got to the river just before late afternoon to find it rammed! We thought about trying another section but this was where monsters lurked!

We managed to squeeze in on this tiny stretch of river. I baited my hair rig with a big piece of luncheon meat and dropped it in close to my feet in a couple of feet of slack water. I reasoned that any natural food would build up here because of the slack water. I had action from the off but was a species I was not expecting. A like if about 10lbs was unhooked and slipped back! I recast and again i was soon into a fish. This time a chub if about 3lbs was in the net. Small for this river as it was the 1st Chub under 5lb I had caught. 

Well maybe 30 minutes later my 1lb 1/4 test curve rod bent double! I grabbed the rod and held on for dear life! The fish went on powerful but thankfully short runs. About 10 minutes later the fish was in the net. It was just past dusk and I was happy to reel in and call it a day as I had something special in the net. It is probably my greatest catch to date? A huge 17lb 6oz Barbel. A MONSTER and I doubt I will catch a better fish in my life?!

A "quiet" days fishing! Tench and Bream.

So I went fishing on an early springs day to Barnwell lake in Cambridge. Cold easterly winds were not ideal but better than sitting in front of the TV right? The lake has Tench, Bream, a few Carp and some Crucians. I’m told most of the Crucians are crossbreeds but there are some true ones. The lake happens to be next door to the Cambridge United football ground and it was a home game day. Not the quiet days fishing I was hoping for!

Well unfortunately not much was feeding and all I caught were a Bream and a hard fighting Tench.Cold easterly winds were far from ideal! But there were a few other anglers and they didn’t catch anything. So I won’t be too hard on myself! The fish fell to a small inline groundbait method feeder with 8mm boilies on the hair rig. This is a method i use every venue I go to as it catches me lots of fish when they are hard to catch on the float.