This is a very good weight for this fish, especially at this time of year and she looks set to become a very big fish in the future.
Friday 30 August 2013
Tester session
I had a short tester session at a water that I have not fished for a while the other evening. It's a venue that I am saving until it gets a bit cooler and is less busy. The lake and its occupants is one that I am very familiar with and in recent times has received a fair bit of attention from Carp anglers. The upshot of this is that due to the increase in the amount of bait going into the lake, the fish are putting on decent weight gains and the water looks set to produce some good fish. My short tester session was with my eldest son and we fished for a few hours in the evening. Shortly before dusk I had a pick up from a Carp and after a fairly protracted and tense fight I scooped up this stunning fully scaled mirror weighing 24lb 2oz.
Tuesday 27 August 2013
Korda Stow bobbins
One piece of equipment that I must review are Korda Stows, I purchased a set of these last year after seeing them on one of the Korda dvd's and thought they would fit in perfectly with the way I like to fish. One thing that made them stand out is the versatility of their design as they can be fished as conventional bobbins and hung on the line or they can be fished in such a way as to be able to relax the line between the rod tip and terminal tackle allowing it to settle on the bottom properly with less chance of the carp detecting it and spooking.
They are quite an expensive Item in my view compared to some other indicator systems but I believe they are well worth the extra cost due to the advantage they provide in helping catch more Carp. They are designed to work with most bite alarms, however I use ATT's and the Stows need modifying to work with the ATT alarms as they are so small. Basically all I had to do was buy some buzz bar extensions such as the ones designed to give access to the switch on certain Delkim alarms or the quick change adaptor type of extension, and I had to remove a couple of links in the Stow chains to fine tune them to fall off on the take as they are designed to do with other alarms. Not a difficult task and one that affects the performance of the Stow's in no detrimental way. You can see the extensions in the pictures below.
They are quite an expensive Item in my view compared to some other indicator systems but I believe they are well worth the extra cost due to the advantage they provide in helping catch more Carp. They are designed to work with most bite alarms, however I use ATT's and the Stows need modifying to work with the ATT alarms as they are so small. Basically all I had to do was buy some buzz bar extensions such as the ones designed to give access to the switch on certain Delkim alarms or the quick change adaptor type of extension, and I had to remove a couple of links in the Stow chains to fine tune them to fall off on the take as they are designed to do with other alarms. Not a difficult task and one that affects the performance of the Stow's in no detrimental way. You can see the extensions in the pictures below.
Extensions are needed with ATT's alarms
Detail of the unique line clip that allows you to remove tension from the mainline.
I genuinely believe that the Korda Stow indicators have given me an advantage and helped me to put more Carp on the bank recently due to the unique way they work in promoting a much more subtle end tackle presentation. Though the line between the rod tip and terminal tackle can be relaxed this does not interfere or delay bite indication because of the effects of water pressure on the line creating 'drag' or resistance on the line when a Carp picks up the bait and moves off. Obviously how much you can relax the line depends on the angling situation and factors such as the distance you are fishing at or whether you have snags or weed or bars to take into consideration when deciding how best to use these indicators, but used sensibly I'm not sure they could be improved on in offering the best in bite indication and end tackle presentation.
Making up for lost time !
So I've been fishing a fair bit lately and establishing a bait on one of my local waters, one that is dominated by a certain popular mainstream bait...
Obviously the anglers there have little imagination because most seem to be struggling despite being on this particular bait. As usual I have gone my own way and have chosen a bait about as far removed from what the fish are used to seeing as possible rather than jumping on the bandwagon. To me there is no reward or merit to following the herd, I can only gain satisfaction from working out the puzzle myself and taking the 'old school' route of doing my own thing.
So I set out to establish my own bait and results have steadily increased over the past few weeks to the point where I have been catching well, and in fact better I believe than most people who are on the mainstream established bait. My rigs though fairly simple have evolved also over the last few weeks with little tweaks here and there to maximise their effective hooking potential. The fish in this lake, though not big, are very cute and rig shy, and have demonstrated on several occasions their ability to 'get away with it '. I am now pretty confident that my rigs are working pretty well combined with the baiting situation I am using, which is always something that should be taken into consideration when deciding what rigs to use in a given situation. Sadly due to the high density of silver fish in the lake, being a club water, there is little room to use anything other than larger, harder baits, and as I am not keen on using particles such as Tiger nuts over the long term, boilies and large one's at that, are really the only option.
I've really been enjoying the fishing thus far and seeing my bait and rigs steadily begin producing some good results, however one piece of the puzzle that hasn't yet come together here is catching the bigger fish. The lake record stands at about 25lb ish, and there is a fair head of Carp in the lake to get through to reach the better fish. Having said that, many of the Carp are only 20lb plus at the right time of the year, i.e. winter and spring, so maybe I am worrying unduly as I have been getting a few fish in the 18 and 19lb bracket, which will obviously break 20lb later in the year. I have had one scraper '20' which was clearly still empty after spawning. I'm not sure just how many '20's there are at this time of year, but I would imagine not too many, maybe half a dozen at a guess so hopefully in a few weeks I should start to see a few more in my net.
I haven't bothered to photograph many fish as I have been catching so many, most of which have been in the 13- 15lb bracket but I have taken snaps of one or two of the better fish when I have had a photographer handy to save me doing self takes.
Obviously the anglers there have little imagination because most seem to be struggling despite being on this particular bait. As usual I have gone my own way and have chosen a bait about as far removed from what the fish are used to seeing as possible rather than jumping on the bandwagon. To me there is no reward or merit to following the herd, I can only gain satisfaction from working out the puzzle myself and taking the 'old school' route of doing my own thing.
So I set out to establish my own bait and results have steadily increased over the past few weeks to the point where I have been catching well, and in fact better I believe than most people who are on the mainstream established bait. My rigs though fairly simple have evolved also over the last few weeks with little tweaks here and there to maximise their effective hooking potential. The fish in this lake, though not big, are very cute and rig shy, and have demonstrated on several occasions their ability to 'get away with it '. I am now pretty confident that my rigs are working pretty well combined with the baiting situation I am using, which is always something that should be taken into consideration when deciding what rigs to use in a given situation. Sadly due to the high density of silver fish in the lake, being a club water, there is little room to use anything other than larger, harder baits, and as I am not keen on using particles such as Tiger nuts over the long term, boilies and large one's at that, are really the only option.
I've really been enjoying the fishing thus far and seeing my bait and rigs steadily begin producing some good results, however one piece of the puzzle that hasn't yet come together here is catching the bigger fish. The lake record stands at about 25lb ish, and there is a fair head of Carp in the lake to get through to reach the better fish. Having said that, many of the Carp are only 20lb plus at the right time of the year, i.e. winter and spring, so maybe I am worrying unduly as I have been getting a few fish in the 18 and 19lb bracket, which will obviously break 20lb later in the year. I have had one scraper '20' which was clearly still empty after spawning. I'm not sure just how many '20's there are at this time of year, but I would imagine not too many, maybe half a dozen at a guess so hopefully in a few weeks I should start to see a few more in my net.
I haven't bothered to photograph many fish as I have been catching so many, most of which have been in the 13- 15lb bracket but I have taken snaps of one or two of the better fish when I have had a photographer handy to save me doing self takes.
The stamp of 'double' I've been getting.
An 18lb 8oz Mirror.
Saturday 17 August 2013
Chub Extra Protection Carp Cradle
I recently decided to upgrade some of my Fishing gear as some of my old gear was starting to look a bit dilapidated after years of hard use ! One of the more pressing items I had to replace was my unhooking mat as my old Chub compact Beanie mat was no longer providing the support and protection it used to due to my using it to sit on when I was stalking ! So it was time to look around for a new mat, and with the recent development of the cradle type mats that offer the best in fish protection, I decided this was the type of mat I would look into getting. After considerable research and considerations regarding the practicalities of the various types of Cradles and Mats available to suit my own needs I decided to take a punt on the Chub Extra Protection Cradle Mat. As I only fish very short day sessions, I needed something that was compact and easy to transport, and the Chub Cradle fits this criteria very well. The mat folds down to a very compact size thanks to the use of zips on the four corners of the mat that form the support of the padded side panels. When unzipped the sides collapse and you simply fold the mat into itself to make a very compact package that fits neatly into a drawstring carry bag. Padding wise the mat is very well padded and there is a separate padded base that velcro's into the bottom of the cradle. there are drain holes n the bottom of the main section to allow excess water to drain away. Other features include a small fold away kneeling mat, side pockets for your Carp care kit, and a fold over flap to keep any fish secure should you need to leave them unattended whilst preparing weighing gear etc. So far the mat has proven itself to be a good investment and has lived up to my expectations well and fits nicely into the niche that I require for my angling. Obviously I will have to see how it performs in the long term as regards durability, but it appears to be very well made and robust and as long as the zips aren't mistreated I see no reason why it should not last a long time. All in all I think this is a great product from Chub and in my opinion one of the best designed mats on the market.
Well supported sides that don't collapse !
The fold over protection cover
Carry handles
Unzipped ready to remove Velcro in mat for folding
Mat removed showing drain holes in base
Plenty of room for fish of all sizes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)