Andy Spreadbury's Fishing Blog

  Wednesday, 10 November 2021 Paddlesworth,   Pollard, P61 It's a dark, grey, damp, drizzly day at the lake. Would I have been better off staying at home?.. Set up at dawn on a damp drizzly day.  The Extricators  are perfectly matched to the loaded method feeders and I am fishing perfectly at 5 wraps. The corn catapulted out perfectly matches the wraps so no need to spod. ESP Method Feeders on both rods with buoyant plastic corn. It's perfectly sized to only just sink the hook. When Mr. Carp comes along and inhales the ground bait - bob's yer uncle - Fanny's yer aunt. No sign of fish 🐟 in the peg but it is November after all. Waiting for the first bite from a Bream. Subtle indications of something on the top five yards past my baited area. Could be nothing. Might be something. Twenty-two feet at five wraps. Not the deepest depths of the lake but there again I don't think I need to be in that yet. It's still relatively mild so I don't think the fish will be

  Peg 4, Paddlesworth, Burrows A misty morning on Burrows Lake. Not where I wanted to be but hey ho, it is what it is. Burrows is so popular these days Couldn't get in my usual spot so h ad to drop in here. Sort of found the marginal slope at 9.5 wraps despite being told it was six feet all the way across. Good job I put the marker rod out.  Eight feet right up to the far bank, then ten at 9.5 wraps. More or less the same as The Goose Shit. Eight Spombs right over the top. Trialling a rig against my usual one.  The idea of the rig is that the hook follows the bait in rather than the fish having to open its mouth wider to accommodate both bait and hook The hair is extended beyond the bend. The idea behind this is that the side hooked boily presents a bigger thing to enter the carp's mouth. The boily off the bend - the hook follows the bait into the mouth. In the side hooked version, I could forsee the fish spitting it out as it senses there's something other than the bait at

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 Burrows, P8 Back in Peg 8 again. The formal peg numbering as opposed to the vernacular labelling at least confers some level of respectability. The big change on the lake since I was here last is that there are peg numbers in the swims. So this is now no longer The Goose Shit - but the more respectable Peg 8. We now have official peg numbers whoopee-do! Both baits out on the ten wrap marks in front of the reeds opposite. I've already seen fish moving and I'm really confident, hoping for a 'hit'. The usual Manilla and Squid and Octopus (red and beige) colours. Smell doesn't seem to matter - appearance does. Mosquitoes an absolute nightmare! 8.15 All set up, baits out and tickety-boo. Time for a brew methinks. 9.30 Things kicked off nicely with a 12:10 zip linear. Not a big fish but pretty. Pleased to have caught it. Three Spombs to top up. 12:10 Zip Liner. Not a big fish but pretty nonetheless. 11.00 A bit of a right to left breeze has sprung

  Paddlesworth, Pollard, P36 - The 'W' Thursday, 29 July 2021 Using the bivvy as a hide. I was fishing at very short range and of course didn't want the carp to detect my presence, hence, shielding myself from the water. Didn't make any difference though. I had a quick lead around before deciding where to put the baits. There was no one fishing at this end which I deemed to be a good thing. No lines going through the water. I once again failed to find the mythical plateau alleged to be out in front and found only  17 - 19  feet. Far too deep. Fifteen is an absolute maximum. Close in however, off the marginal trees I found ten. Since my good friend Steve regularly catches close in, this is where the baits will be fished, all in solid bags. I have a bucket of hemp over which I intend to introduce to draw fish down through the Eel Grass. Double-bagged to get down through the Eel Grass. It was still ten feet close in and I didn't want to risk the bag melting before it h

  Wednesday, 14 July 2021 The Royal Box I'm not where I want to be. The Brambles was free on my initial look and I pushed the barrow straight there on parking up. When I got there however, someone had put a bucket in and pre-empted me by literally seconds. I was gutted at this as it was the last available peg on my 'approved' list. The only other peg I was prepared to fish was this one although I have never had a fish from it. Yet. I'm hoping that will now change. View from 'The Royal Box' I've had no previous advice on marks etc so set about it with a thorough survey. Clipped at 15 wraps, I found 21 foot. Hmmm, that's deep, but at 9.75 wraps it went down to 26 feet. Now that is deep! It felt clean and silty on the bottom and I decided this is where to put baits. All on the spot. 15 Spombs of spod over the top. I put in a little extra because of dispersion in the deep water. Now we just wait... Nothing showing on my spot at the moment. Not surprisingly.

  Thursday, 8th.July 2021 Burrows, The Goose Shit Back again for another session to see if I can emulate last week's adventure. 'The Goose Shit' Peg My spot is in front of the reeds over on the far side at the bottom of the marginal slope There's a guy next door in The Shallows casting across, not quite into my water - but close enough to be a nuisance. Can't say anything of course. He did come and have a word and I said he wouldn't be interfering with me, but as is often the case,he just really wants approval for being a selfish so and so. Have just got to live with it. The perils of fishing busy waters. No activity on the lake although I just heard someone to my right land a fish. Manilla on the left-hand rod, Nashbait Squid and Krill on the right-hand. Both bottom baits on fluorocarbon rigs. Ah..... Fish just moved to the left of my spot. Come on! Ten Spombs of spod mix over the top of the two rods. Oh bugger. A Cormorant just surfaced. It was probably that I

Wednesday, 30th.June 2021 Burrows, The Goose Shit (And it's covered in it...) The aim is to fish to the far marginal slope - but at the bottom of it. If the rig lands up the slope, the line goes through the water off the bottom possibly scaring the fish, hence, bottom of the slope. I started off one wrap too long. After some time away sea-fishing, (catching rays, Dogfish, and whiting) I came back to carp fishing at the onset of the good weather with the full intention of getting my tactics sorted for the big boys lake. Needless to say it didn't quite work out as planned and I suffered a bit at the hands of bad weather and bad luck. Not that I didn't try. I fished hard but the damned carp just wouldn't play ball. Finally, I resorted to copying a hero of mine - Tom Maker. He fishes exactly the same way everywhere he goes and catches more than anyone. If his tactics were good enough for him then they were good enough for me. A lost common and lost leads every time to the F