Tuesday, 8th.May
Bough Beech, Hilder's Point, Pete’s Bay
14.00…And the rods are finally on the dancefloor.
Once again, there were road traffic accidents on the M20 - again bringing the roads around Sittingbourne to a grinding halt. Even on my way out to the motorway I saw the remnants of a three car rear-end-shunt, the forlorn occupants standing beside the road, air-bags in their vehicles gone off, waiting for the emergency services to arrive. (No-one seemed hurt so I continued on my way.)
The drive to the reservoir is through some of the prettiest parts of Kent, at this time of year at their loveliest. Fortunately, I arrived without mishap and drove straight round to the ‘Estate Yard’ on the West Bank of the res. One angler was fishing - a Bream angler, who reported he had seen a carp that very morning, not twenty yards out from the bank. Good news indeed! I had a bit of a walk along and round into the next field to what is known as ‘Hilders Point’ on the edge of Pete’s Bay. There, sixty yards out, a patch of bubbles broke surface in the calm water. I needed no further encouragement and quickly went back to the car for the gear.
Plumbing revealed eleven to twelve feet at 15 wraps and eight feet at 8 wraps. Problem was, leafy, emergent plants covered the bottom and the water-margin making the fishing of bottom baits difficult. Leading around revealed smoother, patchier ground conditions further out so I decided to fish all four rods at 15 wraps over this less dense ground.
I am fishing the rods in two pairs of two on different spots. Each pair has a bottom bait on one rod and a stiff hinge rig on the other, the booms a good ten inches long to sit over the leafy weed.
This weed looks terrestrial; by that I mean it looks as if it’s the sort of emergent water plant that thrives when the water goes down. It’s not too tall - about six inches so the stiff hinge rigs should sit above the top of the leaves. My double bottom baits I hope too will sit on top of the weed as they too are on longish hook-lengths. Where I have cast my baits, the weed felt patchier so there’s a good chance they may even land in a clear spot.
14.30
I have experienced something of an epiphany since my last visit and I am fishing with the most confidence I have had since I began fishing the reservoir. I had the good fortune to attend the syndicate member’s meeting where Ken Crow the Fishery Manager gave us information on what was happening on and around the reservoir. Of particular interest was the news that an identified fish which had been stocked at six pounds three years ago, had been caught at twenty-two pounds! That’s a growth rate of over five pounds a year! This is good news indeed and bodes well for the future; but it is Bait with which I have acquired the greatest confidence.
My old friend and mucker Bill Philips, formerly of Ashford and now a river-pikey on some canal boat or other in the west of England introduced me to ‘Cherry Carp Baits’ via social media and I knew that he would not endorse their products unless he had genuine faith in them. Previously, I have made the rather tiresome journey to Sandwich to get bait from ‘Active Bait Solutions’ - themselves a highly respected outfit with top-gun people behind it. Whilst I was happy with what I’d got from them (their ‘Plan B’ boilies, a very good quality bait at very competitive prices), the more I read about Cherry Carp the more convinced I became I should use them.
Cherry Carp is not just a Bait Firm. They actively promote an ethos - that good quality carp bait does not have to cost the earth and can be marketed at a competitive price without profit being the driving force behind their activities. They do not advertise in weekly mags - moreover, they deplore the vested interests and strategic extraction of hard earned cash from the carp angler’s pockets. They seem almost anti-commercial - they are in the main retired successful business people who are not driven by the commercial need to amass mountains of cash. They do what they do because they love carp and carp-fishing and promote the idea of ‘Keeping It Real’ - telling the truth about bait, rigs, and everything else to do with carp-fishing. They don’t publicise baits or rig ideas just because it’s an opportunity to encourage carp anglers to spend money on needless components. Just as an example, the ‘Pokernut’ boilies I’d got with me today cost me £32.50 for five kilos. Even by the time you add postage it still only came to forty quid - that’s eight pounds a kilo, delivered. Go to their website and read about them, it won’t be time wasted: Cherry Carp Baits
15.00
A couple of knocks on the rod-tip! Action! The bite alarm didn’t sound but I definately saw the rod-tip go. No coots out there so must have been a fish.
Heavens to Betsy! This is the first time since I don’t know when that I’ve been able to put bait out with a throwing-stick and not be troubled by ‘flying rats’ (seagulls). Really confident with my spots. It’s going to happen. Got a feeling in my water.
15.45
As I was driving down this morning, I had the radio on and ‘The Mamas and the Papas’ were singing:
“Play your own kinda music,I feel exactly like that about my fishing at the moment. I’m doing it my way. This is not other people’s fishing enacted through my rods. This is mine, and I’m singing my own ‘special song’.
Sing, your own special song.
It don’t matter if no-one’s along.”
16.15
Water temperature up to 17.7 in a depth of one foot. Contrast this with the 13.5 I recorded off the Dam only two weeks ago. Just shows what a week or two of hot sunshine can do. Of course, it won’t mean it’s this temperature down through the water column but it’d be interesting to know how far this temperature does go down.
17.00
There must be something on the baits - it keeps slicking up out there. Probably Bream sucking at the ‘Plan B’ boilies which have been pimped up with Hemp Oil and Liver Powder. Can’t be a bad thing I suppose, they may attract the interest of the carp.
19.00
Caught the sun today - a touch of heat exhaustion; slightly laboured breathing and fatigue. Feeling better now it’s cooling down, air temperature 21.8 which is not warm but certainly not cool either. Must remember to keep well hydrated - kettle on for an evening cuppa.
Am I going to get one tonight? Who knows. It won’t be for the want of trying.
19.30
There’s a bit of a breeze got up, blowing out of the bay. This looks promising, I much prefer a wind on a big water like this. I wonder if this is the prelude to a change in the weather; I think they’re going to give it cooler tomorrow.
It stinks to high heaven around here! I can’t decide whether it’s horses or cattle - it certainly does ‘pen-and-ink!’
Wednesday, 9th.May
Some signs of fish activity this morning - fish ‘topping’ at about 120 yards range in the direction of the Nature Reserve. Only trouble is, I think they’re probably Bream.
I had a ‘liner’ just before dark last night. There were some bleeps on the buzzer and a nodding on the rod-tip; it went on for several seconds and thinking it was a Bream I reeled it in. Nothing hanging on though. Night, cold and clear with nothing audible from the rods.
05.45
There’s definitely a specific mental mindset required for fishing a water like Bough Beech. On the one hand you know that fish are caught here and that at least proves they are catchable, but on the other hand it’s a hard water and the chances are you’re not going to catch very often. Should you fish expecting to catch - or expect it might take a while? Is it being negative to adopt a degree of realism? Is it being unrealistic to be overly positive?
I think I like the positive approach, for in this lies Hope - the quality we all fish with. In Hope all things are possible and with any luck and a fair wind, Hope can turn dramatically into Joy.
08.00
There’s nothing on either of the two spots that I can see and the question arises as to whether to introduce more bait or not. This is always a tricky one and has exercised greater carp-fishing brains than mine. Will baiting attract Bream? Almost certainly; there again, a carp may see them feeding and come to investigate. If I have no bait out there at all, what chance is there of a carp randomly stumbling across my hook-baits? Hmmmm…
11.30
Session re-start (2).
I’ve had a complete re-think about this swim. Basically, the problem is, that the whole of the bottom is covered with dense leafy growth; this growth is comprised of individual plants (millions of ‘em) of between three and six inches tall. Up to now I have been fishing pop-ups and bottom baits over the top in the hope something will go down in the weed and pick something up. I think this is the wrong strategy. What is required, is a zig, fished above this weed - and directly in the path of any carp cruising along over the top of it. To this end I now have three rods only out on zigs fished 18-24 inches off the bottom.
Previously, I was fishing at 15 wraps; this puts me into 11-12 feet of water. This is too deep for this time of year - I think you need to be fishing in 6-8 feet of water, and near the shore because soon, the Bream will be spawning in the margins and the carp will come in to feed on the spawn - hence, I am fishing at only 8 wraps.
13.30
It’s another hot day and I can feel the heat exhaustion starting to take hold again. I tried laying down in the bivvy but it’s like an oven in there. Note to self - my next bivvy must have a ventilation panel to keep the temperature down to acceptable limits.
“If you’re not catching you’re camping”. This comment suggests that you’re not actually Fishing as such at all, that you are merely surviving on the bankside. Although I understand what they mean by this, I don’t necessarily agree with it. It sort of suggests that it’s time wasted. I think this sentiment arises from a lack of confidence - you’re blanking therefore you won’t catch.
I think we all get that gut feeling which tells us that it’s not going to happen and we may as well be doing something else. But as Leon (Bartrop) says, “all it takes is one bite”, and I think he’s right. You get one bite and a blank can transform into an outstanding success. The thing is, you never know when that bite is going to happen…
16.00
Tactical change. Mark Gregory arrived a short while ago and I was really pleased to talk with him about what I am doing. After our discussions I have completely changed my tactics.
There are clearer areas in the weed and by fishing and baiting on them, bottom baits can be usefully employed. I managed to find such an area some yards down the bank to my left and 10 + 1 wraps, aimed at the point of the headland opposite. This spot I have baited with about 20 Pokernut boilies and my double-boily hook-bait lays amongst them.
17.00
Further tactical changes…
Encouraged by the finding of the clearer spot to the left, further investigation showed the same clearer area to the left of it. Both zigs have now been withdrawn and I am concentrating those two rods on a spot at 10 + 2 wraps aimed at the highest point of the treeline opposite. One rod carries a double-boily, the other, a white Northern Special pop-up on a combi-rig, so this is fishing no more than an inch and a half off the bottom.
18.30
Tufted Ducks should be banned! Prohibited from the fishery! They are having a right old feast on the boilies I have put out. Going to have to wait until dark so I can replace what they have eaten.
Cooling down now. Wind blowing from behind and into Pete’s Bay. One more night to go.
Thursday, 10th.May
06.00Woke up to a thoroughly miserable Bough Beech this morning - it is pouring with rain and my thoughts are with Mark at the moment as he has got to pack up in it and get off to work.
The buzzer went off to one of the rods last night in what seemed a violent and aggressive jerk. When I got to the rods there was a massive slack-line on the rh rod although when I reeled down to it there was nothing there. Don’t think it was a carp - probably a Bat flying into the line. With the rod-tips high like this, it’s always a danger and has happened to me in the past. Nothing else to report. Just waiting for the rain to stop so I can get packed away and off home.
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