Tuesday, 25th.June 2019

Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 43

13.00
Violent storms last night throughout the SE of England and it’s still warm and muggy this afternoon. This means only one thing - the carp will be in the upper layers.

I was ‘tipped the wink’ that the fish were at the far end of the lake. As far as I can tell they have been up there for most of the Spring. I fished 44 last time and heard fish to my left, so 41-43 were definitely worth a look. Because there was someone in 41 I couldn’t fish there and wanting to always leave at least one swim between me and anybody else I plumped for this peg.

Peg 43, Paddlesworth, Pollard Lake
There is Eel Grass on the bottom from the near margin out to where the fifteen-twenty foot line begins; it's clear after that over to the far side and then it's the Eel Grass again.
Dead opposite is 'The Dot Island'. this is one of the more remote area of the lake because you can not get baits to it. the fish definitely hole up there and you can see them 'showing' from here.

No sign of fish yet although that was the case on my last visit, the fish arriving after the start of the session. Zigs on all three rods and I achieved a nice ‘spread’ with at least 60-70 yards between the left and right-hand rods, the middle rod between them.

I’ve done a lot of research on zigs lately and decided to change my ‘bait’ (a 15mm. pop-up) to a black foam confection. Rob Hughes has done an excellent ‘Underwater Answers’ feature on zigs and the conclusion seems to be that black foam fished at an appropriate depth is a rough approximation to all manner of fly-life ascending to the surface to emerge from their larval stage - into an emergent adult. I saw clouds of midges during my last visit and this approach seems to make the most sense, given I have twenty plus feet of water in front of me.

One adaptation I have made is to have a yellow ‘head’ on my zigs. This not only gives a visual aspect to the zig but it also adds a smell to it; this is made from a piece of cut-down ‘Essential Cell’ pop-up. This isn’t my idea - I’ve pinched it from an article I read on The Internet. I did rather fancy the idea as it appealed to my sense of presenting something edible to the fish rather than the inedible plastic foam.

Zig, made with a piece of yellow pop-up cut down and trimmed to match the black foam. I abandoned it after the thing was picked up by a Coot which pecked-off the yellow 'head'.

So they are all at 40-50 yards range, ‘fanned’ out, and fishing two feet down.

14.25
Just had to replace the bait on the middle rod because of Coots. Of course, since it’s only two feet down, the Coots can see it in the very clear water. I had a couple of bleeps on the buzzer and thought I might be away - but no, only three Coots out there grinning to one another! Next to Bream, they could be my most hated form of wildlife; (no, on second thoughts that accolade goes to Swans, a less intelligent, more dumb-ass form of life it is difficult to envisage!)

14.40
The air pressure is rising; at the moment it is 1018 mb and is forecast to be 1029 mb by Thursday. This points all the way to fishing the zigs high in the water.

16.30
Absolutely nothing occurring on the lake at all - it seems totally dead. In view of the warm weather I wonder if they’ve got their minds on spawning? Haven’t seen anything to that effect at the mo.

17.30
In view of the fact that the Coots dived on my zig and ‘pinched’ the yellow pop-up ‘head’ (it was missing) I have changed the rigs to something more durable and Coot-resistant. Gone are the rigs tying the zig off the hair and in come Fox black zig aligners with black and yellow foam. A piece of ‘Korda Boom’ is passed lengthways through the foam sections and ‘blobbed’ at each end to hold the two pieces together. A better way would have been to stick the yellow ‘head’ onto the black ‘body’ with ‘Gorilla Glue’ but since I didn’t anticipate this modification I haven’t brought any with me.

I replaced the trimmed-down pop-up 'head' with yellow foam and zig aligners; this was no easy task. I would have preferred to have stuck the two pieces together with 'Gorilla Glue' but didn't have any with me so had to make do with a piece of 'Korda Boom' passed through the centre and blobbed at each end.

A long cast has been made over to the ‘dot island’ off the far bank. I’m short of the island itself but my rigs are in the general direction of where I have recently seen a couple of fish move. Left and middle rods as before. There is a small bed of bulrushes on the far bank and one or two fish are moving off it.

18.00
Sweating my ‘nadgers’ off at the moment; it’s so hot and oppressive. It’s the sort of conditions you dream about and would put your shirt on producing a take - but I’m not that confident. This perfect weather seems to not be stimulating the carp at all. My guess is they’ve got their minds on spawning.

18.25
There was an increase in activity in the region of the ‘dot island’ so I withdrew the l.h. rod and recast it straight towards the mini bulrush bed. I got good distance on this, I estimate about about 65-70 yards which for a completely non-aerodynamic ‘contraption’ isn’t bad.

18.45
That little flurry of activity seems to have stopped at the moment. No matter. It’s looking like the ‘dot island’ is a bit of a hotspot. I’ve noticed fish moving there previously. There’s a swim or area on all lakes which always seems to be consistent; I wonder if this is it?

20.00
One last change for the night. I have withdrawn the adjustable zig on the l.h. rod and replaced it with a lead clip system and a zig fixed at 18 inches above the deck. This has been cast as far as I can over towards the far side which is only about 75 yards. Although my Wychwood Extricator Plus Ten 10 foot rods are great for medium to short range fishing they are not great casting tools although they perform well for such a short rod. Will think about what I can do for the ‘morrow.

20.30
Having done all that fiddling and farting around changing rigs, I found I had to change everything back to the adjustable again. Why? The bottom where I am casting is completely covered in Eel Grass! I just could not present my eighteen-inch zig in it (due to it being concealed among the extremely long weed stems that extend several feet towards the surface). I couldn’t get the zig to rise up through it so I’ve had to drop shorter than where I would have liked. It’s not where the fish are but hey-ho.

21.30
Pulled the l.h. rod down to 7 feet below the surface since there is little visible activity.

Wednesday, 26th.June 2019

05.45
Up and about early this morning after a fitful night’s sleep. Conditions have now changed with a cool wind blowing towards the top end of the lake.

Although I was awake for much of the night; I heard very little from the Pollard carp, they had seemingly done a disappearing act. It looks really dead out there at the moment and I shall certainly be going ‘walkabout’ to see if I can find some fish as it seems pointless staying in a ‘carp free’ zone.

08.00

Session restart - Peg 41

I reeled the rods in and went for a walk all the way down to the bottom end, hoping to see something that would persuade me to move. Absolutely nothing. I saw neither ‘hide nor hair’ of a carp anywhere.

Since Peg 41 had now become available I decided to up-sticks and move in there; at least it would give me the opportunity to ‘recce’ it as up to now I hadn’t fished it.

Peg 41. There are some very obvious 'marks' to fish to but the main feature of the peg is the overhanging tree at the left of the swim. I didn't cotton on to this until the end of the session (doh!)

There are three fairly distinctive ‘marks’ in this peg. The overhanging tree in the margins to the left, the pylon directly in front, and the small electric post thing to the right. I managed to get a zig close to the tree at 9 wraps, the other two, conservative lobs at 35-40 yards.

l.h. rod: 2 feet
Middle rod: 7 feet
r.h. rod 11 feet

I decided to go deep on the middle and r.h. rods as nothing had been showing and it is a lot cooler than the oppressive heat and humidity of yesterday.

Astonishingly there were only three of us on the whole lake but I noticed a further two turned up and are fishing the far bank.

08.20
A fish has jumped to the right of the tree! Come on you carps!

08.45
I’ve re-positioned the middle and r.h. rods along the margins to my left. I’ve seen at least three ‘shows’ there and now have the following depths:

l.h. rod: 2 feet
Middle rod: 3 feet
r.h. rod: 4 feet

10.20
Since I’ve re-positioned the rods I’ve seen absolutely nothing; I hope the disturbance didn’t scare them off? So cool now, thinking of putting a fleece on.

12.30
Changes on all the rods… I decided I didn’t like the yellow ‘head’ of the zig as it looked a bit unnatural so went for an all black appearance which much more approximates to a real insect. I saw a mayfly emerge and take to the wing and deduced that most water borne insects are at least dark coloured - if not black and this may largely account for the success of the black zig.

Conventional Fox black Zig Aligner.

The area of the lake I am fishing is extremely ‘carpy’. It absolutely screams “CARP!” Creeping along the bank-side, the water is extremely coloured-up so there must have been at least recent activity on the part of the fish. Zig depths are:

l.h. rod: 2 feet
Middle rod: 4 feet
r.h. rod: 6 feet

13.25
The adjustable zig is still a relatively new technique for me and like all new ways of fishing takes a little time to get used to - and even longer to gain real confidence in. I suppose what would really help is a fish - nothing confers confidence like success although it is very much a ‘chicken and the egg’ situation.

Every carp angler has their own particular ‘style’; a way of fishing they have arrived at by their own experience over many years and by observing other anglers and ‘famous names’ on Youtube videos. Whatever their chosen style is, it is in 99 cases out of 100 their go-to method without consideration of other methods or tactics. This is perfectly fine. Everyone fishes in whatever way suits them and more importantly, whatever gives them the most success and enjoyment.

So I hope it may be with the Adjustable Zigs. They solve so many problems in one go - they avoid Bream, they enable fishing over the top of weed (unless it is very thick and stops the sub-float coming to the surface), and they target fish which are off the bottom all the way up to the surface, which lets face it, are where they are for the majority of the time.

13.50
The sun’s come out so I have brought all the rods up to 2 feet.

14.35
Another change - trying to find something that works for me. I tied this up…

Zig made from 'Essential Cell' barrel pop-up. I cut the top off to make the size 10 x 10.

I asked myself “if you dangled this in front of a carp do you think it would take it?”

15.00
I’m trying an experiment with the yellow zig… I used to catch carp from Ham Road, Faversham on yellow and black zig aligners set 18 inches from the bottom. These were fished and yielded results against a Chod Rig and pop-up. So I’m trying the same thing here only I’ve pulled the zig float down 16 feet and it’s fishing the length of the rig (3 feet) so in effect it’s 13 feet from the surface.

I originally started doing this after watching one of the ‘Korda Underwater’ videos filmed at Linear, St. Johns. there, the camera picked up fish cruising over the top of the baited area whilst the baited rig lay untouched on the bottom. These fish looked to be two to three feet off the bottom and I reasoned that if a bait was put in their path at the height they were swimming then they might take it. Down at Ham Road, they did.

We fish within a couple of feet of the surface with confidence, but not within a couple of feet of the bottom. Why is that?

17.30
Final change for the evening and night. Up to now all my rigs have been tied to 12lb. ‘Fox Zig and Floater Line’ (which I find perfect for the job). It occurred to me that I was mighty close to the snags and if I had to get ‘stroppy’ with a fish I don’t think 12lb. Line would have been up to it. Don’t pick a fight you’re not equipped to win. I was also using fine wire Kamasan hooks which are fine for open-water fishing but might tear out during serious ‘fisticuffs’. These I substituted for ‘Korda Mixa’ size 6 hooks - much more the jobby. So now I am out with two rods at 2 feet and the middle rod wound down to the bottom.

Then I tried a zig made from a whole barrel pop-up. I wanted to use a larger and heavier gauge hook because of fishing in the proximity of snags. If I needed to 'hook and hold' I'd need something substantial rather than the smaller fine wire hooks I had been using.

Conditions have turned overcast and whilst it’s not cold, it’s not warm either. Either way, after a lot of fiddle-farting around I have at last got a combination I am confident in.

Picking up weed on the reel-in. How do they bottom fish this peg? Solid bags?

18.00
‘Ashford Steve’ is a really nice guy - very jolly, incurably enthusiastic about his carp fishing, keen as mustard. Cor blimey though he don’t ‘arf talk! He has a problem with sciatica which has kept him from his fishing for several weeks and I reckon I now know just about every minute detail there is know about it! Bless him…

18.35
Fish leapt down this left-hand margin not massively far away from my baits! Come on fish! Come to Daddy!

19.15
Fish consistently moving down the far end in the margin in line with the pylon. I wonder if this area is fishable from the last peg on the far side? [Yes it is].

19.50
A fish has just splashed not a yard from my left-hand rod! Come on! You know you want it!

Thursday, 27th.June 2019

05.00
Action last night! I had two separate occurrences - drop-backs which stopped before I could get to the rod. actually, the first one was still moving but for some reason I hesitated, waiting I think for it to pull tight. Whether I was still half-asleep or it was just poor angling on my part I don’t know - but it was a definite chance lost. But why drop-backs? I was expecting the line to be pulled through the lead resulting in a positive take?

I can only assume that the lead is too light and the fish is actually picking it up off the bottom and moving it. If this is the case then I stand very little chance of hooking the fish…

What might help is sitting on the rods with the clutches screwed tight so an instant response can be made.

06.00
There’s been a fair distribution of ‘showings’ this morning with fish fairly well spread out so I have recast all three - one at the small electric pole thing, one at the pylon, and one off the tree. The rigs cast near the bank have picked up quite a lot of weed; this would give me very little confidence if I had to bottom fish down through it. Once again I am persuaded that the zig is the way to go as it avoids such problems. All rods fishing two feet down.

6.30
Adjusted the middle rod to six feet as the conditions are now a little cool - it’s most un-June like and I think the fish may be lying a little deeper. Resolved to be much more active, raising and lowering at least one of the zigs in an effort to find the right depth. Better than sitting behind the rods just hoping and praying.

07.30
Added another four feet to the middle rod so this is now fishing ten feet down.

09.00
Session ends.

Swim note

Distance to tree - 9 + 0.5 wraps

It is clear on the bottom near the tree but weedy the further away from the tree you get.

[Postscript:
I learnt a terrific amount during this session which I hope to apply in future sessions. It’s still early days in fishing the Pollard and the learning curve is steep.

Location is important on any lake but even more so on here. It seems to me that Angling Pressure is a key factor in determining where the fish are and the more remote and inaccessible areas of the lake are key to swim choice.

I’ve identified two pegs which I would make my first and second choices in any event - peg 41 where I fished, and over on the far side at the far end. These are both the last swims on the lake at the top end and it’s not a coincidence they are the furthest walks from the car parks and are thus non-preferred.

I should have fished bottom baits under the tree in the left-hand margin; it absolutely cries out for this. My blinkered approach to fishing zigs in all situations has led to wrong decision-making and where appropriate, bottom fishing should be a leading tactic.

I went round to see ‘Ashford Steve’ fishing the last peg on the far side. This is the best swim on the lake for it has access to the secluded and remote Far End. The water was chocolate brown with fish feeding on the bottom! This was the place to be as evidenced by Steve hooking a fish which unfortunately he lost after it ran into a snag.

You can not see whether the swim is occupied or not as it is fairly well hidden so the only course of action is to walk all the way to it from the car park; at least you can see over to Peg 41 and see whether that is occupied before barrow-ing the gear there.]