12th.-13th.November 2019
Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 44 (The Brambles)
11.40My first chance to comment after what was an early start at the crack of dawn. It was just getting light when I left home this morning but I got stuck in traffic on the M20 for an hour which delayed me somewhat. Why is motorway driving in the SE of England such a pain in the rear end? Rarely do you complete a journey without some sort of hold-up.
P30 was occupied as usual so I barrowed up the ‘House Bank’ to find ‘Ryan-the-Bait-Man’ in ‘The Box’ (P46). Good opportunity to order some more bait as I had used up everything I’d got in my spod mix.
My spod mix. Yes. I’ve got a bucketful of it with me. A mixture of Hemp and Ryan’s ‘Maxinut’ boilies - I had every intention of ‘spodding the granny’ out of my peg which is what I have been doing here for most of the morning. I want to keep feed going in for the duration of the session and not fail again by under-doing it.
Bait-wise I am also doing something a little different. The middle rod has the usual 20mm. Manilla on the Simple Fluorocarbon rig but the two outside rods are ‘armed’ with Ryan’s own Wafters. These baits are heavily glugged; so much so that they have no buoyancy at all and sink. I like a Wafter to at least sit above the hook, obscuring it from the carp’s vision. To do this I have had to use 4mm. cork plugs, cut to 5mm. long in the top of the bait which has been drilled out to accept the plug. The rig is exactly the same as I used earlier in the year on Barrows nearby except that the plastic corn is replaced by the Wafter of course.
I feel I am working really hard at my fishing at the moment; I just hope I reap the rewards for all this effort…
One of the things I’ve been working on is accuracy of baiting-up. It’s particularly relevant on here because ‘swing-back’ on casting out is an issue in what is very deep water. For instance, in this peg there is nineteen feet at twelve-and-a-half wraps. Yes, you can apply the ‘three feet rule’ (for every three feet of depth, deduct one foot from the spodding distance) but I find the whole business of how much to reduce clipping distance nothing more than guesswork. There are so many factors which can come into play - depth of water, range at which you are fishing, stretch (or otherwise) in the mainlines you use and of course mono stretches whereas braid does not. There is also the matter of the ‘bow’ in the line created by its resistance as the rig sinks through the water-column. There will never be a straight line between rod-tip and rig when it hits bottom and this curve or bow will foreshorten things even more.
I was desperate to find a solution to this problem and came up with the following:
- Make up a Marker Rig with a marker float on one of the rods (or a spare marker rod if you have one).
- Wrap this up to the distance you intend to fish, for example today, 12½ wraps.
- Cast this out against the clip and allow to go down to the bottom as you would with your ordinary fishing rod.
- Allow the marker float to rise to the surface; you may as well count the depth while you are at it. Now the float will be positioned vertically above the lead.
- Make up a spod kit and clip it up to the same distance as the ‘fishing’ rods and cast it out (without feed - I use stones or earth to add weight) as near to the marker float as possible. It should land beyond it in all except very shallow water.
- Adjust the clipping distance to ensure the spod lands at the same distance as the marker float. You may be surprised at how much you may need to adjust the clipping distance to land the spod right next to the float.
Today I am using the following measurements:
‘Fishing’ rod range: 12½ wraps.
Spod rod range: 11½ + ½ yard.
Water depth: 19 feet.
A full wrap difference. Surprising ‘ennit!
13.00
Just put a few more spods of bait out. Oh great, it’s started to rain! Dandy.
13.45
A couple of small line bites on the 20mm. boily. Something out there?
16.00
At 2.15 this afternoon I started getting little knocks on the left and middle bobbins. Bream? Line bites? And then at 2.30 I had a positive lift which took line from the spool in staccato fashion; I suspected Bream but lifted into it anyway…
At once there was a dead weight on the end - but curiously, the line seemed to be caught underneath something a few yards from the bank. A horrible grating came up the line and when I eventually got everything to the bank a good bit of it was shredded. Whatever was on the end however stayed attached as I progressively got line back on the reel; the horrible grating continued though and I was relieved when it finally freed itself and a huge carp suddenly popped to the surface!
Immediately, my knees went and my hands started to shake - this was a really big fish and no mistake! Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view) it didn’t fight much, doing nothing more than a bit of plodding about before being easily netted.
As I got the net under it there was a big YES! I knew at once that here was my new UK PB which eventually turned the scales to 37lbs. exactly. Finally, after 42 years, ‘She’ (from The School Pool) weighing 34:12 had been beaten by what was an absolute ‘unit’ of a fish.
To say I was elated is an understatement. Ryan very Kindly took some photographs for me before she went back. HAPPY DAYS!
The photo doesn’t really do the fish justice as you cannot see the incredible width across its back.
Am I pleased? You are having a larf!
18.30
I had a bait-up just before dark, as much to prep the swim as to replace the feed that the 37 and his mates may have eaten.
Talking to Ryan, he reckoned there were fish out in front of ‘The Box’ (P46) and ‘The Boards’ (P47) last night. It makes you wonder whether these two areas are preferred nightime feeding spots. Perhaps they roam up and down looking for food there at night. They are certainly seen in front of ‘Sandbags Bay’ during the hours of daylight. Don’t know. There is so much to learn about Pollard; I feel I have barely scratched the surface…
Wednesday 13th.November 2019
01.10
Can’t sleep tonight for some reason as I’m up and about with the kettle on, making tea. Might be something to do with the excitement of catching a new PB!
The owls have been very vocal tonight, hooting and calling to one another. Add to this the occasional sound of a carp rolling in the dark and it’s a very ‘carpy’ atmosphere indeed!
Most of the carp activity seems to be down to my right in front of Ryan. He’s texted me a couple of times to see if there is any news so I know he is also up and about.
There is neither sight nor sound to any of the rods - not even Bream, though I suspect this has just put the ‘mockers’ on things and I’ll get one before too long!
The only trouble with tea-drinking in the middle of the night is that one’s bladder fills and you have to keep getting out to go and empty it. Ok if the weather is reasonable, but a bit of a bugger if it’s freezing cold or raining!
I still can not believe I’ve broken my PB at long last! It’s what I joined here to try and achieve but I didn’t expect it would happen in my first season. One target achieved - now for the next one - a forty-pounder! This is going to be neither easy nor happening any time soon. I just hope however I can stay fit enough to be able to attempt it. The barrow-push this morning was extremely tough going and I have no idea for how long I am going to be able to manage it.
Poor old codger! At nearly 70 I suddenly feel old-age tapping me on the shoulder…
Just been out and had a pee and noticed it’s a full moon. The old ‘Solunar Theory’ strikes again (big fish caught around the time of a full moon).
07.30
All baits re-cast onto their spots and more spod mix put out in anticipation of a feeding spell today.
I’ve put an experimental rig on the l.h. rod. This is a form of bottom bait rig - but used with the Wafters. It’s almost identical to the Wafter Rig I’m using on the other rods but it’s tied up at five inches instead of seven. This is because the fish are ‘spot-feeding’ on the feed - not moving far between morsels so there is an increased chance of hooking.
08.00
It’s very quiet out there… so far I haven’t seen a fish in my peg - the only audible signs have been down to the right and the odd one or two away to the left. Nothing in front of me.
I can understand Ryan’s choice of peg judging on last night’s ‘shows’; not a lot of fish, but it is November after all.
(Just texted Ryan and he didn’t have anything either despite the fact there were fish in front of him. see, even he doesn’t always catch ‘em!)
09.00
I keep getting up and wandering about, muttering to myself; “thirty-seven pounds! THIRTY-SEVEN!”
Did I say I’ve caught a new PB? I can’t remember. Well I have, and it’s thirty-seven - thirty-seven!
09.30
Slack lines or tight? That’s another conundrum for which I have no answer. I know anglers that fish both. ‘Mowgli’ (Martin Halls) in particular fishes his very slack of which only a full-bloodied run will be registered.
I do like the idea of keeping the lines as low down as possible, out of the way of the fish, but I wonder if in practice this is ever actually achievable. Rob Hughes in particular does a lot of diving in carp lakes and has often commented that mainlines are extremely visible under water and off the bottom - especially where there is weed between the rig and the bank. So I don’t know. This is a suck it and see situation. Tom Maker advocates fishing bowstring tight. I really have no idea about this one…
11.00
I’ve just had a quick look in ‘Sandbags’ (P45). This is the peg that faces out into The Bay and is the general direction in which I heard fish last night. I know that Steve had a fish from here (fishing in ‘The Box’ but casting round to his left) at ten wraps so it was close in. Think I’ll put a lead out there before I go today to see what the bottom is like.
12.00 Just had a lead-around in The Bay next door in ‘Sandbags’. Clipped up at twelve and it was clear; I found this though at eight wraps:
The cast was aimed at ‘The Point’ (P20 I think it is).
End of session.
[I was so tired having not slept properly the night before - excitement I suppose, that I had a nauseous headache and felt the need to go home].
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