5th.November 2019
Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 44 (The Brambles)
12.40Very late start today due to sleeping in late… very unusual for us - we’re normally up and about at the crack of midday!
Finally, after one month since my last session I am out on the bank again. Holidays, social events, and some of the most appalling weather we’ve had in a long while have all conspired to keep me away from the bankside, but I have not been entirely idle…
My birthday brought forth enough funds to buy a set of three ‘Sonik Vader X 12ft. 3.25 lbs. TC’ carp rods; more than capable of casting the distances required at Pollard (or anywhere else for that matter). My Wychwood ten-footers are lovely rods but under-gunned for what is sometimes required here. Horses for courses.
I got really excited to find only two cars in the car park when I arrived - Peg 30 must be free! At last, my chance to fish the ‘going’ peg again! But no, someone was in there, and his mate opposite in P42 (The Box). Peg 44 however was free so I drove round to the far side car park and barrowed down to the peg I had caught a twenty-eight in on my previous visit.
I chose a different mark this time. Whilst I would have liked to have put all three baits on ‘The Rushes’ mark, I felt this was a little too near the guy opposite and aimed for ‘The Tree’ to the left of it. In fact I finished with one bait at the Tree, one slightly to the left of it, and one straight at The Rushes.
All rigs the now ‘standard’ Simple Fluorocarbon Rig - but this time I tied them up with 16mm. Boilies instead of the customary 20mm - ers. Because the Bream seemed to be less of a problem during the hours of daylight, I plumped for these smaller baits, accompanied by three-bait ‘stringers’. I’ve got loose feed with me but I’m not going to put this out until I re-bait with the 20 mills this afternoon. I still think the Bream will be a problem at night so the bigger baits I’ll use then and spod over the top.
[Note - I think this was a tactical failure on my part. See the conversation I had with ‘Steve’ on my way home at the end of the session].
13.00
Time to get the kettle on and have a bite to eat!
13.30
A fish has just jumped in line with P31 opposite. This should be a ‘Top End Shoal’ fish according to Ryan - but it does suggest that my baits needn’t be aimed on or near the P30 hotspot in line with P27. Good to see something moving, and in a different area too.
13.35
Another ‘show’; this time to the right in the mouth of ‘Sandbags Bay’. ‘Bottom End Shoal’ fish.
13.40
I’ve got to decide where I’m going to concentrate my baiting for the hours of darkness. Unless I see signs to the contrary I think I’ll focus on The Tree opposite, between P29 and P28, fishing baits on it, and either side of it.
14.45
Had line bites on first the left-hand - then the centre rod; this indicates something moving from left to right between the rigs and the bank.
I’m going to have a lead-around and see what I can find at (say) ten wraps. If it’s clear then I shall fish here for the night. I have stuck to twelve wraps but if the fish are closer it would make sense to fish for them there.
[Note - again, another tactical error. See further comments].
16.10
All changes for the night completed; three rods on a mark between The Tree and The Rushes, clipped at ten wraps with half a dozen handfuls of Ryan’s ‘Maxinut’ over the top.
The guy opposite in P30 has just had a thirty-seven! This is the second time I have witnessed a big fish from this peg - but I just can’t get a look-in there seemingly.
Found weed and these Zebra Mussels at eight-and-a-half wraps so I figure ten should be ok.
18.00
There are fireworks going off all around despite the fact a light drizzle is falling and making things a bit damp. BBC Weather App is not giving this; just goes to show, they don’t always get it right.
Was I right to bring my rods in to ten wraps? Should I have left them at twelve? I suppose time will tell. Matey opposite has just had another one. Must keep the faith in what I am doing. Stick to what I know works. Just because others are catching doesn’t invalidate what I am doing. [Note - Doesn’t it? My baits are near where the guy opposite has had two fish - I should be getting takes too and yet nothing has happened.] I can hear him opposite, spodding in the dark. He seems to be putting out an awful lot of bait out there - but it seems to be working! [Note, Andy, are you starting to get the message yet?].
19.40
The noise around here has been absolutely deafening - massive bangs and explosions! It’s like a bombardment! I wonder what the effect on the fish is? Do they react to extreme noise? They can not hear as such like we do but they can detect vibrations. I would think that sound waves hitting the water’s surface would transmit through the water column and be felt by the fish’s Lateral Line. I’m guessing though… I suppose the current conditions sound no worse than a very bad thunder-storm.
Very windy at the moment and it’s blowing right in through the door so I have zipped up for the night.
Why has everyone on the lake got an extremely bright light on, which is illuminating their peg - and mine as well?!
22.10
I lay in bed thinking about whether I should be ten wraps or twelve… so to hedge my bets I re-cast the rh rod to twelve.
Wednesday, 6th. November
07.30Blank night. All three rods re-cast onto the Rushes/Tree mark.
On reeling in, the two cast at ten wraps were covered in silkweed but the one I re-cast at twelve was ‘clean’, so a lesson learnt there - twelve it is or your bait’s in the crap.
The wind has dropped and it looks like it’s going to be a nice day. Nothing moving out there at the moment.
07.50
The birds are sitting out on the water waiting for someone to start spodding. Well they’ll wait a long time in my peg, I haven’t got any to put out!
But seriously, although it’s disappointing not to be able to fish P30, what it does mean is that the peg receives bait more or less continually throughout the year. There’s always feed out there. The carp know this and visit it frequently. So the fact it is constantly fished is both good and bad - good that it’s baited , but bad I can never get in there.
But don’t you think Life’s like that? So often we want clear cut answers to the questions of life - black or white, yes or no, Leave or Remain? The complicated questions of Life are rarely a binary scenario and are never addressed simply.
08.50
Just had one of those Breamy up-and-down kind of bites; turned out to be a Moorhen! Damned thing had dived down over twenty feet, had a go at my bait, and hooked itself in the beak.
It put up a decent scrap though on the way in - and those sharp, spikey things on the end of its feet!!
09.15
I’ve been thinking about what I can use to spod out that isn’t going to attract the Bream and the only thing I can come up with is Hemp. Of course, the ideal bait to go with that is Tiger Nuts but Club Rules prohibit their use so it’s going to have to be boilies. I could still put boilies in the spod with it though - the odd boily, sitting on top of the Hemp. Beware though, the one with the hook in it!
Just reviewing yesterday’s notes and it seems there was a degree of activity after lunch. It’d be silly to pack up if there’s a chance of a fish so I think I’ll hang on a bit.
09.45 Talking of Hemp…
My favourite rig recently has been the plastic corn rig fished over catapulted sweetcorn and this was going to be my frontline go-to method on my winter water. I tried it on here back in the summer and caught endless amounts of Bream on it and that’s why I don’t use it on Pollard. But what about doing the same with artificial Hemp? Artificial Corn catches fish so why not Artificial Hemp? I have actually caught fish on Artificial Hemp at Highfield a few years ago, there, using it inside a pva bag. It worked very well when the fish were on the snails. Hmmmmmm…
10.15
Here we go again - over-thinking things. It took my good lady wife Christine to remind me for the umpteenth time I’m thinking too much! Stick with what you have confidence in!
This reminds me; I recently read a piece by Ian Chilcott who gave details of the rig he has used for the past twenty years. If he doesn’t need to use anything different then neither do I!
13.40
I’ve stopped on today in the expectation that fish movement would follow the same pattern as yesterday but I’ve not seen a thing. Looks like the session has come to an end.
Time to pack up and head off home…
[Footnote - on my way back to the car I bumped into Steve who I’d previously come across back in the summer. Steve had had a couple of fish and was always ready with some advice saying he was surprised I hadn’t caught as fish were in front of me yesterday and there were fish caught in P30.
I said that yes, I was frustrated at blanking but suspected I hadn’t put enough bait out. Steve replied that this was highly likely to be the case as the fish move around in shoals and can ‘clear you out’ in no time. In fact at times, it is virtually impossible to put enough out there to hold them - they generally eat everything and move onto the next pile of feed they can find.
This has got me thinking. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the most successful anglers on Pollard put a lot of bait out. If I have any sense at all (which I often doubt) I should try to do the same.
Hemp it is then. As much of it as I can boil up…]
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