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 Fox lead clips. On to Plan B.

I got talking to another member who was kind enough to explain to me his tactics - bottom bait out of the bag and spodding over the top. The net result is a 21-04 common in the first couple of hours this morning:

21-04 Common caught on the Manilla bottom bait (like all my fish this session).
I didn't realise my rig had dropped up the far marginal slope at 11 wraps - hence the drop-back bite I recieved.

The only questions that need addressing are - what size and what colour to make the boilies? At the moment I've got Manilla boilies out, one in 12mm and one in 16mm. I'm fishing the 16miller on a fluorocarbon rig with a stiff hair and the smaller bait on a cotton thread hair off the bend of the hook:

Abandoned this soon after casting it out. I think there are better ways of presenting a bottom bait.

It's the afternoon and the baits are now accompanied by stringers. Fish can be heard jumping around the lake and I am quietly confident.

Topped up the spot with three spombs of spod mix at a quarter to three.

The culprits responsible for the mess:

...and here they come -
(You're not crapping in my peg today!)

A fish moved close to my baits.🐟🐟🐟

Coots being a real pain in the rear end. Diving on my spod mix and surfacing with boilies.

Checked the position of the bottom of the slope of the far margin and found I was a wrap too long. The correct distance is 10 wraps. Wrapped up the rods and spod rod to this.

Note - the spod rod was adjusted to 9 3/4 wraps to ensure it hit the marker float.

It's quite critical. At 11 wraps it's 7 feet deep and at 10, 10 feet. Drops 3 ft. In one wrap.

The move did the trick - a 14 pounder soon after casting, again to the 16mm Manilla. Going to abandon the small bait on the other rod and try a 15 mm yellow Munch Baits Citrus.

14 pound mirror caught soon after switching to the shorter spot.

Topped up the spot with 3 spombs of bait.

It's seven o'clock and I'm away again. A fish that royally beat me to a pulp. 20:06:

Beaten to a pulp by this 20 pound mirror. Went like stink!
All of the fish have recently spawned and their rather poor condition reflected their recent activities.

Topped up with a couple again. Looking for a big hit now. During the night? Tomorrow morning?

It's gone eight and I'm away on the Manilla again. 15:06. No point in putting anything else on so it's the Manilla on both rods now.

15-06 mirror, like all the fish, taken on a Manilla bottom bait.

Four fish so far with more to come. Just what constitutes a Big Hit?

Thursday, 1st. July

Nothing during the night so the expected Big Hit has failed to materialize unless things pick up this morning.

More spod on the spot although I'm getting very low on spod mix. Had to recast the rods because they weren't on the right spot so no stringers. Had fish yesterday without stringers so not too much of a problem.

The fish are in poor condition, no doubt as a result of spawning the other week. The 21 would have been much heavier later in the year.

So I'm approaching the end of the session. I've run out of spod mix and can only hope the are odd bits of it still out there. Certainly, activity seems less than yesterday morning although we are in what you might call 'normal' activity
mode. Yesterday was a bit of an exception.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with how things have gone and feel I've finally 'cracked' it. There is still experimenting to do with regards to bait colours - but at least I know my Manilla will catch on here as I'm sure it will on the Big Boys lake.