The story of June 16th.

Wasn’t that good!? June 16^th has come and gone, but the buzz is still there. For those who occasionally fish out of season it may be not so exciting, but I have been desperate to get back onto my club’s lake. To start catching the fabulous carp, that have been teasing every angler as they walk by, - knowing that they can’t be caught ‘till the magical 16^th - has been a great experience.



The baiting spoon was
 very convenient.

At our club, it is tradition to congregate on the 15^th and to start fishing when it hits midnight. We were all down there at 6 o’clock, preparing and waiting. Just like when I was a guest for a friend’s club water - mentioned on ‘A blank shouldn't get you down!’ – I was with Edwin from SussexCarpAndCoarse. The plan of attack was to use high attract baits but still with a strong food signal. The thinking behind this is that we wanted to get bites fast yet resemble what they would have had to been eating during the close season. I had made up a spod mix consisting of CCMoore’s Parti Mix, tinned tuna, chili powder and bloodworm ground bait. This produced a very meaty smell that leaked a huge cloud of attraction.

 

The mini Spomb filled
with our particle mix.

                                       Over the top of that, a light spread of halibut pellets – thrown out with a baiting spoon – would complement my halibut hookbait pellet.

On the other rod, still with the mix and pellets, a plastic sweet corn KD rig would be cast out to the edge of a protruding part of the far margin. This would pick the carp off as they patrol along this at night. Edwin was using particles too but was fishing with a small yellow pop-up on one rod – to imitate the corn in his mix - and three 8mm pellets in a triangle formation on the hair on the second rod.

We were both using either leadcore or tungsten tubing to keep our rigs pinned to the lakebed, away from hungry carp.  To prevent a lot line bites we used very slack lines with light bobbins. This served two purposes, it would be out of the way of carp to see and the sunken line would not be in the way for a hooked

carp to wipe out our other rods.To save time and hassle, we cast out a bare lead to our spots to get the distance. We clipped up and put a tape line marker on at this point. This allowed us to find the right length again when we caught a fish. Behind us, we had a long and straight track to walk our lines out to find this tape marker when we needed to.

In the net!

When midnight came we all cast out. Within five minutes Edwin was into a healthy 9lb fully scaled mirror carp on his pellet rig. Not too long after that a confident take on my first rod was indicated and an extremely powerful upper-single was in the net.

                                         Although nothing else happened that night for me, I was constantly awake netting all of Edwin’s fish. It was fair to say that he was emptying the lake that night with the largest being a common weighing in at 18lb. He did remind me that I had my moments of glory last season on that lake and it was his turn now. Although that didn’t exactly help me in any way! At about half five in the morning I had received a funny bite on my second rod. After some time, the drag was ticking smoothly and I was into another of the lakes’ residents. Although only being about the same weight as my first fish, it put up another healthy scrap. This time, a lean common carp was in the bag.

For a long time after that we had nothing. I decided to set up a simple stalking rig and moved off with one rod up the lake into the shallower parts. A net, unhooking mat, alarm, rod and a small bag of pellet was all that was taken along with me. To my simple rig I attached a tight mesh bag of pellet which was to be dipped in secret liquid food dip.

 

A few pellets in a tight bag.

Things had definitely slowed down as even the margins showed no signs of feeding fish. However, after and hour or two, a fish had decided that my pellet was worth eating. What a mistake that was for him! The fish took me into some small lilies but gentle side strain turned him before he could get any deeper. At only about seven or eight pounds, he was definitely one of the smaller chaps in a lake. Not worrying about the weight, I appreciated the fact that they all fight hard and look great.  

 

It could have been better, but it was fun and enjoyable, isn’t that what fishing’s all about?

  

A small lake with large fish!

The smallest of the trio but the most
rewarding after stalking it.

Please feel free to visit Edwin's blog too, he will have his own story to tell about this trip. http://sussexcarpandcoarse.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Now that it’s the open season, watch this space for many more blogs from me. Let me know if there is anything you’d like me to cover next time via my e-mail in the ‘Links’ page. Until my next successful trip, good luck with your own fishing, CMM.