First Tuition Session of 2015

Well it’s that time of year again. Holiday makers have started to arrive in Cornwall and enquiries for tuition have been rolling in…. and the weather is totally rubbish.

My first session was planned for Sunday morning, however with two first time anglers to take out, the weather was not looking very good, 30-40mph winds and rain. Now the one thing I always try to do is make sure the participants enjoy the session. Two lads age 10 & 12 where probably not going to enjoy being cold and wet. So after discussing it with Mum and Dad we decided to re arrange for Tuesday. However the forecast has changed, Tuesday was meant to be dry and with considerably less wind, however the current forecast is for a 50-70mph North Westerly. So again the weather has now put back by first session to the end of this week.

So here I am pondering what people think about deciding to re arrange to avoid bad weather. I’m pondering because it has been said to me that if these young lads are to become fishermen then bad weather is something they have to be out in. Also I’ve been told that if they book a session then cancel as they don’t fancy the weather they should still pay!!

Well after very little thought (in fact no thought at all) I decided that I was right to cancel and re-arrange the session. It could mean that by the end of the week if the weather hasn’t improved I lose the booking. It could even be that the weather improves and they decide to do something like go to the beach instead. The fact is this: I don’t want the boys first experience of fishing to be a bad one. I don’t really do this job for the money anyway. I do it because every now and then a young boy or girl leaves a session and I know I have just created another angler.

I have and do fish in all kinds of extreme weather conditions. I had my bivvi turned inside out in 80mph gales, had to run for safety in a thunder & lightning storm and woken up to find my lines in a frozen lake and got back to the car showing minus 7deg. So yes I understand that anglers fish in all sorts, but that is a choice we make when we know what the rewards can be.The rewards can be fantastic, carp off the top in high summer risking sunburn, well every carp anglers done that havent they. However carp on the bank that is covered in snow in January, now that is something that takes a bit of dedication,something to be proud of I think.

But being out is seriously adverse conditions is not something that should be put on two young boys trying angling for the first time.

So I’m not going to take them out in bad weather just to get paid, I’m not going to charge them for cancelling, in fact I’d rather they don’t have the session at all than to actually put someone off fishing. Sitting by a pond freezing cold and not enjoying it could put them off for life. By not doing the session at all there is still a chance that at some point someone, somewhere will turn them into anglers.

Hope to have a fishing report by the weekend.

Tight Lines

Colin

South West Fishing Adventures 2015

Looking forward to 2015, I’m now offering Coarse Fishing tuition and guiding with nearly 20 venues available in North Cornwall and Devon. I have also welcomed on Board thee fellow guides offering Shore Fishing for Bass, Deap sea Fishing by Boat and Fly Fishing for Rainbow and Wild Brown Trout. So all bases are covered and also on offer for this year is a Hook it and Cook it deal where aftter you days fishing you catch will be prepared and cooked for you at a lovely county pub, Obviously not carp but a fish supper can also be included for coarse fishermen and women.

Looking forward to warm sunny days and plenty of happy customers.

Stinky Old Bait

It’s nearly the weekend again and I’m not sure if I will venture out fishing or not yet. It’s a bit colder than of late and that feeling of spring being in the air I felt last week has gone and been replaced with the chill of possible snow fall.

I do have the itch to get out though and I have been in the garage a couple of evenings this week sorting through the gear. I’ve decided I need to separate the coaching kit from my own carp fishing gear once and for all so that I can pick my kit up and go when necessary. I find that when I decide to go fishing, first I spend ages sorting through a mountain of stuff before deciding what rod bags to use and which luggage to take. Yes I have too much gear, but I’m going to have a proper sort out this weekend before I even think about going fishing again, so maybe Sunday?

Anyway the other night while starting to rummage through some old bags I found some stinky old bait, it must be getting on for ten years old. Now I know what your thinking but this stuff was and still is a killer carp bait and is still in tip top condition.

Apart from the packaging that is.

Now for those of you who remember Mainline NRG you will no doubt be very envious of this. These pop ups and air dried bottom baits where soaked in NRG bait dip and by the looks of things a fair amount of Chilli powder, the smell when I opened the tub was glorious, it took me back to some long forgotten carp fishing trip into deepest Cheshire many moons ago. I really could have shut my eyes and been back on the banks all those years ago.

So stinky old bait isn’t always a bad thing, I will have to give these ago, I reckon I could well shed a tear or two when I have a fish on them. I’m nostalgic and sentimental like that.

So it looks all set to be a busy weekend, I’m in work for overtime tomorrow at 7.00am, home for lunch (Cornish Pastie) then in the garage for a serious clear out and sort out with a view to fishing at some point on Sunday. I will let you know how I get on with the old mainline NRG.

Tight Lines

First Tuition Session of 2014

Well after last Sundays fact finding mission up at Killock Farm Fishery I found a couple of students prepared to brave the chilly February temperatures for their first fishing experience.

Now I have to say that normally I am very cautious about taking youngsters out fishing when it’s very cold, mostly because the fishing is slow and if they get cold, wet and miserable that can often be their lasting memory of ‘fishing’ and could potentially put them off fishing for good.

However today was a nice dry day so no chance of getting wet, it was forecast to get to about 10 deg C so not bitterly cold and after last week I was confident that I could keep two 8 year old lads busy with plenty of small carp.

Also all of us were keen to be home by 4.00pm to watch England v Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby so starting at 1.30pm it was only going to be sort session of about 2 hours.

It was forecast to be a good stiff wind so I decided the float rod would stay at home as I knew there would be a good chop on the water making float fishing for newbies difficult. We started with the feeder rod and got straight into getting the boys casting out. Neither had ever fished before but with a few goes each had the feeder flying out across the lake so much so I put the line in the clip and set it to stop level with the island.

Then we got onto baiting the hook and the feeder, both lads thought the hair rig was a brilliant idea. The first bite took a while to come, but resulted in a small common. Things were not happening as quickly as I would have liked although both lads showed a tremendous amount of patience.

First Carp

After another fish and about half an hour had passed, I decided to scale down to a 14 hook and fish three dead red maggots on the hook. The result was instant, fish seemed much more eager to pick up the small bait and we had a run carp over the next hour or so.

Lovely carp in perfect condition

Both lads had a great day and at 3.45pm I had a job to get them away to watch the rugby, they both play rugby as well, but would have been happy to miss the England v Ireland game in order to have few more casts.

However the adult won the day and we packed up. Leaving the youngsters wanting more is always a good sign. They’ll be back at Easter and it would appear a float fishing match is on the cards.

Tight Lines

New Fishery Near Bude

So another holiday season starts with Feb Half Term. I have been lucky this year, a brand new coarse fishery has opened right on my doorstep at Killock Farm, Kilkhampton nr Bude. I had a meeting with the owner a few weeks ago and I will be providing tuition there for both local youngsters and holiday makers.

I was shown round no less than six lakes and ponds as we drove down the track, not all are open for fishing yet but four of them will be open for this summer. The first lake is probably a couple of acres with varying depth and has recently been stocked with over 600lb of carp from Priory Fishery in Cullompton. From what I understand the fish were a mix of yearlings and three year old fish so various sizes and all mirror carp. These fish have been complimented by some of the owners stock of common carp as well as a few Tench and Bream but no silver fish.

Next was a small pond that I was told contains lots of Rudd ideal for taking juniors on their first fishing lesson. Then another large lake that is yet to be stocked. down the bottom of the hill is the 30 year old original lake, and two other small ponds, all are stocked, the original old lake as mixed fishing lake with few big original carp in there, one of the ponds has some Crucian carp and the final pond in the woods is stocked with some reasonable size carp. All in all plenty for everyone to go for and a very exciting prospect.

I had a quick session on the first lake last Sunday 16th Feb. Starting off with a feeder rod, a 25g Drennan Method Feeder set up complete with a Drennan Method feeder Hair rig in a size 12. An 11mm Robin Red pellet tipped with a little bit of plastic corn was a big mouthful of a hook bait and 4mm pellets from the Fishery Farm Shop were dampened off and used on the feeder. I decided to fish at the first swim I came to with the intention of moving round the lake until I found the fish, with it being February I was expecting the fish to be huddled up together in the same place.

At this time of year I’m looking for slightly deeper water so rather than cast tight to the island I placed the feeder about 5 meters to the left of it which I hoped would be near the bottom of the island marginal slope. It wasn’t long, maybe five minutes, before I had my first pull round after a few knocks and bangs on the tip as the fish had obviously found the feeder and started knocking it about. The result was a small common carp about 1lb. It appeared I had found the fish by luck more then judgement and interestingly on the back of the wind and not on the end of it.

I continued with the feeder for about an hour and caught a fish every cast, as more feed went in the bites got quicker and the fish got a little bigger with a few mirror carp getting on for 4lb. By then I was more than happy that this lake was going to be very productive in the warmer weather when I will be providing tuition. I decided to give the float rod an outing and see what stamp of fish I would catch with a much smaller and softer bait, dead red maggot. Plumbing up in front of me was about 4 foot deep but at about three rod lengths out there was a drop off into about six feet. I set the float to fish just in the deeper water, sprayed a couple of pouches of maggots and one small sprinkle of pellets and cast out.

Within a minute the float slowly pulled under and disappeared, my strike met firm resistance and I was into yet another small carp of around 2lb. I was pleasantly surprised to find the fish so willing to feed at this time of year. Both the water and fish themselves were very cold and few of the fish had leaches on them which shows they have been laid up somewhere for long periods. Anyway another hour was spend pastie bashing as I call it and by the end of a couple of hours I was confident that this Lake would be more than suitable for tuition in the summer, more so I could happily have had a tuition session today.

The fish taken on the float were all of a similar stap to those I had on the feeder so changing to maggots didn’t result in smaller fish as I thought it may do. The absence of any silver fish makes this a very good venue for tuition as I find that things happen so fast when Rudd and Roach bashing that sometimes students don’t know what just happened. In the blink of an eye the float shot under and a fish is on the bank. With small carp however the bites are often slower to develop and therefore timing of the strike becomes a skill to learn and also playing the fish is a little more of an experience.

So all in all I was very happy, at some point soon I will test out the other lakes and ponds on site.

The fishery in on the A39 just outside Kilkhampton as you head towards Bude,  it is well signed and situated at Killock Farm Shop.

I will post a link to the new web site as soon as it’s published. Pellets are for sale in the farm shop at just £2.00 per Kilo and are what is fed to the fish so they have no problems recognizing it as food and they worked very well for me today. Tickets are dawn till Dusk only £5.00 self service from the fishing shed on the way in.

Tight Lines

Busy with Tuition

Now that the schools are back things should start to slow down a little but I have been busy with tuition sessions at holidays venues and doing to rig tying sessions with the local youngsters most of whom fish Upper Tamar Lake on the Devon / Cornwall Boarder.

Softies

A few tutorials this week and a visit to my local tackle shop I noticed they had the new Marukyu Softies and Jpelletz in stock. As I’ve had some good success on the Krill I went for the Krill Softies.

My tackle shop is Waterfront Angling and Shooting located on the Bude Canal, always very helpful and for a small shop stock everything you will need.

The first session in the morning was at Forda Lodges and Cottages, we fished Meadow Pond with light lines and Krilled Dead Red Maggots, things started off a little slow but the first fish in the net was one of the original Bream of about 3lb, the new stock of bream are only around 1/2lb at present. I find it a little strange that only 12 original bream were stocked when the pond was new, they were followed by nearly 1000 smaller Bream, Tench and Crucian Carp. However even with all those mouths to feed they get caught on every tuition session.

A quick change of swim and things started to pick up, Jpelletz to kick the swim off then feeding little and often with the Krilled maggots and if bite slowed a few more Jpelletz.

By the end of the session the boys had landed around 20 Crucians, 15 Tench, one Tench was 3lb and lots of the skimmer Bream. I do think the slow start was due to the fact that I started them in a swim where we could see fish were feeding and bubblers were all over the area. However it was deep, maybe 8 to 9 feet and the only fish we caught there was the bigger Bream, it will no doubt be silty in the deepest part of the lake and maybe all the bubbling was just a handful of Bream. We soon found the Crucians and Tench  in what has been the hot swim for a few weeks now.

It was good to get the boys plenty of bites so they could practise and they both got into a steady rhythm of fishing. Both lads have been out with me before a few times and are now really coming on. I have them booked in for Tuesday for some feeder fishing for carp in Top Pond at Forda which should be the highlight of their holiday and also give them some new skills to take home a work with.

Friday after noon I was booked for a session with some holiday makers in Bude, just the 11 year old lad was fishing but the whole family came to watch how he got on.  He had never fished before and wanted to a few nice photo’s to show his mates at home who have all been catching fish having been shown by other family members what to do.

None of this family fished so they decided to get a session book and we decided to meet at Lower Lynstone Lakes in Bude. This is a great venue as bite are always coming thick and fast and it is only stocked with carp. So again float tactics and maggots got plenty of bites and within an hour the student was hooking a fish on nearly every bite. Most of the carp were in the 1 to 2 pound bracket but he did manage with a little help to land a nice Leather Carp of about 6lb. Next step was to get him doing everything, baiting the hook unhooking and returning the fish etc, once we got that he would be able to get out and get fishing. Unhooking the fish was ok but this youngster did not like hooking maggots at all. Sometime that happens and rather than force them to do it and maybe lose some of the enjoyment I just simply switch to something they will handle and that way they know there are alternatives and eventually in their own time will come round (or not).

Anyway this made us switch to Marukyu Krilled Softies, 6mm & 10mm JPZ. The difference in the stamp of fish was immediately noticed, three fish on the run well over 6lb took the softies. 10mm JPZ also seemed to catch some of the larger fish.

The session came to end with a lovely 9lb linear mirror carp and it couldn’t have gone any better. Loads of bites and as my student got better and better the fish got bigger and bigger. He had his photos and some lovely memories and once again I knew I had just created another angler.

So now I have to get the kit all sorted out and get ready for Tuesday and Friday evening sessions at Forda. Saturday Evening and Tuesday plus the following Friday are also booked and no doubt a few more will book once they see the lessons taking place and how much fun the students are having. It always get a bit busy at this time of year but I can’t complain.

Till next time, Tight Lines

A week of Madness

As you have read in the last blog I had booked a further session on Riverside in my quest for a 20lb Carp, for 24 hours from Monday lunchtime to Tuesday. I also had several tuition sessions booked for a number of different disciplines and targeting different species. As the half term week progressed I picked up two more tuition bookings and the result had been that I have been fishing every day from last Saturday to today Saturday 1^st of June.

I started on Saturday with a trip Boat Fishing with Teamshed Charters out of Bude. It was another great trip with lots of sharks again but also some nice Pollock that went down very well on Sunday Night, cooked by the chef in my local.

On Sunday I was booked to do tuition with three youngsters’ aged from ten to fourteen. They have had tuition from me last year which was really more of a fishing experience / taster session, we had 19 Carp in a three hour session fishing method feeders with 6mm Marukyu JPz as hook baits. This session however they wanted to really start to learn from the beginning, float fishing for Rudd on the drop and then progressing to fishing on the deck to try and single out some of the bigger bream.

The boys were on a week’s holiday at Forda Lodges and Cottages were we targeted Middle Pond. Krilled Maggots took Rudd after Rudd and some decent fish to over 1lb 8oz. This went on for an hour and a half during which time I was feeding small balls of Marukyu EFG 131 making the balls as tight as possible so they got down on the bottom in preparation for some bream action.

A quick change of the set up with the shot all grouped near the hook to bomb the bait down passed the Rudd and a change to 8mm Meat Cubes dusted with Marukyu Krill Powder,  first cast one of the lads was into a 3lb bream. All the boys managed some decent bream action and I was pleased that they quickly mastered striking at lift bites.

So after a good session on Sunday I was back on Wednesday for a double session. The morning was more Rudd bashing with Mum, Dad, a 5 year old and his older brother aged 8. Great fun for a few hours in lovely weather and I managed to burn my head and face as the one thing I forgot was some sun block. Mum did the best with run of much bigger fish having instinctively decided to fish under an overhanging bush and switching to 6mm JPz because she really didn’t enjoy using maggots

Wednesday Afternoon I was with some more youngsters this time brother and sister had both fished with whips before but wanted to step up to a rod and reel. One of the things I love about doing tuitions is the buzz I get from seeing people improve in a short time. Mum had been fishing another pond and turned up near the end of the session. Both kids just happened to be casting at the same time, one right handed and one left, we were stood directly behind them as two rods sent the tackle sailing out in perfect unison with both of them taking the same perfect trajectory and landing ten feet past the baited area then being carefully reeled back into position. It was great to watch and mum, who is a proficient angler herself, said she could never have the patience to get them to do things properly. So another set of happy customers and very satisfied I went home to get sorted for my trip to Riverside.

Thursday morning was a change of scene as I headed over to the newest lake a Forda, Meadow Pond. I helped to design and build this lake in early 2011, stocked the fish in Feb 2012 and then caught the first fish from it last summer. It is matured so well most of the guests can’t believe it’s only a few years old. We stocked Meadow with Bream, Tench and Crucian Carp, all between 8 – 10 inches. With no silvers to worry about maggots are the order of the day on Meadow and obviously Krilled as they have been working so well for me. Just a couple of small balls of Marukyu EFG 131 to kick thing off then simple little and often feeding with maggots. With a very light set up and again fishing the shot down near the hook and the bait hard on the deck for lift bites. The tactics brought a fish a cuck for my two students, this time father and son had never fished before but wanted to give it a try and also having witnessed some of the previous Rudd bashing sessions wanted something a little more challenging. For nearly the full three hours the fish kept on coming and both students were very naturally talented and easy to coach. Yet again I left some very happy customers who had wanted to catch Tench and Crucians. The nice thing was that things happen a little bit slower as the bites often have to develop. With the Rudd fishing things happen so quick it can be difficult for people to learn, yes they catch lots of fish but fishing for Tench, Crucians and Breem only they have to get the timing of the strike, the depth to fish at and shotting right as well as learning to fish accurately over the same spot along with how to feed correctly. I’m definitely going to use Meadow pond more in future for people who have fished before and want to advance a little because it is such a good grounding to move on from.

Thursday afternoon I had one final Tuition session booked for the three boys who had been out with me on the Boat Trip on Saturday and done Tuition on Sunday. This time it was to be a special treat for them, Carp Fishing on Top Pond at Forda. They are a little young and inexperienced to be allowed to fish this pond alone. But with luck they would learn a lot about unhooking and handling the fish as well as how we we’re going to catch them. I know these carp love pellets so the method mix was half Marukyu EFG 131 and SDP 1mm protein Pellets. Hook baits were 10mm JPz, Krilled Meat or Corn.

Now these three lads had an amazing session last year carp fishing and I remembered it was very wet and overcast so I had them all sat in my JRC Quad Continental 2 Man which is enormous. This year is was high pressure and from experience I knew the method would not catch as well but given the age and ability of the lads surface fishing was going to be difficult for them and this session was all about the experience of fishing for bigger harder fighting carp and then dealing with them and returning them.

I always get the jitters when things aren’t  looking good for lots of bites but Forda Carp never let me down,  after a few casts around to try and find some fish we were away with each of the boys having two carp each to about 9lb. The boys were really good and took it in turns to take the runs so they all had a couple of fish each.

Finally I thought my busy week was at an end, however at the end of session the boy’s gran asked if I could do tuition with her so that she could take the boys fishing and have something to do rather than just sit there. No problem, I arrange to come back that evening after going home for tea and again we headed to Meadow Pond after Bream, Tench and Crucians. Basically with similar result to the previous session on Meadow other than the fishing gaining pace towards last light as opposed to tailing off at little towards Lunch time on the previous session. We finished at 8.45pm and I decided to have a few chucks myself, I managed a Tench that was remarkably bigger than the rest. Considering I personally stocked these fish at 8- 10 inches and this one was getting on for 15+ inches she must have a growth gene far more advanced than the rest.

Monday I went up to Riverside for 24 hours session, you can read all about that in my previous blog so as you can imagine by the end of Thursday I was a little ragged, With nothing booked or planned for Friday I was looking forward to a rest. The weather was really warm Friday and I couldn’t bring myself to stay home so found myself back at Meadow Pond for five hours in the afternoon. Similar conditions today and I sorted the gear out for some floater fishing on Top Pond taking 11 carp during four hours. Early on I was struggling a bit to hook up the fish taking my floaters. I switched from a standard controller to one of the Korda Cruise Controllers and the fish just started to hook themselves. I had a good old chuckle with one of the newly arrived guests when I explained that the Korda Controller was far more efficient at hooking the carp that I was.

Sunday tomorrow and after fishing for seven days on the run I should really do something else, however thoughts are that the wife won’t be up before 10am and my floater gear is still in the Land Rover all read to go………… 5.00am start?

Back to work next week for a good rest.

Tight Lines

Colin

Marukyu Specimen Carp Test Continues.

Or should I say Quest and not Test. After a 20lb carp and things are going well, but not that well.

My next session on Riverside was obviously going to involve Krilled Dead Red Maggots as the tactic had previously worked well and resulted in the only two fish on the bank during my last trip. This time I had decided on a couple of small changes. I was fishing with smaller PVA sticks and a shorter hair for one thing. Also on my last trip fish had consistently showed over a shallow plateau between the islands. I never moved onto them last time out as I had committed a few pints of maggots to another spot and was justified in sticking with it as it produced two decent fish. Anyway I decided to wait until just before dark to bait up as it was at this time the fish seem to show most and it coincided with the lake normally going flat calm as the wind dropped. I was also using a homemade mini spod to bait up as the Catapult would not reach this area.

It appeared I had made some good decisions as the night panned out as I had thought and the fish once again started to show out on the plateau. I was a bit worried about spoding on top of them even thought my homemade spod makes very little disturbance but really had no choice in the matter. So I decided to get the whole two pints of Krilled Dead Reds out there asap and in doing so get the disturbance over with quick.

My second rod was also on the Maggot rig but with less bait over it, about half a pint as I wanted to see if this tactic brought a quicker take. It was baited slowly with the catapult and fished at short range as per last week’s success. I was very confident in both spots having caught on one tactic last week and having fish over the plateau spot this week.

Only one other angler was on this week so less pressure on the fish had my confidence running high. He was next to me and was also fishing a maggot rig at shot range but had chosen a 10mm boilie and PVA bag approach out on the bar between the islands.

The result for me was a couple of fish 14lb 12oz and 16lb 8oz, both came to the maggot rig on the plateau. The other three rods blanked witch is an interesting indication of how hard these fish are as two of the rods also fished the same rig and bait as the one the caught two fish. I also hooked and lost a third fish on the same rod, probably the twenty I was after, so another trip is on the cards at some point soon. My main conclusions were a couple of interesting points to note for next time, firstly the rod that was most heavily baited with Marukyu Krilled Dead Red Maggots had three takes, and secondly the spoding was not a problem, in fact having only baited up at about 7.45pm the first fish was at 9.30pm and second at 11.00pm so the fish came along earlier than last week. The third fish I lost was at 3.00am so the fish were clearly on the bait for a long time. I think next time I’m going to put all my eggs in one basket, something I don’t always like to do, however three or four pints of maggots on the plateau with both rods on it sounds like a good plan, “I’m going all in” as they say in Texas. I’m by no means disappointed with the results as two fish and one lost in my opinion is proof enough that Marukyu Baits plus my tactics are working for me. But I do want a fish over 20lb to top off this feature.

It rained most of the afternoon and evening but was dry by the morning and getting warm, the fish were soon up on top and while the bivvie was drying nicely in the sun I reeled in and went off to do a bit of improvised stalking with some bread from my sandwiches. I found a group of three fish near an inlet pipe but they were off as soon as the bread hit the surface a couple of yards away from them, I was hoping it would drift over them on the breeze. The fish started to move towards it as it plopped in and I thought I was on for a take first cast but the fish just swam right under the bread and kept going disappearing into the muddy depths. This went on for a couple of hours as I kept finding fish but nothing was getting them to have a go properly and I was obviously under prepared, Krilled Bread has worked wonders for me in the past but I had a limited supply of bait, lesson learned I think.

I packed up and got home for 1.00pm then set about getting ready for my next tuition sessions on Wednesday when I had two tuition sessions booked. I will have to book another session on Riverside but with me being busy all this week I’m not sure yet when I will get back.

The Quest Continues.

 

Tight Lines

 

Colin

 

 

Marukyu Test Number Three

Hello again, if you’ve read the first few blogs you will know that the stakes are getting higher now. The target I set was to thoroughly test the Marukyu baits and successfully apply them to a specimen carp fishing situation.

Well having caught lots of Carp at Forda Lodges and Cottages as well as a nice 12lb plus Mirror Carp from the Bude Canal I made arrangements to fish a day ticket lake at Riverside Caravan Park, South Moulton, Devon.

This is a lake is 1 acre and it pays to book by telephone in advance as it’s can be busy at times. The Saturday I arrived it was busy as expected with five other anglers plus me the lake was full and I had the last swim. The good news was it was the swim I had in mind after checking the weather and using google earth to establish which bank the wind would be hitting. Two anglers had fished overnight and had a common carp early in the morning. No other fish had been caught in the last few days.

I like Riverside and have fished it once before, the lake is new, only created in 2010 and with a stock of just 50 carp all upwards of about 13lb. All the fish are new stock and therefor have not yet got used to eating lots of boilies although I’m sure they will. On my last visit I managed a small 13lb 8oz Mirror right on last knockings. It took a small boilie in amongst lots of small pellets.

This time I was intending to try two bait approaches. First of all I was going to set a small trap in the margin with a PVA bag containing my previous mix of EFG151, 1mm SDP Pellets and crushed ARB Protein Boilies, all from Marukyu with a ARB Protein Boilie hook bait that had been soaked in Krill Concentrate then rolled in Krill Powder before being air dried for a day or so.

My second rod however was my secret weapon; I had purchased three pints of red maggots. After my last trip to Riverside I had a feeling that with only carp stocked and no silvers to worry about naturals would give me the edge I was looking for. Most anglers fish boilies and with few fish being caught on them my confidence was up a little. Two and half pints of the maggots had been ‘Krilled’ with Marukyu SFA 400 Krill powder. I simply put the clean riddled maggots into a plastic bag with some of the Krill and tied it up taking most of the air out of the bag. Put the bag into the fridge overnight and then the next day into the freezer for a couple of days. The Krilled dead red maggots were to be my ground bait. The live maggots were also treated to some krill powder instead of the maize flour that the tackle shops offer and were to be used on the hook.

The boilie set up and rig was as per the previous two tests with a small silicone tube trapping the hair.

However for the maggot rig I need something different. The rig I use to present a bunch of maggots is a little different to the normal Maggot clip set up. The picture shows how it works, a small match hook on the end of the hair with a pop up corn below it. I hooked seven maggots onto the small wide gape match hook then pulled the point back into the fake pop up corn. This is tied KD style onto a size 8 Korda Kurve with a fairly long hair. The hook is heavy enough to sit flat on the bottom however as I was feeding maggots I felt the fish would be rooting right down in the mud and didn’t want the bait sitting up off bottom so I place a small number 4 split shot on the hair behind the pop up corn. When I tank tested the rig at home this made it balanced perfectly, the bait was tight to the deck but very light when the carp sucked near it.

I had also decided to used small PVA sticks of the Marukyu bag mix to add some extra pull near the hook bait, this also served to keep tangles to a minimum. I did add some Krill Concentrate liquid to the bag mix to dampen it and add some smell. With PVA bags I tend to use an uncoated braid such as Korda Supernatural. However as I was now fishing for bigger fish I decided to lengthen the hook link again, this time to about 8 inches. With this in mind I decided to use a coated hook link with a few inches stripped back, just simply to again help with tangles and also push the bait away from the lead. Korda N-Trap soft was my choice in this respect. Safe Zone leaders with a fixed lead clip and 3oz Square Pear completed the set up. An inline lead would probably provide better hooking but I wanted the lead to come off on the take as I prefer playing the fish without a lead swinging round in front of his nose were it can easily dislodge the hook. If I thought the fish were getting away with picking my baits up and not getting caught then I may have to consider using a inline but to start with if I got a take I wanted the lead gone.

I was set up by 12.00noon, with a trap set in the margins on the boilie rod and a single hook bait maggot rig sent out with a underarm flick about two rod lengths. I had actually chosen the spot for the maggot rod based on the distance my little match catapult would send a pouch of krilled dead reds at full stretch. This was so that I could bait up with more maggots after dark if necessary and know they were hitting the spot. My plan was to add the maggots little and often with the catapult and build the swim up slowly in the hope that the constant sprinkle of maggots on the surface would attract some attention.

I started adding the maggots in short bursts of five or six pouches every half hour so that it eventually took me until nearly dark to have got two pints out there. Nothing happened during the daylight and while I was adding maggots to the swim however my plan did seem to have got their attention eventually as just on dark I started to get liners. It was about 10.00pm that it was properly dark and by 12.00 midnight I was sure that one of two things was would happen, either I would get a run or something was drastically wrong with the rig as the liners were so frequent I had no chance of getting any sleep.

I need not have worried about the rig as at bang on 12.30am the maggot rod was away with a one toner. I was up next to the rod having just had another liner and checked that the bobbin was still in the same place. I was therefore on it quickly and after a reasonably short scrap a perfect common of 18lb 8oz was on the mat on ready to have its picture taken. The KD rig had nailed it in the bottom lip dead centre and as I had wanted the lead was off on the take and the fish hit the surface as soon as I lifted into it.

After returning the common things continued in the same way with lots of liners. The fish it seemed were rooting up the bottom for the krilled maggots and every 20 mins or so one would touch the line and give me a single bleep with the bobbin settling back in place. If the fish were getting away with picking up the rig them the bobbin would normally move as the fish inevitably would move the lead. I was therefore confident in the rig and in my picture of what was happening in the swim.

After another brew I managed to get off to a little sleep. In between jumping up to single bleeps and checking things out I would drop off quickly as by now I was very tired. I was fast asleep at 4.30am when I was shocked awake by another screamer of take. This time the fight was a lot stronger and I was convinced it was one of the bigger fish. With legs like jelly I played this fish with soft hands and took my time bringing it to the net. By now it was half-light and as the fish went over the net I could see, a little disappointingly, that is was a mirror although not as big as the first common. I was surprized at the size of this fish considering how strong it had fought compared to the common. Anyway it was still another fish to boost my confidence in the bait, rig and tactics. It was a lovely Mirror although one of the smaller residents of Riverside at 14lb 9oz.

As the light grew the liners stopped and by 7.30am I knew the results were probably now in the bag. I packed everything away leaving the rods until last but no further action came my way.

So what are my conclusions? Well krilled maggots obviously out fished Boilie on this occasion. I was happy with the result and would be happy to say that after three tests Marukyu bait can certainly catch big fish as well as anything I’ve used before. I would like to continue this test with a few small changes to my rig and fish both rods on Krilled Dead Red Maggots. Also when the fish are having it a bit more and see if I can produce a big hit of fish including my target 20lb carp to complete the test. I’m planning this next week and have already booked my swim at Riverside with the fishery owners.

One thing very worthy of note was that out of six anglers fishing twelve rods, eleven on Boilie and one on Maggot only one rod caught in the 24 hours I was there. So although my Boilie set up didn’t produce on this occasion neither did anyone else’s. It therefore pays to think outside the box sometimes, Boilies are good for singling out carp when you have small fish to get past and also the carp have small fish to compete with. Think about it, if this lake had silvers in not only would my rig probably get trashed by them, the bed of maggots would probably have been eaten before the carp got there. My theory therefore is that given a choice in the matter carp like to eat smaller food items as they would naturally. But where other species compete for this food they eat what they can get or what is left for them ie Boilies.  Riverside is by no means easy to fish as you can guess but with carp to over 30lb I think it’s worth putting the effort in.

Until next week,

Tight Lines

Colin