Getting down to business

For the past year I have been trying to get my head down and really try to crack my personal best.

I decided to really get down to business and give my local park lakes and a local stretch of river a good go as they both hold a number of decent fish.

I had my bait sorted as Ash had been supplying me bait for a few years and the whole range of baits had done me pbs from a number still waters and rivers in the past.

I was set for the challenge and really by chance I got it off to a flying start with a pb on my first session. I had beaten my long standing personal best in September of 2008 by nearly five pounds with a 32.10 mirror. I decided to do a few socials with my mate Dan on the same water as there were still a few nice fish that I wanted to catch. Me and my mate Michael (AKA Burga) had been piling in the OCM for nearly two seasons so I felt that was the way to go bait wise.

The run up to the planned string of sessions couldn’t have been worse as the country had been hit by the coldest winter for nearly two decades and by now it was early January and the snow was several inches thick and the ice on the lake somehow seemed thicker! This really put our sessions on the back foot as we couldn’t wet a line for nearly a month because of the ice. When the forecast finally showed some warmer weather was on the way so I couldn’t wait to get down the park and try and bag some winter carp. The day the lake thawed I was down there like a shot with my dingy to prime some areas. To avoid the attentions of the hundreds of people who walked around the lake during the day and the parks police I decided to ventured out into the dark freezing water at night to spread a few kilos of OCM over a couple of spots. During me messing around in my little boat the bucket I had with me ripped a hole in the bottom of the boat and it started to sink! I managed to make it to the bank before I went down with HMS Duncan but still not a great start!

After my boating episode I planned on leaving the bait three nights so as to guarantee it had been cleared out by either the fish or the mad amounts of birds that resided on this clear shallow lake. I returned three days later on a bitterly cold morning hoping my efforts were going to equals reward. I was armed with a pot of Pineapple & Banana winter mix pop ups and a bag of the trusty OCM. I chucked two chods mounted with Pineapple & Banana corkers out to my pre baited spots at about thirty five yards and scattered some 18mm OCM around each hook bait. I had primed the areas with OCM but felt the brighter winter mix hook baits might nick me a quick bite. It worked as about forty five minutes later the indicator on my left rod slowly raised up and held at the top of my Delkim. I ran down to the rod and connected with a solid lump that kited dangerously close to some snags on a nearby island. It was slow moving and heavy so I knew it was a good fish. I pumped it towards me and away from the snags and before I knew it the fish was in front of the net. As the water had now gained a bit of colour due to the commotion in the shallow margins I couldn’t see the fish from up the bank but my mate Dan confirmed that it was a fish called ‘One Pec’. This was the biggest fish in the lake and the fish that had beaten my pb the September before. I knew it was going to do my pb again and after hoisting it on the scales my suspicions were confirmed as it went 35.12! A new pb on my first session of the year and the first time out using the new winter mix. Result!

‘One Pec’ at 35.12

I followed this trip up with two more short sessions landing another two twenty mirrors. I had done about fifteen hours fishing and had the lakes three biggest mirrors to my name. I pulled off after that as the ice set in and once again the lake and many others in the local areas became almost unfishable for another month or so.

The first part of the year flew by and before I knew it the closed season was upon me. To be honest it was a bit of a write off. Apart from a couple of sessions on my Essex club water and a few days ticket here and there I didn’t do a lot of fishing. This worked out well as three months of hardly working had taken its toll on my bank balance and it was time to get the funds back up in preparation for the coming of June the 16th.

One i managed to nick out in a cold closed season at 22lb

The 16th seem to come round all too quickly and once again I found myself doing the opening day back on Penn Pond’s little lake with a few mates. This was more of a social but on the opening few days I managed to bag a couple of twenties and doubles but I felt I was wasting my time. It was time to decide what I was going to focus my attentions on and the Thames was looking prime. I had been baiting a spot on my local tidal stretch for over a month with the old faithful Pro Liver. Lady luck seemed to be with me once again as on my first session I had a dumpy old looking 23.6 mirror. A few of short morning sessions bagged me fourteen fish to 25.12 but I lost three good fish that I thought could have done my river pb of 28.6, but I suppose that’s river fishing for you and as the old saying goes ‘you win some you loose some’. Old Father Thames had let me have my share of fish but wasn’t going to give up some of its jewels so easily and in such a short period of time.

The first fish from my Thames spot at 23.6

The river spot seemed to dry up and it looked like the carp had moved out and the bream had started to get in on the action and clear the Liver out before any carp that visited the area could get a look in. It was near the end of August by now and I wanted to give the river spot a rest and get myself another ticket. This time it was for two local parks. The most popular water on this ticket holds a number of chunks and at the right time of year has around thirteen thirties, a couple of forties and it was only about three acres! This water looked perfect to beat by pb and if not at least bag myself a few good fish for the album. The only problem was is that it was a day’s only water so it was going to be a lot of toing and froing to get onto the lakes for the prime times and trying to stay on as late as possible before the notoriously harsh police nabbed us for sneaking in an extra hour or so. The water also had a no fishing section that the fish seemed to reside in for the majority of the day avioding the danger that lurked in the main lake. My first visit to this water was disappointing but wasnt surprising as I turned up and found it rammed with kids on their school holidays crashing leads in left, right and centre. All this commotion on top of the usual inconsiderate dog walkers and what seemed like hundreds of people walking the banks put me off straight away. I gave this lake a miss and popped over the road to the other park to give one of its waters a bash. This water held a good head of fish but was like a long canal, it was about forty yards wide and about three quarters of a mile long so location was going to be key. My plan was to bait a few spots with some OCM and fish them on rotation. The next few weeks, and about half a dozen sessions later I found myself with a few fish under my belt but mainly doubles and a few twenty ‘Simmo’s’. These all fell to either OCM corkers fished on a ‘choddie’ over weed or OCM dumbbell bottoms baits fish on marginal clear spots. It was great fun to get a bend in the rod but I wasn’t catching anything over low twenties. News started coming through the grape vine of regular big fish from the other park lake I had initially visited. I had made my mind up, I had to brave the crowds, get my fishing hat on to try and get a piece of the action!

Dusk on a new water

One of the 20lb+ ‘Simmo’s’ that loved the OCM

The first few sessions on this hectic lake saw me bag a few doubles on the OCM fished with the matching stick mix. My confidence was high after bagging fish almost straight away and I felt that it was only a matter of time before I bagged one of the lakes’ chunks. Weeks and many sessions past, a string of small fish and what seemed like endless amounts of bream saw me doubting my tactics. A few of the other lads seemed to be bagging the larger fish but in smaller numbers and I seemed to be getting the opposite results. A change in tactics was well overdue and I felt that if I could stalk the fish then maybe I could single out some of the better ones. My mate Lee had pointed out a few decent margin spots that had done some good fish in the past and most were directly under trees with a nice vantage points. The first few days with my new plan found me standing up these trees that were dotted around the lake for hours on end watching a few of the lakes residents cruising about. I found it frustrating because the only fish I seemed to be able to get feeding in the edge were the lakes smaller residents. My tree dwelling was changed to walking the banks looking for bubblers and any signs of feeding fish. I managed to sneak a few nice twenties out in the week of stalking that followed but once again lady luck only seemed to be allowing me a small slice of what the lake had to offer.

The following weeks saw the weather and my luck change as Autumn seemed to be rapidly approaching. I thought it was time for a change of bait and the Pro Fish was an ideal candidate. Although a bit of a risk I just felt I could be getting better results on a different bait and I was itching to try the Pro Fish as it had brought so much success to so many on waters around the country. It was almost an instant success as the cooling weather seemed to turn the fish on and one of my ‘tree spots’ that I had been regularly baiting started showing signs of some of the bigger fish. The Pro fish was being taken from this margin spot every time I put it in. At one point I had one of the lakes biggies taking chops almost on the drop under a tree I was standing in. Shaking in excitement I attempted to lower a rig onto the spot but spooked the fish and blew the first chance I had to possibly bag one of the lakes chunks! I baited the spot and the next day the first ‘proper’ fish to fall to the tree spot was a beautiful ghost leather at 31.10. It was the same fish that I had spooked off the spot the day before by putting the rig in at the wrong time. I actually watched the fish come in and take my Pro Fish bottom bait and slowly swim away from the spot shaking its head as I fell out of the tree trying to get to the rod. The Pro Fish was certainly doing the business and with a thirty finally under my belt I felt I was finally getting in tune with the lake.

My first thirty from a new water, 31.10 ghost leather

My confidence was short lived as I just seemed to go back to bagging doubles and a few twenties. I once again doubted my approach. I kept putting the bait in and now me and Burga were putting in around 5-10kg a week of the Pro Fish and the new Sub Zero. I was sure that some of the better fish must have been getting a look in and I was hoping for another change in fortunes.

I was trying to stay away from the other angler’s tactics and do something different since I first started on the water. The going tactic seemed to be bottom baits with golf ball sized bags of chops and crumb. I felt like the fish were seeing this day in day out but this seemed to be working for the majority and I couldn’t ignore it any longer. Just when i was about to go with the ‘norm’ in terms of bait and tactics things really turned around for me. My mate and a veteran of the venue Sam Healy was giving me digs about being a pasty basher when he recommended me switching to white pop ups to single out the better fish. I was a bit dubious as I felt that on a water that had seen it all over the years a white pop up was going to be too blatant and would probably just increase by bream and pasty problem.

I couldn’t be more wrong as literally a few hours later after nicking a few ‘flouro’ white liver pops off Burga and casting them into a silty channel, the rod ripped off and one of the biggest commons in the lake was in the bag! At 27lb I was well pleased and finally my luck seemed to be turning once again.

First blood to the white ‘fluros’ 27+ common

The following day I ordered pot of white ‘flouros’ from Ash and they soon arrived. I was now set with what seemed to be the going tactic and bait and couldn’t wait to get back down the lake!

It was now late November and as the clocks had changed a while back and we were getting some extra hours of darkness as it slipped further into late Autumn. This was prime as the fish only really seemed to feed at dusk and dawn on this days only water.

One of my final session of 2009 found me turning up to the lake an hour late due to my mate sleeping in and not giving me a lift on time to catch the opening of the park gates. We got there and to my surprise every swim on the lake was taken! I couldn’t believe it. After a better run of fish and the bait doing the business I couldn’t even get a rod in the water. I nearly turned round and headed back to the car but I was determined to get the rods out and decided to wait for a swim, which ended up taking six hours! Luckily the cold and the mega early morning had taken its toll on an angler that was in a swim that commanded a good piece of open water and a spot that had produced a few fish for me in the past couple of weeks. I managed to get the rods out about an hour before dusk with a couple of white ‘fluros’ on the rigs. It was looking prime for a take. Half an hour after getting the rods out I was standing in my mate Dave’s swim. It was next door to mine and as we watch the water a chunk launched itself out in front of us. This was fairly unusual for the lake and showed the fish were on the move and active. It was looking like my six hour wait might be worth it after all. We were sure it was one of the three proper ‘bigguns’ that the lake held because of the pure size of it. I was telling Dave how much I wanted to have one of the lakes three real chunks to cap a great year. As he had already bagged two of them in the past he jokingly said 'you can have em'! About twenty minutes later I walked back to my rods. As I got into view of the rods my buzzer gave out a series bleeps and the tip bent round, what timing! As I picked up the rod I knew it was a good fish as it tore line of my reel. The flight lasted about ten minutes before my mate managed to wade out and bundle it into the net. As he was a fair way out in the lake with the net I asked what fish it was and he said ‘The Rudder’! I couldn't believe it as this fish had only come out six weeks previous and at 39.15. I was convinced it was going to at least be a pb if not maybe even a forty. It ended up going 39lbs on the nose but I was still over the moon. After only three or four months of having this new ticket, one of the ‘A Team’ had graced my net... and a new pb by over 3lbs to boot!

The fish that capped off my year, ‘The Rudder’ at 39lb!

The carp gods have certainly shone down upon me in 2009. I have had many halcyon days throughout the year and trying to focus on beating by pb has seen me do it twice thanks to two new Tails Up baits.

I hope for continued success for the future and thanks to Ash for the quality bait and service.

Tight lines to all and be lucky for the coming year.

Duncan Hayward