OCM Success

Josh and Martin

An introduction to my setup:

Rods: 2 3/4lb Greys Prodigy rods
Reels: Shimano XTE baitrunners
Line: Nash 12lb Bullet monofilament line
Buzzers: 3 x Steve Neville (blue)
Pod: Solar Worldwide pod
Wheelbarrow: Ford Fiesta 1.3!!!

In order to try and make the most out of what was going to be a hard winter on the lake, a bulk order of the new OCM boilies was ordered, so that we could keep the bait trickling in over the coming months. It was hoped that the bait would work and attract the carp onto the baited patches where they would hopefully take a liking to the mixture of 14mm boilies, chops, boilie crumb and small dumbbells. We decided to use a variety of baits like this to hopefully confuse these wary carp and when it came to fishing on top of our spots, we could chop and change the hook baits, meaning the carp would find it more difficult to suss out which one was the hook bait. This also meant that if the carp became wary of a certain type or shape of the bait, that we could change the hook bait to a more acceptable one.

In order to work out which bait the carp would be willing to take more readily, we had to be able to watch their feeding behaviour and in the winter when a carp is not easily spotted, this would be difficult. It was because of this that in November I began to bait up in pegs that had been fished very little over the past month and ones I knew wouldn’t be in the wintry months of December, January and February. I baited two of these pegs in the margins along a very nice tree line where natural bait would fall into the lake and there was also some nice gravely areas that met with silt in a deeper channel. It was here that we would watch the fish’s behaviour to the bait; that is if they fed? In the other peg I baited around 20-30 yards out and this would be more of fall back peg if the fish moved away from the marginal areas. 

The summer had been good to us and we knew the bait was doing really well. With a number of the bigger, known fish coming to the bait, especially commons, we knew that it was the perfect bait to be putting in over the winter and confidence was high. We had witnessed the fish eating the bait, knowing too well it was being taken readily and it was hard work having to bait up 3 times a week competing with college, work, traffic, anglers and bird life. My luck held out though and the first session I fished was a quick 5 hours after college on a Tuesday in early December. The rigs were kept the same as the summer because of the simple fact that I see no reason to ‘fine tune’ my rigs for winter. I was confident that they worked and the anti-eject properties of the rig were working fantastically. I did however change one small thing and that was the shrink tubing; I used black instead of clear. This was because of the water clarity and I thought that a black piece would maybe cover that little extra bit of the hook-small things I know! A short 5 ins. Rig made up of Korda IQ knotless knotted with a Long shank X size 10 (small hooks in winter and summer) was all that was needed and as I have said I did add some shrink tubing to the eye and bend of the hook like a ‘claw’ rig – superb anti-eject! This was attached via a quick change clip to my lead system which comprised a small 2oz inline square pear lead threaded up a short fluorocarbon leader which was attached to the mainline via a simple Palomar knot; all safe and very effective. To even further the invisibility of the rig I used back leads, slack lines and blobbed heavy metal putty up the line and added a piece half way up the hook link.

Anyway back to the session and I set up quickly putting just one rod on the small marginal spot and two off the edge of it. Two rods including the one on the baited area was baited with the small dumbbells and the other was baited with a 14mm boilie. All three were cast out with small PVA bags full of whole, chopped and crushed boilie and I sat back and awaited action. The rod that was put on the baited patch was off within an hour and a screaming run had me scuttling towards the right hand that was being wrenched round in the rest. The run was that fast that the Neville bite alarms didn’t stop for a few seconds after latching into the fish and I was soon a proud captor of a small 17lb mirror – what a start and it didn’t end there. An hour later whilst on the phone to dad who was also catching on the baits at a small club water up in Derby the same rod did an action replay and I suitably cut dad off and lifted into an angry carp that was obviously larger than its predecessor. It duly was and after a long scrap of around 15 minutes in the deeper water, I lifted the net around a beautiful 26lb mirror. I was very pleased with the outcome of the night and was even happier when the feat was repeated a week later when two more twenties were landed. The bait was working well and I was happy to continue baiting through even the coldest of temperatures.

A few weeks after I was having more fish in temperatures reaching -4 degrees! I found this incredible and I was delighted with how well the bait was working. Everything was going brilliantly and I had never heard of a better winter result from the water and I was only half way through it. It was therefore with no shock that after my 10th capture from the swim that word got round and I found the peg occupied for two weeks solid. I thought that this would kill the fishing and although I baited up regularly, there was never an opportunity to bait the producing areas. Blokes were doing 5 nights at a time on the peg and going home blanking – I couldn’t believe it! This increase in pressure gave me an opportunity to bait the other two pegs and it was during one of these pressurized spells that I lost a fish from the other side of the tree line in the other marginal spot I was baiting. Although I lost the fish due to a hook pull, it was the only fish to have been hooked in the two weeks when the peg was taken up by other anglers and this gave me confidence as in those two weeks I had been fishing once for a quick 4 hour session!!

“I’m going in half an hour mate.”
That sentence was like music to my ears and the angler duly did pack up after doing two nights on the producing peg and blanking. I set up the rods well back from the water and threw a few baits onto the spots and half an hour later quietly got the baits out onto the required area and grabbed a bottle to fill it up with water in readiness for a take. I know it seems presumptuous, but I always do this so I am prepared when a fish is on the bank – it pays to be organized. As I filled the bottle I heard a buzzer, but there was no-one else there it was a Tuesday? It was mine! I couldn’t believe it and had to rub my eyes before truly believing the rod that was on the spot was again being pulled round to the right. As I played the fish which obviously wasn’t big I couldn’t believe that the bait had come up trumps again after two weeks of constant pressure and everyone blanking. I thought the fish had disappeared because of the pressure, but as I weighed a pretty little 13lb common I was proved very wrong. I returned the fish and flicked the rod straight back out and noticed that now instead of a soft landing, the lead landed with a bang onto hard ground and I just knew that the rod would go again. The fish had obviously cleared the bottom as I wasn’t even bringing back any leaf litter off the trees and I was so excited I had to sit next to the rods. It was after an hour of waiting when I was startled by the alarm call of the right hand Neville and as I played the fish all I could do was laugh. What was everyone else doing so wrong to have blanked on this peg for so long? What a great winter I was having – what a great bait! The fish weighed 26lb 8oz and looked beautiful even in the dark.

Two weeks later dad had to see what all the fuss was about and even though he was doing so well on a little water up north. He came down for a weekend session. The two pegs we were after were unbelievably free and we quickly set up on the Friday night before any other anglers turned up. Rods out and bellies full we retired to bed. At 9:30am on the Saturday morning a few fish showed and I was about to cast a pop-up onto them when the middle rod spurred into life. This rod had been placed off the bait and a little further out and although only 19lb the fish made me think. Maybe the fish were just moving off the bait a little and becoming a bit more wary. The capture made me re-think and place all three baits around the baited patch; one on it, one 10 foot off (the one I had just caught on) and one 15 foot of it. With the baits staggered across the bay to my right around the bait  was confident and my confidence was repaid when at 4pm the right hand rod placed on the patch burst into life. At 25lb 12oz the common was in perfect condition and I went to bed very confident. The next day it was time to get dad a bite and I spent an hour finding him some very likely spots. We thought together about a good baiting strategy for all three rods. Again his rods were staggered across the water available to him in order to cover a larger area of water and we measured the rods to the exact baited areas where I had been baiting for around 2 months. As dad cast I had the catapult and baits were fired to the necessary destination.

An hour afterwards we were chatting when I was jolted into action, but not on my rods, it was the rod we had just cast out for dad; the bait had worked again! As I lifted the rod upon dads demand, I felt a heavy resistance and after 5 minutes playing the fish which dad was kindly allowing me to play I told him it was a good one and he grabbed the rod whilst I entered the lake thanks to a pair of waders. The fish kited further and further right and I had to wade almost too deep to free it from an overhanging branch. After this the fish came straight to the top and I made no mistake in netting a good mirror. On the mat she went 31lb 8oz and dad kindly agreed that the fish was a truly joint capture and credit to the bait and its application. We both enjoyed holding her and I even got a celebratory cup of tea out of dad; which is a near miracle!

Since then both pegs have been constantly stitched up, bit it hasn’t stopped us catching. We have done two weekend sessions and been forced to settle for pegs that we weren’t confident in, but both times we have caught. By watching the water and being lucky enough to see crashing fish we have been able to move onto them and both times within an hour of casting in have had fish, both of which were twenties. It just shows what a credit this bait is to the Tails Up team and the fact that not only is it a long term bait, but it also has the qualities of an attractor bait.

It is only the end of February when I write this and I am confident that I can catch a few more before the start of April when I will renew my membership at the lakes and catch some quality spring carp. Between us we have had nearly 50 carp on the bait this year out of the lake; nearly two thirds of its population and countless numbers from other carp waters we have occasionally visited. I am told the average amount of carp the regulars extract from the lake is anywhere between 10 and 20. If this is the case then we have had 5 years worth of carp just this year – what a result.

Cheers, Josh and Martin