Blog has been pretty quiet recently as I have only been fishing once in the last 6 weeks due to illness. Anyway hopefully early next week there will be a blog article on the antics and fish from the yearly Archer Lake Social. Wish me luck as I set off for ooooop north at stupid o’clock tomorrow morning and will be there till Sunday.
Until next week
edit – due to unforeseen circumstances was the social that never was for me
Following my theme of cloth cap and ancient tackle, I popped down to a small commercial pool today with my brand new Andrew Field floats ( yes I had to get some more as they are simply gorgeous) to try them out. I had quite a few fish on bread ( see an up coming post) but the real stars of the show were the fish landed on my heritage setup. The prettiest of the lot ( managed about 10 in the morning) was this 8lb odd mirror. Nice because it was plainly obvious that it doesn’t get landed all that much and looking at the size of its tail I wonder if this the reason. The fish went like a steam train and my apologies for the pic but the fish wouldn’t quieten down for a photo. Enjoy ..
Upcoming posts on
Buying a hand made float for your daughter and how to make glugged bread sticks.
following my previous post about using fox arma mesh to fish with a whole load of new / old baits I thought I would give a quick update from this weekend. This weekends session on Thorney Weir whilst a blank was interesting as it did prove a point in that you can fish bread in Arma Mesh and get it to last over night. Gone are the days that you would have to re cast every 30 mins if you had bread on the hook. Gone also is the notion that you can’t fish bread at distance. I put a 3oz lead well in excess of 100 yards and the meshed bread was perfectly fine.
Some of the bread pellets looked a little muddy as I was experimenting with meshed lob worms… not recommended the worms crawl out eventually 🙂 Continue reading “the return of bread”
Sometimes it is not the size that matters but sometimes the method of capture. I had wanted to catch a double figure carp on my Bruce and Walker Mk4 ever since I purchased it and now that I have a full set of Andrew Field floats I had just the chance. I quick trip down to a small commercial near where I live and 1st cast landed this beauty. She pulled the scales fown to 11lb once the sling was taken off and was well deserved.
Bait… well nothing at all. I was just testing the float at my feet to get the correct shotting on the float and the hook picked up a ball of chod from the bottom. Carp grabbed the chod ( and my hook) when I dropped it back in the water. Continue reading “It is not the size that matters”
Like many carp anglers I have gotten blinkered into believing that boilies are the only way, I have even written reviews of boilies here and pretty much all of my carp have been on boilies for the past few years. However all that is going to change as of now…. well last week.
Last week I was fishing a small commercial where I was told that the approach should be “anything but boilies” and having blanked there before on boilies I could well believe them. So being a boillie angler what else was there to use. In the past when I was a kid I used to use luncheon meat all the time however I remember that it was a real nightmare keeping it on the hook so I found myself looking for something else. Continue reading “Boilies are not the answer”
Just a quick blog post as a follow up from a Carp-Forums.com social I attended on the yateley lake back in March. Sorry it has been a bit of a while since the last post but I have been busy however now there should be a raft of posts on the way.
I had never fished Yateley Sandhurst so had no idea what to expect however confidence was high as I had been told that it responded well in the early part of the season. Maggot was the modus Operandi and so Ads kindly arranged the maggots for all of us, all many gallons of them.
As was normal on a social, swim selection was performed via draw,
And some people were happier with their swim than others, Continue reading “Yateley Sandhurst Social – Session Report”
Some of you may know that I have a thing for items of beauty and when I spotted the website by Andrew Field with his wonderful hand made floats, I was smitten. The quality was stunning and I decided then and there that I had to have a few, even though I don’t really float fish a great deal. As my birthday was fast approaching I asked my wife if she could get me a selection as a birthday present which she dully did. I expected to get a single float but what I received surpassed my wildest imaginations ( apparently I don’t have much of an imagination) as I got not only 6 floats but also a really snazzy aluminium float tube. Continue reading “Hand Made Floats – the proof is in the pudding”
Just off to thorneyweir for a few days. I much prefer fishing midweek so as i had the chance (thanks Una) i thought i would grab it with both hands. There are (or were) fish over at least 1 rod so i am hoping for my 1st thorney carp soonish. If i manage to winkle one out i will drop a message here.
Actually, hold the presses, a pike just hammered some poor roach right in my swim. At least something likes my bait.
I have ( like many I suppose) been reading more about carp fishing this winter than catching or even carping its self. One thing has struck me very plainly about the magazines ( and I am not going to name names) is that if you believed everything that you read in them, some anglers never blank… Not even during the winter, not even ( it seems) when the lakes are frozen over. They are carp catching machines who never seem to suffer the pitfalls mother nature and fate throws before us mere mortals. They are the gods of carp fishing, and 99% of them were unknown 15 years ago. Continue reading “A few thoughts on blanking and sponsored anglers”
Polarised sunglasses are the Xray specs of the carp fishing world, they allow you to turn the harsh silvery glare of a lakes surface into a clear fish tank revealing not only our quarry but also any features that may have been lurking. As you can probably guess I am a very large fan of polarised sunglasses and take a pair with me fishing on even the most dull of days as when you need polarised sunglasses you really need them. Not only will they help you see fish they will also help cut down in eye strain ensuring that even if you are “casting at the sun” your eyes will not feel like it. Additionally if you are a lure fisherman or fly fisherman a pair of sports sunglasses will also give you basic eye protection against everything from a misplaced fly to weed and lake water flying off of your reel. Continue reading “Kontrol Polar Ice Polarising sunglasses review”
The Masterblanker 