Entries of Angling #1

A new area of my blog that includes "diary" style entries. Well, here it goes.. 

May so far

May so far has been a good month, with a few nice fish from a new water and also a PB common. 

The start of the month saw me visiting a new club lake situated just outside of Sandbach, Cheshire. I have spent four nights on there for a total of 14 carp including some nice scale 20lb + mirrors. 

The weather for a start has been spot on, with pressure reaching 980 mb's at times. The first trip saw me bag a fully scaled 21lb mirror - including 7 more fish to mid doubles, which was a promising start. I have been using a lot of particle in my fishing at the moment and it was paying off. 

The second trip saw a lot of low pressure move in and i managed a lovely half linear mirror of just over 22lb and later landing five more, up to a 17lb mirror.

The last time i was on the bank was last Wednesday for 48 hours on a local water close to home. It was a club water i have fished in the past and had some success from back in my high school holidays. 

I arrived there around 4.30pm to the car park being almost full, so I turned around and began to head off somewhere else until I thought "you're here now, just have a walk around at least".

Grabbing a water carrier I set about walking down the path. The amount of fish on the surface was incredible. Being it really warm and sunny it wasn't a surprise. However, what was a surprise was that the last 4 pegs on the lake (entering towards the shallows) were untouched. 

It turned out that the amount of cars was because of a working party taking place. With it coming to and end just as i got there. They were clearing a stream that was blocked. This flowed from the lake above, into the one I was going to fish. As a consequence, the water was like chocolate.

Recently I have been reading articles from old Carpworld magazines. An issue from 2010 pretty much made up my choice of where to set up that day. Terry Hearn was talking about "what carp really like". In this article he was going in depth into how carp know every inch of there watery home. Therefore, a change in an area can lead to carp showing great interest into it - especially at night when work (noise) has tended to stop. 

With the coloured water pumping into the shallow area of the lake and with all noise from the work having subsided, carp were surely going to investigate during the hours of darkness. As the water would be washing down all sorts of natural food, I decided not to bait too heavily. Around 20 fox medium spombs of my particle mix. Which were in a tight patch close to where the water would be flowing.  The moon was a full one that night, it kept the sky illuminated the whole time.

At around 10:30pm i received my first bite which unfortunately fell off due to a hook pull, gutted! I managed to get the rod out without too much drama and followed it by another eight or so spombs of the mix. Early morning i received another take, which all went to plan. The fish didn't give up easily though and was constantly trying to kite either side of the swim into the snaggy margins. 

A size 6 Korda wide gape did its job as the fish was hooked well, in the centre of the bottom lip. Being a fish called the "box common" at 27lb 12oz. 

Big moon - big common. 

WH

22 lb + mirror from a recent, multiple fish hit. 

21 lb + scaley mirror fell to a balanced tigernut over particle. 

Estate Days

Local Country Estate rod shot from a morning session. 

** Multi Hinge Rig **

The multi rig and hinged stiff rig alike have both been well documented by some of the most well known "big carp" anglers in the country. The likes of Terry Hearn, Nigel Sharp and Jon McAllister (the list goes on...) have spoken in depth of the rigs efficiency to hook carp.

How to

The components that you will need to tie this rig. 

Cut off a length of your chosen stiff rig filament, the size will determine the height of the pop up.

Double the material over and slide on a "Stiff Rig" style hook.

Place a Micro Hook Ring Swivel onto the filament and create the "multi section".

Pinch the end of your filament at the height you want your pop up to sit. I prefer a short section - just enough to be able to replace the hook.

Take your chosen hooklink material and remove some of the coating.

Thread the uncoated braid through the doubled material.

Using an albright knot whip up the chop filament 6 times and back down a further 4. Threading the tag back through the doubled material the way you entered. 

Moisten the knot as you go will make it easier to bed down.

Using the tags and slow pressure - gently pull the knot tight.

Finish the braided section with a figure of eight knot to form a loop. Also, mould rig putty around the knot to balance the pop up. 

Using bait floss - thread on your chosen bait.

A subtle pop up rig that allows you to present a bait low to the bottom, having the 360 degree movement in which the hook can flip and grab hold. The Multi Hinge Rig holds the same stiffness element of a hinge stiff rig with the Multi rig's ability to change the hook.

"Everything's got to start somewhere"

This is my debut post to what hopefully is a prolonged blog giving you an insight into my Carp fishing life.

About me  

I started float fishing before the age of 10 - mainly on the abundance of canals and reservoirs near my home. Rudyard Reservoir was a familiar place for me to wet a line, targeting anything that swam pretty much. 

Fast forward to the age of 12. I began to fish Cheshire Emergency services fishing matches for kids basically, where I met the angler who has pretty much showed me all I know to this date. A guy called Andy Cooper who also happens to be a Nutrabaits sponsored angler.

After catching my first Carp shortly after, and having friends who shared the same interest I began to try targeting them over the now smaller species in the waters I fished.

 I caught my first 20lb Mirror during my last years at secondary school. The summer holidays after finishing exams had a massive impact on the time I could actually get on the bank. 

Age 19, I have probably been solely Carp fishing for about 7 years now...enjoying everything about it.