Thursday, 26 January 2012
Monday, 23 January 2012
My day out at Windrush Valley, Part Two
Part 2.
It is a good job that we stopped on our way at the fishing shop so I had an opportunity to stock up on some discount carp fishing tackle. So now I can be generous with my fishing tackle. I decided to put out ten spods of maggots, casters following by a few spods of broken savoury boilies, all fairly tight around the back of the float, I assume they all will spread quite a bit as they sink. Finally, I put 70 or so baits onto the silty area. I start seeing some fishing feeding. This may seem like a lot, but the fact that the fish is feeding gives me the green light to feed them a bit. On the other hand, I am starting to worry if I have enough carp fishing tackle to last me another day. I may have to ask Charley to make a run to the fishing shop in the morning to get some more of that discount fishing tackle as it seems to work well.
I am going to fish a really low version of my favourite Jon Mac pop-up rig over this spot, shortening the pop up section to less than an inch because of the carpet of maggots. I am hopping that the crumbed baits and grabs will draw the fish in but the whole boilies will prevent them from feeding in too preoccupied a manner. I have decided not to top up John's maggot spot because he reckons that he put out two gallons out there. This should work well for me.
Charley by now has decided to dropped into the neighbouring swim, down to my left, where the lake narrows a little. He said it has produced fish and he has found a couple of nice spots near the central gravel seam that runs right through his swim. I asked him if he would mind to pop into the fishing shop first thing in the morning and he did not seem to mind.
I must admit that with the pressure off so early I am feeling confident on all three of my carp rods. A rare state of affairs, I have to say. Charley wanders down and is astounded to see that I have actually brought my bite alarms with me. I can understand his surprise because it has been a long time sine I have been using bite alarms but I am willing to give it ago once more. With the pizza ordered and on its way to us, we decide to relax and take in the stunning Oxfordshire Sunset. It is very cold but I am hopeful.
The evening slowly drifts on and I hear just the odd bleep from my bite alarms. It is starting to approach 10 o’Clock in the evening and I hear a much more positive sound coming from my bite alarm. I check my rods, the chod rig still sitting right where I picked up the first fish, pulls up tight. Charley assures me that this is a typical choddy bite and I pull into another carp. This one gamely boils its way to the net but I can tell that it is not a large one. Pretty much as soon as it glows up in the beam. I net it and pull it in towards the bank. It is another double, a little smaller that the last one but the chodd is doing the business. That is the last action before we turn in to our tent for the night.
The next thing I know there is a crack of light beaming through a little hole under my sleeping-bag cover. Annoyingly, a mallard seems to be insisting that I get up because it just would not stop quacking in my swim. Bleary eyed, I throw back the covers and glare at the duck, which seems to get the message and takes off. My gaze wanders onto the rods; the left one is unmoved... the middle one is okay... the right one is bent right round! Yet somehow the buzzer of bite alarm has not made a sound and I have a carp on. This just remind me why I stopped using them in the first place. The other thought that comes to mind s that using all that carp fishing tackle has paid off.
A couple of faint kicks transmit down the line as I pull onto it, which is a start. I am astounded to feel the electrical-tape line marker click through the tip ring after a couple of turns. The fish has hardly moved. I soon have it swirling in the margins and I am surprised to see that it is a common. It is also pretty small but I am still glad that the mix of my carp fishing tackle has produced such result, and where there is one, there is always another.
It is a funy little character that I slip back without a photograph as there did not seem to be much point inconveniencing him much further. The pop-up has been torn so I chop it off, tie on another and flick it back out there, 20 yards to the spot. It pins against the clip a foot or so above the water and I feel it down with a nice muffled thud, perfect.
Although the day was lovely and clear, the wind has resumed where it left off yesterday, cutting me in half each time I venture out from under the tent. A couple of dropped coot takes on the middle rod have me scampering down to the front of the swim but the next bite simply does not materialise.
In the morning, with a rather ominous bank of cloud pushing in from the west we opt to get out of there. We have both really enjoyed our session and Hunts. It is definitely the sort of place that I would happily revisit with a few mates. It is well managed; convenient, accessible fishing that offers a more laid-back feel to the rest of the Linear lakes. Now we just need to make a stop at a fishing shop to get restocked on that discount fishing tackle as it certainly proved to work for me.
I am going to fish a really low version of my favourite Jon Mac pop-up rig over this spot, shortening the pop up section to less than an inch because of the carpet of maggots. I am hopping that the crumbed baits and grabs will draw the fish in but the whole boilies will prevent them from feeding in too preoccupied a manner. I have decided not to top up John's maggot spot because he reckons that he put out two gallons out there. This should work well for me.
Charley by now has decided to dropped into the neighbouring swim, down to my left, where the lake narrows a little. He said it has produced fish and he has found a couple of nice spots near the central gravel seam that runs right through his swim. I asked him if he would mind to pop into the fishing shop first thing in the morning and he did not seem to mind.
I must admit that with the pressure off so early I am feeling confident on all three of my carp rods. A rare state of affairs, I have to say. Charley wanders down and is astounded to see that I have actually brought my bite alarms with me. I can understand his surprise because it has been a long time sine I have been using bite alarms but I am willing to give it ago once more. With the pizza ordered and on its way to us, we decide to relax and take in the stunning Oxfordshire Sunset. It is very cold but I am hopeful.
The evening slowly drifts on and I hear just the odd bleep from my bite alarms. It is starting to approach 10 o’Clock in the evening and I hear a much more positive sound coming from my bite alarm. I check my rods, the chod rig still sitting right where I picked up the first fish, pulls up tight. Charley assures me that this is a typical choddy bite and I pull into another carp. This one gamely boils its way to the net but I can tell that it is not a large one. Pretty much as soon as it glows up in the beam. I net it and pull it in towards the bank. It is another double, a little smaller that the last one but the chodd is doing the business. That is the last action before we turn in to our tent for the night.
The next thing I know there is a crack of light beaming through a little hole under my sleeping-bag cover. Annoyingly, a mallard seems to be insisting that I get up because it just would not stop quacking in my swim. Bleary eyed, I throw back the covers and glare at the duck, which seems to get the message and takes off. My gaze wanders onto the rods; the left one is unmoved... the middle one is okay... the right one is bent right round! Yet somehow the buzzer of bite alarm has not made a sound and I have a carp on. This just remind me why I stopped using them in the first place. The other thought that comes to mind s that using all that carp fishing tackle has paid off.
A couple of faint kicks transmit down the line as I pull onto it, which is a start. I am astounded to feel the electrical-tape line marker click through the tip ring after a couple of turns. The fish has hardly moved. I soon have it swirling in the margins and I am surprised to see that it is a common. It is also pretty small but I am still glad that the mix of my carp fishing tackle has produced such result, and where there is one, there is always another.
It is a funy little character that I slip back without a photograph as there did not seem to be much point inconveniencing him much further. The pop-up has been torn so I chop it off, tie on another and flick it back out there, 20 yards to the spot. It pins against the clip a foot or so above the water and I feel it down with a nice muffled thud, perfect.
Although the day was lovely and clear, the wind has resumed where it left off yesterday, cutting me in half each time I venture out from under the tent. A couple of dropped coot takes on the middle rod have me scampering down to the front of the swim but the next bite simply does not materialise.
In the morning, with a rather ominous bank of cloud pushing in from the west we opt to get out of there. We have both really enjoyed our session and Hunts. It is definitely the sort of place that I would happily revisit with a few mates. It is well managed; convenient, accessible fishing that offers a more laid-back feel to the rest of the Linear lakes. Now we just need to make a stop at a fishing shop to get restocked on that discount fishing tackle as it certainly proved to work for me.
My day out at Windrush Valley, Part One
Part One.
I've had a long weekend coming up and a usual decided to spend this time fishing for carp. So I grabbed my friend Charley, a box load of carp fishing tackle and off we went. This time we though we would try something different to our usual lake. So after one and a half hour drive we have finally arrived at Hunts Corner.
Hunts Corner is situated at the far end of the complex alongside the Windrush Valley and is run by Richworth Linear Fisheries. Allegedly, it is stocked with well over 300 carp and at least half are estimated to be over twenty pounds in weight. So we though to ourselves, with such impressive figures we are going to have an exiting weekend out there.
The lake is hidden amongst a mature long rectangular shaped gravel pit. There are ten swims in total and all ten have been placed in such a way so to give the carp angler loads of seclusion in almost an acre of water. Each swim is exclusively set so that it cannot be cast over by neighbouring anglers.
As Charley and I were walking along the lake, looking for somewhere nice to set our tent and fishing gear, we saw an angler in the second swim, I decided to stop for a chat. His name was John and judging by his fishing gear, he is an experienced carp angler. John told us that he has managed to catch 5 good size carp in the last 2 days and a couple of smaller ones. Looking over his shoulder I can see tips of his carp rods lightly nodding in the cool breeze. And before we could even ask, John suggested that we set our tent and fishing gear behind him a he was about to leave anyway. We decided to look no further and accept Johns kind offer.
As we set our tent, John was kind enough to offer us what was left of his maggots. I thanked him and said that lately boilies are the choice of carp fishing tackle for me, but the fact that he managed to catch most of his carp on maggots alone I though I might give it a try as well.
As John folds his fishing bivvy down I push my barrow into the swim and slide one of my carp rods out from its sleeve, I have brought three with me this time. The one that is out is set up with a chod rig. The hook nicks straight into my fingernail so I think to myself it is good to go. I carefully tie on one of my carp tackle hook baits and punch it across the brisk wind. The line on my carp rod bows significantly but I can still feel a soft impact as it lands.
I propped my fishing rodson the floor and balanced a couple of stones on each of the spools to alert me to any interest as I set the rest of my fishing gear up. Then, literally five minutes after casting, the urgent buzz of the spool has me dropping everything and a quickly run to grab my fishing rod. Stones placed on the spool clearly failed to work. I got very exited and could feel the tension rising and so I started to gently play the fish in order to full it safely out of water. Judging by weight, it felt like it was going to be a good size.
Charley has arrived by now from his walk around the lake and so I quickly shouted for him to get net for me, and so he did. Some moment later there it was. A nice size carp. At is turns out 28 lb. Very impressive. So we quickly return him back to the water. No sign of movement on my other fishing rods, so time to relax.
Rumour has it, Hunts Lake has lost a few of its older 40lb plus carp and other stunning originals over the years so it is mainly the little mirrors now in the water. It is not bad, because as they grow on this good quality carp feed and other fishing tackle, they gain character and become hard-fighting. With my carp rods back out there, I decide to have a little look around the place for somewhere to move my other two rods. These days I like the lake bed to tell me which rigs to use with my rods so, initially, I am just looking for a couple of spots which just feel right. John has shown me the spot which he has been bating with the maggots, so I feel like it would be wise for me to at least try and bait there for a bit. There is a long stretch of margin between the angler in the swim to my right and me, so I think I am good to go.
I am not going to position the rig tight under the willows, instead, I will look for something a little way off. The spot that I find in probably a good 20 yards out. The marker slides over the silt before bumping up into a gravel seam. I am interested in the silt primarily, so I drop the lead a good few yards behind the bumpy stuff. I am going to give them a bit of everything of my carp fishing tackle. I have brought with me, so I have a very good feeling about this carp rod, hedging my bets if you will.
Hunts Corner is situated at the far end of the complex alongside the Windrush Valley and is run by Richworth Linear Fisheries. Allegedly, it is stocked with well over 300 carp and at least half are estimated to be over twenty pounds in weight. So we though to ourselves, with such impressive figures we are going to have an exiting weekend out there.
The lake is hidden amongst a mature long rectangular shaped gravel pit. There are ten swims in total and all ten have been placed in such a way so to give the carp angler loads of seclusion in almost an acre of water. Each swim is exclusively set so that it cannot be cast over by neighbouring anglers.
As Charley and I were walking along the lake, looking for somewhere nice to set our tent and fishing gear, we saw an angler in the second swim, I decided to stop for a chat. His name was John and judging by his fishing gear, he is an experienced carp angler. John told us that he has managed to catch 5 good size carp in the last 2 days and a couple of smaller ones. Looking over his shoulder I can see tips of his carp rods lightly nodding in the cool breeze. And before we could even ask, John suggested that we set our tent and fishing gear behind him a he was about to leave anyway. We decided to look no further and accept Johns kind offer.
As we set our tent, John was kind enough to offer us what was left of his maggots. I thanked him and said that lately boilies are the choice of carp fishing tackle for me, but the fact that he managed to catch most of his carp on maggots alone I though I might give it a try as well.
As John folds his fishing bivvy down I push my barrow into the swim and slide one of my carp rods out from its sleeve, I have brought three with me this time. The one that is out is set up with a chod rig. The hook nicks straight into my fingernail so I think to myself it is good to go. I carefully tie on one of my carp tackle hook baits and punch it across the brisk wind. The line on my carp rod bows significantly but I can still feel a soft impact as it lands.
I propped my fishing rodson the floor and balanced a couple of stones on each of the spools to alert me to any interest as I set the rest of my fishing gear up. Then, literally five minutes after casting, the urgent buzz of the spool has me dropping everything and a quickly run to grab my fishing rod. Stones placed on the spool clearly failed to work. I got very exited and could feel the tension rising and so I started to gently play the fish in order to full it safely out of water. Judging by weight, it felt like it was going to be a good size.
Charley has arrived by now from his walk around the lake and so I quickly shouted for him to get net for me, and so he did. Some moment later there it was. A nice size carp. At is turns out 28 lb. Very impressive. So we quickly return him back to the water. No sign of movement on my other fishing rods, so time to relax.
Rumour has it, Hunts Lake has lost a few of its older 40lb plus carp and other stunning originals over the years so it is mainly the little mirrors now in the water. It is not bad, because as they grow on this good quality carp feed and other fishing tackle, they gain character and become hard-fighting. With my carp rods back out there, I decide to have a little look around the place for somewhere to move my other two rods. These days I like the lake bed to tell me which rigs to use with my rods so, initially, I am just looking for a couple of spots which just feel right. John has shown me the spot which he has been bating with the maggots, so I feel like it would be wise for me to at least try and bait there for a bit. There is a long stretch of margin between the angler in the swim to my right and me, so I think I am good to go.
I am not going to position the rig tight under the willows, instead, I will look for something a little way off. The spot that I find in probably a good 20 yards out. The marker slides over the silt before bumping up into a gravel seam. I am interested in the silt primarily, so I drop the lead a good few yards behind the bumpy stuff. I am going to give them a bit of everything of my carp fishing tackle. I have brought with me, so I have a very good feeling about this carp rod, hedging my bets if you will.
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