The weather forecast was yet again brilliant for the time of year and so anticipating a large turn out, I was out of the house by 6:30. Shock number one, I had to scrap the ice off the car! Shock number two, it was -2.5 when I finally set off.
I arrived at the pond just before 7am to find no one there. I was quite surprised, then again it was quite early.
On the way down I had decided to fish peg 12 which is the peg directly opposite the gate and the last of the available pegs. I unloaded the car and made my way round to the swim. As the sun was gathering strength, mist could be seen rising off the pond.
I quickly set up and fed the swim. I made my first cast at 7:45.
I started the day alternating between maggot and castor. As normal, the usual suspects turned up first. I had 5 small roach in the first hour.
The next hour I tried sweetcorn but with little success. All I had to show for my efforts was another small roach.
By this time (9:45) the swim was showing signs of fish feeding on the bottom. So, I determined that now would be a good time to switch to corn full time. I was rewarded with 2 small carp and a little roach.
The next hour followed the pattern of the previous one, only this time it was 2 small carp and no roach.
Lunch time came so I thought, with fish activity in the swim but still no great results I would give meat a go. Bad move, I didn't get a sniff of a bite. Mind you, the oxtail soup was very nice.
Another hour, another change of tactics. This time I tried bread flake. Yes you've guessed it, two more small carp. By the way when I say small carp I mean from 0.5 to 1lb.
I stayed on the bread for another hour however I might as well not bothered as I failed to add to my total! Still it was a very nice day.
My ground bait mix contained some small halibut pellets so for the next hour to decided to try small hookers. I fed three or four pellets every cast. Although I could see fish activity in the swim I only managed to catch one small carp.
With about 90 minutes to go before I had to leave and with a fair variety of bait left I decided that as I hadn't caught consistently throughout the day on any one bait I would alternate between them all. To my surprise this seemed to work as I caught 8 carp and roach in addition to a surprise crucian!
I finished the day with a haul of 22 fish, nothing large though. The larger carp in this pond eluded me again today.
In the words of Arnie, "I'll be back".
Tackle used
| Rod | Reel | Mainline | Hook Size | Bait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12' Shakespeare Match Rod |
4lb
| 18 |
Maggots
Corn
Bread
Hooker Pellets |
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