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| Lookout Lake from peg 16 |
Back to the Angel again today and I'd headed for the island and Peg 5. The day wasn't forecast to be particularly warm but there hadn't been a frost overnight and now the early mist was burning off and this part of the lake was already in full sun, so hopefully the water temperature would climb during the day.
This Peg is usually one of the better ones in matches and has plenty of water to go at (assuming 4 and 6 aren't occupied). I had planned to fish similarly to my last trip here, pole and feeder/straight lead but on arriving at the fishery I'd been told that the pellet waggler had been very productive of late, so I had to give it a go - especially as I couldn't see me getting another opportunity to fish it for 5 months +.
This Peg is usually one of the better ones in matches and has plenty of water to go at (assuming 4 and 6 aren't occupied). I had planned to fish similarly to my last trip here, pole and feeder/straight lead but on arriving at the fishery I'd been told that the pellet waggler had been very productive of late, so I had to give it a go - especially as I couldn't see me getting another opportunity to fish it for 5 months +.
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| Bridge To Paradise ? |
I really had no idea if the carp would want to play today as we are now in Autumn and the fish are beginning to group together more. I was also told by Ann that I should stay until dusk around 6pm when the fishing improved - unfortunately I was only fishing until 3.30pm so would just have to take the fishing as it came.
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| Early morning sun on peg 5 |
I'd decided to go with a couple of options. For the waggler I'd started catapulting 4-5 8mm fishery pellets regularly as far towards the far bank reeds as I could, which was probably still a good 10 yards away from the bank in open water. A small loaded Middy 6g float was sufficient to cast this distance, landing nicely with a small 'plop'.I'd set this up with a hair rig with a latex band to a 16 hook on a 12 inch 0.15 bottom.
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| Drennan Combo |
As I continued to feed regularly as i set up my pole set up I continued to prime the line for when I started fishing as this would be my starting method. For the pole I'd changed from my original plan again. I had planned on fishing a short pole only at the base of the near shelf about 6m out. However, since my last session here the water was certainly a bit clearer. I decided to have my main pole line at a comfortable 11m putting a bit of distance between myself and the fish.
Again, as I had no idea of what might feed today I'd decided to play things carefully. I potted in a small amount of chopped worm, casters and hemp in around 4.5 feet of water. I didnt intend to fish here for a good hour, so about every 10 minutes i catapulted in a decent pouch of casters and hemp but when actually fishing planned to tighten things up a bit through a cad pot as needed. I intended to start on worm but could also fish caster if needed.
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| A couple of options ! |
I'd set up 2 rigs for this line, with there being little wind or tow Id gone for a DT Slim P. Nice and sensitive but with a decent bristle for worm and stable enough today as long as the conditions stayed calm (If this changed I would revert to a DT Open Water Tear). This was on 0.135 Matrix Power Micron to a 0.115 hooklength, pretty standard for an open water commercial swim. I'd also set up a shallow rig on a heavier line and elastic in case the fish did come up in the water.
As a back up in case the fishing was really hard I did set up a line at the base of the near shelf but at 45 degrees to my right where I would purely feed maggots. I'd chosen a more delicate setup here with a DT Pencil but despite feeding here for most of the day I never actually fished it, so wont mention it again
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| Ready To Go |
I started fishing the pellet waggler and getting into a rhythm of feeding and casting and after a couple of little dinks on the float eventually hooked one after about 10 minutes fishing. It was great to play a fish on a float rod for a change (albeit a bit more pokey than my old 13 foot match rods) and after a typically spirited fight I had a golden 4lb common in the net.
Recasting again didnt yield the non-stop action I'd hoped for, in fact I wasn't getting any indications at all. I'd started fishing about 18" deep but tried playing with the depth. Going to 3 feet deep to search through the water. I also mixed things up on the feed front. Some casts I would not feed, others one bigger pouch or 2 smaller ones. It was probably another 15 minutes after the last fish when I hooked another. This fish made for the far bank reeds but I was able to turn it before making slow progress getting the fish towards me as it kept powering off on a few runs.It was obviously a lot bigger than it's smaller brother earlier. Once I got the fish to within about 10m of the me and the waiting net it decided that the nearside reeds would be its preffered destination. I couldnt stop it from getting into the reeds and when I got it back out it dived in again with my reel giving line. I did try and stop it with a bit more force when the hooklength gave way. I was obviously a bit gutted as the fish felt very good. I know its impossible to tell but it certainly felt like a double, however I wasnt too despondent as the fish seemed to be feeding, if not actually crawling up the rods . All I had to do was catch another big 'un !
However If this was the stamp of fish out there I had to step up the tackle - I didn't want to suffer any more breaks.
The trouble was I didnt have any heavier hair rigs and my reel line was only 4.5lbs b.s. (as I've read a thicker reel line will make casting the pellet waggler any distance much harder). A quick trip to the onsite shop and I was now using the same size hair rig but to an 0.18 hooklength. I also bought some bigger pellets - primarily for the hook whilst I continued to feed the 8mms. I had another carp about 20 minutes after the last one fishing a bigger 11mm hard pellet but this had come right at the back of my feed. I was still around 15m away from the far bank but fishing as far as I could get the 8mm pellets out to.. I decided to feed the bigger pellet in smaller quantities but to make the cast put on an 8g float. This put me far closer to the far bank but in truth the presentation seemed to suffer.This float was twice the size of the Middy and seemed to land like a bag of sh!te when hitting the water, even when trying to feather it down. It may not have made any difference but I had the feeling that the fish were backing off from the bigger float but weren`t too keen to come within range of the lighter float. I wasn't getting anywhere at all now but every time I decided to come off the line I would get a bite or on one more occasion a fish, which convinced me to persevere. I'd now fished the waggler for 2 hours and had 4 fish. With only 3 hours of my fishing time left i went onto the pole probably an hour later than I should.
However If this was the stamp of fish out there I had to step up the tackle - I didn't want to suffer any more breaks.
The trouble was I didnt have any heavier hair rigs and my reel line was only 4.5lbs b.s. (as I've read a thicker reel line will make casting the pellet waggler any distance much harder). A quick trip to the onsite shop and I was now using the same size hair rig but to an 0.18 hooklength. I also bought some bigger pellets - primarily for the hook whilst I continued to feed the 8mms. I had another carp about 20 minutes after the last one fishing a bigger 11mm hard pellet but this had come right at the back of my feed. I was still around 15m away from the far bank but fishing as far as I could get the 8mm pellets out to.. I decided to feed the bigger pellet in smaller quantities but to make the cast put on an 8g float. This put me far closer to the far bank but in truth the presentation seemed to suffer.This float was twice the size of the Middy and seemed to land like a bag of sh!te when hitting the water, even when trying to feather it down. It may not have made any difference but I had the feeling that the fish were backing off from the bigger float but weren`t too keen to come within range of the lighter float. I wasn't getting anywhere at all now but every time I decided to come off the line I would get a bite or on one more occasion a fish, which convinced me to persevere. I'd now fished the waggler for 2 hours and had 4 fish. With only 3 hours of my fishing time left i went onto the pole probably an hour later than I should.
I shipped the pole out to 11m and lowered the worm hookbait in. The float had just settled when it went under and a sharp lift of the pole resulted in yards of white elastic streaming out. It was only now I realised that I'd set this rig up onto the wrong top kit. Firstly this was a 6-10 elastic but more importantly is on one of my match kits that doesnt have a puller. What did we do before pullers ? The fish wasn't particularly big but led me on a merry dance and I felt I had no control, eventually netting the fish a bit ungainly with a top 4 stuck up in the air. I rectified the top kit issue and over the next 25 minutes had a fish every drop in, always as the float was settling or resettling following a lift of 6-8 inches. Typically, stepping up the elastic meant a step down in the size of fish I was hooking
Although I did lose then land another carp, I started getting some clonking Ide. The Angel does have some really big ide in but I had 6 or 7 all over a pound and a half in this spell. The biggest at just under 2 and a half pounds easily my P.B. But then the fish seemed to switch off.
Although I did lose then land another carp, I started getting some clonking Ide. The Angel does have some really big ide in but I had 6 or 7 all over a pound and a half in this spell. The biggest at just under 2 and a half pounds easily my P.B. But then the fish seemed to switch off.
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| 2lbs 7oz Ide |
Whether my feeding wasn't quite right, whether I'd plundered the line too much or simply time of day I dont know but now I was scratching for bites and picking up the occasional perch or roach on the worm or caster hookbait.
Instead of switching to the maggot line and hopefully keeping the fish coming, I kept persevering on the long pole, hoping I could get the fish back. Combined with this the carp had now moved into my feet and were starting to scoff bait in front of my fishing position. I baited up my margin rig and lowered the worm hookbait in. Obviously the carp at 11m hadnt been able to resist this hookbait so it was bound to be the same close in ? It wasnt. The fish continued to root around and ignore the juicy worm wafting in front of them, bloody hell it looked so inviting, if I'd been in the water I'd have had a chomp of it ! (Probably).
This is where I took another wrong turn. I just couldn't resist trying to catch these fish taunting me whilst they ignored bait after bait. Ive had plenty of success fishing this close in here before why should today have been any different. I must have spent over an hour trying to catch here and whilst I did drop onto the long pole line for a while, the top kit option was obsessing me a bit. I tried bunches of maggots, big pellets and corn to no avail - although it was hemp and maggot I'd fed
I even resorted to mixing up some groundbait to get some colour in the water and try and make them feed a bit more confidently but this didn't work either. Eventually I did get a bite and hooked a carp which tore off as usual. Using the right terminal tackle for once (and the right top kit) meant I was always in control and I'd managed to land another common of around 4lbs to finish the day off.
So to finish off, I think I had a few valuable lessons today. The pellet waggler is a hugely enjoyable style of fishing but is simple to fish but perhaps takes a while to master and Ive only just started to scratch the surface. I also should have recognised it just wasn't happening today and tried something else far sooner. I look forward to fishing it some more next year.
I often spend too long 'flogging a dead horse' when I should make something happen. I realise I'm not fishing matches and the only person I'm up against is myself, but I'm still driven, even as a pleasure angler to have the best day's fishing possible.
Every carp I had today was a common, no mirrors and unusually not a single skimmer. Perhaps it was a bit too bright for bream.
Finally, I've got to try and ignore the fish close in if they're not prepared to be caught !( Ironically when I looked back at my own blog for a similar session this time last year, I found I was getting exactly the same happening and could only catch in the margins about 4m away while the fish at my feed were pretty unacatchable - obviously I need to heed my own advice)
As ever. To anyone who takes the time to read this, thank you.
Tight Lines
Robin
P.S. for once, no umbrellas were broken in bringing this session to you !
