Matrix Power Micron

About 12 months ago i realised that the line I was using to make pole rigs and hooklengths from was a total mixture of different brands and types. For a few years I'd used a product that hadn't really let me down, but there was a lot of information on the net that this line was at least 0.02mm thicker than stated. "But fish don't read labels" is a common statement.

True, but I'm still a great believer (rightly or wrongly) that the thinner the line the more natural presentation with the way the hookbait acts, so I'll always err on the side of a lighter line than a heavier one (within reason of course) If i decide that a 0.12 hooklength is right for the conditions and size of fish I'm after, then I want to be fishing with something close to that diameter and not nearly at 0.15. It may not be that vital in the grand scheme of things but it gives me more confidence in my gear if i know its as described. Added to this I also wanted to try and stick to one make of line, so i could get used to its characteristics.

I tried a variety of lines and most of them were ok but some either just seemed to kink a bit easily when tying hooks or others a were a bit stiffer than I'd expected.

I decided to try Matrix Power Micron in a couple of sizes and have never really looked back since. In my opinion the line is very supple, strong and resilient and seems to resist kinking when I tie spade end hooks in my customary brusque manner.It seems as abrasion resistant as anything else I've used and has very low memory - Its nice to take a pole rig off a winder and see the line nice and straight and not looking like a big 'Z' shape ! I now use this line from 0.08 to 0.20 diameters which covers 95% of my fishing.

In fact i cant fault it at all. I did suffer a few breakages recently but this was my fault for fishing too fine a hooklength which snapped when the elastic bottomed out by an angry carp building up a head of steam in the opposite direction.

I use the line for pole rigs and hooklengths ( pole, float and feeder). Its usually priced around  £5 for a 100m spool which is par for the course.

The product doesn't seem to have a lot of a following at the moment which i find strange. However, I've never seen it in a tackle shop and have always purchased online which could explain things a bit if its not that common.

If you're looking to try a different rig line from your usual one then i really recommend this product from Matrix...highly recommended.

http://fishmatrix.co.uk/catalogues-products.php?section=1&product=183&catalogue=7

Robin

Outgunned - Wed 8th July 2015, Peg 15 Lookout Lake, Angel Of The North

I was back at the Angel for my session today as I fancied having another crack at fishing the pellet waggler. Something that I'd only tried last year for the first time and was keen to try again. However (as ever) the weather gods had seen me coming and the high temperatures of the last 2 weeks were forecast to come crashing down to a maximum 15°C with plenty of rain and a stiff northerly breeze. On the positive side I wouldnt need suncream and there should be plenty of 'ripple' on the water 

At the fishery there was a match on Bowes Lake and  a coaching session on the 1st 15 pegs of the main bank on Lookout. That was fine with me as i fancied the island anyway. The trip across the footbridge to it being slightly unnerving, as 2 swans roosting on the bank approach took extreme offence at my approach and blocked my path, hissing and generally giving the impression that me wanting to cross THEIR bridge was seriously p!ssing them off. I rounded them carefully ensuring that this was not the time for my trolley to tip over again, depositing a Daiwa seatbox on top of an irate bird  (when I was a kid there was a famous family tale about my granda having his arm broken by a swan for trying to steal its eggs....fair enough really but id always treated them with a healthy respect. Any bird the size of a small pterodactyl fully deserves its own space in my opinion !)

On the island the low peg numbers were taken, so I followed up on my loose plan by setting up on peg 15. Right on the southern end of the island, possibly a bit sheltered from the wind but also at the 'right' end of the lake if the fish followed the wind.

Peg 15

As nice a fishery as it is I'd normally avoid this area as its probably only 50-60m from the main road and a nasty roundabout that seems to have a permanent traffic queue around it. I think I'd counted 5 emergency vehicle sirens before I even started fishing.

Road to nowhere ?

 Perhaps not the ideal peg if you want some peace and tranquility.But as the road noise became white noise I tried to plan a strategy. The peg has a load of options as per my photos. In a match you'd have to fish straight in front of you but in theory when pleasure fishing I could have also cast a feeder or waggler over to the pegs on the far bank about 25m away at 90° to my seatbox,  however somebody could easily arrive and fish here later in the day, so after a good plumb around I decided on the following in the water in front of my platform :-

With a 6g pellet waggler i could get quite close to the far bank reeds. I'd been advised to fish 10mm Angel feed pellets so I had a hair rig with a 16 hook and a band tied in a knotless knot and started pinging about 3 pellets across towards the reeds every other minute or so whilst I continued to set up.

I had planned to fish a long pole line with the '5m' line as my main focus but the wind was rattling across me from left to right. As well as this the 5m line turned out to be 6 sections which i hoped would be far enough away from the bank to do everything as the longer line was going to be hard going in the wind.  I did though set up 2 lines both left and right to give me some options. There was about 2" difference in depth so i would use 2 rigs and feed in different ways. 

The left hand line was more into the breeze so i started with 1 good pot of bait, a mixture of chopped worm and casters with some micros and groundbait (sonubaits Bloodorm and Sensas IM5 mixed 70/30) in a slop, gently squeezed into a ball. I would give this time to settle and planned to top up as needed with a kinder pot. The right hand line was easier to feed by hand more often, so although i began by cupping in a 3rd of a pot of hemp and maggot, I was going to feed every 5 mins with about 30 grubs and go from there.  I would leave the margins for a while but the carp always seem to come in tight to the bank in summer, so I new this would be a main part of my focus later.

I started on the pellet waggler,  Alternating between feeding every cast, twice per cast  or nothing. It didn't work. Either the fish weren't interested at all or with the cold start it was just too early in the day. I'd given the method a good 45 mins without any kind of touch so shelved it for now. Back to plan B.

I tried the heavier fed LH short line with hard pellet in a band but there was quite a tow on the water. I had a DT Open Water Tear on this line  which meant the rig was nice and stable but the fish didn't seem too fussed about a moving bait and i didnt fancy fishing overdepth with a banded pellet. So i abandoned the pellet and deepened the rig to have about 2" on the bottom and keep it still. I started alternating between a worm head and double caster as I'd been firing in a combo of casters and 4mm pellets about every 5 minutes. At least i was now getting bites and fish; nothing big but some roach and skimmers started liking the bait. I decided to refeed with a MAP pot of chopped worm and leave the line for 10 minutes while i tried my RH maggot line. I'd opted for a DT Pencil for this line as the wind and tow was much decreased in this swim. With a strung out bulk over the bottom half of the rig to search through the water column.(I also had a top kit with a shallow rig on to go over both swims but this didnt really produce anything when i tried it), however most bites came after the rig had fully settled.

The fishing was definitely getting better and apart from some tiny perch, i was getting more roach with some better skimmers and a few spirited crucians but no carp. In fact it was now mid afternoon and I'd just started to notice fish moving and crashing about, something that had been totally absent so far today.  The temperature had lifted a few degrees and the sun had come out for a bit waking the fish up.

In spite of not fishing the pellet waggler I'd continued to feed regularly and with the wind dropping i decided to feed my margin lines and have some time on the waggler. Almost straight away I started  getting  indications before hooking an ide of about 1.5lbs. I could get plenty of bites but was only hitting a small percentage, so tried  shallowing up but the bites stopped. Fishing 2-3 feet deep seemed to be the best. I'd had another ide of around 2lbs but just had the feeling that the bait wasn't quite right. Ann in the fishery tackle shop had recommended fishing 10mm hard pellets on the pellet waggler but as there were no carp showing i couldnt help wonder if a 8mm or even 6mm would have been better on the day (unfortunately i didnt have any of these 2 try on this occasion). But the method of fishing the pellet waggler was really enjoyable. Feed, cast, strike or twitch the rig and feed again. Its an ultra positive and active way of fishing that would be brilliant on the right day.

By now I had hungry carp tails up in my swim. I'd fed groundbait and hemp in front of my platform and on my RH margin cupped in less groundbait but a pot of dead maggots. For both lines i was fishing a DT Margin Diamond on 0.165 mainline to 0.135 hooklength and a Maver CS23 size 14. I started on the right hand swim with 6 maggots on the hook.  The float settled and bobbed before burying. My strike was met by me netting a shocked looking 4oz roach, quickly followed by its twin....obviously these fish were not aware that they were supposed to be chubby carp !

I fed another 1/3 pot of maggots and went to the other margin line. In previous summers I'd caught well on paste so tried this again. I had fed 4 pots of groundbait earlier with the hemp so used a blob of groundbait on the hook. As usual the float danced around in front of me for a few minutes before burying. This time i lifted into a fish which took off towards the far bank,  a few seconds later the hook pulled. Despite how little i fish I'm still fairly used to losing fish here when fishing on a top kit, so undaunted, baited up and went out again. This time when i hooked another fish i felt better prepared but this time after a more determined fight the line went slack and i brought the rig back with a large scale attached to the hook ! Id hoped by fishing paste and not having the point visible that I'd be able to reduce foul hooking. I was getting a bit frustrated and this got worse as the next fish i hooked smashed the hooklength when the elastic bottomed out. I'd waited all day for the bigger fish to show up and now I'd lost 3 in a row. I refed the swim with more groundbait which brought the carp back in front of me within a minute. I decided to give them a few minutes to settle and went back to my RH line with maggots. This time a quick battle led to a lovely tench of about 1lb in the net.

I always tend to bring a small tin of corn with me on any commercials and fancied giving this a go as a hookbait. Corn is banned (along with meat) as a feed at The Angel but its just so visible. I put 2 grains on the hook and this time a thumping bite was followed up by a good 7 minute fight as i treated this fish with real kid gloves. At long last I had my carp and at about 7lbs was a welcome sight. 

Common Courtesy ?

I now was in a bit of a dilemma. I had planned to fish until 4pm, it was now 3.50pm and the fish were feeding in both my margin swims. Time to re-evaluate my finish time i think !  I started to slowly pick off more carp, not quite to the size of my last fish but between 2 and 6 lbs.

Tanned Leather (sorry !)

I swapped between paste and double corn and whilst bites were not instant it was fun. Until I got broken again. Stupidly the rig I was using was the heaviest i had and id ordered some heavier elastic too which hadn't arrived in time for me to use. I caught another 8 carp or so before i packed up but did get broken a third time. 

Not the best angling in the world because i just wasn't prepared correctly.

So packing up I'd had an enjoyable day really. I'd caught some really nice fish and the carp ahowing towards the end had made it. I know that a lot of people turn their noses up at carp for some reason but i love them and like something that gives the tackle and elastic a work out. The valuable lesson learned though was to have heavier rigs/hooklengths available. The fish that snapped me may well have all been foul hooked but i think i didn't give myself the best option of getting them out today. I will be back with a bit more fire power next time. If the carp are showing it'll be interesting to see who wins !

Also seeing the queues of traffic going to and from work and the emergency sirens sounding regularly during the day,  reminded me why this sport is a distraction from the stress and pace of our working lives. 

Thanks for reading. Tight Lines.

Robin

Round And Round The Garden - Lookout Lake, Angel Of The North, 13th May 2015

A midweek day off and a chance to give some new pole rigs a dip. I'd decided to stay local and go to The Angel for the first time this year. I quite fancied a go at Bowes Lake but with the open match on I headed back to Lookout.

Water Craft ? Life jacket preferable

I picked peg 22 in the lee of the island. The water here was a bit more sheltered than the rest of the lake and I had at least 2 spare pegs either side for some room. The far bank to the island was about 35m away and my peg had a cutback section between reed beds that looked carpy  !

Lookout Peg 22

Plumbing around the swim gave me a nice even depth around 5.5 ft past the near shelf. There wasn't a traditional margin as the reeds meant fishing at 45° from me and it was quite deep at around 3ft but id leave that for later in the day.

As usual I tried to cover as many options as possible. I would have a line straight in front of me on 5m. This was fed with around  50 maggots and the same quantity of hemp.I would feed here by hand every 5 mins or so. I then had 2 lines at 13m at 10 and 2 o'clock angles. I fed one quite positively with a big pot of groundbait with some 4mm fishery pellets. The other side was fed a bit more negatively with chopped worm and caster. As the depth was virtually the same in my different swims I could fish the same rigs on each line but I still gave myself a few choices. The water temperature had dropped over the previous few days so I wanted to cover all bases. I had set up a DT Pencil - primarily for the shorter line but if the water didnt tow too much I could use it longer. For the 13m line I had probably my favourite most versatile pattern; a DT Open Water Tear with a bulk and 2 droppers for fishing near/on the deck with a bit of stability and lastly for the open water lines another DT Floats pattern, this time the Slim P with strung out shotting for searching through the water column. 

Pole Floats Left To Right :All from DT-Floats -  Pencil, Slim P;Open Water Tear; Margin Diamonds

With all lead rigs having to be free running and a minimum hooklength length of 12", that rules the method/pellet feeder out. I could fish the straight lead and feed 4-5 6mm pellets over the top by catapult. Id clipped up about 18" off the island and planned to fire bait in every few minutes for at least an hour before fishing, to let the fish settle.

Despite being cool first thing the sun was out and it was turning into  a lovely spring day and I really fancied the lead line for some fish as it warmed up. I started on the groundbait 13mm line and after about 10 minutes had my first fish, a 4oz skimmer on double maggot, (I did try banded pellet here but it didnt really work). The bites weren't prolific but were all coming after the bait had fully settled on the bottom. After another 3 fish I fed some more pellets through a kinder pot (well MAP but you get the idea).

I moved to the chopped worm swim and had some nice ide up to 1lb on a worm head. Again the action was sporadic but enjoyable and after an hour I'd had 12 nice 'silvers.'

The short maggot line gave me a few roach and a small ide but by now I was itching to fish across. I put an 8mm bloodworm pellet in a band and hit the line clip. 10 mins later and I hadnt had a touch or any liners so fired across about 10 pellets and went again.  

This is where the wheels came off ! I hit the line clip but a few feet to the left into reeds. The only option was to pull for a break, losing the entire rig in the process ( Island 1, Robin 0). Never mind, re-rig, rebait and re-cast. This time I was far too cautious and dropped way short.  So another cast, another excursion in the bushes and a lost hooklength (Island 2, Robin 0). Combined with this the line on the reel was now under the spool and in the gears. I'd never got on with this reel line and had wanted to change it. Now I was experiencing tangles like I hadn't had for 30 years of fishing ! The frustration and language levels were through the roof. To add insult to injury the wind had sprung up out of nowhere from the north and from a warm spring day getting a slight tan was now turning into a really cold one.

The real issue though was the strength of the wind. I now couldn't hit the island with catapulted pellets and the 13m lines were pretty much unfishable as I didnt want my pole back in pieces. I'd now started to lose my head a bit and easily lost an hour fishing time. I needed to stop and take stock, I'd been cupping in groundbait and hemp every 30 minutes from midday into my margin, about 6 sections out on top of the shelf. I decided to add a big cup of chopped worm and maggots and go for a walk.

 Bank Walkers

Bowes Lake sits downhill from Lookout and the open was well underway here. Watching for 15 mins the fishing seemed very slow here too. A few guys were catching carp but generally most were saying it was dire. The way around my feeding issue on the lead was shown by one of my mates fishing the match,  using a PVA bag of pellets meant getting bait accurately near your hookbait, but that wasnt something I had the option to try. Plus I'd decided that today wasn't the day to persevere with the feeder rod ! I need some new line and plenty of casting practice in case I started catching mammals.

Going onto the margin swim with a 0.2G DT Margin Diamond and a whole worm caught me my first tench of the year.Only about 14 oz but is there a more stunning looking coarse fish  ? Eventually a carp took the worm bait. It plodded about a bit before trying to dive into the reeds.To try and stop it I used the puller and gave it too much stick and the hooklength snapped. It probably wasn't bigger than 5lbs but it would have been a nice fish to net. 

That was it on the carp front for the day. I continued fishing the margin line and tried a variety of baits but worm was the best.  I managed a few more chunky ide and skimmers to 2lbs along with a load of small roach, before my last fish of the day, a golden flanked crucian carp of about 1lbs.

So a steep learning curve again. A day of extreme frustration at times, but when I did have a bait in the water, I caught some beautiful and healthy fish.( Its funny how fishing has changed since I started over 30 years ago. C.25lbs of 'silvers' and its a hard day ! )

Onwards and upwards then.  With a bit of luck my next blog will come around a lot sooner this time and im going to give a different venue a go for some variety.

Until then, tight lines

Robin

P.S. No squirrels were harmed in the making of this blog ☺

Four Seasons In One Day - 31st March 2015 - The Oaks Sessay, Cedar Lake

First I feel the need to apologise in advance to anyone who's read any of my blogs. After re-reading previous entries i noticed just how much I mention the weather not being what I wanted/expected. Ive unwittingly picked up the British trait of  finding it too hot, too cold, too wet etc.  In the UK our weather is what it is and we all have to accept it and adapt. This blog was meant to be about fishing, not about meteorological observations. However in saying that today the weather really was the show stopper !

I'd earmarked today as my best chance to get back on the bank for another few weeks at least but the weather  Over the previous few days the weather forecast had warned of very strong winds (30mph+) with gusts of over 50mph but I was hopeful that with a bit of thought I'd be able to find somewhere sheltered for the day. After all as the saying goes "There's no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing" (although I'd be amazed if it was a coarse angler who coined the phrase !) I decided to head back to the Oaks at Sessay in North Yorkshire as a lot of the lakes are ringed by trees and vegetation offering some cover (theoretically !)

The day didn't start well with traffic jams caused by blown over HGVs and me realising I'd left all my reels at home. This pretty much guaranteed I'd be heading for one of the snake lakes at the complex as it would be pole only today. To be honest this was where I'd fancied anyway, as I hoped the F1s would feed despite the temperature dropping again from the weekend. I drove round the 3 snake lakes looking at potential spots and only saw 3 other hardy (crazy ?) Souls fishing. The trees didnt offer as much respite from the wind as I'd expected but peg 36 on Cedar was the calmest I could find, so although the conifers behind me were buffeted and dancing in the wind, the peg in front was virtually untouched.

Cedar Peg 36 - North West of complex

The Eye Of The Storm ?

I'd expected pellets or maggots to be the best options so my bait tray was relatively uncluttered (by my standards !)   on arrival I'd wetted some fishery feed pellets in both micros and 4mm, 2 pints of red/white maggots, some corn for bigger carp/F1s and a little groundbait (Sonubaits F1/Sensas Lake)

I set up my tackle and plumbed up around the peg. The far bank was just about 13m straight out, so I could fish 2 lines at 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock at bang on 13m with the same depth each side, on a nice flat area down the far bank slope. As the gradient was quiet shallow I had the options of starting at 3' deep but my adding or removing a section I could search the different depths if required. I  planned to fish one line negatively with a few micros and a banded 4mm over the top, whilst the other long swim would get 4mm feed pellets with an expander on the hook. I'd fed another line with some corn and a little groundbait down the track in 5 feet of water about 8m out but at the same 13m distance from my position, to try and leave for a few hours to offer a safe area for the (bigger) fish to back off into. However as things transpired i didn't fish this line at all. Lastly I would throw a few maggots in by hand  every few minutes down the base of the near shelf at 3-4m  with the intention of not fishing for at least an hour to build up the fish's confidence and really just catch anything with fins.

After the late start it was nearly midday when I started actually fishing an almost inevitably the wind had changed direction. One minute it was directly behond me coming through the gap in the trees, then it would veer and come across and seemed to generally swirl around.  Even with a longer line and backshot the presentation on the long lines was awful. After persevering for far too long with only a small skimmer to show I had to admit defeat and abandon fishing past 5m otherwise my pride and joy pole would soon come in far more than its official 9 sections ! A brief hailstorm and rain didn't brighten my mood and I had really decided to quit but then I dropped on the short line for the first time and had a small roach. The sun came out and I could actually feel the warmth on my face. I started catching small roach and after gradually increasing the feed had a good F1. It wasnt fast or furious but I was getting bites. As id fed over a larger area I could try different depths as I'd intended on the far side. Most of the skimmers came directly at the base of the shelf but I had a few F1s right on top of the near shelf in about 2.5 feet of water but perhaps unsurprisingly they didn't settle.I got a bit ahead of myself and fed a small golf ball of groundbait but this seemed to put the fish right off. When they did come back after a bit more careful loose feeding it was skimmers and the biggest probably went a pound before I had a few more F1s every now and then. I could have tried a few things to make something happen such as a longer margin line but by now the heavens opened again, except this time it turned into a full-on blizzard of wet snow. There was no way a brolly could survive this wind so I just had to grit my teeth and bear it. I'll admit at one point when i could no longer feel my fingers,  I retreated to the car for 15 mins to defrost before fishing again.

The next rain storm made me decide that descretion was the better part of valour and after all this was a pleasure session not a match. I'd only fished for 2.5 hours but had had 4 F1s up to 2.5lbs , 20+ roach and a few good Skimmers, all from a top kit + 1 or 2 length. I decided to call it quits before I broke anything and had a blustery return up the A19.

So i managed some really nice fish and whilst I could have caught a lot more,  I felt quite satisfied with what I did have in the time I actually had a float in the water.

My final word about the weather.....I  wonder if people in other countries where the weather is warm all year round get bored ? Maybe they should experience some British Springtime !

Tight lines

Robin

Every Cloud Has A Silver(s) Lining - The Oaks, Oaks Lake - Feb 14th 2015

After a multitude of reasons conspiring to keep me off the bank I was at last able to make my first outing of the year. 

The ice that had affected a lot of northern lakes had melted and the mercury above freezing and a day at The Oaks in North Yorkshire was my choice.

Id planned to fish for a bit of everything and anything on one of the 3 snake lakes on site, probably F1s (if they would play ball) but also skimmers and possibly Ide. However on arrival at the tackle shop I was informed these lakes had been rock hard, with good weights possible if you hit lucky and were on fish. If not there was real chances of a blank. The recommended method was to dob bread around the swim without feeding - a method that wouldnt rank highly on my list of preferred methods.  I consider myself to be an active angler and really like to make something happen.  The other alternative was fishing for roach on Willows (the specimen lake). I'd always prefer to fish with bites so decided to go for the roach and leave carp and F1s for another time.

Willows lake is a few acres and has a few small islands centrally. There were about 3 carp boys bivvied up on the left side of the lake and one on my immediate left fishing 2 rods. He wasnt in a bivvy but was actually parked behind his rods sitting in his car (!).

My peg was at the rhs of an island about 30m away but the pole was my only choice out of the holdall. As I tend to fish "standard" commercials most of my pole rigs are for 4-6' deep, so I was surprised to see 7-8' at from the bottom of the near shelf in front of me; perhaps not a bad thing at this time of year. The bottom was relatively flat and the lake still had a good bit of colour so along with a bit of advice from the shop I picked 3 options.

At 6 sections to my left I would feed pinkies in case the fish would settle close in. This was just about as far as I could get to throwing by hand but was fortunate that the wind was pretty much none existent. My expected main line was straight out at 11m. Here I fed  2 tangerine-sized balls of Sensas Lake Black with a few micros and maggots. At 45° to the right on the same length of pole I cupped in some finely chopped worm and caster with the intention of leaving this for a few hours before looking for some bonus roach or perch, then threw in about 10 pinkies to the short pole line every 5 mins. I also toyed with the thought of a feeder next to the island. However if this was to be a roach day I'd much prefer to catch on a float rather than the tip so didnt even rig this up.

Rig wise I was a bit undergunned for the depth.  However the lack of wind and tow meant the .30/.40G Floats I used were fine for and stability wasn't a problem. I'm a great believer in fining down so had my 2 main rigs on .105 mainline to .08/.09 hooklengths with ES43 hooks.  I had an DT Winter Wire for the pinkie swim for extra sensitivity and a DT Pencil dotted down on the 11m swim. For the worm swim I opted for a DT Tear so I had the option of laying some line on the deck if I wanted and could read the bristle a bit more.

DT Winter Wire

I started with double pinkies short and had a few roach of about 1oz but quite slow. After 30 mins I went over the long line and had a few more slightly bigger fish on maggot before that line went quiet 2. By swapping  lines I could catch a few but the bites were very slight dips on the float. It was a nice change catching these lovely fish on light elastics and every now and then I'd pick up a slightly better dumpy roach but despite playing with the shotting pattern and trying shallower rigs, every bite came with the rig set at full depth and after at least 20 seconds after settling. Every now and then I'd have a quiet spell of 10-20 mins, on the first occasion I gambled by refeeding a golf ball size of groundbait but this didnt seem to bring the fish back until they were ready, as the pinkie swim had gone quiet as well.

I did try the chopped worm line varying between small pieces of worm and caster but it was very sporadic - although id did lead to my 2 biggest roach about 6oz each. 

Trying a larger piece of worm didnt get a touch and apart from 2 micro perch it just didn't work today for the bigger stripeys.

By now the carp boys had gone and after a longer quiet spell the fish seemed to switch on. It was never hectic but I made the most of the time coming back with a fish most drops. It seemed best to feed every 5 mins with about a dozen maggots by catapult, then using a kinder pot dropping half this amount again directly onto the float.

One thing about The Oaks is the resident bird life have the anglers' sussed out and after feeding my namesake (a Robin) for some time, a Wren joined me for about 1.5 hours and must have scoffed its own body weight in maggots and pinkies ! If I stopped feeding it for long it would jump around between my net bag and holdall until it caught my attention. ...very cheeky.

I finished the session with about 7-8lbs of roach, with the 2  6oz fish the biggest. All pristine fish that were fun to catch using the appropriate tackle and light elastics. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day fishing for and catching something totally different from what I'd intended when I left home. 

The new DT Floats were superb, particularly the Winter Wires which were the right tool for the day.

It was good to finally give these floats a practical test and they were as good as I'd hoped for. I will review them further in detail after a few more sessions. 

DT Tears & Pencils

I also found my Maver Enigma "Carp" pole also excellent for lifting into roach bites so IMO the carp moniker does it a disservice,  possibly why its been left off the 2015 Enigmas.

To anyone who's taken time to read my ramblings, thank you. Hopefully we can meet on the bank someday.

Tight Lines

Robin

DT Floats

www.dt-floats.co.uk

Over the last year I've started looking at handmade pole floats, both for the quality they offer over a lot of mass-produced floats and being able to get exactly 'the' float I wanted. Also they are stronger and built to last - not fall apart after 1 or 2 sessions.

I was put onto Dean Townshend's handmade floats by a friend and far better angler than I would ever be (although I wont tell him that !). Since then i've been in touch with Dean and found him to be very friendly, helpful and honest.

I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when Dean said he wanted to sponsor me, as I am far from the profile of the type of angler I would have expected to attract any sponsorship.

So what I've said is I'm happy to take up his offer. I am an honest person in my view, so I will continue to review Dean's products as I would any other. I cant say something is brilliant if its not - whether anyone believes me is their call.

I'm already expecting some winter wire type floats to use on my next session and look forward to trying other patterns as the seasons develop.

One of the other things I like about Dean's floats against others is the customization you can go for; from the colour, diameter and material of the tips, to the colour of the bodies and even personalizing the float with your nickname if you want (I'll look forward to seeing my 'Big Boy' going under thats for sure ! - thats a joke )

The other thing is with some other floats I was having to wait 6 weeks for delivery. Now thats not the supplier`s fault and if you're organized great. But I'm not - so when I realize I want or need a particular float by the time it arrives its a different season. Not a big issue but worth considering. Dean's float making time is within a few weeks and arrangements can be made to be quicker if needed. Price wise they are aslo on par with commercially available floats and extremely competitive compared to other hand mades.

On the website are the majority of Dean's patterns although I know he is adding new lines all the time.

Thanks for reading.

Dean Townshend's website and store is here :    www.dt-floats.co.uk

Autumn Edge

Since my fishing session Summer had made way for Autumn. Days were still occasionally warm but the temperature at night was dropping ever lower, a time for social media to be full of the question 'have you put your heating on yet ?' and for an occasional angler to plan his best course of attack for his next trip.

I'd agonised long and hard about venues but somewhat predicably decided to stick to somewhere I know. So Sat morning saw me back at the Angel in Tyne & Wear.

A

A chat to Ann,  the owner found the venue had been fishing well but the fish were beginning to shoal a bit and the water temperature had dropped over the last few days.

In my mind Lookout Lake is the better option on site as there are a  greater mix of species. If the carp didnt want to feed I felt I had better prospects here than the other lake. I walked the banks looking for signs of fish to find an appropriate peg but it seemed quiet, so I headed to the island and an old favourite - peg 1. This peg usually gives you a few options to go at. Plenty of water and far bank reeds that you can cast along freely, especially if the opposite peg (16AA) is free.

I'd planned to start on a feeder letting my pole lines settle.  And with the morning cool but bright it was clear the far bank would be getting the benefit of the early sun. Just right for a feeder to go over to. It seemed like a plan !

I opted to start on a pellet feeder with some dampened 2mm feed pellets. On the hook I was going for a big 10mm Marukyu pellet but had plenty of other options if needed.it was around 35-40 yards to the reeds and I'll admit my accuracy was woeful but I needed the practice.i cast out 4 feeder loads clipped up without a hook before setting up to fish  The feeder was free running with a .14 hooklength and size 16 Maver MT6.

My main intended pole  swim would be just past the base of the near shelf in about 4.5 feet of water on a  nice flat bottom at 6 sections.I really wanted to feel my way into the session after probably feeding too positively last time here.   I would initially feed 1/3 of a medium pot of pellets and maggots and every 5 mins I'd ping maggots over the top, hoping to build the swim up before fishing. I was starting on a Nick Gilbert Gimp .3G on Matrix Power Micron .125 to .105 hooklength and a 18 B911 F1 hook.

I also chose a line at 11m in case the fish didnt want to be that close, in about 5 feet and potted in a satsuma sized ball of groundbait then 1/3 pot of micros, chopped worm and casters. As with the short line I'd be cattying in casters regularly,  reverting to a kinder pot when actually fishing. The rig for here was very similar but with a 16 hook for bigger baits and an XT Gimp with a slightly thicker bristle.

Starting on the pellet feeder with a 10mm Marukyu pellet on the hook,  it didnt take long to get a few liners before a 6 oz skimmer took the bait. I then struck into a nice bream/skimmer of just under 2lbs before catching my first carp of the day, a feisty 3lb mirror. The day had started to warm up and I was enjoying the fishing, but this is where I started to get off track.

I'd set up a .2G NG XT Diamond on .165 Aspire to .145 Power Micron to fish the margins - but hadnt contemplated even feeding a line yet. However carp had moved into the the margin at my feet to scoff any dropped bait.

The water here is only 10" deep but still with a good colour and the fish were far from spooky but I couldnt catch them !

I tried the margin float with a succession of hookbaits; pellets, bunches of maggots, corn and paste. Nothing was touched. At one point my worm hookbait hit a fish on its 'nose' but it just watched non plussed as the  worm dropped towards the lake bed. Yet they were obviously eating feed. I tried adding some various particles without a single bite.

I tried no shot down the line for the most natural drop i could mimic,  to a bulk 3" off the hook. After an hour of this id managed 2 micro perch that must have bolted inbetween the carp to take my hookbait.

In the end I had to ignore the tails waving in my face and fish elsewhere for a while. Obviously the fish were happy to come in close, so I fed a big pot of groundbait and maggots 5m to my left on top of the marginal shelf. I had a good 18" here, so hopefully id start to catch. I left the swim for 30 mins to settle whilst I went out to 11m for the first time.

With the water being flat calm I could dot the float down and had moved to feeding through a pot (the new soft pots from MAP which I found excellent btw) to concentrate the fish.  I started catching some nice skimmers up to 2lbs and by alternating with the short line, was slowly adding to the catch. 

I was itching to try the margin and some knocking reeds and bubbles meant I couldn't put off any longer. I decided to try a bunch of maggots and was rewarded with a common of around 4lbs before I enjoyed catching 4 perch in 4 put-ins; the smallest 3/4 of a pound to the biggest  of 1 3/4lbs. Beautiful fish that still put up a really good scrap on Drennan 14-16 Bungee. It must be over 20 years since I had a perch as big and I was surprised they were feeding over groundbait so readily.

To nurse the swim id dropped some loose groundbait at my feed and this time the worm was taken. I lifted into a surprised mirror carp that seemed stunned for a few seconds before tearing off. After a few minutes I netted my biggest fish of the day at just over 5lbs.

Over the last hour the pattern continued with me catching from both lines. I added more carp, skimmers,  ide, small perch, a dumpy crucian and an orfe (?)

Any Clues as to what this is ? 

                                                             

                                                        

Before having to pack up with the fish continuing to feed after about 5 hours fishing

With over 60-70 lbs of fish I was a very happy bunny. The struggle to catch the fish under my nose had been resolved, even though I'll never know if this was down to groundbait or purely time of day.

I'd also had 3 types of carp, and 5 species of 'silvers' a great way to welcome autumn and rekindle my enthusiasm.  Great fishing for me.

Thanks again for reading.

Tight lines

Robin
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Fisherman`s Blues - Friday 5th September 2014 - Angel Of The North Lakes, Lookout Lake

After a long 6 weeks without fishing, I was going to get back onto the bank again. Due to illness in the family I would have to be home early so somewhere close to home was the order of business.

I decided to go back to the Angel and enjoy being out in the late summer weather but was greeted by a real 'pea-souper' fog on arrival at the fishery.

The day was cool but there wasn't a breath of wind on the lake - a total reversal of my last trip here ! It was forecast to get up into the low 20's when/if the fog lifted.

As I was the first angler on the lake I could choose where I wanted to fish. Initially I would have liked to be on the island on the far side but some of the fishery lads were going to spend the day cutting the vegetation back which I thought would scatter the fish away from it, so I headed to the nearside main bank and peg 32.

I had a longish chuck to the island if things settled down over there later in the day, but had been advised to fish close in and this area had some form for crucians which I hadn't caught since last summer.

I decided to fish 2 lines, the 1st one at the bottom of the near shelf on a top 2 + 1 section in around 4 feet of water. The 2nd one at the bottom of the next shelf about a foot deeper but on 6 sections at 45° to my box.

I had been told the fish were hungry and to feed heavily and this was where I think I made my first mistake. Usually I'll try and have one more 'negatively' fed line but this time I was a bit gung-ho.

I still wasnt sure if the carp would feed today so I decided to go for a particle attack on the near swim. I fed 2 big pots with a combo of hemp, micro pellets and dead maggots - I tried to spread the bait over a wider area than usual so some would land up the slope. This was to give me a chance to hopefully find the fish if they wanted to come shallower. 

On the longer swim I again went for it ! 2 pots of groundbait with some chopped worm and a few dead maggots and pellets added.

I would also look at the margin on my right but not feed this for a few hours or sooner if I saw fish moving about.

I started on the 6m line with a banded pellet  fishing dead depth, but didnt get an indication for 15 mins or so. My plan was to try and fish this line out before refeeding but kinder potting on the close in line.

By now the fog had lifted and it was suddenly hot, bright and windless. I had a small skimmer from the groundbait line but it was very slow. I tried the close in particle line and this was much the same, occasional bites leading to small skimmers or roach. I tried mixing the hookbaits and as time passed I had some better skimmers up to 1.5lbs and a nice crucian with either worm or a banded fluro dumbbell pellet seeming the best.

As usual on this lake carp would come right at my feet to vacuum up any dropped bait but they were very spooky and would bow-wave out of the swim very easily. Although the water is very coloured I suspect it was a bit clearer than my last visit here which could account for their actions.By now  things were getting slower if anything and the sun was now burning hot. This was reflected by carp swimming about in the top layers of the water. I tried a spot of mugging and had a nice common of about 3lbs before getting snapped off a few minutes later.

Normally id try to make something happen - like start a new line on the pole further out or fish lead/feeder to the island  but with only 2 hours left and feeling very despondent with the way the day had gone,  I just continued to plod away. I'd eventually managed to get fishing and it was rock hard.

This would be my last session before the weather was fully autumnal probably and I couldnt get away from the feeling id destroyed my peg - rather than the fish switching off.

A slight breeze had sprung up putting a bit of a ripple on the water but this didnt seem to improve the fishing. It was now time to look at the margins. 1.5 hrs ago id cupped in 4 pots of loose groundbait and some dead maggots. Then an hour later another pot which id left for 30 mins. The margin here was around 2 feet deep and when I lowered the rig in I had an immediate bite, from an 1 oz roach which in truth hadn't been my intended quarry !

I continued to rotate swims picking up a few fish including some more crucians. I felt more aggrieved that I was wasting my time - although my 'bad day' was put into context by the guy who managed to tip his lorry onto it's side on the roundabout,  just visible from my position about 200 yds away. A fleet of police cars, fire engines and an ambulance arrived very quickly. Hopefully nobody was badly hurt. 

Back to the fishing and I realised the wind had got up and now was straight in my face. As if by magic the margin was peppered with carp slurping off the surface. They still weren't really on my bait but I found in the last 45 mins that by pushing all the shot to the float base I could catch them. The best way seemed a regular feeding of particles whilst I fished a corn skin on the drop. This led to another 4 carp to 5lbs and one that snagged me in the reeds on my last cast ( also destroying one of my favourite Nick Gilbert floats in the process !).

I packed up just after 3pm with the carp typically now continuing to feed. On the walk back to the car a few more anglers had arrived and there seemed to be a few carp coming out.

I left seriously pondering if I should continue fishing anymore. I dont need or expect to catch a100lbs of fish every trip. But as I get out so infrequently I put pressure on myself to do the day justice and im sure I didnt do that. I'd love to be the type of angler who just enjoys being on the bank, but that's not me. I think I have to force myself to simplify my approach. Im sure that if I'd kinder fed maggots or pellets on one line with a feeder back up or straight lead that I could have felt my way into the session and built the peg up gradually. The only option is to get out again and actually put this into practice. I'm also wanting to get out on the bank with some good match anglers I know.  I know I'll pick up loads of tips and advice if I can manage it.

On a more positive note I had converted 2 of my puller kits to the Maver Easy Flow puller bung and they seem to operate even more smoothly than the standard slot version. More time will tell.,

Thanks for reading

Tight Lines

Robin


P.S. After reading other forums it seems other anglers struggled this weekend in some parts of the country. Perhaps the fish are not knowing quite how to react with the changeable weather although I still feel I ruined the peg with feeding too heavily. I`ll learn from this though hopefully and not put all my eggs in one basket.

Anyone have any views and comments either about my blog or my fishing experience please share. I`d like to hear your opinions.

Thanks Again.

Robin