Welcome to my blog for 2009.

As with the other lads, this will be a review of my whole year. I will then keep you all up to date with monthly reports in 2010. Working for Sticky Baits for the last 15 months has certainly changed my style of fishing, not due to bait or tactics, but I now find myself going from 48 hour sessions to only having the time for overnighters and the odd longer session here and there. I was fortunate enough to get a ticket on Willow’s syndicate this year, but with that not starting until May I had a little time to fill beforehand. The long journey to work everyday was taking it’s toll by March, so come early April I had the bright idea to fish after work a few nights a week to save petrol and driving time. My first port of call was a little lake in the village near work, nothing massive in there, but it had a few 20’s so was worth a try. My first night on the lake I felt quite confident of a take, I had seen a couple of fish and even had one roll over the kg of bloodworm boilies I had pulted out. A quiet night passed and just as I was packing away, around 7am, I had my first take from the new venue. Quickly lifting into the fish, I had to apply a fair bit of pressure to turn it away from the far margin trees, but once that task was successful the rest of the fight was pretty uneventful and it was soon in the net.  A nice looking fish and at 24lb I was happy with the result. It was about 2 days later that I actually found out this was the biggest known fish in the lake, not bad for my first night’s fishing!

Until May my time was spent on this lake and also the odd night on the runs water over the road, I was catching consistently and although not massive fish, it was good fun getting a few fish under my belt early on in the year. I also had a nice surprise from the runs water, catching a low 20 common which turned out to be the second biggest in there. Although slightly down in weight from it’s capture the year before, it was another of the bigger residents of the lake falling for the bloodworm boilies. This seemed to be a pattern which continued throughout the year, not just for me, but for many users of our baits. My ticket had arrived for the 1st May and then the second pattern of the year emerged, car trouble!! If it wasn’t for a couple of friends I probably wouldn’t have got into work let alone go fishing. I still had to stay local though and my start on the Willows was delayed for a week or two whilst I got the motor sorted out. Willows, I knew wasn’t an easy lake, but the fish were in there and when in the right mood they liked a good munch. The only problem I saw was a lot of captures seemed to happen in the daytime and I was only fishing nights. I decided to try and do things completely differently from normal spots and tactics I already knew worked, the lake is shallow and very weedy. I did manage a fish on only my second night, all 11lb of it but it was me off the mark on a new water. A few blank nights after that had me wondering, was the half hour journey there and half hour journey back to work really worth it for 12 hours fishing. Of course it was, I was fishing after all and I decided that however hard work it was I was going to stay the year on here. I don’t know why but the place had a hold on me from the off.

It was only my second week on there when I got into the slightly bigger fish. Another overnighter found me on the furthest peg from the car park, I had seen fish there so it had to be done. Around 2am I was into a fish that was tearing line off the spool, I knew it was a half decent fish as these were powerful runs and not a smaller one darting about. Around 10 minutes or so passed and I was soon in the water netting my first 20 from the venue. On the scales it went 26lb on the nose, certainly looked bigger, but 26lb it was and I was happy with the result. Unfortunately another pattern appeared this year, either forgetting my camera or it breaking on me. I managed a picture on my phone and sat on the bedchair wishing I had brought my waders on the long walk, dripping wet through and fishing a small whole in the weed I decided to leave the rod out of the water and just bait up. Just as light came I decided to get the rod back out for the 2 hours left before work, it took all of about 30 seconds before I was in again, the tip just whacked round before I had even put the bobbin on. A bit of an easier fight this time but another 20 was in my net, this time weighing 22lb and leaving me soaking wet after wading in to net it again (very shallow margins so it’s a must when you land one). Another few blanks after that and I thought I would try a different tactic. I decided plenty of bait was needed and it had to be done regularly. The following 2 weeks I spent 5 or 6 overnighter’s in the same area of the lake, not particularly catching many, just a small one to show for my efforts, but what I was doing was creating some spots. I knew they had been in there feeding as the spots were cleaning up nicely, but I wasn’t catching them, so instead of baiting up when I first got there I just cast the rods to the spots then baited up for an hour before leaving for work. This certainly paid off, over a 3 week period I took another few 20’s and a lot of the smaller fish in the lake. I wasn’t quite sure why the bigger ones were avoiding me, I was catching more than my fair share of fish but I was catching more doubles than 20’s, on this lake it is normally the other way around!!

Without changing tactics things soon turned around on the sizes I was catching. I was keen to get my first 30 from here and I came close, catching a 26lb and a 27lb that had both gone 30 in April. My turn came soon after and it was another overnighter that saw me land a 31lb 14oz, a great looking fish and yet another one off the spot I had created. Other lads soon cottoned on to where I had the fish going and after a few weeks away from the lake, I decided to start my roaming around tactics again. The lake had been fishing tough all year and I was over the moon with what I had caught already but now I was finding it hard to track them down as well. A good few blank nights before I decided enough was enough, there had been 2 fish out in a month, both in the daytime, so a day off work was booked and I was actually fishing in the daytime!! It paid off as well, one of the best looking fish I caught this year. There were 3 people there when I landed it and everyone said  “definitely a 30”. Well it wasn’t but it certainly looked like it, 27lb this time and a nice end to a slightly barren spell.

It was now October and a trip was planned to visit Jon Taylor down in Essex, for a guest session on his syndicate. Arriving during the hours of darkness Jon showed me round as best he could, on choosing my swim I was soon set up and fishing. Within minutes of being in my swim an absolute hippo of a fish crashed close in and left me rubbing my hands at the thought of catching one of the lumps the lake contained. The lake had been fishing very slow but between me, Jon and about 20kg of bloodworm pellets we soon tilted the tables in our favour and had 6 takes between us.  I landed a low 20 and a stocky on my first proper night there, unfortunately lost a lump of a fish, I was playing the fish for 5 or so minutes and it was pretty obvious I was into one of the larger residents when suddenly everything went slack. Instantly I thought it was a hook pull but it turned out my hoolink had been sliced in two. I wouldn’t have minded if I had been bullying it or of it had been around snags but this just happened in open water and left me feeling pretty dejected at the end of the session. As soon as I was back I arranged another session with Jon for late November and couldn’t wait to get back there. I slowed my angling up a little on Willows, setting up in the dark and packing away in the dark was hard work so I was down to just one night here and there.

Into mid November and I had missed a couple of weeks from Willows, I was itching to get back, even though it was only for an overnigher or two. The first night was pretty quiet but I did see a fish early morning so out went all the bait I had on me, around 5kg mixed of bloodworm boilies and a new bait we are testing. Luckily a mate of mine was fishing 2 pegs down so I barrowed my stuff down to him and left it there for the day rather than the trek back to the car. On arrival back at the lake that evening it was chucking it down, not only that but my tackle had been sat on a barrow receiving barrage of rain as well. I sort of half walked and half ran to see my mate, quickly dived in his bivvy and got him to make me a brew to warm me up in my already soaking clothes. At that point I said I don’t think I am going to stay as my stuff will be soaked, but luckily for me Mark is a quick thinker and my unhooking mat and his were laid over the barrow with everything underneath perfectly dry. An hour or so passed and the rain wasn’t easing up. I had threats off Lizzy to not set up, texts off mates saying I am daft and just as I was beginning to agree with them the rain stopped just like someone had switched off a tap. I grabbed the barrow, ran the 60 yards or so down the bank and had all rods out and brolly up within about 20 minutes. The second I sat down the heavens opened again, I got in the bag and slowly drifted off wondering what the hell I was doing there. About 1:30am one of my rods on the bait tore off and as I struck into it I was met with a solid resistance of a massive weedbed that had drifted in with the wind. Slow but steady pressure and I could still feel I was in contact with a fish, but it wasn’t moving a lot and I felt like I was losing the battle. Another 5 minutes and I estimated I had moved the fish about 5 yards, with that I caught sight of the fish on the edge of the mass of weed on the surface, a few sideways steps and a lot of strain saw the fish bolt out of the weedbed and out into open water again. Everything was pretty straight forward from there on in and I stepped into the shallows (this time with waders on) to net what I now knew was a decent fish. Mark came round to help with the weighing and photos. We settled for an ounce short of 32lb and even though it was now 2am, I made sure to text the few people that had called me crazy for setting up in the first place.

A few days after the 30 I was on my way back down south again to meet Jon, rather than have to type up a whole new report on the trip I have copied and pasted the article that appeared in Carp Talk.

The long journey to the lake gave me plenty of thinking time and a few plans were made on how to tryand sneak a fish out in the 40 hours that lay ahead, and 3½ hours later I met Jon Taylor, who was hosting me. We were greeted by the carp putting on a spectacular afternoon show – quite an unusual occurrence for this lake, so straight away   we knew the chances had just risen slightly. A quick chat with one of the members and more good news: a fish had been out the night before, the first in three weeks, so things were really looking up. “Swim choice was quite easy, opting for the one where I saw most of the fish showing. They were showing from five yards to 30 yards out, and at least one of them was a really big fish. I didn’t want to spook them, so I decided to keep disturbance to a minimum and not spod. I went with just PVA bags full of pellet and single hookbaits, and then fired out a few pellets with the stick. “I didn’t have to wait long; two hours into the session and I was into a carp, only a small one at 15lb 6oz but a pretty one so I wasn’t complaining. A few texts to mates and a long chat with the better half was all it took before I was in again at 8pm. This time it was obviously a bigger fish as it plodded around on its way in. Nothing too dramatic happened with this one and a minute or two later Jon was slipping the net under what looked like a very decent fish. “Lifting it out the water I knew straight away it was a big one but estimations of 38-39lb were soon blown away as I saw Jon’s face light up. The feeling as he replied ‘44-ish’ will never be forgotten. I had caught bigger fish in France and a few northern thirties, but this was nearly 10lb higher than my UK PB! We settled on 43¾lb and I was one very happy angler. I could have gone home a happy man there and then, but at only four hours into the session I was keen for more. “Through the night I managed another stocky at 15lb and Jon had a 28- pounder. Things were still looking good. I expected an early morning bite but it wasn’t until around 10am when I was in again. From the off this fish was powerful and all was going well until I had it close in to my right where there was a tree that went quite far out into the water. It wasn’t too snaggy underneath but my line decided to catch on a twig on the surface as the fish was trying to tear the margin to bits. A few very nervous moments followed as it tried getting around the back of the tree, but after getting into the shallow margin I got the angle needed to get it heading towards my net. A few swear words came out at this point as I pointed out it was definitely bigger than the other forty. “I was simply blown away! It’s the only way of describing the weighing, photographing and returning of an awesome fish. The weight was 47½lb and it was the final fish of a mad 14- hour feeding spell that I was privileged to be a part of.” All fish were caught over a mix of our Bloodworm Pellets coated with Hydrolysed Bloodworm Compound and Cloudy Bloodworm, fishing half a Bloodworm Wafter over the top.

This was the last session I had done for the year and what a way to end, I did manage a short day session on a runs water just before the big freeze, 12 fish to 17lb was a good result and I thought it was time to get back on the Willows, as I write this in mid January I am still waiting to get on there, bloody weather.

I have missed a couple of things out of the blog as it was hard to fit everything in. My campaign on the popular Motorway pond, it lasted all of 3 evening sessions as I didn’t like fishing for 4 hours then having to pack up, I did lose one and land one in those 3 evenings, a nice low 20 that reminded me of the Selby fish I used to love so much, so I might make it back on there at some point. I have also neglected to put many details on the up and coming Majestic Pool, I managed to do about 7 overnighters on there to break up the Willows fishing a little, I have done a review on the venue section that will be up shortly so feel free to have a look and see how well the fish are coming on in there.

Well, thanks for reading and I hope I haven’t gone on for too long. I will start my monthly blog in February, everywhere is iced up at the minute and I go on holiday towards end of January, so its unlikely I will have too much to report. As with most of the other guys when we are writing about captures etc, it is hard to find the time to mention bait and rig tactics, keep an eye on the baiting tips page as all of the lads will be adding little snippets to give you an insight into how to get the best out of your bait and rigs.