2008 season so far.....i've being fishing the viaduct lake down at kirby doing days only but have also had a few sessions down at brooklands and spent a week at catch 22 in Norfolk
........my bait this year has been poacher OC in 18mm tipped with mega plastic sweetcorn
. rig wise ive been using kordas Kurv hooks is size 8 with silicone tube on the shank and korda iQ2 in 12 lb.
My season started on the 1st of June
. .
i arrived at the lake around 6.30 expecting it to be busy and it was..but the bottom end of the viaduct was fairly quiet so i set up there......i set up the rods and cast out in to a nice bit of smooth silt i baited up with the usal 60 baits round each rod and waited....the time was around 9.00am and i was watching the water when suddenly a shoal of around 15 carp cruised past me about 10 yards out.I was prepared for this tho as i new it was going to be a hot day ;D.........out came the catapult and dog buscuits .....after around 10 minutes i had the shoal feeding confidently....so i baited my already set-up floater rod with a trimmed down 14mm poachers OC boilies and cast out ......i cast well over the fish and pulled it on to their heads and after about 45 seconds i was in to my first carp of the season,but disaster struck when the carp took me straight in to a tree on my light set-up,this happend another 2 times
.....the time was now around 4.30 when i decided to chuck my bottom baits back out to the baited spots and around 6.00 i was rewarded with a mirror weighting 11.8 lb
2nd june.. i was back down the next day but this time i set up on the cattle bank end swim.....i cast a bottom bait to the snags corner and baited up with usual 60 baits round each i kept 1 rod on the surface as they were still up for a munch off the top
to cut a long story short i had 8 takes for 8 carp....i had a 12.12 lb,13.8lb and a 11lb off the top on the trusty OC pop-up ..and 5 on the bottom an 8lb a 16.4,11lb 14.8lb and a 10.02 all on the OC
the 16.4
I then was reminded that its not always so easy and had 3 blank sessions.. but the bait was still goin in
22nd of June- i had been keepin my eye on a swim that i have yet 2 see any1 fishing in
.......so i decided i was gonna have a go at it......i baited up with the usual 60 boilies and after around 2 hours i had a bit of a shock as i was drifting off 1 of my fox warriors came to life and i was in to a savage fight with a nice carp on the end
it turned out to be my first 20 a 20.12 lb on the mighty OC tipped with mega corn.
july 15th- had a morning session on brookland floater fishing... i had been watching them on the top at brooklands for a while especially in baldwins where they cruise along the bars... i arrived at brooklands at 4.30 am . . . i was traveling light and only had the bare essentials . i set up in the dug out swim on the centre path fishing in to baldwins. . . i had a 14 lb mirror and a 22.12 common.. ;D
Once again i was reminded that its not always easy with 4 blanks but as i said before the bait was still going in
4 august- i decided to go on the cattle bank , end swim again, this time i had bottom baits on both rods and baited with the usual 60 baits....i put 1 in the snag corner and 1 to the opposite tree where i discovered a load of blodworm living... i had 1 from the bloodworm spot a nice 14.14 common.
5th of august- had a small double from the cut swim on the OC
11th august-set up in the beaches swim and had 2 a small double and a 14.8lb
14th august- arrived at around 6.30 to find the lake empty and the conditions where spot on ...... i decided the wires was the swim to go in ..... i cast out the marker just to bait up around ..... i baited up 1 big area with 2.5 k of boilies as i was certain that conditions were good....out went the OC boilies tipped with mega corn
around 10 am i had a bream like take . . i left it as i wasnt sure then it jumped out the solar line clip and i was in to a nice carp . . the second i picked the rod up i new i was in to a new PB it turne dout to be choppy a 24.6 common. ;D
i put out another 30 boilies and about 2 hours later i had a screaming take . . . it was another common it weight 22.12 ;D
i put out another 30 boilies and around 5.30 i had another take but i lost it at the net
i baited up with another 30 boilies and minutes later i had another take which i lost around 10 yards from the bank
. . . the hooks were still sharp and everything was good just cant understand why i dropped 2 just one of those things i guess
...i baited up with 30 boilies yet again ... and around 8 i had a 15lber ;D
18th of august- i was back after my top session this time i went a couple of swims past the wires swim and baited up with 60 odd boilies round each rod.....i had a 14lb common around 9pm.
19th of august- set-up in silt swim and decided to give tiger nuts a go over a spod mix of tigers,butter beans,chickpeas, and hemp...i had a nice loking mirror which weighted 17.8 lb ;D
15-16 november- did my first ddaps night down brooklands on the a2 bank and blanked.
So there is my season so far in all its been a decent 1 . . .my target was a 20 and i've had 4....to 24.6.. ;D
This winter i will be on brooklands targeting a 20lb mirror. . . ill let u now when the carp start rolling in
DDAPSCARPER