ouchthathurt

As you walk from lake car park to the lake, just before you get to the main lake, there’s a smaller pond that is separated by a huge bank of reeds. During times of heavy persistent rain or when it’s winter and the water level is high, the marshy ground in the reeds flood and both lakes fully join, when the water level drops, they can become 2 separate lakes. I never saw any carp in the smaller pond, although I did a few nights on it. I used to just concentrate on the large pit. If I remember correctly, there was a dog poo bin (the last one before you reach the main lake) next to this bin was a small path that led to the smaller pond, but it could all have changed now of course! It was a fair few years ago that I did any serious time on it

Hi mate, I fished there for several years but I can’t remember anyone targeting it for pike. Used to do some nice carp and tench, however there were only a small group of us targeting the place back then. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were not a good head of pike in there. I’d probably go for my favourite pike baits, trout, roach, smelt and mackerel. Fish one on the deck and one suspended. Or as the pit can get a good wind across it, maybe a more roving approach with a deadbait under a drift float to search out the water? When you first reach the lake from the lake car park, that bay (summer bay as we called it) was sandy and shallower. There was a bar running from the point across to the reeds on the other side at the narrowest point, there are supposed to be some proper depths (although I found that the depths were not as extreme as I heard quoted) I also heard of stories of a bus and a midget submarine in there somewhere that the Marines used to dive over. I never snagged them though! I saw a pic of a mid double cat out of there. On the “beach bank” which you reach following the paths down from the holiday camp, if you stand on the bank looking out over the lake, to your left will be a reed bed extending along that margin right round past the point and onto the smaller lake, to your right there is a tiny bay that was full of lilly's in the bay in the summer, that always looked pikey to me. As the lake is a bit of a forgotten entity, at least it always was, so the piking could be amazing, it could be patchy, but best thing is to speculate a season and give it a go! Good luck mate

Sent you a PM mate 👍

Hi mate, I make all my own pop ups using the same basemix as my bottom baits, wrapping it around a cork ball. I make mine up in one egg mixes, (minus the yolk) adding slightly more flavour than I would in my bottom baits. I also add a sachet of egg white powder from the supermarket baking isle - egg albumin. When rolling, I only make enough boilie paste to do a handful of cork balls at a time, to prevent the paste from drying out too much, which makes rolling a pain. I make sure that the paste fully wraps the cork ball with no gaps, cracks or visible joins, as when it boils and drys out, they will crack and break up. I also drop each one in a glass of water once I’ve rolled them to check their buoyancy. With the egg albumin, a 1:30 - 2min boil (you’ll have to see what works best for your basemix) makes them harden right up. I then air dry them somewhere warm for a few days (the airing cupboard!) so they dry out, then pop them in an air tight container, I’ve had pop ups like this last all season, in fact I’ve got a tub I made in 2021 and they still catch just as well as when they were first made. I have added a few mls of salmon oil into the tub and shook it about so the baits took on an oily sheen, when they absorbed the oil, they have still remained hard enough to sit out for 24hrs, I change mine every 10-12hrs though, just to ensure the bait is ok and not come off or anything, as they will take on water and the paste skin will swell, especially if the paste wasn’t tightly wrapped around the cork ball in the first place. I tie mine on to a spinner rig using dental floss, sticking a baiting needle is a no no for me as it often pushes a bit of cork through which leaves a large hole that water will get into and cause the paste to break down quicker. Dental floss doesn’t break the boiled paste skin so the bait lasts longer - that’s my take on it anyway.

Awesome capture mate, very well done 👍

Managed a 3lb bass, not bad for the first bass trip of the season.

20 lugworm for tomorrows dawn - low tide, see if the bass have arrived yet.

He wanted to catch his first pike recently, he only had one…

Welcome back mate

I prefer to think I taught him everything he knows… although I blanked… lol!

Welcome back mate

this is my sons pb mirror that went 29lb - we were doing a night in a double swim, fishing identical baits, rigs, etc to a reedbed off an island. My son had 8 that night, topped by this otherwise unknown mirror. I blanked! he’s just done a new pb common of 26lb 5oz this week.

Very true mate!

I’ve never seen a pizza machine in the uk!

I use the esp ones with korda leadcore mate, without any issues, one thing I do after removing the lead wire section prior to splicing the loop is pinch the end of the leadcore and above the break of the lead wire and loosen the braided section up, that way it splices easier.

I’ve always used the ESP ones mate, they come several in a pack and I’ve got one or two that have lasted years. The korda ones have done me well, but something so fine wire will break sooner or later I reckon

Every time I go fishing, my wife places her hands on my head and says a prayer to the fish gods! Lol! I insist on it now, otherwise I blank… 🙄

If they’re the smaller ones mate, I want a ticket! Well done fella, cracking result!

That makes sense, I put the spinner swivel through the eye so the opening of the spinner swivel is the side of the point, then shrink tube it in place, I’ve landed cats to 55lb on that set up and it didn’t shift

I’ve had a few of the slimy critters on 12mm fish meal pop ups, over a kilo of premier fishmeal bottom baits. I wouldn’t target them, but they don’t half fight! This lake doesn’t have much in the way of silvers, it has a small head of carp that are rarely targeted, not sure what the cats feed on, maybe the silver population is stronger than I think, no one targets them, so how would we know? There’s no cormorants though…

My plans this year will revolve around a local canal, also I want to concentrate on bass fishing, nighting it is off the menu with a baby at home

I’ve been a victim of jealousy, it got so stupid, I stopped fishing there, moved on and got the same issues on the next lake! I did a winter on a local park lake that I know like the back of my hand - during one particular winter, I stayed on, putting the time in, blank after blank while everyone pulled off. Then I started stringing some captures together but kept it to myself - peg piracy was another issue, however one session, the bailiff was down while I had a take, he commented how this was the first fish out all winter, I then confessed to this being my 6th fish out! Word was out after that and other anglers started fishing again. I was still able to catch while others were blanking, the snide remarks started - then accusations I was using leadcore (which I wasn’t as it’s banned) I had spot checks on rigs - nothing untoward found - I then found anglers taking leadcore rigs to the bailiffs saying they had recovered from my swim! Bailiff took one look, said that they weren’t mine and put a stop to that nonsense, the green eyes still kept on it, I got a call from the club secretary saying I had been seen standing on an outflow pipe in the out of bounds area - I asked what day this was, turned out I was 150 miles away driving an ambulance car around central England! I had to show my time sheets and shift rota to the secretary to prove I was nowhere near the place in question at the time. I moved on to a small syndicate after that where I had a cracking start, landing the mythical big common at over 31lb, soon after that, one angler started casting over me, casting onto my baited areas while I was fishing them, even went to the lengths of pretending to be a bailiff and tried to quote fake rules (that I would be in contravention of) and then tried to chuck me off the lake! I had to call the real bailiff to come and sort it all out. I pulled off there in the end, it was getting far too busy, now I am looking for a new water, but having a newborn at home means that nighting it takes a back seat, I get my fix with a bit of piking in the winter and bass fishing in the spring/summer. Life is too short to get wrapped up in jealousy, I just fish for myself and move on if I find I no longer enjoy it. I’m currently wandering along a nice little canal that rumour has it is home to the odd carp, no one on it - sounds like heaven!

@marker many thanks mate, I’ll check them out and let my boy know 👍

Welcome buddy

Hopefully when you get a hip replacement, you’ll be a new man mate, fingers crossed you get back to full fitness soon.