crusian

OK so earlier this year I decided to drop my ticket on my syndicate lake in the Fens. I've enjoyed it there and done ok, but it really doesn't suit the handful of overnighters per year that I normally get to fish, and it works out too expensive when I simply don't get the time to be there. I decided to sign off with a few nights to bag one of the special ones. When I say special, I mean it.... a handful of old big mirrors with scattered scales and little melted heart shaped tails, and a couple of bigger commons. They share this little pit with a mixed bag of carp that have been stocked since the turn of the century. Even the stockies, as can be seen in my previous post, are a bit special with plenty of lookers to go for.
The trip started as well as it possibly could, but we'll come to that later. For now, the next fish I want to show you lot is one of the bigger stockies, certainly destined to become one of the A-Team at some point. This fella came at first light after my 2nd night off a little spot that's only fishable at this time of year.... by June it'll be covered in weed. I discovered this spot a couple of years ago and it's done me a fish for the last 2 years. Obviously, I needed a rod on it. Nothing special required here, a short cast with a nice smelly pop up on a hinge. Job done.
I actually caught this one last year so it's a repeat but I'm not complaining. It was 2lb up in weight so doing well. If it carries on like that it'll be a real biggun in a few years.

 
 
So, this fish was the last of the session, caught on the afternoon of my 3rd day. There's a tiny spot right into the edge of some reeds, maybe a foot wide, about 40 yards to my right. It's not far but the small size of the spot makes it a tricky cast. If you go a foot left or right, you're in the reeds and lost your tackle. If you're a foot too far it's the same deal. If you're a foot short, you're in thick silk weed. To make matters worse it's in quite a quiet, shallow little corner so every failed or aborted cast just scares the carp and sets you back for an unspecified period. You really need to be hitting it in one or two attempts otherwise the spot is done for the session.
The spot itself is awesome though. One of those spots that when you get it right, you just know it's going to go. Both the stockies I posted on Tuesday came off this spot, and it's done me fish in the last couple of years too. Again, it can only be fished in Spring, as by June the whole corner looks like a football pitch. Completely unfishable.
Now throughout this session I was plagued by tench. I don't know how many I caught but I do know the lack of sleep was getting to me. When you're fishing such small spots the last thing you need is a tinca ruining your traps every couple of hours or worse, wiping the other rods out which are also on tiny spots. This rod had been tenched in the night and due to the nature of the spot it's the only one I wouldn't bother recasting in the dark. At first light I had popped it back out and hit it first attempt so I knew we were looking good for the day.
So it proved as, despite a cloudy day (you really need some nice sunshine to get the carp in the reeds), the rod went around 5pm. You can tell when it's a good'n because the smaller ones dive straight into the reeds or the lilies that sit nearby, shaking their heads and scooting around all over the place. It's mayhem. On this occasion however it just pulled up, tip bent round, and stayed there. Steady pressure and walking backwards got him out and maintaining that pressure managed to get him past the lilies, through the weedbeds, and into the net.
It's one of the originals and the second biggest common the pit currently contains. The colours on it speak for themselves and it's a really nice carp. This was to be my last fish before home. But, there was one more kipper at the start of the session that I'll come back to. Before the trip, I'd said to myself that I'd walk away happy if I can just catch one of the big mirrors. I did walk away happy, and to top it off it was through some of the best and most exciting angling I can ever recall. More on that tomorrow.

I have a few to upload but file size will be a problem so may have to do it over a couple days. Lets start with the smaller ones.

It's lovely to see you smiling in the top 'photo , Nick . You usually seem to be grimacing in pain from the effort of lifting your catch due to your bad back .
😃

It's lovely to see you smiling in the top 'photo , Nick . You usually seem to be grimacing in pain from the effort of lifting your catch due to your bad back .
😃

Aren't a lot of us now showing our age , Jules , except Elmo of course who just gets more adonis like 😁 .

This is another session that seemed to start out badly for various reasons.
I got to the lake to discover someone in the swim I had been baiting up, no major problems as there is 45acres of lake, so I chose a swim opposite, albeit over 150metres away, so not going to interfere.
A pallet had blown in and drifted up the lake into the margins, so I attempted to pull it out. As I did so a rotten piece broke and the pallet fell down my leg, with a nail ripping a brand new pair of combat trousers from thigh to shin, and giving me a couple of cuts on my thigh. 
I already knew that I had left my coffee and sugar at home, so after changing into clean trousers I took a trip to the shop in Botesdale for some antiseptic and coffee and sugar.
Last night I had ducks taking off and flying through the right hand lines twice, on the second occasion for some reason my middle white Ipro indicator body broke in two, so I had to bodge a repair.
This morning just drinking coffee and the male swan swan through the right hand line, getting tangled in the process and eventually smashing me up.
I re-rigged and was sat with just two rods in the water, thinking I'd recast after walking Sky round.
Another coffee and the left hand rod screamed off, this was a better result on the  reverse combi-rig and 12mm pop-up when I landed a 26lb mirror. 
That puts a smile on the face!
 

Ive just moved onto the shrimp after a conversation with @yonny (dont have the time to amke my own this year), good start as i managed to catch one first time out, has a very distinct smell to it (think possible SSA & Monster Crab combo/Nash Cajun Prawn as the lead smell/flavour.)

Frozen is better but the shelfies are decent. A little firmer so brilliant for sticking at very long range. At normal range I'd go frozen every time.

Here we go again 🙄 🤣
Friday I made it back to the syndicate lake, and was surprised to find someone else fishing, but no problem on 45acres.
 Easy swim choice, back to the previous area, which just happened to be where Andy had moved out of.
Left hand rod, 40metres, small MC pop-up and a PVA bag of pellets. 
Middle rod, LT snowman at 50metres, a stringer over around 200 throwing sticked boilies.
Right hand, over the bucket of garlic birdfood particles which with the wind was easy.
I'd just finished Spombing and the left hand rod bleeped, pulled out of the clip, and I discovered a numpty pike of around 3 or 4lb. I got it into the margins and just grabbed the line to lift it out, at which point it unhooked itself and bit through the mainline, losing a lead in the silt.
The rest of the night passed quietly.
Saturday, I walked Sky round, again, no reason to move, no signs, no shows.
About 1am heading into Sunday I was woken up by a decent run on the middle rod, but as I picked it up it didn't feel right, line taken against the freespool, and as I tightened it just broke off. I don't know if the male swan had swam through the line and smashed me, or if it was a take. I do know that setting up again, fresh run ring, 3oz lead and rig is not easy in the freezing air at 1am!
Monday, around midnight, the swan did the middle rod, swimming through the line, causing another recast in the frost. 
As I reeled in this morning I am positive that both pick-ups were the swan as my line looks badly twisted and kinked. 
Reality, could do without it...
 
 

I can relate to topic,
Think my best carp fishing days were in the mid / late 90's, without boring people to death with nostalgic memories, but my early Horseshoe days were something never to be forgotten.
After that, things changed, couldn't do it anymore, a very long drive and work and family stuff meant I gave up and sold my ticket., did a lot of day ticket fishing in and around Sussex, and a few club lakes too, then the noddy carp anglers arrived en mass, all the argos gear with no idea, no manners or respect.
Had a great spell with pole fishing on a certain sussex venue that had lots of crucians in their front lake.
Then moved on to find a few Dorset and Kernow venues that were relativily undiscoverd back in the day.
What I am trying to say is, don't loose the feeling, at my age, can't go as much as I ever used to, but still have a Sussex club water I can think will do me.
My one regret is that I have never caught a Barbel!
Sorry for a bit of a rant 
 

There was a frost this morning! 
I got woken up to an occurrence at around 5.30, thick mist across the lake and a frost on the ground.
 
Let's hope that the forecast weather wakes a few fish up.
 

0
 

Looking at the forecast we'll be seeing 15C+ starting tomorrow for the foreseeable. Hovering around 17/18 for the coming weeks.
IT'S HERE LADS!
In a strange twist of fate, it's fallen perfectly for me. I have a few days planned this week. Fingers crossed I can get on them.
Good luck for the season guys.

Aren't a lot of us now showing our age , Jules , except Elmo of course who just gets more adonis like 😁 .

Hi Framey .
I've recently used the small  Plumb-Ezee ( with a dumpy pear ! ) and it certainly pops up to the surface locked to the depth it has found .
However , it seems that it will still come to the surface even if it lands in the middle of a weedbed . What I did notice though was that sometimes when it surfaced bubbles erupted around it , so maybe that's where the weed is ? . 
I'll have a twiddle , then it should be just the job .
😃  

Went to local lake yesterday just for afternoon managed one carp just an 8lb 40z, lovely scaly mirror, jesus i really am looking like an "old codger" these days 

Just check it before your next trip, shelf life particles usually stay OK for a while. 

Now very. You will need to freeze it otherwise it will turn into a stinking mouldy mess.

What's the day???

The first image is a wind up, unfortunately the second isn't! I would just like to thank the pair of clowns on Big Hayes last year for the inspiration!

I’ve recently started taking a pair of flood lights with me. They are absolutely brilliant as they provide a nice even light that makes tying rigs or cooking a meal dead easy and no more faffing about with head torches. I’ve got a 3kW portable power station with LiFePO4 batteries that will provide enough juice to run them for at least two full winter nights.
The picture below is me on the right and my mate is in the next swim. He’s a bit of a wimp and only went for some cheap lower powered lights. The photo was taken by another mate who was fishing the far bank but I think he’s a bit jealous as he said it was like fishing at an airport! It will make landing fish after dark pretty easy but I haven’t actually needed it yet, the fish on my lake seem to have shut up shop since I’ve been trying it out.

This first picture is where I had my bivvy to take the picture of the swans.
I mentioned bird flu in the original post, it looks like it has hit again. The lake is down to 7 swans, 3 of which look like yearling cygnets from one of the dominant pairs. 
The lack of numbers has meant that the dominant males are not so aggressive and not such a pain in the rectum.

 
And a couple of pictures from the last two sessions, taken in the same swim on the other side of the lake.
Just to the left of the picture on the far side is the copse that Sky and I were using for shade.

So onto another session at the syndicate lake from Sunday through to Wednesday.
I arrived around 3pm Sunday afternoon amidst a mix of South Westerly winds, rain shower and yuck.
Syndicate rules permit putting the shelter up and putting tackle inside before taking the car down to the car park, so that is what I did. Car down to car park, and give Sky a walk back to the swim, followed by getting 3 rods clipped up and baited. Left hand rod 40metres, a 12mm purple Monster Crab pop-up and a small bag of micro pellets, middle rod, a 'greedy pig' snowman of 2x 12mm bottom baits topped with a couple of tiny Spiced Garlic pop-ups and a stringer at 50metres, and the right hand rod was a Monster Crab pop-up core.
 
I know it's early, but I've been putting a bucket of particles in on one rod on arrival, to prebait and to try to wean a particular fish that I have never seen eat bait. This fish is a big uncaught common, that I reckon makes a 42lb common look small, added to the mix this time was a couple of pints of red maggots.
Spombing out 40metres was not fun, the Spomb was on target with hardly any effort, but retrieving it was fun, and trying to catch the Spomb in the wind...
Sunday night I spent much of the night awake listening to the wind shake the bivvy.
No joy, and even the coots, tufties and swans left me alone.
Monday the wind switched more westerly, with a touch of north. After a walk around with Sky, fish searching and putting the sheep's electric fence back up there was no reason to move. Sorted the rods out, sticking to the same formula. A really quiet afternoon, but around 10pm the tufties moved in, and with the laser pen the little gits would spook and then come back. At 1am, I got a few bleeps and watched the indicator move up and down, so picked up the rod, and landed a tufty. 
Expectations, and reality...
 

Could always dull it down with a sharpie coloured pen.

Just my opinion? Use a standard size 8 swivel. Ok, so PTFE has the lowest coefficient of friction known to man but we're asked to believe that this helps with rig alignment when this relatively small device is lying amongst whatever detritus is in the area of the landed rig. The PTFE thing is more a marketing ploy than a mechanical advantage.
Once again, just my opinion.
Ian.
 
 

Mine usually involve not checking wind direction before setting up the bivvy, (not this week despite nearly losing bivvy), but include leaving tackle box at home more than once, discovering I'd left rucksack at home after an 80mile drive and once leaving my rods at the reservoir as I packed and loaded car up in the dark.