crusian

Father’s Day fishing trip 👍🏻

My staffy would probably run away from a rat 🤣
 

For years there were no problems at Taverham, then more anglers started fishing it when Anglian Water took it on and litter started becoming a problem. Klaus bought a brand new bivvy and rats chewed their way in through the groundsheet and into his bait and food bags. He found a chewed pack of bacon dragged outside the bivvy.
We get a few rats on the syndicate now, not many, and as you can see, they don't cause me any problems, thanks to Sky. How she can wait patiently on the lead until they get close enough to her to attack them amazes me, she's normally head down and charge.

I bought a new dog because of rats at fishing, having them climbing up my spod rod in the doorway and running all over the bivvy was the final straw at Bluebell lakes.  I'd never experienced that level of rat infestation there before because of my previous dog largely keeping them away. I keep all bait in buckets outside the bivvy.
They've damaged cars there eating wires and getting into the vehicle for food/bait.
Not seen one on my syndi in 3 years!

Why not just use a bucket?  they've never breached my ridgemonkey yet. I never leave my bait in the bivvy either. And always close my food bag, then I throw boilies in other people's bivvies works a treat 😂

Finally finished the van build, reckon a few laps of a big lake Is due
 

22lb common caught today 

another evening, another few hours spent by the lake side 

How you doing?
This session was a rather decent one, despite managing to leave my hookbait bucket at home with my medium Spomb in it. I spent an hour cursing and swearing as I used the small Spomb to put a bucket of maize and birdfood in.
The first night produced a tench of around 6lb on a straight out of the bag bottom bait, which somehow managed to go across the middle rod.
The 2nd night was quiet.
Last night around 11pm I had a strange occurrence on the middle rod, it pulled to the right, with what appeared to be a run, but there was nothing there, so I recast with a fresh stringer. At 3am I had the same thing happen again. I think that it was a goose or swan swimming through the line just in front of my rod tips, or a swan picking the hookbait up.
A couple of miscasts with stringers, but 3rd time lucky.
I was sat drinking coffee and eating breakfast when the rod went with a 22lb mirror, one of last years stocking, and a 10lb weight gain.
 Caught on a 360 rig with a meshed 15mm Nutty Bait pop-up with a stringer of 6x 18mm Nutty Bait boilies.
This morning I was starting to tidy up ready to pack up when the right hand rod went, which was the rod over the maize, and managed a rather nice 26lb mirror on the 'sliver' of Monster Crab pop-up on a reverse combi rig. 
This fish was from the 2021 stocking and went in at 11lb.
 

First thing this morning on a Nutty Bait pop-up:
29lb
@crusian 40metres, towards Scotty dog


 
 
I've just been through my pics and our Facebook group. I have caught it before at the same weight last year. It was one of the 2020 stocking

Watching for the mouse or whatever that surfaced and dived back down.
 
Something like that, although I don't actually write it down. I remember every swim and the distance from the original high water casting spot. 
I did message a mate this week after I got home: "After last night's phone dilemma, it crashed, I lost a carp this morning, hook pulled. Monster crab pop-up sliver on a coated braid Multi-rig. I'd played it from aiming at sneaky squirrel around 40metres. It ran right, so I waded out with my net, got it to go left, and it went past middle rod and hook just popped out. Not a good session. So upset I packed up a day early".
 
 

That tree would make me a bit nervy 

went on little lake today here is a rod shot pic with Diawa Proteus rod on my single rod pod, this pod is ideal for this lake as all the pegs are platforms and the ground either side of each platform is dam near impossible to get a bank stick in and one rod rule on little lake

Wide n snide baby 😎
Not really the 4th was my daughters. 

This side looks knarly already lol
Some lake ❤️

So I popped out yesterday afternoon, fishing the waggler and led rod, grabbed two bags of frozen corn and some rubber bits out my carp tackle, was having silver bream on the float rod and one small carp, the led rod went mental two large carp about 15 to 20 lb just smashed my hook size 10 just spat it out after taking my gear on a lap of the lake, they really did want that corn.
Got to be some of the finest close in fishing I have done in a while, can't believe I got carp looking for corn on the deck they were cruising the top all day the confidence they had on the corn was saying something.
 

New swim, more work done, a fish but overall frustrating 48hrs.  The quicker they spawn the better imo.

Went with the kids this weekend. Blanked the first 24hours. Then we got focused. Decided I wasn't happy with my main spot, so I put my big boy pants on and went for it 18.5 wraps, 2 rods or the horizon and one on the edge of some reeds where I had seen some bubbles, I had prebaited my daughters spot the night before with some boilies and left it, naturally that one was the first to go at 10pm, she cast it and felt for the drop herself and we baited it with 5 x spods and a few extra boilies she pulted into the zone, it ripped off when we were tucked in and listening to a book on audible. The summer I robbed a bank by David O'Doherty, if you have kids it's a great book. And naturally it decided to wipe out all my other rods, but we got it in and I cleared up the mess it made. 

(yes I was done in and a bit sun rouged) 
We lost her rod in the carnage and she wanted to sleep so one of mine went onto her spot, one to the long spot and one to the left. We were awoken to a savage take from the long rod. This came in like a ball of weed until it got in range of my other lines. Took the right one out. During the photos I had an out of body experience. 

Then I ditched the right hand rod spot and went long, so with 2 on the spot I whacked out another 10 X spods and had breakfast. Then the right hand long rod was away,we had spotted them all showing in the middle the evening before and this spot gave me the best shout not being able to move, this one came in well and we moved the other rods out of harms way, fought hard close in but without hassle, and although the smallest of the trio of commons but finished off the trip nicely. 

Lovely weekend with the kids, had lots of fun and caught 3 and lost none, we did some bird spotting, saw some fish on the other lake spawning and caught some fish 
Happy days. 

48 hour social at Bluebell lakes. Sandmartin Lake.  Managed one on the first evening but despite looking good for more the following day no more bites.

Cracking fish well done Kev. 

Mind boggling session on the syndi, arrived 6am Friday to beat the crowds and more importantly beat the long awaited weather change to westerlies.
Whilst the lake was fairly busy noone was at the East end of the lake and I got the swim I had hoped for.  The Easterly wind had died off and it was nice and calm whilst I quickly found some spots with the boat as you can't cast left with the overhangs.  It was very weedy at 5ft to half way across but then when it dropped into an 8ft gulley the weed became more clumps with clean holes dotted about.
I got 2 rods out and was baiting the last when the first was away after 10 mins and I landed my first of the year - a cracking little stocky, already looking nice and dark.
The wind started up soon after and to cut a long story short I spent the next 48 hours watching the most banging conditions of the spring come to absolutely nothing, they just didn't turn up as expected.  Plans to do an extra night were ditched Sunday lunchtime.
I can only assume they are waiting to spawn somewhere out of sight, come Sunday afternoon the lake was almost empty.

Another 3 night blank, new swim, position seemed good for traffic, only one stuck it's head out the whole trip.  Did hours of swim improvements/clearance for no reward, out again Thursday night for another go - same conditions 🤦‍♂️
Still nice view lol

Thought i'd fill in the blanks from a couple of recent syndi trips. 



Back out tonight for another go, buzzing 🙏💪

Got out for a night over the bank holiday. The syndi is closed for spawning so I visited a day ticket down in the Nene Valley. It was absolutely rammed as one might expect given the timing, but I managed to find a few carp in a quiet corner. It was dead hot, so I flicked a couple of zigs out just under the surface. It was clear the carp were just sunbathing, so I was expecting to have to wait for the sun to drop behind the trees for any action. So it proved with a take around 19:30 which resulted in a lovely grey linear.

Onto the deck for the night and I realised I had a problem – I’d forgotten the spod rod! I found one of those Wolf X-Spod jobbies in my bag (bought it ages ago and never used it) and bodged it onto one of my carp rods. It worked a treat…. those X-Spod thingys are great! I put 2 on the deck and left one up in the water. At 02:30 I was away off the baited spot and a nice little cricket bat common was landed. Re-did the rod and 04:30 saw an awesome chestnut linear landed - worth a pic this one.

Photo’s done, I was half expecting that to be it but at 09:00 the zig rod went. It kited to my right past several other anglers and the hook pulled when I over-gunned it trying to stop it. Still, a good sign. In come the rods on the bottom, zigs on all of them, and back out they go. About 10:30 I get another take and another cricket bat common is in the net. I planned to stay a bit longer after that but as the heat increased, I decided I was happy with what I’d had so called it a day. A great little session in the end.