Spinney Pool 25-01-2014

The one thing me and Lee take a lot of time over is trying to pick the right conditions to fish in. It seems all the bites this time of year come in a window of a sudden pressure drop. We had a window this session in the afternoon running in to the night then it would start to rise through early morning. From knowing this we arrived in the morning allowing us to watch the water for a while and position ourself in the right pegs to get the baits where we think the fish will. The wind was pushing into the high bank and would only move around a little to the end bank. Knowing this we picked an area where we would both have the best chance of a fish. Before the gear was out the car we baited a large area of Soar Tackles Nut Particle Mix with Bud Boilies with the plan of both of us putting a rod on it for the night. All the other rods where fished with single baits allowing us both to roam around. After setting up camp and getting the rods on the spots we sat watching the water for the next hour with no signs but the wind was picking up now so it was into the bivvy and get some grub on. Before we got chance to got the food out the thunder, lightning and rain started and I mean it really started and soon turned into hail which really battered the bivvy with the wind tipping 45mph gusts. As quick as it started it passed so we got out the bivvy and had a look the hail was right up the side of both bivvys that’s was proper good storm. Back to the bivvy to get the food on, just about finished cooking the chilli when my rod let out a couple of bleeps I stuck my head out the bivvy just in time to see it rip off, I shot out the bivvy and lent into the fish. It started off very slow heavy pulls but was still heading towards the bank, after a couple of minutes it was under the rod tip plodding around. Lee slipped the net under a lovely looking Mirror, we where both buzzing to have one so early on in the session things looked good.

  

A lovely upper double sat on the bank the second one Mirror of the year. We took a few photos and returned her with a big smile across my face. Lee had turned the food off while we landed the fish so we finished it off and this time there was no interruptions. Although the pressure was suppose to carry on dropping off it didnt it began to rise slightly, this was not a good a sign. We battled through the following storms with no more success through out the rest of the session. Still it was a well enjoyed session with good company....  

Rigs of choice this season

This might surprise some people but id say 80% of my fish caught have been on the same rig,both barbel and carp and it's such a simple rig.iv used it everywhere from weedy lakes to clearer ponds and even on the river.so many company's are pushing so many new super rigs and telling you that you need to no 10 different rigs for any action but in my fishing this simply isn't true.I put more emphasis on where I put the rig and how it's presented.the rig I use for most of my fishing is made of 3 components fluorocarbon,a sharp curved shank hook and a small peace of silicone that's it nothing else.wen fishing for carp I use this at 6-8 inches and wen fishing for barbel on the river about 12-15 inches with a smaller hook and a bit of putty,because of hook shape and the fluorocarbon the aggressive angle of the hook always ensures the hook turns in to the bottom lip.

When fishing over particle I use a combi rig,a combination of fluorocarbon and a supple braid at the hook end and I use 2 bits of popup corn critically balanced so it fly's in to the craps mouth with ease.the last rig I use is a stiff hinge rig,I use this for all my popup boilies. This rig spins so quick in the fish's mouth they don't no how to deal it, witch ever way the fish comes at the bait the hook always ends up in the bottom lip.

That's it 3 easy to tie rigs that i can take anywhere and have a 100% faith in.tight lines.....

Spinney Pool first fish of 2014

Me and Lee were both stood in my kitchen one evening discussing when we could next get out on the bank. As lee had already had 2 carp out this year I was eager to get out there and bag one for myself. We decided to fish the Sunday night (12.1.14), as the conditions according to the weather report could do a bite.


On arrival to the lake there was already somebody fishing, after walking around the lake and talking to the gentleman who was just packing up, he told us that himself and another man had fished that night but due to the sub zero temperatures neither or them had seen a fish let alone had a bite. At that point we knew we had our work cut out for us. We left the bloke packing up and continued to walk around the lake we eventually came to the decision of fishing the low bank with the wind behind us and casting over to the far margin.


After that we walked back to the car, grabbed our gear and tossed a coin to choose the pegs. Lee won the toss and decided to fish the closer peg to us which was fine with me because that left me with the other peg which I had fished before. I chose to fish 3 rods the 1st would be a simple chod rig just chucked out down my right hand margin 2 or 3 rod lengths out. The 2^nd would go out to the far margin to an over hanging tree using a stiff hinged rig popped up about 3inch off the bottom with a bright home-made pop-up. The 3^rd would be cast to a baited spot which both me and lee would be able to fish to from our chosen pegs. On the baited area we would be using a nut based spod mix from Sour Tackle (I have had a number of fish off this through out the year so had great confidence in it). I would be fishing over this with a small combi rig with 2 bits of corn just sat above the bottom.

Before we put the rigs out onto the baited area we had a discussion of how we should actually apply the bait to the spot. Rather then going round and placing the bait on 1 large area (which we do in summer) we decided to spread a line of the nut particle along the margin over about a 30 yard space. Lee put a good few handfuls of his krill boilies over the top as he would be fishing a krill boilie on the hook. The idea behind this is if one of us got a bite the other could switch to the bait that had produced the bite.


After getting all that sorted we knew it was going to get dark and cold soon, we scrapped around and found any dry wood/leafage to get a good fire going in the pit. After 20 ish minutes we had the fire going and we were sat round having a cup of tea whilst Lee cooked us some sausage sandwiches discussing what would hopefully take place during the night. At about half six the wind picked up from the south east and the rain started to move in, so we both climbed into the bivvies to get settled down for the night.


I went through my usual routine for about half an hour of tying rigs and getting them ready for the eventuality of a bite, as tying new rigs with wet cold hands is never easy! According to the weather forecast the pressure would be at its lowest between 3am and 5am so I wasn’t expecting a bite until around that time. After lying there for about an hour listening to the wind and rain getting stronger and stronger by the minute I must of dozed off.



The next thing I knew I was awoken by a back drop on the left hand rod (the baited rod) after climbing out the sleeping bag I rushed out the door to pick up the rod and felt nothing. Started to reel back quickly as it was freezing and I was stood in tracky bottoms and a t-shirt, all of a sudden I felt a tug on the rod, the fish had obviously picked up the bait and moved straight towards me hence why I couldn’t feel it straight away. After giving lee a shout to tell him I was into a fish, he replied instantly with a shout of 'yes lad get in!' a few moments later he arrived beside me on the bank. I didn’t realise how cold it actually was until lee picked up the landing net which was frozen solid. He put the net in the water to defrost it and a few moments later the fish was in the net. A stunning mirror. The fight didn’t last long but as always in winter the fish tend to come in that little bit easier. We left the fish in the net for a moment whilst I went to get some warm clothes on, with the weather being so cold we didn’t want to mess about with the fish so we got it out placed it on the mat, un-hooked it straight away put some carp care on its mouth just to help with the healing and took a few quick pictures then slipped it straight back with as little stress to the fish as possible. The colours of the fish were exceptional as they generally are at this time of year.

Although cold both me and lee were over the moon, I got the rod back onto the spot while Lee made us a cup of tea. Whilst drinking the tea and scanning the horizon we saw the most amazing night sky so Lee took a couple of pics.