The Broadlands Night-Session Nightmare

Along with most Anglers these days my time on the bank is very limited due to work and other commitments so when I do go for short over-nighters I tend to visit slightly easier lakes to increase the chances of a quick bite. Now for most, Broadlands would tick that box but I generally don't get on with the place and usually catch an abundance of Bream rather than carp.

So last weekend I had a spare 24 hrs so I decided to head down there and see if I could put my Broadlands demons to rest. I arrived at around 11am and had a good walk round and found Carp alley to be completely empty so I sat and observed the water for a short while and noticed a large group of carp circling around an overhanging tree so quickly scattered a few boilies around the area, just enough to make the carp drift away from the spot long enough for me to drop a rig in with out spooking them from the spot completely. This worked perfectly as no more than 10 minutes after casting out they were back in force and I knew a bite was on the cards.

An hour or so passed and more and more carp were arriving in front of me, I was stood watching them basque in the sun when all of a sudden my right hand rod screamed off, the fight was on for my first carp from Broadlands in over 8 sessions. after around 5 mins of battling away I finally caught a glimpse of the upper double mirror and reached for my net when I felt the feeling that every carp angler dreads, with one almighty shake of the head he was gone. 1-0 to Broadlands.

Bait of choice - Red Crustacean

Most of the carp that had been patrolling the swim had drifted away so I decided to get spodding ready for the night and put around 10 spods over each rod along with a good spread of boilies. Red Crustaceans being the bait for this session.

The evening passed, darkness fell and I was beginning to get that feeling that it was to be another carpless session when at around 12:45pm my left hand rod shot off like a rocket. There was a large tree to the left of the swim which was the destination of what felt like a very good fish so in order to avoid getting snagged up I got in the lake and waded out to keep the fish away from the over hanging branches, I was getting more nervous by the second having lost one earlier and as I pulled the fish round in front of me I could see it was definitely in the 20's. The net was in the water ready, and just as the head popped up and I thought I had him he had other ideas and shot off back into the depths and with another almighty shake of the head, I felt the same sinking feeling I had felt 8 hrs earlier, he was off. Broadlands 2 , Me 0.

I dragged myself out of the lake and got the rod straight back on the spot with a fresh rig and the sat to ponder what exactly was going wrong, the hooks were sharp, the rigs was tied correctly, the lead had come off in the fight, I just could work it out. as I continued to ponder, to my surprise, off the left had rod screamed again. as I struck into the fish, the thought of what had happened earlier was all I could think about so the shear desperation I felt to land this fish was unbearable. In the lake I went again, this time almost to my waist and I just hung on for dear life as the fish kited around at a rate off knots. around 5 of the longest minutes off my life I saw the fish surface in front of me and quicker than I have ever moved in my life, I stretched out and prayed his head would cross the brow of the net, but like the 2 before him, he was not playing ball and off he shot towards the tree. with some gentle persuasion and a lot of praying I finally got him away and back towards me, his head came up, the net went out and the relief and joy instantly struck as I saw the walls of the net rise around him...Finally!

At Last!!! What a relief!!!

My reward for my effort was this cracking 16lb Common, probably one of my favourite catches given the 2 lost fish and the fact I had not had a carp from Broadlands for quite a few sessions, although they were mainly during the winter.

The night petered out with only a few liners and the morning would also prove carpless with not a glimpse of a carp in sight and with that at around mid-day I decided to call it a day. I can safely say I have not had a session like that in a long time nor have I ever been so happy and relieved to have a carp on the bank.

Final score:  Broadlands 2 v 1 Me

Back on the bank...AT LAST!!!

After what feels like an eternity, I finally managed to get a session in over the weekend. Unfortunately life has been getting in the way of my fishing so far this year but with a tough few months behind me it's time to begin the carp campaign of 2013.

This cracker couldn't resist the Red Crustations.

I headed down to my club lake for a 24 hrs session armed with a bucket of the Red Crustations, which I ordered in February and am only finally getting the chance to use them now.

Well, I could not have asked for a better start, having only had the rigs in the water 40 minutes or so, my left rod ripped off and produced this 17lb 9oz cracker (right), I was over the moon.

The session also produced a 14lb Mirror and another common during the night but unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures due to camera battery dying :(, however you can watch the full video as per normal at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LYAdMXgMyw
or you can watch in full below.

So a good start to the season for me, 3 doubles on the Red Crustations, cant wait to get on the bank again next week and have a few more.

Cold and frosty morning madness...

To watch the video version of this blog click here

It's early December and after a few cold nights and light frosts I was slightly concerned that the drop in temperature may have switched the fish at my club lake off, nevertheless, it would take a lot more than a chill in the air to stop us from trying to bank a few carp.

My club lake has the benefit of a large hill adjacent to the bank which is perfect for getting a full overhead view of the lake making fish finding a great deal easier. after 5 or so minutes of pacing up and down searching for a sign of fish activity I managed to spot a few bubbles and ripples which was enough persuade me that was the place to be.

Joined, as usual by my cousin Harry, we set up stall for the day and got the rods out. I had gone for the pop up approach given the silty, leave covered bottom to the lake, A flouro Pineapple the bait of choice and the other rod armed with a Pineapple Fever bottom bait on my standard bottom rig.  

Harry had chosen to go with a very similar tactic on the swim next to me, a Pineapple fever bottom bait close in on the clearer bottom and 2 12mm Gulp Tuna spice pop ups snowman style towards the middle. 

It didn't take long for our swim choice to be justified when, after about an hour, Harry's rod screamed off producing a lovely Chestnut Brown Mirror of around 12lbs (left) caught on the Tuna spice pop up snowman rig. Well that was a nice confidence booster and more was to come. Not much more than half an hour had past when, just as I had sat down with a cuppa, Harry's other rod goes roaring off. An 11lb Common (below) this time on the Pineapple Fever bottom bait, not as big as he would have liked but a welcome catch all the same.

With Harry clearly amongst the fish it was proving to be a lively morning for him and the polar opposite for me but given the temperature and high pressure it was never going to be easy, Patience and perseverance would surely pay off I was thinking when yet again, Harry was into another fish. It was the Tuna Spice pop up rig again, so I decided to get on them as they were clearly doing the business. After filming and taking some snaps of Harry's latest capture, a lovely little Common of around 8-9lb (below) I changed my flouro pineapple Pop up to a Tuna spice and got it back out there.

That was to be last action of the day, at only 10am. a feeding frenzy in the morning but the high pressure had looked to switch the fish off. I climbed the hill again at around lunch time and could make out a number of carp up in the layers so threw a zig rig out with a Tuna Spice on which, while watching the spot from above was almost ignored completely. I adjusted the depth but still no joy. I did have a dropped take at around 2pm but that was it.

So Harry stole the show today but an enjoyable day nonetheless. A couple of fish on the Gulp! baits and a few pics for Harry's album. 

If you enjoyed this blog and want to see the video or videos of any of my other sessions please visit my YouTube page.

Click here for the Phippsy's Fishing YouTube Channel

Thanks for reading and until next time, Keep Calm and Go Fishing!

 

Catching in the rain

To watch the video version of this blog click here

Why does it always rain on me? Not only a great song by the band Travis but also a very relevant statement for the majority of my fishing trips (and most of Britain 80% of the year).
I arrived at my club lake at 8am Monday morning having sat in traffic for the best part of an hour only for the heavens to open and completely drench me on the long walk from car to swim, not the best start to the session at all, but I was set for 72 hours on the bank and nothing was going to ruin it.

I was accompanied by my cousin Harry, who I fish with regularly and we were fortunate enough to get on to our favourite swim. I decided to fish the same spots as in my first blog as it had produced a fish and I had a good idea of the features in front of me.


I decided to get a lot of bait out straight away as we were going to be there for a few days and I can  just top it up every now and then so I put about half a kilo of the Gulp! Carp squid & Liver boilies over each rig and the another half a kilo in a line between the two hoping if the fish went through the middle it may lead them to the hook bait. I also filled PVA bags with a mix of the hemp, tiger nut and Bloodworm flavour Gulp! pellets and the Spod Blend particles.
I use solid PVA bags in 99% of my fishing for 2 reasons, mainly for the bait attraction but also so the hook point is masked when it hits the bottom so I can be confident that its not caught in any weed or debris on the bottom.


With the weather being so dreadful, the rain lashing down and the temperature having dropped drastically in the last week I wasn't surprised that there was little or no fish activity at all, by 3pm I had not seen any jump, role or any signs at all that they were feeding which was not filling me with confidence at all but if you have a bait in the lake you have a chance I suppose.

Unfortunately other than Beans for tea and a rather large amount of flatulence there was not really anything worth reporting for the rest of the day, The bailiff had come round earlier in the day and said he had 9 fish out over 3 days the week previous which is actually quite good for this lake so we were still confident of one or two but I knew we were going to have to play the waiting game.

The morning arrived having had an undisturbed nights sleep and after breakfast and a cuppa, we recast the rods and got a bit more bait in but still nothing was giving us any indication of fish in the area. There are 3 lakes in total on site and when the bailiff came round in the morning and said he had not seen any fish at all on the bank or in the lake since Saturday we starting to ponder a change of lakes. Normally we would sit it out but we both decided a move would be best and started to pack up the gear and as Harry started to reel his right had rod in he felt a pull and was in to a fish...what timing. Well to our surprise as the fish reached the net it was not a Carp, nor a Bream but a Pike! obviously or saw the bait moving and pounced on it...They all count!

So, after the surprise Pike we packed up all the gear and set off down to the bottom lake, a little smaller, but always in with a chance of a decent fish. The bottom is a little silty but its not deep enough to cause any real problems. It also has a lot of Lilly pads in sections around the lake so I decided to fish tight to these to the right of the swim and the left hand rod 40 yards straight out in open water.

A few hours passed and a bream for Harry was the only catch to report until around 7pm when my right hand rod screamed off and luckily for me out into open water rather than straight into the pads. At first the fish felt like nothing special and was coming in quite easy until it got  under the rod tip and then it decided to put up a fight and began circling the swim at which point I caught a glimpse of it and it was rather larger than first anticipated. After a good 10 minutes of struggling I finally got it on the bank and weighed it in at a pleasing 19lb 8oz. What a cracking Common caught on the Gulp! Carp Squid & Liver Boilies.


Fortunately I did not have too long to wait for my second fish, around an hour an 30 minutes later my Left hand rod went with a slow ploddy like run, hoping this would be a bigger fish I struck into it but it was not the monster I was hoping for but still another very nice and very welcome 8lb common again on the Gulp! Carp Squid & Liver.

Shortly after putting that fish back the heavens opened and the rain began to lash down unbelievably and after a few hours of continuous torrential rain, at 2am we decided there was no chance of getting any sleep and enough was enough. A decision well made as when I woke up in the morning it was still raining just as hard and some of the local roads had flooded.
So the session may have been cut short but I was over the moon to have caught a couple and still have 3 days of my week of left so will get another session in later in the week.
 

Thanks for reading, please check out my website www.phippsysfishing.com and until next time...keep calm and go fishing!

Tight lines!
 

A bad day on the bank is better than a good day at work!

I am lucky enough to have a week off as I am starting a new job soon and what better way to spend it than on the bank, a day session today then a 72 hour stint next week.

I arrived at the lake at around 8am this morning only to find the world and his wife were already there, luckily the swim next to my favourite was free so that was good enough for me.

I've recently been lucky enough to be signed up for the Berkley Gulp! Carp Army so I am using the Squid & Liver boilies today with the Spod blend particle mix in PVA bags over a large bed of boilies. The beauty of all the particles in the Gulp! Carp range is they are 100% PVA friendly which I am sure you will agree is a great touch and gives a real edge over other anglers especially if, like my chosen club spodding is banned. The Spod Blend mix consists of everything you could possibly want in a spod mix including Tiger Nuts, Maize, Hemp and loads of other seeds.

As the morning past I was having lots of touches on both rods which were 2 rod lengths apart tight to a big set of pads but, unfortunately no takes. It wasn't until around lunchtime when I had my first real bite but still not a take!

I hadn't noticed any fish activity at all for a few hours and what with the drop in temperature and the amount of angling pressure on the lake my hopes of landing one were fading.

I decided to recast again slightly shorter of the pads on both rods as the line bites were telling me the fish were closer in than I was fishing so I hoped this would bring my rigs to thier attention.After a short while, my right hand alarm let out a few beebs and then stopped as if it was teasing me. This pattern went on for the next 10 mins, every 30 seconds just a few beebs and then nothing. With the day running away this was becoming increasingly frustrating and I was beginning to wish I was staying for the weekend as I knew it was just a matter of time but hey ho, thats fishing and a bad day on the bank is better than a good day at work, thats for sure.

So after my first, albeit short session on the new bait, no fish but some encouraging signs. It was more a case of wrong place, wrong time. Hopefully I will have more luck next week when the bait really gets put to the test.

Until next time...Keep calm and go fishing.

Tight lines!

Session 1 - The Beginning

Over the last few years I have drifted around Hampshire fishing for Carp in many different lakes of all shapes and sizes hoping to bag a whacker but I have never really found a lake which I can really say I have mastered. I have caught a lot of carp along the way but have never been consistently amongst the bigger fish.

During these sessions I have fished 2 lakes in particular a number of times  until this year when I decided enough was enough, I am going to crack this if it kills me.

The lake in question must remain nameless due to a no publicity rule but it is safe to say this is by no means a runs water. It has about 100 carp weighing up to 38lb and is around 6 or 7 acres in size, horseshoe shaped with plenty of islands, snags, overhangs and other features for the fish to hide away in. As I took a wonder around having just joined the club and deciding this would be my regular lake for the season, I noticed one particular swim that look so inviting with so many options in front of it. I sat and watched for 15-20 minutes to see if there was any fish activity. Just as I was getting up to walk back round the lake, a Carp head came up to the surface with a gaping mouth you could fit a football in and although I could not see it's body I knew it had to be well over 20lb. A few seconds later another set of shoulder's appeared a little further out towards a set of pads, shoulders that resembled those of an American footballer.Needless to say that was enough to convince me that my Bivvy would be occupying this swim for the weekend so with out further a do out went the marker rod and after a good half hour of investigating, a few spods, half a kg of boilies and then a rig either side with solid PVA bags of a mix of pellets and crushed/chopped boilies followed on to the chosen spot.

I was feeling rather confident for a change despite my lack of success previously on this water but there was just this feeling that my luck would change. A warm breeze was blowing, it wasn't too hot, or too sunny, it just felt right.

Later that evening after 7 hours of static bobbins, my good feeling was proved to be justified when my Delkim scared the life out of me, made me spill my tea and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end with just a single beep. I leapt out of my chair and crouched at the rod side waiting for another beep to let me know it was still there, and sure enough of it screamed. After what felt like 12 rounds with Mike Tyson I landed a 19lb scale perfect Common. This was caught on a KD rig on Korda Supernatural Braid with a Mainline Cell bottom bait trimmed down with a 8mm bright Pink monster squid pop up on top.

I very quickly changed my other rod to match this and got it back on to the spot. In true ironic fashion, no less than 10 minutes later just I had got into my big snooze and my head hit the pillow, the same rod went again, not with the same ferociousness as the last run but still a good run. The result was a 8lb Tench, not the 30 pounder I was after but a welcome visitor to my net none the less.

The night was to prove quiet and I managed a decent night sleep. I woke early but decided not to bait any more as I had put enough in the night before and I didn't want to disturb anything at first light.

Later in the day as I could see fish moving around on the surface, I began to trickle in the bait to try and draw some down to the bottom but the glorious weather had them all on the surface and more interested in sunbathing than feeding. I had set up a 3rd rod earlier that morning for this very reason and armed with Zig Rig I decided that would be worth a go. I used some black foam with a very small piece of yellow foam on top in the hope the Carp may mistake it for a bug of some kind but the lack of interest was apparent as they continuosly circled, swimming past with no real intent on taking it. As the afternoon passed I put the bottom baits back on and re-cast to the pre-baited spot which had been rested for a few hours.

Now, I have never been one for resting a swim in the past but this is something I will now be doing more often as almost instantly I had a take, which resulted in a beautiful 17lb Linear. (below)

Unfortunately that was to be the last action of the weekend but I felt like I had learnt a lot about the lake from this session and have a little more confidence going into my next session.

Thanks for reading, look out for the next blog coming soon.

Tight Lines!