Summer catch report!

Posted by Keith on September 9, 2011 under Carp and Course Fishing, Catch Reports | Be the First to Comment

Its been a little while since I posted any form of catch reports on here, so I felt that it was about time I told you all what I’d been up to the last few months of the summer season!

I’d now like to tell you all about the hundreds of massive carp that I’ve banked from my private syndicate waters, but unfortunately that’s just a pipe dream and the ever present truth of a very hard summer season presents itself instead!

I can’t complain really I suppose as there have been some great captures which I have truly enjoyed and feel thoroughly grateful for the opportunity to fish for these giants…..So here’s a little report that kind of sums up the summer so far…..and I hope will instill a little faith in some of you, that all the hard work is worth the effort in the end!

As some of you will know, I have 2 syndicate tickets running at the moment. One on a small and fairly quiet water nestled in amongst the countryside of Devon. The other is Crayfish Pool, a high profile and less quiet water!!!! on the Horton Complex near Heathrow Airport.

Both these venues hold some real gems, Stenhill in Devon holds around 50+ twenty pound fish to low thirties and Cray holds 34 carp to mid forties, including a mere 11+ thirty pounders!

Both have their popular swims and preferred techniques, yet I have found only particular techniques to be effective in my own aspects of angling these venues.

I have been making my own bait now for some 20+ years and I feel that i have now pretty much perfected the ingredients list to a level that I am perfectly confident in. This bait has served me well this season and accounted for around 130 fish so far.

Rig wise I have scored on two adaptions. The first rig for bottom bait presentations is the ‘Blow back rig’ using a small section of silicone tubing to present the hair right down the curved section of the shank of the hook.

This makes the point of the hook very heavy and will almost without fail make the point turn in and take hold of the fishes mouth. I prefer this setup on a soft braided material such as the Nash Missing Link or Kryston Silkworm Braids.

The other rig I have used to great effect this year has been the ‘Hinged Stiff Rig’…..this I use with numerous baits for popping the bait up off the bottom of the lake bed. This can be a killer method for presenting a pop up boilie or even maggots which we have discussed before in previous articles.

So, to the fishing this year! Well, its been a tale of two halfs really, the first half being the colder weather of February through until early May where I spent a good deal of time on the banks of the small yet pretty Stenhill syndicate water in Devon.

The fishing there has been very productive and over some 30 nights spent there I have amassed a good catch of around 100+ carp to 29lb 2oz.

Many of these fish were over twenty and as yet not a single figure fish amongst them! Pretty good catch ratios in my book.

There are some truly stunning old English carp in the place with lots of Zip linears and really scaley old carp. There are also plenty of commons to boot too.

The other half of this years angling has been spent on the ultra tricky little 3 acre pool known as Crayfish Pool.

A famous water fished by many celebrity anglers during prior decades. The vast majority of the old stock has unfortunately passed on to the big pond in the sky, but 8 of the originals still remain. To top up the stock level there were around twenty or so hand picked carp introduced about 5 years ago.

These fish have packed on some serious weight, gorging themselves on the abundant supply of Signal Cray’s that inhabit the water. Some of these fish are now busting their guts out at an incredible forty plus pounds in weight!

With only twenty members allowed on the venues it makes for a fairly tight knit community of anglers. Most are fairly good souls who will help you along the way and are a pleasure to spend time on the bank with. There are of course the small handful of anglers who prefer to keep themselves to themselves and hide their rigs when they see someone coming! lol

Albeit, these places hold some treasures to behold and I’ve spent some magic times at both venues this last summer season. I think I have amassed around 70 nights spent between the two lakes so far and my word how I’ve enjoyed my times there. There have been incredible highs and some incredible lows too. Yet I still find the urge to get in the car and drive the 160 miles to each venue in search of a dream fish.

The season has obviously been a lot harder on the ‘Cray’ as there is such a smaller head of very tricky carp in there.

Yet 3 separate fish have fallen for the tactics presented and I’ve bagged ‘Totland’ at 32lbs 7oz, ‘Bulla’ at 31lb 10oz and most recently last week ‘Baby Long’ at 21lb 6oz. All three of these fish were worked hard for.

There have been times I felt like hanging myself from the nearest tree and others where I couldn’t stop smiling for a week! This is surely why we all fish though?? Isn’t it?? The ups, the down’s….it’s all part of everyday life on the syndicate waters and I’m sure it’s the same for many of you who fish day ticket waters too.

It’s been an amazing chance to try and many new things this year on the easier lake of the two (Stenhill) and then take those results over to Crayfish Pool with an added sense of confidence that what I have been doing is and will continue to catch me some fine specimen carp.

So, there we have boys and girls just a little taster of whats been happening for me on the lakes this summer. I hope you’ve had just as much pleasure from your sport as I have had and lets hope this winter isn’t too bad!

If you want to follow my angling exploits a little closer then have a pop over to my website where you can read a little more in depth into whats been occurring and how its come about!

Tight lines to you all

Keith

Nuts about Carp