Against the Grain - Trusting the Unconventional

'Multiple patches of fizz'

Same old thing really I had got to the lake at first light it was late august and this time round I really didn’t have to walk too far before I saw my first signs of carp activity.

The first swim out of the carpark about 10 wraps out I could see multiple patches of fizz coming up, I watched it for a moment before I doubled back through the carpark out the gate and back up the track to get a closer look.

I could peer over the hedge and I was pretty much on top of them, its fascinating to watch, sometimes I prefer just tracking them down and observing them to the ‘putting down roots and questioning why it hasn’t happened yet’ method.

I didn’t need any more evidence that this swim was going to be the focus of this session, it would be silly to fish anywhere else so, I got a few bits off the van, mainly my leading rod, bait boat and some bait.

 

'It was solid with weed'

I left them too it all morning till the sun got up and the fizzing had stopped and they had well vacated the area. Now what exactly were they feeding on? I had lined it up with a far margin marker and gauged roughly the distance against the reflection of the trees.

I boated my leading rod out to just past the spot, pulled the tip up to get in contact with the lead and opened the hopper hoping to feel the drop…..nothing. I popped the rod down, drove the boat out of the way and pulled back on the lead…..choked.

It was solid with weed, walking backwards up the bank and then winding myself to the front to get it moving did the job, I didn’t have to drop the lead twice to know it was gonna be thick weed but I did it anyway and after some thought I decided as the fizzing was so localised I would rake it 5-7 times and place 2 rods in it later on that night.

I removed a lot of weed but I wasn’t trying to make it clear, I just wanted to break it up a bit, however it was clear enough for me to pop a marker float up in the zone and I walked round to pop about 7 handfuls of crumb over the fence. 

I left the lake about 11:30 to run some errands, grabbed some food and I was back about 4pm.  The swim was free, hallelujah!

'One discreet presentation and one obvious'

I had a bit of time that day to think about how I was gonna fish the zone, it was a corner swim so I assumed the fish would visit the spot from the right hand side and with it being a new lake I was still finding my feet and testing what does and doesn’t work so….

I was gonna fish one discreet presentation and one obvious and I would set the rods so that the discreet hook bait would be on the right hand side (so technically I thought it would be the first bait the fish would come in contact with) then I would have the more obvious presentation on the Left hand side of the spot on the off chance I was overthinking it so I felt like I had all bases pretty covered.

The obvious rig was a yellow pop up on a chod with the bead pushed all the way up fairly certain in those conditions that it would be presented, classic weed fishing setup.

The other (because I was convinced these carp weren’t daft) was a bottom bait on a flipper rig with 10”s of uncoated braid with the bead pushed down and then I wrapped the hook bait and the lead in paste 

Now whatever the fish were feeding on that morning was right in there and that’s why I thought this wouldn’t be a bad bet but on the off chance I got it wrong I had a pop up on a chod waiting for them on the far side of the spot. 

 

'lovely big scales in a row down her flank'

Just after midnight the rod has let out 3 consistent bleeps in quick succession and by the 4th I was at the rod and was connected to a slow nodding creature, I could feel a bit of weed grating on the line but you can’t get round that fishing that lake, its a very rich old water.

I kept pulling back and she kept coming and as she got closer to the bank she had a couple of powerful turns but otherwise was well behaved and slid into the net.

I wet the retainer, zero’d the scales and readied the cradle, when I uncovered her I was met with these lovely big scales in a row down her flank, she weighed 32lb and was just typical of some of the lovely mirrors that swum around in that lake. I shot a bit of footage and lowered her back into the margin, she didn’t hang about as soon as that retainer was opened so swam off not too happy with herself at all.

 

GAPS Lin - 32lb02oz - Paste Wrapped Bottom Bait in Weed

 

'Back yourself but have a back plan just in case.'

I was overjoyed with the capture of that one, no less because it was by design, it demonstrated to me that if I made the right choices I could catch these fish and when I sat there and thought about after the haze of the buzz had warn off, it dawned on me it was the bottom bait wrapped in paste rod that had gone out with zero drop, it really must have been just hanging up in the weed and I really mean that.

The whole area was choked in weed and if I obsessively tried to find a spot I would have ended up completely away from where the action was.

It was a science experiment, to feel these fish out and see if it needed that level of meticulousness, needless to say the chod didn’t even have a bleep and if I had gone in with conventional tactics on both rods I really feel I would have blanked.

Disclaimer: Now would I do that again given a similar situation?… maybe. Would I do it every time? Absolutely not. It depends on the lake, the stock etc but ultimately you need to feel confident, the match the hatch bottom bait in the weed is what I felt confident in at the time and if there is a small doubt that you think you’re nuts like I often do then hedge your bets on your 2nd rod.

I think the takeaway from this is back yourself but have a back plan just in case.