Well, to be honest, I've had such a lousy Winter, 5 fish between 18/11/2005 and 29/4/2006 , that there was nothing, from my point of view anyway, that would be of interest any sane
carp angler, but then I thought, carp anglers are insane , they'll love this load of misery .

(PLEASE BE AWARE, ALL MY FISHING, DUE TO FAMILY COMMITMENTS IS LIMITED TO BETWEEN 9.00 AND 4.30 ON SATURDAYS, APPX 7 HOURS A WEEK !!!! BETWEEN JANUARY 2005 AND NOV 2005 98 FISH CAUGHT, AVERAGE WEIGHT 12LB 3.5OZ), SOME BLANKS BUT ALSO 4/5 FISH SOME SESSIONS !!!!)

November 19th 2005

According to diary arrived at water 9.15, having collected wife, a night nurse, from workand delivered her home.
Mild sunny day, got The Beach at Northern end of lake, a ex-Trout fishery I've been fishing on and off for 13 years. I have to say here that up to November I could'nt do anything wrong , using a bait formulation originally given to me by Peter B (Wonder Baits) which REALLY has been working well, (Big thanks To Mr B), string of fish to 19lb 7oz, (min was about 13lb).

(Sorry 'bout this but a bit of history is in order here....these fish were stocked 13 years ago,when my lad, who was 9 at the time, and I started fishing it was here, we went from roach, tench
etc to carp, in those days a 3lb fish was a GOOD fish, now they're originals, AND, they've grown on.)

Anyway, much moving of rods around the open water in front of me, I'm a busy carper, dont believe in waiting for fish to find my hook, I eventually had a run at 2.47, from left hand rod placed on end of a well known gravel bar. Eventually landed a nice 19lb 7oz Common, the piccy's dont do it justice, taken by only person available and he was too far back, got lake and sky in picture, you know what I mean .

Recast to more or less same spot, 20 minute later off it goes again, result, another Common of BANG ON 18LBS.

As I said I've had a poor Winter and film has only just been developed and to say I'm disapointed with the shots is a bit of an understatment, especially as the larger Common is currently a
personal best for the type .

FISHED EVERY WEEKEND BETWEEN NOVEMBER AND NEXT DATE BUT NOTHING CAUGHT

February 25rd 2006

Arrived at lake usual sort of time, cold day, over cast. One fish, and that was foul hooked, a 9lb 2oz Common. Worked hard for fish, angling out of an unfavoured swim, however, Matt, the bailiff, had suggested that instead of dropping into same old swim, well same old one of a choice of three which I favour, that I try something different. A kilo of boilies cattied to various spots had not produced so much as bleep, 2 pole anglers, who i know to be good fishermen, stopped for a chat and said how dead it was, to be honest I expected a fish kill come April, but I'll come to that later.
The only thing really achieved was perhaps throwing bait at fish that were'nt interested, but may be at later date

March 25th.

One fish a 16lb 1oz Mirror, not a lot to really say about this one, other than that I had to work my nuts off for it, which did make it really satisfying, especially when you see all the 2 rod set ups sitting there doing nothing between having been chucked out and wound in to go home, those people go home say they caught 'owt, but they sit inside bivvy and do bugger all, dont even watch water, and I'm NOT a good angler by a long shot, but 1/2 of it is locating fish

April 22th

21lb 6oz Mirror , waiting for pictures, caught from open water whiuch was not recieving any pressure, single high attract, home made, Squid/Octopus boilie dbeing said fishes down fall.
I know the swim extremeley well, it usually fishes best your side of a gravel bar about 4 rod lengths out, although most carpers seem to think it fishes better 60 yds out, dont know why, must be one of the unwritten laws of carping on my lake 'DO NOT FISH THE MARGINS', (well nobody else does, other than the float anglers, and they're not intentionally targeting carp in't margins ).

May 13th

No fishing last week, wife decided she was fed up with local curry house and we both went off to India for 7 days, yeah, 7 days...bit of an experiance , Taj Mahal is not what it's cracked up to be, IMHO, but the currys.....BEUTIFUL.

Back to the angling, I've got the bait going in big time now, 1.5K's a week I turn up and get same swim 21b 6oz came out of, only its not fishing very well, despite moving rods, baiting
up different spots etc. Anyway, as I've said, I'm not a lazy angler and spend a lot of time watching the water,and, as you do, walking around looking for fish to stalk or whatever, well, the 2 swims to my right are unoccupied, 2nd swim is appx 3 rods lenths away, and to the right of it is an over hanging bush,I happen to look and see a large common roll, without breaking the surface, under the bush.
Well, nods as good as wink, well worth a bit of bait, so I walk round., or along, the bank, and put 15 crumbed and 10 whole boilies
under said bush.
Retie rig using a long hair to accomodate bait and a nugget of foam, as I know from previous unsucessful attempts to fish under bush theres branches roots etc to contend with, and cast out, bang on the money first cast, and put kettle on. 2 hours later nothing, so more boilies, I have noted that bugger all is being caught round lake, and theres a good few anglers, note I did'nt say a few good anglers , on lake and not many free swims.
Eventually start getting liners from rod under bush, then it's awayyyyyyyyy, STRIKE, only to hit nothing but rig and lead come in with a branch attached.
I miscast back to bush, everything ends up in another bush, so I have to go round and sort it out, WITHOUT causing upset in the water as the spot is literally no more than 18''inches straight out from bank, although it is about an 18 foot cast from swim I'm fishing it from.
Eventually sort it and manually toss rig and lead onto spot, although I have to say I was not too happy with its position, eventually pulling it back about a foot.

About 1/2 hour later it's away again, now, my personal best is now 24lb odd, BUT I've never had a fish pull the way that pulled,other than a Cat of 16lbs. After 20 minutes of it pulling and me pulling I bullied it too much and the hook pulled, never did get to see it.

I immidiatley recast to spot, no good crying over spilt carp, and 45 seconds later, had'nt even clipped up or put alarm on, and rod is away again,who said the margins were no good on this lake?, in about 5 minutes I've bundled a nice 16.5lb mirror into the net.

How big was the other fish, no idea, but there is (was) a 28lber in lake, but there was a kill 18 months or so ago and the survivors are deffo piling on weight, since April 1st 2006 there have been 8 different scraper 20T's out, last season the best fish were a couple of sraper 20T's...it looks as if it might be good season after all

Saturday 21/5/2006

Having kitchen done,ceiling to emulsion, pimtwork to finish prepping, dog to poodle parlour, unused travellers cheques to bank....in a word....no day session, BUT, did manage to arrange Saturday night, first night for nearly 2 years.

Bit low on bait, so quick trip into town to drop off dog, into bank and then a detour to Lesly's...couple of packs of ESPS size 6 Raptor Teflon Long Shanks....they've got a lovely BIG eye ,compared to standard Raptors, should be good for tying up 25lb ESP stiffies , 1lb odd of lead and £20 lighter headed home.

Rolled up a 15 egg mix and got into into freezer, looking at weather, drizzling and overcast I'm in two minds(schizo, must leave the greens alone )wether to bother going, BUT loaded all the gear into car anyway at about 6.00.

Dropped her at hospital and got lake land bounds, 15 minutes up motorway from L&D Hospital, arriving at 7.05. No bailiff and quite a few cars in park, but closing is 8.00 and I know there a 7 other angles on tonight.
Cop Ruck out of motor and plod off up towards middle lake, deciding to fish Motorway bank as eveyone is facing the motorway, I've got about 90 yard of bank I can fish and I'm in the swim with the overhanging bush

First get rods out, quickly set up and put rod under bush, leaving rod on platform with a really loose clutch while I sort out gear on barrow and get some feed in around tge hook bait. No breeze and lake is flat dead calm, fish heaving and splashing evey where but only silver fish, one odd carp crashes raher more than 1/2 way acx lake, i can easily get a bait to it but dont know where t they've got their rods opposite, but I cam make educated guesses as 2 of them are sitting under umbrellas, and the next morning I realised I could have dropped one the their side of the island with no problems

11.00 all activity and banter dies and bivvy lights are out oppsite, I'm still watching water, with M1 behind me the lights make for excellent vision, even better from opposite bank, but not a lot going on, I've set extension box up earlier so as not wake everyone up (wishfull thinking ) and decide to move rod under bush, cant believe where it drops, absolutley blinding cast considering I'm using a head torch to sight on bush and lead drops perfectly under bush, previously it was in fron, my side of bush rather than under it.

Daughter got me a sleeping bag for chritmas, bless her, and thewife one of those self inflating mattresses, as I've said in other posts I sleep on the deck, BUT I am now giving this serious reconsideration.

Said bag is one of those tapered, skin hugging mountainering types, and could I get into it properly, could I feck, the main problem being I having my first migraine attack for years , all I wanted to do was sleep, but I could'nt get comforable in the bag, I had a rolled up poncho type thing as a pillow which was annoying me cause it was hairy, and nothing else felt right....I had a really miserable night, even the beeps I was getting from thye sounder box were excrutiating and entireley UNWELCOME, I could'nt leave either 'cause gates locked up, and to be honest I was that naff I dont think I could have driven anyway.

I came to, operative word although I did'nt feel as if I'd slept, but a least head ache hasd abated, (note:must pack some respectible pain killers), checked right hand rod, the one repostd in dark and reeled into refresh bait, fantatic chuck my ar*e, lead and bait are in water, line is hanging over a twig, I pull and it comes over and away, the beeps must have been branch moving , and recast it.

Start packing up and am away by 7.05, 8 anglers on lake and not one fish landed, we must all be doing some thing wrong, well they are, I'm not

The floor , get a bedchair dan.

29/5
No fishing was planned for Saturday, and as it turned out did'nt go Sunday either. Be Blo**y glad when the kitchen is finished, saved £80 by taking all old units apart and taking them to dump, funny innit, these women moan about the state of the car and the fishy smell but dont give a monkies when the mess is because it's caused by something they want you to do...funny that

Did get down Sunday, arriving just after 8.00, alarm clock did'nt go off as planned at 6.45, Andy was just packing up after 2 nights, he's lost one fish, landed another of 17lb odd about 1.00 Sunday morning. A bit of update from him on lake ensued it turns out Wayne, another fishing aquaitance, had fished through from Wednesday ( 2 fish first night, inc a 23lb7oz) and even he eventually packed up Saturday afternoon, instead of Monday, after catching nothing else.

I thought this looks good, bloody right it was good...the heavens opend 4 times, including hail stones twice, it got that cold you could see your breath and sods law I had'nt got thermals on, hey this is Bank Holiday Monday 29th of May, WHAT is wrong with the weather, and Global Warming it aint well miserable ALL DAY !!!!.

Could have fished till 8.00 in evening, but by 5.00 had had more than enough of the vagries in climate, oh, and the only run I had, which was the icing on the cake for a real excretement day, was when a young lad, fishing with his dad a couple of swims down, picked up my line, but that was my fault .

Roll on next week, it can only get better, cant it ?

3/5 AM

Arrive at lake, 2 - 3 18+ fish over bait in margins, thats it, go home

3/5 PM

Take Mrs to work, go home, do this, do that, this flaming kitchen make over, while it's starting to LOOK GOOD, is starting to poiss me off, you try living out of cardboard boxes containing stuff...HP Sauce that used to reside in a cupboard, and now cant be found.

The lake owner likes 24hrs notice for nights, but stuff it, reload kit back in car and head off into the sunset, it 8.15, anyway, after sweet talking her with ''I know you normally need 24 hrs etc''she allows me to dangle.

Swim I fished earlier in day is occupied by a couple of youngsters with deckchairs, no bivvies, AND I thought I was travelling light ,so I set up on opposite side of lake, facing the M1 motorway. Nothing happens until 4.15, when a crashing fish wakes me up, in fact my thoughts were the same as those of the Mayor of Hiroshima....''WHAT THE F**K'' it was literally 12'' from me !!!

Pull rod in from island, reput the rod down margin where fish are thrashing and crashing. No more sleep, no fish, and off lake for 7.00 to pick the good lady up from work.

2K's of bait and all the buggers are interested in is getting their fin over

Actually, the only thing that makes these blanks bearable is the fact were all blankers on there at the moment

Further to above, ALL the fish fornicating in the margins were in the 7-10lb range, where do all the bigger fish pawn, anyone else noticed this ? - theres me thinking all the fih are now over 16lb and they are'nt.....at least I'm not cating the smaller ones, or anything else conme to that

http://www.bedworld.net/?gclid=CMve7e_5roUCFR1tFQodJRUV8A

Saturday 10/6

Thought I'll have lake to myself, was'nt far wrong either , all at home waiting to watch England, WHAT is it about the World Cup that suddenly makes EVERYONE patriotic ?, it's only a game AND it does'nt bring the UK any prestige as such. Dont get me wrong, I'll watch the final if England get through, but other than that, it's just another set of games, and talking of patriotism, it's not going to make the current shower of shite in Westminster change their minds about Iraq, immigration, Casinos, 2 Shags, the Wicked Witch etc etc etc, and come to that Wembly's going nowhere fast as well
(Anyway, bait out, lets see who bites hardest )

Baitwise only took a couple of tubs of Pineapple PU's and some floater cake made Friday night. As I wrote this out Sunday, then lost the lot I'm keeping this short....1 8lb Common that scrapped like a Mother Fukka, and I mean SERIOUSLY scrapped, had it on for 10 minutes before it was under rod tip, then it spent another 10 minutes charging up and down in front of the platform like linford Christie on speed, most disillusioned when it was finally netted, in fact some what embarrased as there were 2 lads behind watching, they even suggested I up the BS of my line, and I'm on 12lb...

Nothing else caught, just the sun

Scenario a bit like last week, except as had no bait got up at 6.00am and rolled up an 8 egg mix, could'nt be fresher, BUT no enzymes added and did'nt freeze.

Lake at 9.00, set up in favorite swim, rods out, 2.15 pm right hand rod goes of usual time , and 30 seconds later falls off , 2 hours later go home as no further action, caught a lovely bronze though, Mrs said I looked like a old prune, jeoulous or what

Monday Evening 19/6/2006

Escaped or 4 hours, lousy evening, rained, 2 fish, a 4.5Lb Tench and an 11lb Common.....

Saturday 24/6/2006

I think someone's nicked all the fish, been loadsa foreign looking/sounding people on lake latley, more suited to Chinese/Indian/Latvian takeaway products than angling, and no, I'm not joking, perfectly serious, even been some dreadlocked Rasta's(GREAT GUYS)coming up from Brent.

Then again, it COULD be the bait, the rig, the hooks, whatever, he, THE MANAGER is absolutley right....Carp fishing does suck, but to that I would add, just occasionally .

You'll have gathered theres a lot of blanking going on, nothing but a load ofblankers where I am at the moment

Tuesday 27/6/2006

Had someone in to Cav Wall Ins...they were gone by 11.00 so as I had booked day off, and with her in doors having given permission
I went off fishing.

Perfect blank


Thursday 29/6

6.00 to 8.30 evening session, must be doing something to keep her indoors sweet, buggered if i know and she wont tell me .

One carp rod out and set up a float rod ,first time for years, bit of mucking about getting shot pattern and depth right, BUT had a lovely net of roach, 15 in total and all over a 1Lb, best was 1Lb 7oz

Saturday 1/7/2006


Arrived bank side 9.05. car park empty, they're all staying away to watch grown men kick a bag of air about .

Anyway I decided to fish a different swim, as despite pre baiting for weeks the other spot has not kicked off as expected.
So, one rod close to island margin under over hanging branches, not many anglers fish this spot as its awkward to cast to, but if you march the lead up to the spot, clipping up each time, it's a piece of pease, this spot ALWAYS produces, usually later rather than sooner, but left alone ts normmally a banker rod.

Left rod to clear water just off left hand point of island, sat it there till about one o'clock, then started to chuck it around the lake, pulling back for clear spots.

Found one, a clear spot that is, 15 minutes later bite alarm starts singing, nice 17Lb 9oz leather, rebait, as hooker has come off, chuck it out again, tight line but we have a wet thud, rather than a donk, pull it back, find gravel but I'm not happy with spot, line angle is different a like a pratt I have'nt used an aiming point to cast at, but leave it where it is for 30 minutes

Bring rod in to reposition it, 5 chucks later, find spot again, all fish probably headed down to other end of lake by now, 5oz lead dropping on them repeatedly, but no, less than 5 minutes later I'm away again, a pristine 15lb 2oz common, one of them from last year no doubt .

I'm buzzing now, REALLY buzzing, 2 fish in about 25 minutes, and I've only had 7 upto now all year, NOT season....carp that is. Chuck rod out again, bait is OK, AND I've got my mark on the opposite bank now, lead drops near as dammit not to matter, but I give a little pull back, flipping heck, rod under island bush goes off on a one toner, drop, sorry place rod in alarm and go to see to screaming alarm, got to be a little pup, 5 minutes later it is, a nice little 8lb linear.

Things slow down a bit at this point, it's 3.30, and I'm looking at packing up, when long rod is away again, a little while later lovely 15lb 13oz ghostie is on the matt, I've just sent it home when island rod is away again

Nothing special this time, a 9lb odd mirror, but what a day....7 fish from January and then a steaming hot day when you REALLY would expect them to come out on floaters, but they are'nt and then I go AND I take my years tally to 12 fish......bloody hell, I MUST be ready for Horton and Wraysbury

Wednesday 5/7/2006

Getting ready for work, said to Mrs Ok if I angling straight after work, ''Yes, you sorry sod'', Oh frabjous joy , she does'nt go ANYWHERE near water containing fish .

Gear in car, off to work wearing a BIG shite eating grin, Goid the day went slowly, THEN it started to precipitate(pisssed down) about 4.30 as I'm ready to leave office...

Well, I got to a swim, not a specific one I'd selected before arriving, but one selected to suit the conditions, ie I could get the profile into it as it was cats and dogs .
Really peed at myself, left glasses/fags/papers in car, long hike back to park, so put rods and bait out and went on a 700 yds dash to collect said items, should have taken soap as well, nice warm shower, NOT.

All sorted by 6.00, very little happening, one (long) rod on spot, but from a different angle, that produced Saturdays fish, alas it did'nt happen this time, other than a 1lb 11 oz Roach on a 14mm boilie, thought I had a Bream...nice fish though .

7.05 short rod to island is away, nice Common of about 12lb. Unhook, rod bachk out, 30 baits around hooker, I also dip baits in Ritchworth Crab and Mussel....7/19, I timed it as it was such a quick pickup, another common, a bit bigger than previous fish, not being blase, but I dont weigh, or photograph,fish anymore unless they feel and look bigger than what I consider average, about 16lbs.

Rod back out, another couple of pouches of boilies, WELL spread about the area the fish are coming from, rather than concentrated around the hooker, 7.25 its away again, another common about 16lb.

Put on a fresh bait, out it goes with a 5 bait stinger, no other freebiies as initially baited up with just over a 1lb of boilies, 7.45 same rod a prvious 3 fish is away again, now this is more like it , 8.03 and a VERY nice Common in net, this one I do weigh....18lb 3oz, and sod it, the battery's in the digital are dead AND BIOLOX I dont have back up
Cannon Ixus with me, one of reasons no pictures is I cant get flat bed scanner to function properly, and I've yet to catch anything to take a snap of with the digital .

In 2 sessions I've now caught 9 fish and landed 8, thats more than the whole season from January up to last Saturday only 5 fish .

Wonder how I'll do when I get sponsored and get a GOOD bait

8/7 Saturday

24 hours match on main lake, due to family commitments could'nt enter, £35 entry inc Evening meal and breakfastand £140 for biggest weight...14 pegger only.

Managed to escape and go fishing in afternoon, arrived bank side at 3.00, there was a spare peg, but did'nt fancy it, also not just Carp, it turned out to be weight of WHATEVER you caught, at least 4 guys fishing it match style AND 2 carp rods out, thought bugger it, I'l lfish top lake, place ABSOLUTLEY RAMMED ,can tell the WC has finished .

Hooked 3, landed one, fishing just over the edge og the platform, rolling mini boilies and pellets over the edge after I saw a fish mooching around under said platform, nice common of 9Lb odd in the net and that was it...I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies.

Oh yes, while looking under over hanging bushes ajacent to platform, which I was'nt sitting on, well back so I coulsd see under it, noticed what I thought was one of those bungee lines that fish thieves use, hauled it in, it's a crayfish trap, about 16 of the feckers in it, did'nt know there were crays in lakes, spoke to bailiff about it later, these are a recent addition to the original pond life, I've fished on and off there for 13 years, first one's I've seen. now I know theres beemn comments about pan frying them with chilli but what about converting them into scampi...do you boil then fry the tails, cut into pices and bread crumbed, or do crumb the tails ,cut into pieces and fry them to cook ?..answers on a post card please 'cause I love scampi, crayfish tails are'nt bad either but I've only had the ready prepared ones...

Nothing to report viz

Saturday 15/7/2006

The anticipation of catching bugger all (again) was not in vain. Another Saturday spent baiting up, sun bathing and generally giving myself and the kit an airing

Saturday 22/7/2006

Repeat of previous weekend...if anything a damn sight hotter..whats the melting point of Garner GR60 in 12Lb , well not quite true...3 runs, one fell off, one cut off, a cut off on this lake ?????? and landed a fish of about 6lbs, I suppose I should be grateful for small mercies. After cutoff put on 12' of ESP braided shock leader, but no runs to say it sorted problem out.

Sunday 30/7/2006

After a bit of a chinwag with pete, had a dig aroung in the garage, bait factory car never goes in it , and found a few ounces of a Haiths product, enough to bolster a 15 egg mix which I put tograther Saturday night...just over 2K's of boilies.

(Yeah I know, I dont do Sundays, but she who must be obeyed had an invite to event I was'nt wanted at so I'd collared a whole day upfront...7.00am to 9.00pm .)

At lake a 7.00, even Matt, the bailiff, commented on my early arrival, but more to the point, got in the swim I've been baiting hard for 8 weeks odd now, but it's so open...feeding little and often all through session, that the numpties who predominate dont realise what you're doing, but then I have'nt been catching from it either, however methinks there'll be fights for said swim in future , but I digress.

Set up gear, go for a walk-a-bout as there's guys on who've done the night, as it turns out it's been very quiet, Lee the trumpet maker, seriously thats what he does for a living and his M8, the baiting king () have been on since Criday, I'd have gone home a while ago and not doing very well at all.

Back to the plot,swim to you and me, and appx 50 assorted boilies go under the over hanging bush I've mentioned previoulsy, by assorted I.m referring to baits with slightly different base makeup, and also different enzyme levels...one mushes quickly, the other more slowly so the fish get something to nosebag on. It's 8.30 by the time I'm sorted out and the liners/false alarms start almost immidiatley, by 9.15 I'm hacked off so, out comes the rod and I tie up a fresh stiffie, but as a longer hooklink, back out it goes...15 minutes later its awaaaaayyyyy...lovely looking appx 15lb mirror, well worth a picture it's such a pretty fish, I get a photogrpher lined up and then cant find the bloody battey's for the camera. I dont know if I have a fault but batteys dont last that long in this camera, ah correction, I'm catching or have caught so few fish this year, the batterys have been dead on me twice. O, after fish is put back hoome and everyone has returned to their swims carried on their walks around lake I eventually find the batterys in a Tupperware box containh tubes of coffee and sugar ., well at least camera is up and running.

More boilies under the bush, also put other rod out on a bar at about 15 yds, this the place I got cut off on last week, this rod does nothing, despite moving it about, until about 3.oo when I do a bit of marker work, find a nice little spot, catty 50 boilies out and await results.

The bush rod produces 5 fish at about 1 hourly intervals, BUT, I.ve had to pile bait in to achieve this, and also modify postitioning of the hook bait, it's not actually 'under' the bush ,but from ax the lake I'm told it looks as if it is .

The bar gives up 3 fish at around 4.00 and deffo 5.15 then 6.00, all commons, one with very odd markings,it's the only fish I bothered snapping, I'll post it later, unfortunatley the lad who took the snap aint done a very good job

So, I've ONLY packed up at 7.30 because I've run out of bait, but I'm hungry/tired and more to the point, I've had the best days fishing all year/season, NO ONE else has had a carp, well at least not by design, if you dig,I've ended up with 8 fish, not weighed any as, without being blase, they have to LOOK bigger than previously caught fish otherwise I just put them back, smallest around 9lb best probably the first mirror which I estimate at 14lb, but I like to err on the side of caution weight wise.

Well, one thing I MUST comment on, the Century FS is a GREAT fish playing rod, for those of you who've been giving them consideration, this is the first protracted opportunity since I bought them to be able to comment, other than that they chuck a long way

Reading Dazzles Blogg, nice fish M8 , and realised I needed to update mine. Lifes been bad to me since April so I have'nt posted, although I've been out angling, as it would have reflected in my ramblings these being personal posts .

Anyway, I'm always going to miss me Dad who we lost in April and being made redundant at the end of August after 41 years service, although the icing on the cake, is'nt that bad , especially as I've now got another job and with my previous company's pension I'm actually better off .

I've mentioned in the Ultimate Nutrition thread regarding the 19 fish caught in an afternoons session so moving on, I've been back 3 times since, and have to say days like that dont come very often, do they , the scores since have been 1 fish, 0 fish and yesterday, 3 fish.

Saturday 23/9/2006

Rolled up a 15 egg mix, Fridaqy night, of PeteB specials, well old specials as mine is Petes previous pre Ultimate recipe, and left unfrozen, still have'nt got them to go mushy Pete, they're just a baarstard to roll if I overload the enzymes ..

Arriving at water at 8.30 odd, humid overcast day, which by about 10.00 had turned into a scorcher. As the swim I favour was occupied I fished the swim I would normally cast into, I'm facing the sun, the breeze is pushing the ripple towards me, fish are showing EVERYWHERE , within 3 rods lenths of bank , OK, one rod under marginal overhanging bush, you know the one , and the other rods goes out on a roving commision....do I catch anything, do I fcuk , nothing apart from the sun anyway.

12.30ish, I.m getting bored and looking to move swims, BUT there are a good few pleasure fishermen, (and more than a few carpers.....baking sun but the bivvies are up, barrows parked, one guy even had a 'Sky' pod...enough gear to go on a safari for a fortnight....and I'm not being derogatory, if you're there for a day, on a day like Saturday was, you cant move swims, easily, with all that gear , and they're not there for a weekend session) when I realise the best swim on the lake has become free, I must have been asleep

I've moved rods, sticks and ruck in 2 minutes, and I'm reset up and angling to my known spots in 5 minutes, which an hour later have decided to be 'were' known spots , so I decide to pull rods in and cast to showing fish. The breeze is'nt constant, and the lake is periodically going dead falt calm, so the rods are placed on regular 'bubblers', still no joy and it's getting on for 2.00, then a fish, a good one, crashes out, rod in, rod out, bang on the money and follow through with 40 baits well spread around spot.
Crash, another fish shows, no more than 2 rod lenths from bank(sorry platform ) to right rod. This rod comes in and out(sexy)again with a couple of handfulls of boilies sprinkled, individually,over the top.

Sit back, kettle on, do a brew, it's now 3.15 when the right hand rod goes off, a slow steady run, pick up rod and bend into it, it's been on for 5 minutes when the left hand rod goes of, a one noter with fish going to hell for leather for the other side of the lake.

Put rod I'm playing with in sticks, hit the other rod, now this feels a better fish , by now I've got a gallery, and I'm asked 'do you want me to play the other fish', I reply 'naw, you go and catch your own', but what came out was 'no thanks m8'. I've netted the 'better' fish, which has turned into a 7lb common and proceed to deal with the other one, which is the better fish, a common of 14.10oz.

The geezer who's offerd to help meanwhile is asking me questions about lead sizes, rigs, line etc, but as I was playing the other fish did'nt take a lot of notice.

Now I try to be different, VERY different, to what everyone else does, to the point that when I catch a fish I'll always unhook it in net, on this particular fishery, and drop the rig etc into the water so an audience cant see what you're doing. This guy had wound the rod in, and short of taking a photograph knew about, unfortunatley, at least one rig I've been playing with, impressed I was not, I asked him if he always did that, very very sheepish young man, the silly barrstard'll go and show all his M8's and another edge goes before you've had time to reap the full potential.

I,ve got a brace of commons, although not big, they look SO GOOD togeather, and then my effing digital has eaten it's batteries again , so the fish go back unphotographed.

Just then a guy, turns out to be John Hunt of Fox International, who has come round from other side of lake to help, both with fish and photographs, he bought his camera, turns up. We end up having a really good chank, turns out he's just got back from Salagou, his advice was dont go, after the outcry in the press and on angling sites dont think people will go now. Anywat, cheers for the assist M8, and dont forget to tell Mark (Bird)you saw me .

The end of this saga occured as I was packing up at 4.00, all kits away apart from one rod, which goes off, so at last knockings I pick up one more fish. a common of 11lb 3oz....nice day, in fact a VERY nice day taking the brace into account, one of those times when size is.nt everything, especially when there are 16 people on the opposite bank who are'nt catching and can see whats happening...that old cry of ''the fokkers got another one'' are starting again

Tight Lines

Sunday 22/10/2006

Had to give it all a miss due to family commitments over the last 2/3 weeks, especially a wedding in Worthing last week, stayed down overnight, at breakfast in dining room the next morning, Sunday, were looking across the road at beach, absolutley stunning morning so we went up to Brighton and caught a few rays on the beach there, in the middle of October

Anyway, managed to get down to water early yesterday, Saturday, only 4 cars in park, excellent, humped ruck round to swim I had decided on to find it taken, 20 swims on that bank as well , and on the other side of the lake couple of cousins of the Three Toners, noisy bloody sods, everytime I dozed off them piddling about with their alarms woke me up, talk about inconsiderate .

One rod to back of island, the other straight out in front. Bit restricted due to M8T in next swim but he was putting feeders out (depth charging with bricks more like) about 3 rods lenghts however with a bit of care I was able to hit the spot without crossing in front of him.

Nice Southerley breeze and I did consider moving and fishing into it, but on going fish hunting decided it was bit too cool for the fish to have moved on it, could'nt find any under the over hanging shrubbery etc anyway, so decided to stay put.

11.00 ABSOLUTLE screamer, first blood on the new alarms, treated myself to a pair of Stevie Nevilles on Friday, I'm still not sure on them appearance wise and a proper volume control would be nice, while Delkims were considered I decided it was a lot of dosh for alarms, what I do like about the Nevilles is the fact they're built so they're waterproof, against rain, which is/was an irritant with the GFM alarms .

Anyway I digress, this fish has gone full bore to the left and a couple of anglers have now set up two swims down, so I'm giving it loads of side trying to turn it, I'm thinking christ this has got to be huge, its staying deep and pulling like a barrstard, I'm worrying about hook pulling and also after about 10 minutes of tooing and frowing also thinking it's got to be a catfish when a voice from down the bank shouts

'LET YOUR CLUTCH OFF M8 .

Eventually same voice yells I can reel in now which I do. On going two swims down to my left old boy has a 6lb 3oz Tench in the net, now he's fishing straight out in front of his swim, our end tackle, relative to each other is about 20 yards apart, how the fcuk did that fish pick up my line , he reckoned it kited right to start with, but boy, that was a scrap and a half .


Meanwhile I've also been watching South end of lake, which is'nt getting the breeze full on and looks relatively calm compared to the chop being wind generated up where I am and, just when I finally decide to move for the last couple of hours, 3 lads turn up and bivvy up on the beach I looking at, so there went that option.

At 3.00, I decide to pack up as I'm getting bored. Walking back to carpark I pass the 3 lads who moved in about an hour previosly, bugger me, one of them has a high double on the mat . knew I should have moved, next time I'll trust my instincts, however, it has given me further insight on where to fish in given weather/wind conditions, a blank day fish wise, another piece in the puzzle fish location wise for the water

Captains Blogg 28/10/20006

No fishing, ventured where nobodies ventured before....Bluewater in deepest Kent...with her in (out) of doors. A quick in and out (they were playing Hold on I'm coming in Virgin Records)and back through the tunnel for a drag round Thurrock...every cloud has a silver lining ,so what did I get well I came back with...2 K's of Australian liquorice from Lakeland...if you like liquorice this IS THE ONE to get...it knocks eveything else into a cock hat , and 3*1.5K tins of Cadburys Miniture Hero's, on special in Woolies (thats my constipation AND the wife and kids Christmas sorted ).

Sunday 29/10/2006

NOW I know why I go fishing, 'cause I did'nt go Sunday either, daughter and har partner round for Sunday roast, my treat as, and even the wife admits this, I do a better roast than she does, aint it nice, after a couple of beers, a bottle of wine and coffees and every one compliments the chef on the dinner....still rather have been out angling though as I also did lawns, and washed car...bloody hell and they say s womans work is never done !!!!

Today

Into car park, 10.00, shopping at Tesco took priority, anyway someone came and started chanking to me in the car park, so by time I'd sussed a swim it was 10.20, and in next swim is hoodie all sprawled out in a chair, its James, another regular in disguise

Another chinwag ensues, dont time fly, I've still got to go and get rods !!!. Get them sorted in the end first rod on end of island poulded out 30 odd boilies, the right hand rod two swims down my right margin, just on the edge of the branches sweeping the water, walked down and put 20 flattened feeders arond the area, creates less splash and they butterfly down.

Beautiful day, suns shining and its frosty, excellent. In the bush next to me theres a bird that cant keep still, and I keep hearing splashes, peering round bush, tree really, theres a king fisher snaffling fry out, could'nt see well enough to see what it caught.

About 2.00 the lads next door pack up so I move left rod on to other end of island, 30/40 bioilies in the area and sit back, getting liners so I pull it back, eventually having to rechuck, in doing so a large fish back out of water, level more down than we think, makes off, well that the chance gone

2.30 left hand Nevs screaming a one noter, and against a tight clutch but the bobbins not moving Picked up and struck, at fresh air, start winding in and theres resistance, rod tip pulls round and fish is going left and kiting in at a rate of knots, I've let the clutch off, phew. Does'nt want to come in, two lads on beach opposite have got bored of spectating and are fishing again.

Really pulling under rod tip, it must have made 15 runs, getting weaker, just like my arms, in the net first time, hooked in middle of lower lip, remove hook and hoist fish onto mat, open net, NICE, I knew was a Koi but they look so much better with bodies having that orange hue, and it went 16lb and no to do a piccy, not a best, well Koi wise yes, but a good looking goldfish

Pete B..The bait seemed to work better having taken it out of the freezer Thursday, left in airing cupboard, only a Ki, and it started softening nicley but stil ok to catty out.

I was''nt in swim I particularly favour, although it does have its days, and two lads previously mention on the beach were where I had intended setting up, it covers a lot water and the fish favour it on cold sunny days as its shallower water, but I can tell you they cuaght sweet fanny adams

SUNDAY 12/11/2006

Dont normally do Sundays, but wife worked last night, bandaging the beaten up, the drunks and the odd car accident victim in A&E, she was'nt happy as she's not normally in there AND its a dangerous place for nurses, with all the drunks .

Anyway I'd rolled my bait in 12.00mm this week, instead of the uaual 16.00mm, (only 'cause I'm tight and you get more boilies from the mix at the smaller size ), arriving at lake pretty deserted so yomped up North to top end of lake, which not olny catching the sun was alsao sheltered from the light breeze.

Caught naff all, and a change of direction meant the breeze was coming at me, surprising how cold it got, actually packed up at 2.00 as I was bored

Saturday 18/11/2006

I was'nt going to post this, but what the hell, real parkie day on the bank, after much casting and moving of end rigs I finally cught a fish.....the smallest flaming common in the lake.....all of 1lb 9ozs , after some of the fish kills, 3 in 7 years, it's nice to know the fish are spawning, well we knew that , it's wether any were actually growing on, now we know as there has'nt been a restocking in 5 years, and the last one was with roach.

No the main reason I posted was that I had a guy I mentioned previously come down, James, for a social. He was moaning about havingbeen smelling of curry all week, his car, his bed, his parents have been commenting as well , last week I was glugging hook baits in Hutchy's Secret Agent, and told J to rub a bit on his hand and smell it, PHEWWWWWW he went, taht smells foooking terrible, as he wiped it off with a bit of tissue. I forgot to tell him you need to wash your hands IMMIDIATLEY with that stuff or you stink for weeks, and I mean at least 2 weeks till it wares off, it gets under your skin.

Anyone else used it, Secret Agent, and found it 'PERMEATES' everything , heres a thought put a smigin on a door handle , not your house mind works a good place, place'll smell like a Indian restraunt , and so will those who use handle.

Sunday 17/12/2006

Looking through diary Friday night, I knew which swim I would go in if it was available on the Saturday (16th). Wife needed to go to Tesco's in morning when I picked her up from work, shes a night nurse, so I did'nt actually get to lake till 10.00.

BEUTIFUL day, Chiltern Radio forcast it precipitating down all day as I was leaving home, I thought then they were talking rubbish, anyway, 7 acres of lake, 3 fishing it, including me, AND I've got the swim I wanted, the reason being last December, the 6th to be exact, almost the same weather conditions although it was colder last year, I had 2 commons of 17lb and 18.5lb so I'm thinking it, the swim, does produce at this time of year, hence my decision the night before.

And how did I do , despite much chucking around of end tackle at bubblers and the occasional rolling fish, oh, the sun was brilliant , most of the day the pond was flat calm, I ended up stripping various layers of clothing off and sun bathing in a sleeveless tee shirt.

Great day to chill out as no bankside numpty disturbance, they've all gone into hibernation , and as you're all agog to know what I caught, well, this time it was just the Sun, another blank for this blogger, although, despite not having caught, due to how calm the pond was I've sussed a couple of spots THEY visit, MY next visit I'll be putting baits on the them

No, contrarary to the rumours, I have not stopped 'trying' to catch fish, I've been trying but also running a baiting campaign since I last caught anything, which looks like early December last year.

So yesterday, Saturday 18/3, arrived at water at 9.45, busy day, but then the sun was shining, had a walk about and found a swim with vacant swims both sides of it, so left ruck and collected rods from the car.

Not done this before, but cut off links and tied on lead, both rods, single chuck, pull back, find one 'rough' spot, rod in rest, tie marker on line using dental floss and dab of super glue, other rod onto a silt spot, mark line as previous.

Baits and feed are 14 mm, spots being fished are 4 rod and appx 7 rod lengths out, catty out 40/50 baits to each spot, hookers are identical to feed, other than the fact they've had the bejazus boiled out of them and then been air dried....drill very carefully or a handfull of shrapnel happens .

1.30, I decide to pull left rod back a cuople of feet as it's been beeping from occasional liners, switch Stevie Neville off, and as I do so alarm beeps once, I think it's me, then the Solar dangler pulls up (slams) into the butt, BUT nothing else happens, and, as I've already had a pick up, which immidiatley fell off when I hit it, I leave the rod in situ.....THEN..the rod tips pulls hard to the left and the line pulls out of the rod clip....AND FINALLY the spool starts to spin.....FIRST fishon since December, does'nt pull very hard and certainly not much of a scrapper so I was MORE than pleased when I saw the fish for the first time about 5 minutes later, looked to be about a 15lb Common, when it went over the draw string I realised I might actually have a 20 on, (it did'nt fight like one), on the scales it goes 21lb 14oz....first fish for 3 months, and do you know, its the first time I've been a bit emotional over a fish, especially when it was going back and I have'nt got a functional camera with me...NO EFFING PICTURE 'CAUSE DIGITAL BLEEDING CAMERA HAS EATEN THE BATTERYS OVER PREVIOUS 3 MONTHS .

AT LEAST THE FISH HAVE WOKEN UP, MAYBE MY ANGLING IS ON THE UP AND UP

Forgot to mention, the above fish, was caught on a VERY early version of the Enzyme, have'nt tried the very latest all singing, dancing version yet

pppp [img]C:\Documents and Settings\Dad.DOMESTIC-0FF97A\My Documents\My Pictures[/img]

A new PB....23Lbs 8ozs, poor pictures but first carp I've not been able to hold, not 'cause it was so heavy but its really spawned up, it's gut just kept sliding through my hand

4 months ago owner changed Fishery from day ticket water to a syndicate water , the cost of the ticket has knocked all the numpty's etc out of the angling equation, also a change of job means I can now fish mid week, no other bugger there( ), so for the first time in two years I've been able to pile bait into a couple of spots and NO ONE knows where I'm putting it , equally theres usually only a couple of non carpers on there, either Wednsday/Thursday when I fish.

I've reformulated my base as an enzyme free base mix, having sourced some odds and sods from AA Baits, and having caught very little worth mentioning over the last 24 months, now find myself where I was at about 3 years ago......going through all the 16 > 18 lb class commons, watch this space

On lake at 04.15, one rod in margins, 18'' out in 12'' of water as a fish boshed on the spot as rods were being put togeather.

Putting 2nd rod out when margin rod is away, 10 minutes later and an 18lb 7oz Common graced the mat, a further 3 fish, all Commons between 15lb 2oz and 15lb 13oz till packing up at 13.00 to go to work, best days angling for 18 months, set ups were 5 bait stringers plus the hook baits, no other freebies other than putting out a couple of K's when leaving.

Well done,a nice catch, it's great when plans come off.....

Paul, not a plan, more of a campaign, the fishings been absolutley lousy for the last 12 months, not just me either, if it was I think I'd have gashed my wrists a long time ago