koiguchi,s way

[koiguchi]

Im off down the lake today, dragging my mate with me to do a little work on some swims, he can barrow the chippings down and i can i hope rake them out in the swim lol.
Of course whilst im down there im going to take the oppertunity to put out and continue my baiting programme.

Ive been playing about with my leads recently, still not 100% sure which way im going, its hard to tinker with things, when the going is slow because you get no feed back from the fish, heres my thinking, it may read all jumbled up, but thats my way of thinking.

I dont need a heavy lead for casting, because the farthest cast on the lake is only about 8o yrds, unless of course you want to cast up the lake?Then theres the fact i have a bait boat, so i dont need to cast.

I guess for 90% of my fishing on my lake i use 2 to 2and half ounce leads, usually flat pears, because generally im fishing in silt.The though being giving the fish some resitance on moving away with the bait, hence hooking itself.

Thinking about the various lifts an drops on my indicators, which i struck at varying times last year all no avail, and the fact i fish and make sure my lines are hard on the bottom from rod tip to hook, these were not liners.

I had the feeling last year many times i was on the fish big time, but they were getting away without being hooked by me, despite im sure investigating what i had to offer, maybe they wernt on the bait strongly enough to make a mistake, or maybe my own personel opinion of keeping things very simple in 99% of my fishing which has always stood me well, needs to be changed and i need to look at rigs etc, but for me location and bait is always going to be the key componant, to getting amongst the creatures.

I know these fish, have seen it all before, so ive been playing about with colours to match the lake bed, and weights, ive gone down to just an ounce lead, running, to see if i could fool the buggers into thinking theres no resistance yeahhh its safe.

Also gone to the extreme using 4oz leads all with razor sharp hooks of course, so if the buggers pick up the bait and move theres a very solid resistance and hopefully hooked fish.

Thoughts?

[CARPCRUNCHER]

what would you say if i said that the lead has pretty much nothing to do with hooking fish, as its the resistence of the line against the water that pricks the fish?


use the smallest lead to can to reach your spots.

[koiguchi]

Id say thanks for your thoughts, i appreciate any feedback.

[koiguchi]

So popped down the lake this am to introduce, the next lot of freebies, this week see some quite good temps, so i might start the next stage of my baiting campaign.
All being well, im fishing for 24 hrs tomorrow, just fingers x my lackey can make it, wont know until later.

[koiguchi]

Tues Feb 17th, Met my lackey down the lake, he kindly took the bulk of my gear to my chosen swim, them moaned about the fact i always seem to choose the swim farthest from car park

Setting up in a swim thats half submerged with water, and the part not underwater would be more suited for pigs to wallow in, is no fun, but needs must, im convinced im in the right area.

Id opted to bring my trusty 15 yr old approx Nash Titan as a shelter, due to the space in the swim, and also i had a winter skin for this. I had purchased a new nash bivy last year because the old titan was showing distinct signs of breaking, despite having the new bivy i often stuck the old titan in the car, my old faithful, i truly wish id just bought another one, in fact i may well sell the double top and get another titan.
So yup you guessed it, the front arm of the bivy came away in my hands as i set up, i managed to boj it up enough for me to see out this session, but boy was it a pain keep having to put the arm back in, RIP my beloved titan.

Great start eh!!, rods out, home set up, just as it was getting dark, time to put the kettle on and recover from my exerctions, i couldnt get the cooker to light, i cleaned up the hob took out the igniter and cleaned, still she wouldnt light, i had no matches or a lighter, nuts id have to go without my cups of tea, and ask one of the baylifs who pop round to get a bottle of drink.

The cooker bugged me, big time, a few hrs later whilst listening to the footy, i decided to have another go, imediatly on opening up the cooker, i could see the problem------------------------- I guess they do work better if you put a gas cartridge in them.

I sat up till 11pm scanning the water and listening to footy, not a sight or sound of carp to be seen or heard, so went to bed. I Was up at 2am kettle on, again watching for sounds or sights of carp, the carp often give there presence away when everyones a kip, I gave it an hour, nothing, back into the sack.6am i was up ready to scour the water on first light, the customery cuppa on, the water was still like a mill pond, nothing stirred.
I gave the rods until 10am, then wound them all in, put a small lead on the marker rod and cast around the swim seeing if i could feel bump any carp in midwater, Nothing, an hour later rods out in position.
A busy morning , 4 anglers were now on the lake, plus 3 that fished yesterday when i arrived, its certainly getting busy, when you consider only two fish have been out since 7th dec, with no takes at all since the last fish around 10th jan.
The wind had picked up, i thought i saw some feeding bubbles, i scanned the water again, nothing, an hour later yup bubbles in the same area, i put a rod on the spot, and waited, and waited and waited, the fish was there i could see the bubbles, maybe it needed a more natural bait, i rumaged round in my bait bucket and found some frozen maggots which had now defrosted, i set up a mag aligner, and put that out, still nothing, i gave it an hour, it was now 1.30pm, i decided the maggots were the right thing for the area, but decided as the area was silty maybe if i popped them up a bit, so i rumaged through my tackle box found some fed foam and promptly cut two maggot shapes pieces and pushed them on the hook up near the eye, followed by the dead red maggots, i chose red because the lake has a lot of bloodword, so it would be a natural colour? I soaked the maggots and foam in my special liquer lol, and sent the rig with a pva bag full out to the spot.
On putting my rods in the rest and setting the hanger i was amazed to see a common carp of around 15lbs swimming with not a care in the world under my rod tips!!! I was bought back to earth by a bleep from my mag aligner rod, just settling i thought, bleep again, the hanger climbed and hit the rod butt, i leant into a fish, at last weeks and weeks , no months without a take and i was finally into a fish, the fish just plodded around at its own pace, it didnt feel big, but i knew the big old kippers in this lake often just plodded until reaching the rod tip area, this fish was no exception, she suddenly woke up, tearing line off my reel, suddenly the rod tip pinged back, she was off.

I saw out the Wed night pretty much as described earlier, and packed up this am, i will be back, it goes without saying, i was gutted, and felt i deserved a reward for all the hard work i have put in, never mind theres always next time.

[jonjo]

nice blogs keep em coming !!

[koiguchi]

Thanks for the comment jonjo

Well upon packing up from my last session on thrs19th feb, i baited up, i didnt want to bait up again the following day, so i left it until the saturday.I was out all day with the kids at a martial arts seminar, with me as usual being the cabby.
Got home this evening after dark, id been thinking about the baiting all day, and decided because of the mild spell we are in, id up the amount of bait going in, by adding the pellet now instead of waiting another week or so until March as id planned, so tonight the boy and i set off to lake to introduce 3 klo of pellet and crushed boilie across the two areas of the lake ive spoken about before.
I found someone just packing up, so we had a chat, and it turns out 6 anglers have been on today, and all blanked, despite seeing carp moving?
As the boy and i were leaving two fellas set up shop, to do the night.

ive cajoled my mate again to barrow some more woodchippings down to a couple of swims that i fish, as they are like a quagmire now, il rake the chippings out and hopefully itl make fishing in these swims more bearable, so we are off to do that in the Am, then all going well, il be doing a 24 to 48 hr session from monday, lets see if i can get amongst those carp.

[koiguchi]

Monday Feb23rd midday i sat in the carpark awaiting the arrival of my mate and chief lacky to cart most of my gear to my chosen swim, thanks mate, dunno what id do without you.

So gear in the swim, i had a walk/stumble round just to make sure nothing was showing anywhere, had a chat with a guy who was fishing a few swims down, he had done all weekend along with 6 others, no takes in fact no sight nor sound of a carp.

Back to my swim, put my chair up, was a much needed rest, just sat surveying the water, nothing, it was like a mill pond, not a ripple on the water.

I set about getting my gear sorted, house first cos it looked like rain.Two hours after arriving i was fishing, im definatley geting faster lol.

I was quietly optimistic, what with my take last week and the weather being warmer, despite knowing the temps in the water wont have come up too much in the last two weeks of relativly mild weather.It didnt bode well though that there has still only been two fish out since early december, and only one since x mas.

I was woken from my thoughts, by a single bleep, to the rod close to some snags, i watched as the hanger climbed although eraticly, i stumbled over, i was in, cant describe the feeling, then i quickly remembered the last session, mm, there was definatly a fish on, but it didnt have a lot of weight?It pretty much came in like a lamb, i then saw the fish, i dont think i believed what i saw, cos i still believed it was a carp up until i netted it, and lifted it onto the unhooking mat....................A tinker, a Tench in bloody February, i put her weight at about 3 to 4lbs, the fella in the swim a few doors down came up to see what id had, we just looked on in disbelief as i slipped the fish back.

To cut a long fruitless trip short, mine and the other 3 anglers that joined me through mon night to wed eve all had motionless indicators, with not a fish showing at anytime, im thinking i may give it a week off next week, and start back the week after, at the end of the session i put the baits out which was harder due to the angling pressure, packed up and came home, slightly dispondant.

[jonjo]

lol i know how you feel mate. been fishing short sessions for the past week or so. ive had 12 tench in that time. not a single carp has come out. it almost defies belief.

[koiguchi]

Twelve Tench, bloody hell mate, ive heard of that before on my lake but in about May time, not in February.
Keep plugging away its got to change one day