The Social

The 5th and 6th May had been occupied on my calendar for months and the excitement and anticipation in the advent of this weekend had become all consuming. My good friend Shaun, whom I met whilst pike fishing on Fordwich 7 years ago, is getting married this summer and decided to spend his stag-do indulging in his favourite past-time with a group of likeminded companions. The chosen venue was 'Charlie's Lake' - a small water in the garden of England, predominately home to catfish but also containing a good head of carp and silvers. We had fished here together before, firstly under the previous management then again with the now not-so-new owners, Steve and Karen, and the transformation was unrecognisable. The banks and swims are well maintained, reasonable fish-centred rules are enforced and facilities such as specialist catfish tackle hire (slings, mats and nets) and toilets and showers are available. Now, wild fishing in an untamed nowhere-land this is not but it was a comfortable venue for such an event and whilst some watercraft is still required, at this time of year regular runs are not uncommon.

And so seven of us convened at the gates to the fishery early on the Saturday morning. For me this marked the halfway point on a 424 mile round trip! Tickets were purchased, pitches were chosen, rods assembled, rigs checked and away we went. Owner, Steve, gave some good advice regarding rigs, spots and bait. Without wanting to seem arrogant I had my own ideas about how I wanted to fish on this occasion but decided to take heed to his suggestions on one rod and fish the other two my way and see what worked. Steve was suggesting relatively small baits on a shortish hair however, I had caught well there before on double 20mm halibut pellets and had had my PB on a 30mm bloodied eel pellet. Steve didn't object to me using these baits but seemed very doubtful that they would catch me any fish. So I tried all three and the double halibut pellets were the first to send the reels screaming. First blood was a tiny kitten but then a brace of low doubles followed in close succession and so I changed all three rods over to this approach and gave up on the small baits. The key to this success in my opinion, is that I drenched everything - loose feed and hook baits in glug. Catfish have tiny eyes which are not much use in the dark depths in which they feed. Instead, they detect their meals with their barbels which sense taste and smell from great distances. For this reason I ensure my baits leak as much attraction as possible so they are drawn to them easily.

Shaun with a 24lb wels cat.

Thankfully, as the day progressed most of us had caught at least one. The biggest of the first day went to Shaun at 24lb. Banter was ripe but all good fun. Most conversation was centred around the usual issue of 'carpiness' and taunts regarding the symmetry of our setups, or lack thereof. As the sun started to set a take-away materialised and we all sat together indulging in a veritable feast beneath the stars, affirming how good life can be and drinking to the happy couple.

Everyone promised to jump out of bed if anyone caught a fish but as my delkim started to sing at half past midnight, the antiphonal sound of snoring continued, undisturbed! I landed the fish alone without too much trouble and was joined as I came to take photos by a few of the others who witnessed the scales turn just past twenty pounds.

I had trouble sleeping after this and so, as the sky was clear and the stars were shining bright, I took a moment to take a few long exposures and picked up a bit of Milky Way. The orange glow coming up on the horizon is in fact the moon in its waning gibbous phase rendered a deep red becoming progressively paler as it rose.

The next day brought everybody success. Shortly after the breakfast ritual was complete I lost a good fish. I had never felt anything like it attached to my line. It had ploughed straight for bank-side cover and could not be turned. On the spur or the moment I decided that I could not give any line and that it would be better for it to be left with a short hooklink sporting a barbless hook which hopefully could be expelled eventually, than to allow it to reach cover and potentially become tethered. The line broke at the knot leaving me in a sulk. It did not feel good at all.

Jon weighing in a 23lb catfish under the watchful eye of Shaun.

My swim went quiet for a while and eventually I reeled in for a while. I distracted myself taking photos for the others, some of whom had not fished for cats before and could not stop marvelling at their incredible strength.

I recast and before long I was into another good fish. This fish was hooked by an overhanging tree but I muscled it out into open water early on in the fight by kiting it round in the direction it was swimming - I think I confused it! Nonetheless, this fish tore up the swim and took a lot of line. Shaun, who was fishing in the swim to my right, kindly reeled in to give me more space. There was no way I was going to loose another in the same way so a slightly softer approach was employed. The fish held deep, kicking up clouds of silt from the lake bed as large ripples emanated from each unseen epicentre. By now I was surrounded by friends all sharing their support and delighting in the moment together. An overwhelming sense of relief was felt and joyful cheers were released as a large-headed cat begrudgingly slipped into the net.

As I lifted the scales aloft I realised the sling contained a new personal best catfish of 30lbs 1oz! It is not one of the biggest in the lake and pales into insignificance when compared to captures from the Ebro or the Po but to me it is a spectacular specimen and I am completely made up about it.

My new PB wels catfish at 30lb 1oz.

What I have omitted to mention is that whilst I was battling my fish, Tom in the swim to my left also hooked into a good fish and so we took the opportunity to set the camera running and get everyone into frame for a quick group shot for posterity. Taking a still frame from the video resulted in a slightly lower picture quality but facilitated the shot with minimum fuss, allowing the fish to be returned quickly.

After this I was on a total high. The vibe amongst all the guys had been so positive throughout the weekend and between us, due to some not having caught cats before, there had been 5 new PBs! Aside from a little sunburn the weather had been kind to us and we said our goodbyes with sore necks and aching arms.

So all that remains is to thank Shaun for bringing us all together for a cracking social and to congratulate him and his future wife, Katy, and to wish them every happiness.

Could do better?

Early morning at Longshaw Farm

The opportunity to fish for four consecutive days presented itself to me this week along with the conundrum of where to go - given that a great number of my favourite lakes and the River Stour are inaccessible and even unsafe due to the recent flooding. I opted in the end for 2 ticket waters and 2 days on one of my club's lakes.

My first day ticket was Mansfield Farm Lake. I had never been there before and had heard mixed reports but apparently there is a good head of carp (though the sizes of which are hotly disputed), crucians, tench, silvers and even sturgeon. The variety of species got me quite excited. I decided to target the carp with one rod fishing ledgered meat and on the other rod I float fished maggots and corn alternately for whatever might come my way.

Throughout the day I had about 20 small roach on maggots and nothing on corn. I had a good run on the ledgered meat and connected with what felt like a carp briefly before the line went slack. The weather was better than forecast and so with the sun beating down on my corner of the lake in the late afternoon I decided to throw a few mixers out to see if anything would surface. Nothing happened at first but just as the light started to fade and the bait had washed up against the bank came that all familiar slurping sound. I was straight on it with a freelined mixer and managed to winkle one small carp out before the light had gone completely. 

I am disappointed not to have caught any of the other species that reside in this lake. I am in two minds about the place but will return in warmer weather to see if I can improve in this regard.

Next was Longshaw Farm, not my first visit - in fact before I joined CDAA I was here all the time. My last trip to Longshaw was in November 2010 when all my clubs lakes had lids on them as did most lakes in the area but Longshaw is largely immune to ice thanks its water pumps. On that day I had 2 fish, an 8lb common and a 17lb 8oz Mirror. I was fortunate enough to have forgotten my camera that day - I say fortunate as forgetting my camera forced me to do what can only be described as a 'selfie' with my phone and produced my favourite of all my angling photos.




It was no where near as cold this time, although there was a very chilly breeze rushing through the valley. When I set up on the big lake I was the only one there, a contrast to the middle lake next door where a match was being held. I've never fished a match, nor do I ever intend to - as the composer Bartok said 'Competitions are for horses not artists' and though I've not exactly got my angling down to an art yet, I am trying!
It amused me to watch the exodus of anglers pushing their barrows to their swims at 9am and the simultaneous shuffle of their poles when the starting whistle sounded thirty minutes later.

The swim I chose gave me access to a causeway between two reed beds within which there were plenty of carp nosing around evident by the reeds constant twitching. I cast one rod inside this channel and the other to the right, both sporting chunks of meat in front of an in-line lead.

Just before 10am the rod in the channel received a fantastically confident take from a very hard fighting common carp which weighed in at 11lb 4oz. This however, was my only fish of the day. I didn't even get another bite which is unusual in my experience of Longshaw. Perhaps it was the temperature or the time of year. Perhaps it was the  other anglers who moved in either side of me adding more pressure with the increased number of lines towards the same feature. I don't know. Either way, I enjoyed my time here. It's a very comfortable and well maintained fishery with good facilities and a wide variety of species to target across 4 lakes to suit a range of angling preferences. I look forward to my next session here...

I spent much of Friday in this position.

Birch Lake was my next stop. I arrived at 8:30am on Thursday and was the only person at the Littlebourne complex. Half an hour later my friend arrived and we set up opposite each other so that we could both fish the end of the lake towards which the wind was blowing. It was very cold and, having only just returned to normal levels after flooding, the water was a horrible chocolately brown. This time last year I fished here and had considerable success which I wrote about here. Therefore I could be forgiven for anticipating more of the same from this session.
A morning of showers extended well into the afternoon and no bites were forthcoming. The weather improved later in the day but my catch rate did not.
I snoozed until midnight when I discovered that my feet became warmer with just one pair of socks than they had been with two! With toasty toes I would have been able to sleep right through until morning if it hadn't been for a rude awakening from my bite alarm at 3:40am which kept up its jazz-like phrasing, disjointed and irregular, until I arrived at my rods and then stopped.
This was all the excitement I was going to get within this 36 hour session. I tried meat, pellet wrapped in paste, bread (boilies are not allowed at this venue or infact any of the venues I visited this week) but nothing provoked any interest from the fish. My friend had no joy either.
As I moved off several white vans were coming down the path bringing the next batch of anglers to try and conquer what is normally not a difficult water but one that on this occasion left me absolutely stumped.

So as I reflect on the last four days I feel like the tranquility has done me some good but am slightly baffled as to how I could have disturbed the peace with a few more fish but, I suppose, that's what will spur me on to try again. It's not a sport of certainties but certain possibilities. That's why I love it so much.

The sun setting in the field behind Birch Lake.

First catch of 2014...

2014 has started with many of the waters I fish being inaccessible and in some cases totally unfishable due to flooding. This is a shame as I have got the predator bug at the moment, plus a whole load of lures for Christmas which I am dying to try out!

A friend suggested I had a bit of fun on Pump Lake, Littlebourne with some maggots which appealed greatly aside from, for one reason or another, I couldn't make it to the tackle shop to buy any and so contented myself to gather some worms for one rod and settled on fishing the method on the other.

This was only ever going to be a short session as I had other commitments in the afternoon. I fished the worms on a running ledger and quiver tip and in spite of very frequent bites, found it very difficult to hit any of them. My guess is that small fish were taking the end of the worms and not the larger carp or tench I was hoping for taking the whole bundle in theirs mouths. Still, this served to keep me occupied whilst waiting for my first proper run on the method feeder.

The first fish came in the form of this 6 1/2lb mirror carp at about 10am and an hour later another, slightly smaller fully scaled mirror of 5lb but in my opinion one of the most beautiful fish I have ever had the pleasure of catching!

 I packed up reluctantly at 11:30am as I had had a great time and felt that if I could stay longer there would almost certainly be more fish in the net. I have lots of hopes for my angling this year, cards which shall be kept close to my chest for now, but todays session has certainly got things off to a good start.

Looking back at 2013

Looking back and reflecting has become such a valuable part of my fishing since I have been writing these blog posts. What is interesting when I look back at this last year and also the year before is the value I place on enjoyment of the experience and the impact my attitude and mental state makes on my catch rate.

Barbel

The best example of the impact of attitude is in my barbel fishing. Last year barbel became an absolute obsession and yet I caught none. Whatever it was I was getting wrong was impossible for me to see as I gave myself no time to reflect or space to calm down from each blank session.

This year I managed to winkle one out on March 14th before the enforced break of the closed season. Straight after the 3 month wait I was back on the bank in pursuit of 'the river prince' and lost a good one due to a faulty swivel from a supposedly reputable manufacturer. Fortunately a friend of mine who has no trouble catching a barbel caught a fish baring what appeared to be my lost rig and relieved the fish of its burden. The next time I went out I had another fish, smaller this time but a barb nonetheless. Since then I have been out 3 times fishing for barbel and blanked (or caught eels!). However, I am very happy with this result. Whilst I don't think I did much differently to last year in terms of tactics I can only attribute this years relative success to a more laissez faire attitude and as a result I have had a better experience on the bank even when not catching.

Disappointingly, I have had very few chub this year and even fewer of any size. It seems to me that there are less of them in the river these days and can only guess as to why that may be but I suppose it is quite likely many may have sadly been taken for the pot. 

Carp 

This year I have been fortunate enough to have been field testing for 'Big Carp Baits'. This has enabled me to get out much more frequently to fish for carp than in previous seasons. Whilst I have had a reasonable level of success on their boilies I have to say now that  I would not head out without a method feeder and a bucket of their flavoured pellets or ground bait. Fishing the method on my third rod this season has landed me the majority of my fish and prevented numerous sessions where the going was slow from ending up as blanks. Speaking to other anglers it seems many have found the going tough this year, perhaps due to carp spawning well in to the summer as a result of the late spring but I am aware that many big carp have been caught and that my biggest this year have only been mid-doubles. It has been suggested I should try smaller baits - advice I shall surely take. 

 Infuriatingly, after making progress with Fordwich Lake last year I seem to be back on square one again though now the problem is not locating fish but hooking them! I have had 5 good runs on this lake this year which resulted in nothing when I picked up the rod. Many possible explanations have been buzzing around my head but I am still baffled. I am going to experiment with a longer hair when using bigger baits but aside from this I am open to suggestions!

I think it is possible to over-think things. Sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth. I have a few aspects of my approach I am going to attempt to refine next year but otherwise it will be business as usual and hope for the best.

Making things!

A real highlight of this season for me has been making things to use in my fishing. It started in the closed season when I started making balsa and porcupine quill floats with a kids club I run. I had some left over materials so made a few for myself. I know that many people do this and probably do it a darn sight better but my floats do what they are meant to do and have a certain naive charm about them if I do say so myself.

The smell of my boilie mix was almost as evil
as its facial expression!

Big Carp Baits very kindly sent me the raw ingredients to make my own fishmeal boilies. I have been testing my prototype baits at Fordwich and Stonar and so far have caught a lot of big bream on them at Stonar and had a few runs which I should think could only be attributed to carp at Fordwich but as I mentioned earlier I suspect my rig mechanics let me down in these cases. So I cannot yet post any conclusions or boast about my winning recipe but I am quietly confident that I am on to something that is getting the fish sniffing around. More on this to follow...

I also made a bobbin for my third rod as having only fished with two rods until this season, I only had two bobbins and needed a third. I had some Fimo in the house and by chance some of it was glow-in-the-dark which lent itself really well to a 'Jack Skeleton' design. The line clip is simply made from a hair slide - the way we used to make them as kids with just a hair slide, cork and a piece of string if a fairy liquid cap was not available! I bent the ends of the slide into a shape so that the line could either be made to run freely through it or clipped within the grip of the two prongs. I have been using it throughout the summer and it works perfectly!

 2014?

When I look ahead to fishing in 2014 there are many uncertainties but one thing I am definitely going to be carrying forward from 2013 is to continue to be easy going and relish my time on the bank. I have learnt the hard way that setting targets and putting pressure on yourself only results in stress which is not only counterproductive but defeats the whole point in going fishing. Ultimately, if we are not 'pleasure anglers' then what are we doing it for?

A night of firsts!

Since the flop that was the first night of the season at Fordwich Lake, when fishing tight lines to close range snags kept the fish at bay, I have been concentrating mostly on the Stour with only the odd trip to Littlebourne to remind myself what a carp looks like.

I tend not to write blogs about every trip but wait for something noteworthy and I believe tonight's session fits the bill as the fish I caught is a 'first' on several accounts:

It is my first barbel of the season, my first barbel caught on 'Big Carp Baits', my first barbel caught on this particular stretch of the stour and the first barbel caught on my new John Wilson Avon Rod!!!

It's not a massive fish - it weighed in at 5lb 6oz, but a very nice surprise indeed as I had on this occasion been targeting river carp! It gave a noble account of itself which made for good sport on the avon rod!

If I dare give any advice on barbel fishing my biggest tip is be patient. Whilst I hear of others who catch shortly after casting this has never been the case for me. There is no need to strike finicky bites; just wait - you will know when you've got one!!! Also, I have always caught after dark and usually a little too long after my wife has called to see when I'm coming home!

This fish was taken on pellet but I also had another rod fishing a 20mm sweetcorn boilie which received some very violent tugs throughout the night. Could this have been the work of my quarry the river carp? Only one way to find out...

None for ages then 3 come at once!

 Over the 'closed season' with only a limited number of waters open for fishing I have not been able to do a great deal of time on the bank and whilst I have done a bit of beachcasting, float making and some work parties on Fordwich Lake; none of it has really been blog-worthy, until today...

I don't intend to use this blog to continuously promote brands but I must share that I have become a field tester for Big Carp Baits, who are a Hungarian bait company, very successful on the continent and are intending to launch in the uk after their products have been sufficiently tested. I feel privileged to have been selected to help them with this process and know that it will make a big impact on my angling.

Pump Lake, Littlebourne 
I arrived at Littlebourne Lakes just after 7pm on Friday and Birch Lake, where I had hoped to fish, was chocca-bloc so I made my way over to Pump Lake. This water has a boilie ban so I decided to test BCB's Frankfurter Sausage 'wickend' pellets and method mix which comes with an amino syrup and CSL liquer to add to the groundbait.

The business end - tipped off with a single grain of maize.

I was fishing by 8pm and had my first fish by 9pm - a mirror of 7lb 4oz. While light was good I cast to the overhanging trees on the far bank but after sunset I fished right beneath the rod tips. Looking at the decorations on said trees, it is a shame other anglers aren't so mindful.
The margins produced well for me with 3 other carp - the biggest being an 8lb 10oz mirror.
At first light I had a tench of just over 3lb and then 2 more soon after - the best was 3lb 12oz...

It seemed a little slow for this lake but I was overjoyed to be catching. However, by 8am having had virtually no sleep I decided to call it a day...

Stonar Lake, Sandwich

 After a few errands and a couple of hours kip on the sofa it was time to head back out. It is rare I get a whole weekend to fish so I had to make the most of it. I wanted to test boilies this time and hopefully get into some bigger fish so I headed over to Stonar Lake in Sandwich. Conditions here could not have been much different to Littlebourne! A very strong North-Easterly wind was racing across the lake turning it into a very choppy sea! I positioned myself on the south bank with the wind coming straight at me. I baited up a little bay to my left and the margin to my right, just over where it drops off deeper.
I cannot pretend to have been comfortable in this swim and I really don't like to be stuck under the shelter, I prefer to watch the water but the wind was so cold I decided to cut my losses and get some more shuteye after some grub!

I used mixed crushed boilies, maize and salt in solid PVA bags

Spicy 20mm with Frankfurter Popup 

As well as the spicy/ frankfurter snowman rig above, I also fished with Red plum and GLM boilies but it was the former combination that came up with the goods on this occasion. At midnight a small bream foul hooked itself, inconveniencing the pair of us. Undeterred, I cast back out, this time with a long PVA stringer of 20mm baits to avoid bream who were clearly mopping up my crushed offerings.
Just before 4am my alarm screamed off and ripped the rod off the pod (I think it's time to invest in some snag ears!). After a cracking fight I thought my luck was in but as it came to the net I was surprised to see a small common - built like a torpedo with a massive paddle!

7lb bang on

Again it went quiet. After lunch I reeled in and went to speak to some other anglers who had been down for a few days. A few fish had been had but spread out throughout the week so I packed up and went to my final stop of the weekend:

Fordwich Lake!

Fordwich, being an SSSI and RAMSAR site has to observe the traditional closed season. During this time I have taken part in a number of work parties which have earned me the privilege of a guaranteed swim on the first day of the season. As I now know where I am going to be fishing, I am able to bait the spot in anticipation of some unsuspecting carp on June 16th.
I can reach an island and 2 sets of lily pads positioned over a gravel bar within an underarm cast here - this, with carp topping every where, even today, is my idea of heaven! Roll on june 16th....

Last chance saloon...

Though normally a relaxing pursuit and a necessary contrast to my otherwise busy and often stressful work-life tonight was the last night of the season and there was a lot riding on it...

Tonight the swim I had intended to fish where I had lost one only a week ago was taken but thankfully another spot I knew to hold a good few fish was available and considering that this time last year the banks of this same stretch were crowded I counted myself lucky.

I fished close to a feature upstream with a running ledger rig. My first cast was wiped out after about 20 minutes by passing debris. It was nearly dark and I knew that the next cast had to be spot on or I may as well go home. It landed very close indeed to the feature- a perfect cast perhaps but who could be sure? After sitting there for another 2 hours without so much as a twitch I began to wonder if I was snagged...

... and then BANG went the rod tip! It was absolutely text book. Having the current on my side was a godsend as this fish had a lot of fight in it! 

So here it is. 9lb 11oz: not a personal best - my first barbel on this stretch was 13lb 4oz and I've yet to beat that but this is a great moment and I am over the moon!

9lb 11oz barbel on the last day of the season!

Looking back at 2012

This has been an interesting year on the bank for me. I have attempted to rationalise my approach, particularly to carp fishing, and have reaped the rewards. This blog has undoubtedly been a significant part of that process of reflection. However, whilst I have enjoyed some success on still-waters, my luck has not always been so good on the river. Here I shall look back on some of my best catches and worst failures and contemplate their respective causes...

Company on a quiet session...

Carp

I have made a concerted effort to simplify my approach as far as rigs are concerned as I felt that when trying out the latest rig to be featured in the magazines all the time there are far too many variables to keep track of and far too much to potentially go wrong.

However, I have paid much more attention to feeding. Although I can't claim yet to have all the answers I can vouch for the benefits of casting and baiting accurately and constantly to the same spots rather than my previous random whim approach which was very hit or miss. 

My carp from Fordwich came as a result of spreading 20mm baits over a slightly wider area with a throwing stick - the logic here being that I felt the carp at Fordwich are a little more cautious than the other lakes I fish and may well think mountains of bait dumped by the spod load are slightly suspicious. This seems to be working so far...

18lb Common - Best from Stonar in 2012
Fatfish boilie and pink fake corn, June.

13lb 7oz Common - best from Birch Lake, Littlebourne in 2012
'Zigged' crust 1ft from the surface, March.

10lb Common - first carp from Fordwich ever!
'Matrix' snowman rig, August.

Chub and Barbel 

I do enjoy catching chub and a good thing too as they have really made pests of themselves when I have been targeting barbel!

I have found a few spots where small shoals congregate and some are pretty much common knowledge. I have seen them swimming over my bait, the rod arches round and somehow as I pick it up I find that the culprit is a pesky chub. Of course, each time a chub is caught the barbel are spooked for a while at least. A friend who catches a good many barbel has advised me to 'sit on my hands' when the rod is twitching, let chub and eels suss out the trap and clear off and wait for the unmistakable run of a barbel. I really have tried to heed this advice but even with shorter hook-links I find fish often hook themselves.

Although I must confess to getting a little depressed with this situation it has led me to think very carefully about stealth, line-lay, bait, presentation, colour of the water, water level, temperature, air pressure, time of day etc much more carefully. Until the fish start coming in I cannot draw conclusions but the process has started at least and in the mean time I have enjoyed some good chub. Early in the season I took a friend from work out a few times in the hope of helping him catch his first chub. He had a fair few out while I waited for barbel. It was a real pleasure to help him achieve this ambition.

One of my better chub this season just under the 4lb mark.

My friend Marc with a chub just over 4lb!

A nostalgic compilation of tales from a bygone era.
Some poetic words from Chris Yates and Bernard Venables
but an otherwise dull read and not much use to the
modern day barbel hunter.

In other news...

As you may have read in Bream: a little dream, I have somewhat changed my attitude to Bream as a target species though I must admit still find it frustrating when they shoal in on bait intended for something else. I have also had some fun catching carp on the centrepin. I went out for tench a couple of times and caught fish up to about 4lb which was fun. 

This colourful combination of maize and pink fake corn,
combined with hemp and breadcrumb squeezed round a method feeder
has never failed to produce tench for me!

A tench from Pump Lake, Littlebourne which fell to the rig pictured above.

A couple of days float fishing at Grove Lake produced some nice roach, small carp, tench and gudgeon. 

The highlight of a day float fishing at Grove:
a small gudgeon which reminded me of my childhood
fishing experiences.

Feeder fishing on the Worcestershire Avon in October resulted in several eels, bream and dace. A couple of short sessions feathering off Whitby pier rewarded me with over 20 mackerel and a few Coley. The mackerel have been divided between the dinner table and pike fishing. I've not fished the Stour for pike since last December when I caught my PB of 13lb but have had several jacks in Fordwich Lake to 6lb on the bait I caught in Whitby.

I have had several jacks like this 6lber on ledgered mackerel

I also started preparing my own hemp and maize. This is considerably cheaper than buying it ready to use from a known bait manufacturer (I paid £15 for 25kg!) and has many advantages besides. It is important to prepare baits correctly though to ensure they are safe to feed to the fish. Would a blog post on how to do this be useful to anyone?

A great discovery this year was bulk buying unprepared maize. 

Whilst all fishing is enjoyable, I think it is important to do a variety of styles of fishing throughout the year to break the monotony of long campaigns for one specific species. Also, sometimes it is possible to care too much about achieving goals and just turning up and having a laugh can be very therapeutic indeed!

Next steps...

I am very pleased to have improved my carp fishing on two waters I had previously found difficult. However, now I must ask if there is a way of specifically targeting larger carp as all the fish I have had from these lakes have been below 20lb. Perhaps that is just down to chance? I don't mind catching fish of any size but I am intrigued to find out if a small tweak to my tactics might produce something bigger.

I intend to continue my quest for barbel into 2013. Perhaps then I shall be able to work out where I am currently going wrong and start getting some fish on the bank again?!

Please feel free to comment on this or any of my posts. I'd equally love to hear if any of this has been helpful or if you have any advice to offer me.