A few pics from my trip to North Bank Ebryo last week. There were five of us fishing, we drew to choose swims. Probably could have done with one or even two more anglers to keep the carp moving a bit. Having had a look round I didn’t fancy any of the shallower swims, there was a lot of weed about! I opted for peg 2 which is the deeper part of the lake and also the wind was forecast to push down here with some force.
I baited lightly to start with, waiting for the carp to give me some pointers. I started with bags and Zigs. After 24 hours without a bite and the fact that Al next door had a fish already I decided to make some changes. The Bailiff had said give them some bait, they are feeding. I usually get up an hour before first light to watch the water, I had noticed an area slicking up just before first light. I spent an hour with the marker rod looking for a much clearer area, then a Few casts with a bare lead to double check. It was a bit deeper there, just over 8 foot. I mixed up a bucket of bait-pellets, flaked maize, Cream Cajouser boilies and boilie bites, along with a good glug of both the Activator and the Corn Steep liquid. This is a really potent mix. I put the whole bucket in with the Large Spomb, it made a hell of a noise!
I also switched rigs from a balanced wafter to a stiff hinge pop-up. A couple of hours later I had a melter on that spot, the carp made it to the weed bed and came off, still my first bite and after so much disturbance it was promising, I recast and topped up with a few large spomb loads. Just after dark it was away again, this time I landed the carp, just over 32lbs.
Excellent, the following morning I mixed up another full bucket of bait, the intention was to top the spot up every few hours. I had also seen carp move along the far bank on a line that seemed consistent, I had a cast around, it wasn’t as clear as the main spot but wasn’t bad. so I baited that spot with 6 large spombs or so, then fished a bag over it. Just to clarify when I say 6 or so, or 10 or 12, I only count the ones that land on target, not the ones that go astray. I have found over the years, that if I bait one spot heavily, there isn’t the need to put the same amount in other spots. It’s likely carp are visiting and feeding that main area, but not getting caught, it does mean through, when they come across the bait in another area, they will eat much more readily having already tasted the bait. (this is based on a fact of using a good palatable bait.) The day was quiet, but I was confident of more action. Al was picking up some carp in peg 3 to my right and they were definitely moving down through the narrower part and spreading out in front of him, I kept the bait going in. I had a take at midnight off the rod opposite, it was an absolute steamer and found a big weed bed, I ended up handlining the entire weedbed in, but the carp was long gone!
At first light I put more bait in and then it went a bit mad. I had 5 or six runs in the remaining few hours. Losing more than I landed, the weed was very heavy and once the carp got into it, they inevitably got free, probably due to the barbless hooks. I ended up with a nice brace of thirties and a 28. You could say that was a result, personally I was a little disappointed, I should have landed a couple more. Sure losses are expected when fishing in heavy weed, and I was getting the runs, they had certainly responded to the heavy bait, but I feel I should have done a bit better. All in all we had a great trip, it’s a good lake for a social and also fishing. I will certainly go again.
I’ll let you know how I get on if I do.
Andy Murray
Nutrabaits
