Turning up to a new syndicate for the first time, especially
one with multiple lakes can be a bit daunting as it was for me, but sticking to
it can only pay off in the long run.
Starting in June means I lost out on the productive months
of spring and I was entering the new syndicate at the time all of us anglers
hate, spawning. Hot weather and busy banks, something we all have to contend
with and is part and parcel of fishing.
One of the popular lakes was shut due to an algae bloom and
the pit I had my mind set on fishing was busy because of this. I opted for
another lake and after 4 nights had nothing to show for my efforts other than a
couple of bream and some beautiful sunsets.
The next few weeks quickly passed and it was my time to hit
the front pit, with the banks surprisingly quiet I now had my chance to start
gathering valuable knowledge about the lake.
The lake was pretty weedy and after speaking to a couple of
members they mentioned it was unusual for the weed to be so bad. Me being me, I
opted for what looked the like worst swim with loads of weed visible on the
surface, knowing that carp love patrolling in and around the weed it felt like a
great starting point.
After a good hour or so finding spots I opted to fish all 3
rods next to 3 different weed beds on areas that gave me the best drops and two
of these areas had no end of fizzing for long periods of time. A simple chod
rig with the other 2 rods having Ronnie rigs on all coupled with trigger pop
ups and a mix of toppers from white spice to trigger ice, the spots were baited
nicely with a mixture of both 15mm trigger and trigger ice glugged in the
trigger liquid booster, plus a good helping of hemp, maize and tigers.
My first night passed with a near double figure bream which I felt was a start. I thought to myself "The carp won't be far behind". No more than a hour later at first light I got a screaming run resulting in my first mirror carp weighing in at a respectable 24.12lb. As you can imagine I was over the moon, I was happy to finally get the monkey off my back, so to speak. Unfortunately no more fish tripped up in the next 14 or so hours I had left.
The following week I was back in the same swim, same spots
and with the ever faithful Trigga. Knowing what worked the week before it felt like
a no brainer to carry on with the same tactics and same baiting approach. I was
only fishing at 4 to 5 rod lengths meaning I could easily scatter boilie and
particle around the hook baits with my baiting spoon ready for the session
ahead. Knowing bite time was usually at first light I would be up and ready
waiting for that bite, and sure enough after a silent night other than heavy
rain and wind, my middle rod rips off, this time it produced a 25.08 common
which was an absolute beauty.
At this point I felt some of the pieces were coming together and it was 2 sessions with 2 fish banked. I am certainly looking forward to next time which unfortunately will not be for a couple of weeks, in the mean time will be popping down when walking my dog ‘Russo’ and get some of the quality trigger onto those spots, ready and primed for my next visit.
