Introduction

I am not a gifted angler, I wouldn't even consider myself to be a talented angler. I do not have the accomplishments of many, but I do have a couple of attributes shared by everyone, and that's, hard work and drive. I have no visions of grandeur or aspirations to be something I am not, I am just one man who loves participating in angling.
I also believe everyone has a story to tell, no matter how trivial they perceive it to be.I have actually been writing a few bits and pieces down for a while now, only for my own amusement you understand. I have shared some of what I've written with a few chosen friends, but I have never really wanted to make it public until I was begrudgingly persuaded too.

So here it is, the trials and tribulations of a short session angler. Before I go any further I would just like to reiterate that non of my findings have any scientific backing or relevance, they are just aspects to which I have arrived at by experience and common sense. Some of my findings you may relate to, some maybe not, but thats the beauty of fishing, everyone carves their own path and has their own thought processes, driven by their own experiences. There is no right or wrong, just a different train of thought.

Firstly I thought It might be wise to give you, the reader, an idea to what I favour in relation to waters, tactics and approaches. This may help you to understand why I fish in such a way now and give you a little insight into my background. I also didn't want to solely write about rigs, baiting applications and all of the paraphernalia associated with fishing. This has already been widely covered by all manner of outlets, and for me this is just one aspect to fishing.

There is so much more to our beloved sport, the sights and sounds, the smells and feelings that often get over looked in the modern world of angling, but they all play an equally vital role in the overall picture. I will make reference to tackle and approaches where relevant and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have writing it.

So where to start?

I suppose you could place my favourite kind of waters into two categories, Estate Lakes and Tiny Intimate Pools. As Im going to concentrate on the latter of these two wonderful places ill try to explain why and hopefully put to rest some of the myths that surround these little magical waters. Small pools offer a level of intimacy, because you are fishing for your quarry at very close quarters, you actually feel more involved with the fish. I would guess its like stalking but with two rods. These waters also offer a level of skill development, because you are so close to the fish you can watch their reactions to a multitude of applications and it forces you to hone your skills as an angler, i find this aspect particularly enjoyable, especially when it starts to work in your favour.

One thing I have noticed about these little pools, the fish are particulary shy due to angling pressure. Think about it, these fish have nowhere to run or hide, every inch of these little intimate pools are exploited by anglers for the best part of the fishing season, so these fish, especially the bigger resident's build up a certain immunity to getting caught.
More so than bigger waters, (let me just clarify my thoughts for you) I would classify a smaller water as to being no bigger than 10 acres, a medium water to being 10 to 30 acres and a big venue anything above 30 acres. In a pool the size of one I am fishing now at 2 acres it receives anywhere in between 6 to 8 anglers per week day. This number significantly rises over the weekend to 10 to 12 anglers. Thats 3 to 4 anglers per acre during the week using a minimum of 2 rods each. Whereas a 20 acre pit may only receive 1 angler per acre, giving the fish ample room to hide out in relative peace and quiet.

It is also a common misconception that these smaller waters do not contain the bigger more sort after fish by much of the carp fishing fraternity. You only have to look into the history of Redmire, Ashlea and Home Pool to realise these elusive big carp do indeed exist in comparatively small pools.The problem as I have pointed out, is these fish are for the whole a shy creature, due to the pressure exerted on them by anglers.

Now im not for one second going to try and convince you that carp have super intellectual strength, but they do learn by repetition and association as do any species of fish.I have been fortunate enough to watch these heavily pressured fish and how they behave once confronted with the many baiting applications and rig presentations we carp angler's place before them. They treat everything with a little more caution, and I would guess this would be the case for every water with the ever growing popularity of the sport. However small pool fish do have, for what I believe, a heightened cautious instinct, (again I shall reiterate my thoughts). I would suspect the vast majority of anglers simply turn up on the bank, whack out a couple of single baits and proceed to catapult out a number of free offerings and sit back and wait it out. This method soon becomes associated as dangerous by fish, and in turn they learn to treat such situations with a degree of suspicion. Not an intellectual thought on the fishes behalf but more of a learning curve through repitition and association.

Many years ago while fishing a gin clear 9 acre gravel pit, I had the chance to observe the fish and their behavioural patterns at close quarters. Treating everything with this heightened suspicion I talked of earlier, anything new, anything out of the ordinary was treated with a greatly increased cautious approach. In fact it is my firm conviction that these fish know that these baited spots are traps and should be avoided at all costs.
Think about this, you are placing something completely alien into their home. Its like you coming home and finding a great big pile of food in your front room. Wouldn't you treat it with the same suspicion as carp, wouldn't you be thinking "this wasn't here earlier"It is my belief that this is the starting point of a fishes cautious behaviour, I believe they know the bait is there the instant its introduced, I also believe they make a mental note of the area and drop back to the spot, sporadically during the course of the day to assess the situation. By assessing I am talking about lines, I have witnessed fishes behaviour bumping into lines, and shooting off into a nearby safe sanctuary.

I remember one particular occasion watching a group off fish, patrolling around the gravel pit I talked of earlier. There was a fisherman on the bank opposite to me who was having a slow pack up as it was Sunday afternoon. You'll find this quite a lot with weekend anglers, turning up on a Friday afternoon to early evening and then leaving on the Sunday afternoon to get home to their Sunday roast. The fish had been patrolling right past the anglers baited area's, particularly the one his middle rod was fished over, and stopping for a few brief seconds and off the fish went on their way. I found this quite fascinating at the time, and I was quite comfortable being perched up in the Willow tree I was watching from, so I decided to sit it out a little longer. Eventually the angler had all of his gear packed away, with just the rods remaining laying out across the bank. The fish casually patrolled round again, stopped again temporarily and off they went.

I did notice a pattern developing, the fish were cruising round every hour or so, gently and quietly going about their business, but the same route each time and stopping momentarily over the baited spot. It wasn't until the angler left that I noticed a slightly prolonged spell of investigation the next time the fish came round. Then I could see clouds coming up from the lake bed, the fish were feeding and feeding strongly by the looks of it. This wasn't an isolated incident either, during my time spent over the gravel pit I witnessed this behaviour a few times, at first I thought it may of just been a simple case of timing. My theory being, the fish had become conditioned to the time when they were most at risk from anglers over the weekends, and for the better part this did hold some truth. It was only when I started fishing that I could see fishes reaction to lines, they knew something was wrong from the off at the mere sight of a fresh new baited area, but the lines zipping through the swim only confirmed their suspicion. Now I don't believe they can see lines, but bumping into them does inspire caution, reiterating the need for me to re think my approach.I spent the first six weeks on this pool just merely watching the fish and the angler's to see if a pattern formed. In the mean time I was using the opportunity to do some prebaiting.
A pattern did emerge, 80% of the angler's would re cast twice day. Once as soon as they got up in the morning and once before going to sleep at night. To my mind this was only reaffirming that the anglers were still present, and it actually greatly reduced their chance of getting a take.
This was the first water I had fished where I could watch fish, see their movements, watch their reactions and above all else watch the correlation between fish and angler, it really was fascinating stuff and I learned such a lot just through observing. This is why these waters are tricky, im not saying they are harder than any other waters, just a different set of challenges. I remember talking to a number of anglers at the gravel pit and being told I would have to wait a long time before any bites would occur. Stories of no action for 5 to 6 months were common place and I slowly started to plan my approach for my first weekend.

So bearing all of the information I had gotten in mind I started to think about my approach. Timing would be of the essence, most anglers were fishing from Friday to Sunday so I decided to fish from Friday until Monday night, giving me and the fish another 24 hours of quiet time. My application would be simple, 2 rods fished with two small pva bags of boilie crumb and blended up vitalin. No sizeable food just powder and attraction. I had spent 6 weeks baiting up with vitalin and boilie crumb balls and I felt sure this would pay off. Even though all of the anglers were using 3 rods Id chosen to fish with 2, I find a lot of the time a third rod just isn't necessary and it would keep my disturbance to a minimum.

The next step was line concealment, as I would only be fishing to a clear spot 20 yards out I felt backleads would be the way forward. There was a bank of weed between me and the clear area, so as long as I could get the backleads past this point the last 2 or so metres of line would be pinned down. The only other development would be to sit on my hands during my session and wait it out. This was harder than I first thought, but once the rods were in on the Friday they were left alone for the duration of my session. As I was fishing so close, bankside disturbance would have to be kept to a minimum, the bivvy was set up right at the back of the swim under a heavily leaved tree, you really couldn't see me at all from the water through the bankside reeds. I sat on my hands all weekend, waiting and waiting, the gremlins started to creep in on the Saturday night but still I sat, waiting. My first fish came on the right hand rod on Sunday afternoon, a lovely 23lb 6oz Mirror,

To say I was happy was an understatement, I had actually caught a fish from a very hard water and now I could relax knowing I hadn't blanked. To be honest I was so happy with that fish, catching another didn't even enter my mind.8 o'clock Monday morning I recieved my second take, and I was soon holding my first ever 30lb fish for the camera.

I was over the moon and a few of the regulars were a little surprised to see what I had caught.
That session has always stuck in my mind ever since, it has always been the basis on what I am doing now. If you think outside of the box, take all that you have learned and make a few minor changes, it can pay dividends.
Thinking back now, I don't think it was one aspect that caught me the fish, it was more of a culmination of tactics that lead to my success and its something that's stuck with me ever since.I will always look back fondly over my time spent on the gravel pit, it taught me so much about the behavioural patterns of fish and I think this maybe why I have a special affinity, a sense of home on small intimate waters, which really leads me on to what I'm doing now.

First and foremost, my fishing has significantly changed, I am now no longer able to do the long sessions I am used to doing, so the waiting aspect has gone, as most of the rules above still apply to my fishing ive had to adapt my fishing accordingly. My stealthy approach has had to be fine tuned as im fishing very short sessions, creeping up and keeping bankside as well as water disturbance to a minimum which has now become all the more prevalent. I always remember a phrase by Chris Yates I think it was, but don't quote me on that. "If the fish know your there you have already halved your chances" this is particularly the case with smaller pools.

My rig presentation has never really changed since the gravel pit, it has taken a few detours over time but its basically the same set up I have always used. If im honest my approach of recent years has been a bit lazy and as a consequence my catch rate has significantly dropped. Why I have gone through this period I couldn't tell you but early last year I rectified the problem and my captures have indeed increased. The only real big change I am about to go through is bait application. I can't rely on the fish getting used to a pile of bait over time. I now have to try and create chances very quickly.

Right that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I wish you all the very best in your own pursuits.