Seventh Session

With the next session being not so far away, I thought it prompt to take a look at my problematic bottom rig. Two dropped takes may not sound a lot to anyone else but it irritates the hell out of me. I have always been a firm believer of playing the percentage game to try and improve the catch rates of any rig. During the course of fishing, dropped rigs are inevitable as there are so many variables to take into consideration. 

However, if my tweaks just make 1% difference or result in that one more catch then its been worth the effort. 

All I have really changed on the multi rig and hinged stiff rig are the hooks, just changing to a size 6 instead of an 8, I have done the same on the bottom rig but I have also included a length of rig tube and which is also line aligned. This encourages the hook point to dig in a bit quicker than the original set up.

All three set ups are fished with a simple running inline lead, although it is slightly fixed over the tail rubber. I want the fish to feel the full weight of the lead but when it tries to shake out the hook the lead just simply slides up giving no anchor point to work with.

The 3 rigs I use

A very simple but effective lead set up

The weather as always was looking pretty decent with highs of 12 degrees, and according to the forecast earlier in the week it was predicted to be quite a nice day. In fact Saturday was very pleasant indeed, my two year old son had spent much of the day outside in the back garden in his sand pit, for the first time this year.

At 9 o'clock Sunday morning, I was off, trundling down the motorway, the thermometer registered 8 degrees, it was cloudy and I could even see the odd streak of blue in the sky, but the temperature change was very noticeable from the day before. It just felt colder, and looked like it was going to rain at some point. 

I set myself up on the back of the wind, after seeing a couple of swirls in the area, the wind was pushing up into the north east corner and it was significantly colder at that area.

As ever, one cast per rod with a smattering of pellets and a few chopped boilies were introduced and the wait began.

There were another two carp anglers present who were recasting every 20 minutes or so which would only help me out as I was lying in wait at the quieter, calmer end of the pool.

The day pretty much passed uneventful, Huw had popped down for a friendly chat and a laugh, its always nice to see friends as I do a lot of fishing on my own.

The wind had completely changed direction and it was now feeling a little uncomfortable in my swim, but I was here now, and just sitting it out until dark.

I did get a take on the left hand rod which quickly came off, to be honest it felt like a tiny fish and I think it only grabbed hold of the bait and quickly let it go, I just knew after dark would be my best time.

The weather levelled off and it began to warm a little with darkness falling. 

Then at 6 o'clock I got my first full blooded take in the left hand rod, the fish really scrapped hard under the rod tip but I soon coaxed it into the net.

I must apologise for the picture

The improved rig had done it's job and nailed the fish in the bottom lip, there was no way it was coming off.

The common was 9lb 8 oz's and I could finally relax as I hadn't blanked.

Nothing else happened for the rest of the night and I was soon all packed away and ready to go home by 8 o'clock. 

As ever I did put in some more bait, only a little more this time as the temperature had stayed a few degrees warmer lately, and the fish were now feeding.

I think intensifying baiting is an important move as the weather starts to warm up, so much so, I only usually put in a handful during the winter sessions but now it would be 2 pound of pellets per spot with a pound of 12mm boilies.

The pellets I have flavoured myself with the very ingredients I use in my boilies, so even when the pellets are broken down after a few hours there's still the flavour label lingering around throughout the water columns.

Instead of my usual weekly 2 egg mix I would now be making a four to five egg mix, and putting in a few pounds of pellets.

This would get the fish used to feeding in the areas confidently and they would soon start to recognise the food signals. 

As ive said before, whenever im fishing a water I like to think long term and stick to one water.

Well, that's the plan anyway

Thanks for reading and as always good luck until next time