Chick peas strike again

"When the wind's in the East, the fish bite least" an old proverb that has more than a ring of truth about it. At present, my little part of the world is being subjected to a sustained period of E/NE winds, up to 25 mph at times, so what possessed me to have another night at Sandwich Coarse Fishery? Just because I could, I suppose, plus the fact that it beats the arse out of going to work.


I got set up in the NE corner, on the back of the wind, because the SW corner of the venue has been subjected to sustained pressure, by three anglers, since Monday. They weren't smashing the place up, so I felt that the fish might have backed off and moved to an area without any angling pressure. At least that was my reasoning and at 21.00 hrs I got some reward for my theory, in the form of a stunning 18 lbs 15 oz Mirror Carp. It fought really well on my light tackle and is the heaviest carp I've taken since returning to this wonderful hobby. Alas, it proved to be my only bite of the session.

Not the most flattering image - a selfie using my Canon, on a tripod, with the timer setting of 10 second delay

Double, curry flavoured, chick peas - fished on a Kryston "Snake Bite" hook link with a size 11 Kamasan Barbel Maxx hook (barb crushed in to comply with the fishery ruling). I've changed to this hook pattern, from my usual Korda Wide Gape hook, because I am going to use them on The Stour and need to be sure that they are up to the job. My first impressions are very favourable.

They seem to be doing the job - so I'll happily stick with them

I continue to use the chick peas because I've yet to see any other anglers, at this venue, using anything other than boilies. My bait is, therefore, not treated with suspicion by this population of quite pressured fish. It's true that they require a fair amount of preparation, before they are a usable hook bait but, being that they are very cheap and very effective, I'll continue to go through the routine of soaking them for 24 hrs before boiling them, along with a couple of generous spoonful's of Sharwood's Madras curry sauce, for a couple of hours.

Not something that is stocked by the majority of carp tackle outlets.
Combined cost is under £2.50 and that's a lot of bait.