All in the detail

I must first acknowledge the role that Benno and Luke have played in my recent successes. If it wasn't for the conversation with Benno, last Sunday, and the news of upstream weed cutting, I wouldn't have gone off "tench fishing" in the first place! My new "anti-eel" munger is based upon an idea, that Luke came up with; a, previously untried, cereal mix which was central to him capturing his "thirty" in early June. As I've stated, many times previously, we don't have secrets, nor is there any jealousy, between us. If one of us is successful, we all know why, how and where - there is a shared pleasure from the landing of any decent fish; no matter by whom. Sadly this is a situation, which is, not replicated by the majority of others and why I am always rather vague about the location of the venues I fish, away from the commercials; obviously!

How close to disaster? The lower rig is the one on which I landed the twenty!
The hook has opened out, slightly, under the pressure of the extended battle. The experiment ends
there - no more Barbel Maxx for me, I'm afraid. It's back to Korda Wide Gapes
 

My little flirtation with Kamasan Barbel Maxx hooks has come to an abrupt end. As you can see from the photo, above, the hook had started to open out, although not causing me to lose the fish on this occasion. There is no way that I could remain confident that my tackle wouldn't let me down at some point in the future if I stubbornly persisted with these hooks.
Benno, Chris ( a newbie to the gang ) and myself were out yesterday evening. A quick word in the ear of the local landowner allowed us to drive an isolated farm track and park within a reasonable distance, a few hundred yards, of our chosen venue, one that I'd baited on Friday morning. Benno and Chris went fishless, my run of luck continues as, just as we were counting down to our leaving time, my right hand rod rattled away and I found myself playing a feisty 16 lbs 12 oz Common Carp, on the centre-pin - absolute joy! Benno doing the gillie work and subsequent photos. This might have been the only fish on the bank but, Chris and I saw a large tench in the water, so my quest will continue along this new drain.

Another lovely dark carp - the reddening on the lower belly and vent almost certainly due to recent spawning activity.

I'm having fun with my bait preparation, maples and black-eyed suzies have been added to the equation and I've been introducing them in my munger. They take the same sort of preparation as chick peas, but I'm using another flavour and adding colour for this part of my experiment. I'm on earlies next week, so should get a chance to get out to bait up a couple of times before actually casting a line? These really are exciting times and I'm loving it!