Having access to so many miles of East Kent drains is a real privilege. It requires little more than a quick, courtesy, phone call to the land owner(s) informing of my angling plans/car parking and I'm spoiled for choice. For some reason, way beyond my limited knowledge of such things, many of the drains are particularly weedy this year; indeed some are totally choked up. Clear, low water levels plus the wondrous warmth and sunshine have combined to produce an ideal growing environment for the local aquatic plants. I would imagine that many other inhabitants of these venues will also be benefiting from this abundant growth either as a food source or for spawning and subsequent cover for the resultant fry. Finding fish, under these conditions, is very difficult and I am forced to rely on watercraft and previous experiences in order to select my swims. That 3.5 oz Gardner weed rake has proven to be a fantastic acquisition and helped remove many kilos of weed from my chosen spots. However, I'm under no illusion, the Gardner weed rake is not capable of total weed (the vast majority being Canadian Pond Weed) removal - it requires a fair bit of tweaking in order to create a totally clean spot. Given these circumstances; there are a number of options open to any angler, each worthy of consideration dependent upon the individual situation.
Mark, one of Benno's friends - a hugely successful carp angler on The Royal Military, offered us some very useful advice when we first ventured out on that venue. It has stood us in good stead ever since. Now I've taken his thought provoking ideas and incorporated them into my preparation of the various swims around the drain system. I'm, as yet, unsure of the numbers of carp that I am chasing or, indeed, the maximum size but have to admit that Mark's logic has proven to be very good advice.
Knowing more about these drains than I do the Royal Military has allowed me to tweak the methodology slightly and utilize my experience to enhance the effects of my actions. So what was this ground breaking information? "Get the fish to clear the swim for you!"
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| If only I'd been using this set-up last Sunday! |
"How?" you may well inquire; there is no way that humanity has learned to speak to fish thus far. No, it is far more simple than that. After the initial weed removal, using the rake, the remaining weed can be cleared by the regular introduction of munga. These small food items require any foraging fish to root about the silty bottom, displacing the lingering fronds in the process. My particle mix is specifically designed to attract the maximum number of species to get involved with this feeding activity. My standard Racing Pigeon Tonic Mix is combined with Hemp and liquidized Sweetcorn before being laced with shredded Tuna (in brine). There will be loads of carp anglers claiming this to be their basic "Spod Mix"- and probably quite true. I have arrived at this combination purely to gain the maximum number of fish assisting clearing my spots. I don't care if they are Tench, Bream, Roach, Carp or Eels; my only purpose is that of producing a clean spot on which to present my hook bait.
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| Floating weed directly above my spots is a sure fire indication that my plan is working |
How I specifically target the carp is for another post, hopefully, after I've achieved my goal? "Effort equals success" - a sentiment I first heard when watching Steve Whitby's "
Carp Catcher" You Tube offerings. Probably an age thing, he also having served an extensive angling apprenticeship. Steve works incredibly hard for the fish he catches (check out his River Cam project) - hence the tag line. I'm afraid I've been rather lax with my recent blogging, a wedding reception in Droitwich and the monthly deadline for my Freshwater Informer article being the distraction. Life is good and things will return to normal very shortly, I hope!
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