Small tweaks

A new week and another three sessions on the RMC to go, prior to our Pike fishing social this coming Saturday. Confident that the canal will produce many more Pike, to my rods, before I finish this challenge on 14th March 2022, I need to have a serious think about what I must adapt in order to give myself a chance at the massive still-water venue that we'll be tackling. With this huge reservoir being an obvious deviation from the normal, intimate, venues I now target, there is a requirement for a few rig tweaks, thus bait presentation options. I've ditched the centrepins for this coming week, wanting to concentrate on the use of fixed spool techniques. Bite indication, as always, involves the use of electronic alarms of two designs. Back-biters and front-runner systems, used in conjunction with monkeys on angled needles, are my go to methods. Both have stood me in great stead ever since my decision to only use dead baits, way back in the mid 1980's. Assuming the water levels are favourable, we are hoping to use the bait boat technology that we have at our disposal. None of this silly "hopper" type design, that is perfectly suited to the carp angling requirements and, therefore, priced accordingly. Our boats are hand made, at a fraction of the price, by my brother Sye, specifically for the purpose of getting a rig into position using "Deeper Pro" and GPS technology with whatever bait (type & size) presentation we choose to deploy? Available commercially? Dream on! They are based upon a prototype that we first used up on Loch Awe in 2014. The huge advances in technology have since allowed Sye to refine the feature finding and accurate repeat positioning capabilities, of the later versions, to give us the best chance possible in these "one off" situations. 

One of Sye's very early versions - the fish/feature finder mounted on the 
outside of the hull. Not anymore they ain't!

All I have to do is ensure that whatever bait presentation I use is the very best that my kit is capable of. My baits will be pre-prepared with whatever flavours and colours I feel will ensure I'm offering the Pike something different than they're used to. My buoyancy aids are already assembled, in various guises, thus giving me even more flexibility with my final presentations. I'm sure this all sounds very pretentious to those, non-angling, visitors to my blog. There's only one way of discovering whether, or not, my thought processes are correct and that is by putting my baits into the water and seeing what happens? If my result on the RMC, this morning, is an indicator, then I've a long way to go yet! My fourth blank on the spin, if I ignore the Eels - and I certainly can. Next trip out is Wednesday and I'm off to explore an area which I've not visited since 2019. 

In the mid-80's John Foster was R/O of the Fenland PAC group. We crossed swords on many occasions but became mates because of our shared interest in the Zander which inhabited his part of the UK. Always thinking outside the box, John had some fairly radical ideas about the fish populations that inhabited the Fenland drains. One concept which has stayed with me is that of the "three-sided Fenland lake". John was convinced that any structure, be that a road bridge or sluice, which crossed any waterway was capable of producing the effect of a "bay", thus the three-sided effect. I know it's a long shot, but I'm now using this theory in my own exploration of the RMC. Our past results at Seabrook, Gigger's Green and Iden Lock would certainly do little to discount John's hypothesis. I would like to think that "an open mind" is the best way forward? Oh, and a Pike in the landing net might help!