Making the most of it

 I'd planned to do a Wednesday afternoon, into dark, session down on the new farm pool but, circumstances beyond my control meant that I had to revert to plan B at the last moment. So it was just after 13.30 hrs when I loaded the van and headed back to the local irrigation pool knowing that I'd have to pack up around 18.00 hrs. Very much the same old routine. Bottom fished particle hook baits positioned using the "Bushwhacker" baiting pole (eight sections = 12m/3 wraps!). I am certain that these Carp have never been offered anything like my mixed particle concoction which I introduce as groundbait. If a commercial bait manufacturer was to produce such a product they would need to charge in excess of £20/kilo to ensure "Carp Tax" levels of profitability. For me, however, it is simply a matter of sourcing my raw materials, from a local grain supplier, then mixing them all together in my study and producing small batches (1.5 kg dry weight) in the slow cooker. The flavours and enhancers, I use, are added once the grain has been cooked, but prior to it going into the freezer. In exactly the same manner as it is stocked for a Pike season, the freezer now contains enough "party mix" to ensure I can get out to the bank at very short notice. My hook baits are produced in an identical manner, yet frozen in Chinese takeaway tubs with a date scribbled on the lid to help me with the order that they are subsequently used. 

May 2016 - my first "twenty" from the RMC on particles and a split cane!

It would have been around 1986 when I first became aware of the effectiveness of particle baits for Carp, yet it wasn't until 2015 when I stumbled upon the fish in the flatland drains that I sought to pursue the subject further. It's a really weird series of events which have gotten me to this stage because it was the 2013/14  Barbel campaign, on The Stour, which first  made me revisit the particle option. It wasn't because I thought I'd catch a Barbel on sweetcorn but, instead, a deliberate ploy to avoid Eels picking up the Halibut pellet hook baits we were using. Originally the swims had been fed with small pellets and it was like a "swim-through" Mc Donald's for the Eels, so a particle option needed to be explored. What then occurred is now consigned to the history books but, inadvertently, led to the current fascination with the flatlands and the Carp which reside there.

An old image but, tank testing rigs and bait presentations has been
a fundamental part of my angling, whatever species I'm targeting.

My confidence with particle baits is so strong because I know that 99% of the other anglers, on the same venues, won't be using them as hook baits? "They're not Carpy" or, more likely, because Danny Fairbrass and Alan Blair use boilies it's a case of "baa - baa - baa" stick with the flock. Let's get it right, the sun will never rise on a day when I will ever be perceived as being as talented as any of the Carp circuit "names". Guess what? Neither will the vast majority of those other anglers who frequent the club and day ticket venues I visit. If you do the same as everyone else why would your results be any better than theirs? So I'm back to the point where I'm telling Eddie Turner that I will only use dead baits for my Pike fishing. His advice is as relevant today, in these Carp related circumstances, as ever it was whilst on the banks of Wilstone Reservoir in the mid-1980's. "Give yourself an edge" That's exactly what I attempt to do with my approach to every angling project I undertake. For this current Carp caper I am reliant upon the fact that all my bait is produced at home, thus not available off the shelf and is, therefore, unique.  Doesn't equate to it being better than anything else, just different?

Like peas in a pod - a scamp Common of 11 lbs

So, after this post going around the houses, back to Wednesday's session. Under no circumstances can this particularly fishery be taken seriously, as a challenge. If you can't catch Carp here then it must be time to sell the tackle and buy some golf clubs or a mountain bike! In little over four hours I landed thirteen Carp, four doubles, and had to pack up because I'd run out of bait. Absolutely crazy and just the sort of session required to counter the disappointment of not being able to offer a baited rig in the other club fishery. I'm happy to let the Easter break pass before making any further visits to the bankside. Having spent a considerable amount of my time perusing the Youtube offerings, I've a couple of rig presentation ideas that need experimenting with as my season moves forward.

At 12 lbs 2 oz this "Ghostie" Mirror was the best of the bunch on Wednesday