A week in Devon.

We slowly drove up to the farm, through the trees a pristine, yet weedy lake presented itself to us.
A cavalcade of snags and overhangs, rushes and pads, bays and bars, but most importantly, Carp.

We booked one of Wagland cottages for a week, my family and my girlfriend, with the intent that it was one of those 'family holidays', but we all knew that I'd be fishing for the whole week, especially when there was a two acre lake full of big Carp, literately thirty seconds away.
The surroundings certainly did have character, the cottages were old, converted barns, built on thick slate hills, surrounded by the patchwork fields of Dartmoor.
We arrived mid afternoon on a Saturday, and we were to leave the next Saturday about the same time, so after un-packing and settling down after a brew, I was down the lake with the Polaroids looking for any signs of Carp.

One of the regular syndicate members was fishing in the so called ' Dug out swim', a quiet little corner, surrounded by heavy weed and pads. Obviously I picked his brains for a while, trying to squeeze as much information about the lake as possible, before resuming my patrol around the lake.
The Carp were there, I was standing on 'the point', a fairly new swim by the looks, and to say the Carp were everywhere would be an understatement.
The Carp patrolled their way through the thick maze of Canadian pond, rarely sinking down with an explosion of bubbles and fizzing in tiny holes in the weed. Clear spots seemed to be a rarity, with a majority of the gravel spots being very deep, ten foot in some places.
Memorizing where I planned to place a few rigs, I rushed back to the cottage to grab my gear, and was back like a flash.

I still had my old rigs on the rods, about a foot of anti-tangle tubing, a fox lead-clip, then to my preferred fluorocarbon hook-link, but i knew this wouldn't cut it, it was far too obtrusive, and way more likely to get tangled up in all the thick weed if I were to have a fish.
Taking on board the advice I had received from the Syndicate member, I decided to fish an inline lead setup, with a long length of tungsten anti-tangle tubing, a 2oz in line lead, and a  short rig compiled of JRC Cocoon clay braid, and a Size Eight Korda Krank topped with an 18mm Creamy Nut wafter.
The presentation was neat, camouflage and subtle, and my confidence was high.
I tied a stringer of chopped boilie onto both rigs, and a simple underarm cast placed both rods exactly where I wanted them, both in gaps in the weed where I regularly saw fish fizzing.

This was fishing on the point, the left had rod is positioned in a gap on the weed to the left, and the same for the right hand rod.

It was a matter of hours before I had my first run, the left hand rod arched over, and a swirl immersed from the gap in the weed! I was buzzing, especially after members have said how un-productive and difficult this lake was, I was almost certain i'd blank for the whole week.
I saw the Carp gliding among the weed, thrashing desperately trying to escape my net, but after a strong and hairy fight, the Carp subsided into the net, where he sulked as I panicked to sort my scaled and sling out.
Ten pound, nine ounces of lean, hard fighting Mirror, with bursts of dark, oak scales.

Un-fortunately I had no camera, I left it at the cottage with the impression that I wouldn't catch, plus I wanted to get down as quickly as I could, so I took minimal gear, damn!

My confidence was immense, I felt that I already knew the feeding characteristics of the Carp, I couldn't wait to fish the next day, I was happy to pack up, safe in the knowledge that I'd catch a Carp tomorrow.
And thus began the first pack up, interrupted by a small Tench, greedy bugger.


I woke up late the next day, and it certainly was a scorcher. The famous Devon sunshine had made an appearance, and as I overlooked the lake from the garden, I decided to setup a stalking rod, and spend the day stealthily worming round the lake, hoping to pick up a Carp.
The day was frustrating to say the least. I've never met Carp so timid, even trying to gently open the bail arm resulted in the fish simply turning away, combined with the high, afternoon sun turning the Carp lazy.

But what felt like the 60th walk around the lake with a rod, net and pocketful's of bait, I saw a thick, murky cloud of clay and silt being churned up with a frenzy of bubbles, no doubt a Carp.
I was so determined to catch a Carp, I was even crouching behind rushes, paranoid that the Carp would spook. But with my Polaroids, I filtered through the water's glare, and just my luck.
Two Carp, they looked decent too, both feeding heavily, and confidently in a small bay, tucked away in the corner of the lake. Being greedy myself, obviously I wanted to catch the bigger fish, so with precision, stealth and pure skill, I lowered the trimmed down Creamy Nut boilie just out of the Carp's vision, and stood with utter lack of motion, just like a Heron.
In seconds the fish took the boilie, and I struck with a rush of pure adrenaline.
The fight was hairy, negotiating past pads, rushed weed, and even Carp!
He fought like a brute, and I had to sacrifice a foot to the lake to land this Carp, but it certainly was worth it.

Sixteen pound on the dot, of thick, Devon Carp. I was over the moon.

Apologies for the poor camera quality, taken with an Ipod.

Again, the next day was very slow, the heat resulted in the fish becoming reluctant to feed, even the silvers retreated to the shade for the day. So I took a day of the fishing to visit Dartmouth, a recommended place to visit, it was a beautiful day out!

The last Carp I caught was on Monday, and both Tuesday and Wednesday I blanked.
But on Thursday I changed my approach, I scaled down completely.
I changed to a more camouflage braid, smaller hooks, ( Krank size 10) and 15mm boilies.
I also changed my baiting approach, as before i'd use a pva stringer of boilies and and maybe a handful over the top. But now I went all in. Four handfuls of boilies on both spots, and It certainly worked!
Within the first hour, I saw multiple fish, cruising and meandering over my spots.
I spotted a ghostie, the biggest fish there for certain, I really wanted to catch that fish.

I said to my girlfriend, "I reckon that left hand rod's going to go off any minute", and no more than 3 minutes late, the double tone of the Delkim broke the silence and the clutch screamed.

Due to the weed situation, I had the luxury of landing fish from a floating platform ( A boat)
This made playing and landing fish a lot more easier, and safer.
I saw the fish roll on the surface, it was the ghostie!
I was both ecstatic and scared that the fish would come off, but after a hearty struggle, the fish was ghillied! 

My expression says it all.

17.1 Lb of immaculate Ghost Common.

The fishing was slow after this Ghostie, with another angler arriving on the lake, causing me to loose my focus and also my confidence, I fished for the whole night, loosing a Carp in very early hours, and landing a Tench at near sunrise.
It was Saturday morning now, and the final pack up began.
Fishing in Devon certainly was an enjoyable experience, and a massive thank-you to Warwick and his wife who made the holiday, and the fishing even more enjoyable than it was.
I certainly recommend a trip to Wagland Farm Cottages, not only for a smashing holiday with stunning views of Dartmoor all around, but also a great bit of fishing.

Although my blogs are very centered on Carp, like most are these days, I'd just like to point out the amazing Coarse fishing at Waglands. Only half an hour on a float saw me beating my Roach personal best, and also my Rudd, both at about the two pound mark.

Back in Hampshire now, and it's back to my usual Club lake and hopefully the publicity ban water for some bigger Carp, still hunting those elusive Southwick bigguns.

http://www.waglandfarmcottages.co.uk/index.html

All the Carp were caught on - Severn Baits 'Creamy Nut' wafters.

http://www.severnbaits.co.uk/

A disappointing night.

I arrived at the lake late in the afternoon, hoping that the day session anglers had packed up, but i was wrong. I managed to pre-bait a gravel spot about twenty feet out with a few kilo's of hemp and other particle with a spomb, I knew fish would be over it all night.
The swim I initially wanted to fish was overgrown,  and very often over looked, but just my luck, someone dropped into it, but luckily was fishing no where near my spots.
I managed to nick a few fish whilst waiting for the angler to pack up from a known catching spot in peg 73, on the other side of the lake, I didn't want to put too much bait in, just in case it drew fish away from my designated spot, so only a handful of crushed boilies and a few pellets were used in the margins.
This temped three, small dark Commons, all of which ripped away and put up tremendous fight.

Fishing slack lines, right under the rod tip.
The swim I wanted was just to the left of the left hand snag ear.

I had all my gear loaded on the barrow, with just the bare essentials needed for fishing out next to me, and come the time the anglers packed up, I slipped the rod away and dropped into my desired swim.

It was coming dark before I got my rod on my baited spot, and with the lake becoming empty of the day anglers, I began to have dinner, but before long, the chorus of the Delkim blared as the line picked up and the clutch began to tick.
The first mirror of the session gave a slow, plodding fight, desperately digging for the nearby snags, but persisting pressure dragged him slowly into the net. The fish was only small, maybe edging double figures, but like all fish, was a pleasure to catch. After slipping him back, I cracked on with dinner, and settled down for the night, occasionally topping up my spot with a handful of boilie and pellet.

I was well tucked away, avoiding any chance of spooking fish in the margins.

The night mist fell on the lake, and the swim was full of fizzing, I was excited to say the least.
The hue of the evening had faded, and the night was in full bloom, fishing a semi slack line to avoid and chance of spooking the fish, the bobbin occasionally lifted into life, but i was hesitant to strike, they were only liners.

For hours I was sat next to the rod, expecting a full take, but it passed ten o'clock without a take, and the activity in the swim had passed, I was disapointed, as I thought the pre- baiting would hold the fish for longer period. Before settling down for some sleep, I topped the swim up again with Creamy Nut boilies, and some betaine Carp pellet, and tucked myself away into my bag. Slowly zipping up the sleeping bag, I heard a disturbance in the water, then suddenly, my alarm registered a few beeps. I jumped out of bed and put my shoes on in a rush as the clutch began to tick.
It felt a better fish, slowly kiting out towards the far bank, I felt the fish dump the lead, and this made bringing the fish in a lot easier, again, another deep bellied Mirror. The fish was immaculate, scale perfect, and still had his curtains, a sure sign that the fish has never been caught before, always a bonus.
 

The Delk' remained silent for the remainder of the night, until about twelve, when I decided to reel in and get some solid sleep.

Come first light, I slung the rig back on the spot. This time, the spot was alive and fizzing like a Jacuzzi.
Whether it be Tench or smaller Carp, I managed to count about 6 or 7 small patches of fizzing, my confidence increased as I set my traps for the day.

As I have mentioned before, the channel carved by the river creates a very sandy, shallow patch, with this brings large amounts of debris being snagged in the shallow water of about a foot deep.
Every angler knows not to fish it, although it's a great holding spot for Carp, it's simply too dangerous and the Coots and Ducks will easily pick up a bait and cause you quite some trouble.
But early morning, a large group of Carp began to spawn, thrashing the water to a foam, it was certainly an enjoyable sight, but I didn't want this large shoal of Carp to pass over my spots with the chance of getting caught. I personally feel it's wrong to fish for spawning Carp.

With this thought in mind, I heavily baited a margin, creating the impression that a previous angler had packed up and threw a selection of bait into the margins, and sure enough it worked.
Before long I found myself leaning into a small Common.

I was trying my hardest to filter these smaller Carp, but it didn't seem to work.
My rig was the same to the rig i used in the last blog, but with a longer hair to accommodate a 15mm Creamy Nut boilie and a 10mm Mainline popup. I setup like this hoping the smaller Carp simply couldn't fit it in their mouths, but obviously they're very persistent!

The heat of the day rose, the Carp spawned all day, all over the lake, day session angler were struggling too, but I seemed to be catching the most in the margins, with a Carp every few hours, only a mere few inches into the protruding iris plants with a pva bag of pellet, boilie crumb and Creamy Nut liquid, which i have now used to replace the previous Sensas Tiger nut extract, as the new Severn Baits liquid is far more concentrated and creates a better cloud of attraction than the Sensas.

To put it as an understatement, the days fishing was hard. They were spawning and basking in the sun, it was simply too hot and too bright, and the lack of a ripple on the water certainly didn't help.

I'll be returning more often now, as I've finished school. I can put more time and effort into trying to catch one of these big Carp, I'm certainly going to be keeping my eyes on the top section of the lake.
But next session, depending on the conditions, I'm going to target  a large bed of lilies, where only recently, one of the larger Carp was caught.

I've recently started fishing a large, 21 acre lake, called Petersfield Heath, a notoriously hard water, on account of the minute of amount of fish in such a large volume of water. But when you do catch one, it certainly is a reward.  Fishing here will not be as prolific as Southwick. But I certainly hope to get on my publicity ban water soon, once they've stopped spawning there.

On the note of new waters, in the next two weeks or so, I'm fishing a small lake down in Devon, stocked with Carp up to Thirties. This is for a weeks holiday, but I plan on mostly fishing, and hopefully leaning into one of those chunks!

(Here's the link if you want to find out more http://www.waglandfarmcottages.co.uk/fishing_lake.html )

But in the meantime, maximum effort is going into Southwick.

Pressure.

From the second I woke up, I knew fishing would be hard.
That feeling of a high pressure was in the air, and I could feel the warm and mild breeze through my window.
It was cloudy outside, but the forecast predicted some 'light showers', I hoped this rain may bring a drop in the pressure, and may bring the Carp on the feed. I still felt confident in my baits and rigs, and i still had high hopes for catching.

As I arrived on the estate lake; large, dark and gloomy pillars of rain appeared over the distant hill, and a distant rumble of thunder rolled across the lake, I was eager to get set up and in shelter in as little time as possible.
I decided to fish up the "top" end of the lake, although it's much shallower, it's been known for some of the bigger fish.
Southwick park is not a particularly prolific water, but yet it's not the most complex water to target.
The lake is fed from a small river, creating a gravel channel across the bottom of the lake on one side, this is a regular catching spot for the bigger Carp, and so i decided to target this area in my swim, along with a baited marginal spot.

(You can see the trench the river had engraved along the course of the lake, this session; I am fishing towards the right of the image.)

From the second I got my brolly up, it began to rain, but i managed to catapult about two dozen Creamy Nut Fusion boilies over my desired spots, and managed to get my simple, yet very effective rig out.
The rig is a simple 'bolted' hair rig, using a size ten Gardner Target Specimen hooks, on a 9 inch length of ESP Ghost fluorocarbon. Personally I prefer to use the lightest lead I can get away with, so a small 3/4 ounce lead did the job.

Simple, yet effective.

A real edge.

A Creamy Nut Fusion Wafter was used on my rig,  18mm but trimmed down to an unusual shape to lure the fish to an irregular object, in hope they'd be intrigued to bite. And then to this I added a stringer of 15/18mm boilie chops to create a small handful of bait around my spot.

To nearly all of my boilie fishing, I add a Tiger nut extract, by Sensas. This makes the boilies sweet and sticky, and really gives them a sweet, creamy smell, it's perfect too for stick mixes and spod mixes in combination with Creamy Nut boilies. A perfect edge to anybodies fishing.

As the day progressed I was feeling confident although I managed to miss a bite, the worst of  rain had cleared up, along with the thunder and lightening, and there was an immense pressure drop. A cool breeze created a gentle ripple on the lake, pushing the fish onto my spots, and within ten minutes of this weather change, I began receiving bites on the Delkim.

I began to boil the kettle when the alarm screamed into action and the rod tip arched over.
A simple fight, yet trying to keep the fish away from plunging into a nearby tree was a challenge, but as i netted it, it looked a very small fish for the lake. I didn't bother weighing it, but it looked and felt about six, maybe seven pound.

I fished both my marginal and gravel spots intermittently throughout the day, both producing a bite every few hours.
But now the wind had died, and there was a blazing sun. A few began to cruise, but an occasional gust of wind kept them down. Bite time on this lake is around two/three o'clock depending on the conditions, but there was certainly no bites for me, as I sat under the brolly, pondering upon my technique.
The Stow bobbin remained static up until about 30 minutes from packing up, when it ripped off the line, waiting for me to strike. It felt a slightly better fish than the other stockies, and made a real effort to find sanctuary within the fallen tree. But a tight clutch, a sharp angle and plenty of persistence eventually pulled the fish away, and he slipped into my net without a fuss.
Certainly the fish of the day, a long dark Common, maybe licking ten pounds, but i know for sure there are fish nearly three times the size in the lake. 

A slow and disappointing pack up commenced, I knew I was doing everything right, and I was certain big fish were in the area. The gentle cool of the evening christened the whole lake, and I began to load up the barrow, still hoping the rod may still rip away, but it remained stationary. Fish were still topping over the top, and if it wasn't for my dad's request to pack up, I would've fish up until dark.

The same methods will be applied next session, maybe next time a bigger bait, a bigger hook, and a heavier lead, just to try and sift through the smaller Carp, and target a specimen.
I'm still very confident in my tactics, and hope it's just a matter of time before one of the lakes elusive specimen Carp induces my Creamy Nut hookbait.

Welcome!

This is my personal blog. Posting about my experiences with the baits in which I am currently field testing for Severn Baits.

I will be posting about methods, rigs, baiting approaches, and general angling related subjects.
You'll also get an insight into my personal angling life.

16.9 Mirror from my local club lake - Southwick Park.