Recently the fishing for most of the lakes that I angle upon has been rather slow and I put this down to the huge amounts of free protein readily available to the fish – i.e. tadpoles and small frogs, and judging by the amount of small amphibians hopping all around the margins…it was no wonder.
So a trip or two was needed to get back in the groove; the first thing I had to do was to make some bait - in this case my favourite Haith’s Robin Red & Chilli Base Mix. Now this was a feat in itself as I don't actually have a kitchen at the moment (see previous blogs to find out why!) so I did what anyone would do in this situation and that was to `steal` the builders’ work trestle and make a bait-making station on it...with this achieved a plan was formulated... My alarm was set to 5am. I heard my dog outside whining for me to walk him and so as I did, the mist was slowly burning off the distant tors - the view being enough to appreciate being alive. It was a lovely morning.
Quickly loading my estate with my minimal set up, a short drive some twelve minutes later saw me unloading my tackle at the lake...
I decided to fish the margins right under a canopy of trees, close-in stuff. The only way I could do this was to float fish using my favourite 9ft 2.5tc stalker rod. I baited gently up with two or three small handfuls of groats from Haith’s. As I was `laying on` the way to get the float under the trees was to tie a small mesh bag with 3 boilies hooked on to a small and very simple hair rig under the 3bb float...
It wasn`t long before I spotted a big heron stalking the shallows, and then a neon blue flash! The lake’s resident Kingfisher going about his morning duties. Then some pinprick bubbles under my float caught my attention and, as the float was laying on its side, it cocked up and sailed away under the lake’s surface. First a gentle strike. I soon felt the power of this angry margin marauder; the rod twisting and bucking in my hands. I soon had him in the net, though. This process was repeated more than once… My other two bite alarm rods remained untouched - so it goes to show, never neglect the margins...or the float!
There are some VERY big silver fish in my venue I thought it only fair to forget the carp and fish for these worthy creatures; the way I do this is simple: using one of my centrepins and 13ft four piece float rod coupled with the fantastic handmade floats given to me by a proper old school friend. It`s a deadly way to fish...even more so when using Liquid Robin Red. I`ll explain how...
I find if you want to catch big Rudd/Roach or hybrids don't use a catapult to feed the swim as when the loose feed falls to the bottom of the lake you`ll attract the attention of the small silver fish on the way down, and that's not what one wants. What you need is a small baitdropper - the one I have was given to me by my father. If I dropped it in the water, I`d go in for it! Anyway....the baitdropper gets the loose feed on the deck bypassing the small fish and it’s an underused and deadly method. I used standard sweetcorn and small bits of Lidl canned meat; the difference is I dunk the hookbait meat in Liquid Robin Red just as I cast in...and so every third cast, or so, I top up with the baitdropper..
Of course all this hard work makes me hungry, so I soon had the mini 28 trangia fired up...and boy did those sausage butties taste good with that brown sauce!
After I`d finished my breakfast [I was still bait dropping] I started to get bites....and soon I had several lovely silver hybrids and one small “born in the lake” common, with big shoulders. Then all went quiet on the float - I thought it was due to one of the pool’s big perch hanging around. I was wrong; the float dipped…I gently lifted the rod, which hooped right over and a right ol’ tussle ensued... After a while, a rather angry Trewen strain feral was landed. I guessed it weighed around low doubles. Not what I was after, but not to complain...lol.
As I settled down again to fish I noticed a lot of commotion in the shallows, so I grabbed my camera for a looksee; it seemed like the carp were spawning and that was my cue to go home.
As I walked through the meadow to my car I noticed some black shapes in the river drifting in and out of the streamer weed. As I carry a small spinning kit with me, I decided to have a little go and…well…that's another tail to tell of a summer’s day in Kernow...
Enjoy your fishing and the countryside...
Regards Adam Roots
Written by Adam Roots
