Like many of you I was straining at the leash to get fishing again after lockdown restrictions were eased. My local syndicate water put in place a rota system to keep numbers manageable with everyone wanting to be out and I was fortunate to get a place on the first rota.
Knowing the fish had been being fed pellet by boat during this period and that the bailiffs that had fished with bright baits over corn and hemp mixes with little success I decided to go for a much less visual approach.
Our new test bait, the C-Food is very close to a pellet colour and so my cunning plan was formed. I made some pellet coloured wafters and paste and made a mix of a mixed sized Hinders pellets with whole and crumbed boilie liberally doused in fish pro and salmon oil and sea salt for a very natural looking spod mix that I felt would look very similar to what they were used to being fed and find quite safe.
Arriving at the lake I found a few fish showing in one area and so had found my home for the first night. I spodded out a light scattering of the dark, natural mix and relaxed feeling quite confident for the night ahead. Fishing the C-Food wafter hookbaits wrapped in the paste, surely I couldn’t fail…
I was awoken at 4am to a take from what turned out to be an 8lb tench. Not what I was after but at least the rigs and bait were working. Watching the water I could see numbers of fish showing further down the lake to my left while seeing nothing in front of me now. I gave it until I felt bite time had passed and upped sticks and moved.
Once in my new swim I found some spots I was happy with and adopted the same baiting approach as the night before. Rigs went out as before with the C-Food wafters and paste and after watching the odd fish poke it’s head out well into the night I felt sure I was in the right place.
I awoke around 4am feeling dejected that I hadn’t caught and watching the water I could see fish showing right over the other side of the lake. This continued for some time, so once again I felt a move was on the cards. I slowly started packing down and getting the kit on the barrow when out of nowhere the middle rod signaled a savage take. By the time I hit it the fish had kited so far right into a bay that I had to scramble into my chesties to get in the lake and ease it back up the margins to my waiting net. There it was, my prize, my first post lockdown fish and a stunning scaly Cotswold carp made all the frustrations of the past few weeks disperse. On the scales she went just shy of 30lb, but weights are immaterial when they look like that.
Spirits lifted I stuck to my approach and the following morning at 5am another screaming take and another scramble into the lake to fight another angry carp into my net. Once on the mat, I thought it was the same fish as yesterday! But closer inspection showed it to be a different fish but no less stunning and just slightly smaller than the previous fish.
My session drew to a close and I packed up with a smile on my face, my tactics had worked and I had two beautiful carp to reward me for my efforts.
I’m looking forward to seeing the continued results of the C-Food in testing, I’m full of confidence that we’re going to have a truly special bait that will catch a lot of good fish and make a lot of people as happy as I am right now.
Stay safe and tight lines everyone.
Andy
