Success at last!

 It was almost four years ago in October 2017 that my Son and I first set foot on hallowed ground for the first time. Farnham Angling club had come to my attention and the fact that they had recently purchased the Yateley East complex from Cemex angling. One of the lakes was the legendary Match lake, somewhere I had always wanted to fish. As the cost of the ticket was extremely reasonable we decided to join the club with a view to fishing the Match lake. 

After considerable research it became apparent that there were some extremely good fish to target in the Match lake, including a few originals. For my own part I simply wanted a change from my local waters and the thrill of fishing and hopefully catching from a water with some prestige. 

What we weren't prepared for and rather naively, was the amount of footfall and pressure that the lake now sees. Being so open access and containing so many big fish, means that it is almost constantly rammed with anglers, and the pressure has increased over the time that we have been visiting the lake, especially during the Covid pandemic with so many being unable to work. In truth it's quite a headbanger of a lake!

We have only actually done a total of 20 or so nights on Match over the four year period. We would have done more, however, several times we have been forced to fish other waters after finding Match too busy upon arrival. Most of the time it is simply a case of slotting in wherever you can find an empty swim. Watercraft and the ability to locate fish is virtually none existent. Take your ticket and wait your turn is the phrase that springs to mind! 

The fish themselves are clearly extremely clued up. There are estimated to be around 250 fish in 14-15 acres, however the irregularity with which they are caught considering the amount of anglers and hookbaits constantly in the water, you would think an awful lot more fish would visit the bank than actually do. To be truthful it's probably one of the hardest waters in the country for that reason. Multiple hits are as rare as rocking horse droppings, and captures of two or more fish in a session are something to shout about, indeed to catch one fish is certainly an achievement. The sheer pressure those fish are under is mind boggling, how they get away with it is completely beyond understanding.

Despite the huge drawbacks however, we have persisted with wanting to fish the Match lake. There are too many stunning fish to walk away with our tails between our legs. Dealing with the pressure has been especially challenging for me, and I am not shy to admit that I have let it defeat me mentally on many of our sessions, which of course has a knock on effect on how you approach your fishing. The only plus for us is the reasonable ticket cost and the fact that there is plenty of other waters on offer on the ticket, albeit nothing like the stock of Match.

Initially this year I had decided not to renew my membership and focus on other branches of the sport, leaving Match lake firmly in the rear view mirror, or so I thought. But after suffering a bout of severe illness for several weeks I had a complete change of heart. Call it a moment of realisation of my own mortality. I won't say any more than that, but I got to thinking about what I wanted to achieve in my angling over the next few years, given that I am getting on a bit now! and while I still have some level of fitness and mobility. I know that sounds a bit morbid but at some point we all have to face the truth that time waits for no one. 

Carp fishing has always been my number one passion as far as angling in general goes. I have had a love hate relationship with it from time to time but that is more down to my own intolerance for the Bull Crap that comes with it at times! Again, I won't go into details but there have been times when I have taken some things too personally instead of ignoring them and it has had a detrimental effect on my view of the sport, causing me to engage in other types of fishing far away from the childish and petty element that Carp fishing seems to attract at times.

So I found myself, for my own reasons, making a decision to return to the Match lake determined to achieve my ambitions, and those of my Son, despite the difficulties that come with fishing such a busy pressured lake. My mindset was the first thing that had to change in order to do just that. Son had never been bothered about it all like I had, but he has grown up fishing busy waters and has really never known anything different, whereas I come from a different era, when Carp fishing was very much a minority sport and Carp, and fishing for them, was shrouded in far more mystery and lore than it is today. Waters that contained Carp were few and far between and Carp anglers even fewer, you could expect to easily be able to use your watercraft and location skills to put yourself on fish, with little or no competition from other anglers. 

And so, we arrived at the lake on Sunday morning at about 06.30 after having left home at 03.45! The ferry journey across the Solent adds an hour to our journey time but thankfully traffic at that time of the morning is normally light, especially on a Sunday. We hoped that being a Sunday it may be a changeover day and that some of the anglers would pull off the lake relieving some of the pressure for at least a few hours and allowing us a chance of finding a half decent swim each. As normal the car park was pretty full and I had visions of us aborting the mission, but a walk around the lake revealed a few half decent swims free. We decided to slot in and stick to the game plan with a view to moving swims if our predictions were right and some of the other anglers pulled off the lake.

Within an hour or so we were installed in our chosen swims, both of which had good form meaning we were both feeling reasonably confident with Son having had a few fish show in and near to his water. The first day and night passed by quietly for me but Son had a small Common of about 10lb during the night, possibly a stock fish or even a spawned on fish, we weren't sure but with plenty of fish showing on and around his spots he was hopeful of a better specimen. My own area seemed very quiet despite at least two swims on the opposite bank having been vacated for twelve hours or so relieving the pressure in the area. Later the second day I was visited by one of the Bailiffs who, very helpfully suggested a different spot to the one's I had my rigs placed on. Now one thing I have learned is you should never ignore local knowledge and given the difficulties in fishing the lake intermittently I was more than happy to take his advice. Upon exploration of the suggested area I found a nice clean firm bottom, probably clay as the lead slid across it with ease before the tip bent round into heavier silt and dead weed. That settled it, and I delivered the rig along with a tight patch of about half a kilo of free offerings onto the spot. 

I was just finishing my dinner some time later when out of the blue the freshly placed rig was picked up and the rod and alarm went into meltdown! The remainder of my dinner was discarded and I grabbed the rod and bent into the fish which was tearing off at speed, clearly very angry at having made a mistake, forcing me to give line. I could feel it still shaking it's head trying to rid itself of the hook as it went. At this point I had no idea what size the fish might be and we settled into a terse battle with the fish kiting from one side of the swim to the other forcing me to hop, skip and jump around the bank trying to prevent it from getting into any of the marginal cover. It wasn't until I had it closer in to me that I realised it might actually be quite a good fish judging by the way it was steadily plodding pretty much where it wanted and holding station whenever I applied any pressure. The fight was very protracted but eventually I began to get the upper hand. It took several attempts to get it's head up enough to try and net it. Finally I was able, with some effort, to draw it into the net. I couldn't believe it, I finally had a match lake Carp! Looking down on the creature nestling in the bottom of the net I noted the incredible width of it's back... At this point I hadn't taken in the length.

A moment or two later I was being assisted by Son, and as we lifted the Carp out of the water and placed it on the mat, he told me I had the fish known as Kiss Scale! I asked him if he was sure, but being as he has spent many hours studying pictures of the lakes stock and I was beginning to realise just how big the fish really was, I was pretty sure he was right! What an incredible moment for both of us!

The scales revealed a weight of 43lb 8oz, a spawned out weight as she has been up to 49lb, but a new personal best for me! What a way to open my Match lake account! Yes luck had played a huge part as well as the advice from the Bailiff and I am more than happy to acknowledge that, but in this game you need all the luck and advice you can get!

We did the pictures as quickly as possible as I was keen to not stress the magnificent creature and return her to her home as soon as I could. We treated a spawning sore on her side with propolis and then I donned the waders to return her. She had given her all during the fight, and I wanted to make sure she went back strongly. Looking down on her length and girth in the water I was completely awestruck, still not believing that I had caught such a sought after resident of the lake. 

Eventually she swam off, looking like a miniature submarine, clearly sulking at having been caught out. I had kept surprisingly calm up to now but then the adrenaline kicked in and I was shaking whilst trying to sort the rig out! In the end I calmed down a bit and decided to tie a fresh rig to put back out on the spot. I think I'll keep the rig that caught Kiss Scale for posterity as it was such a special moment, especially as my Son was there to share it with me. I'll certainly treasure the memory of my first Match lake Carp. 

I wasn't lucky enough to catch any more fish during that session. despite returning to the same spot again, but I am not a greedy person, for me catching that fish was enough. Unfortunately Son had quite a frustrating session, with plenty of activity and fish showing on and around his spots throughout his session, but despite trying a few different things he just couldn't get a pick up from them. He's been lucky enough have had three other fish from the Match lake so far including one of over thirty pounds so he's not doing too badly but when they are all over you like they were him, I can imagine how frustrating it must have been. I think seeing his old man catch Kiss Scale eased some of his frustrations though he was overjoyed for me and like me will treasure the memory for ever.

Until next time, Tight lines and thanks for reading.

Chris

Yateley South Lake

It's a good many years since I was last at Yateley South lake and I wasn't really expecting to be visiting it again just yet but I suppose I should have expected it given that the Match lake is so popular. My Son and I arrived to find it absolutely rammed the other day, there were a few swims available but they just didn't seem to appeal to either of us. Neither myself or my Son are up for just slotting in for the sake of it and prefer to try and use at least some watercraft to locate fish, but when most of the water is already covered that just isn't possible! Having also looked around Nursery and Copse as well, with the low water levels and zero signs of any fish they just had a 'dead' look which failed to inspire either of us to want to fish them. Thank goodness there are plenty of other waters available on the ticket and we decided to pop over the road and have a look at the South lake which had looked pretty quiet as we drove past a couple of hours earlier.

As it turned out it was indeed pretty quiet with just a half dozen or so Anglers present and plenty of swims and options available. What's more even though it was 10.am by this time it seemed we had arrived during a feeding period with evidence of fizzing and as we walked into the back bay area a fish jumped out causing us to pause and inspect the area more closely. It became obvious that a number of fish were present cruising just below the surface. Being extremely tired from an uber early start and then getting caught in traffic on the M3 due to an accident and then spending a couple of hours walking the other side of the road at Match, we decided that was a good enough place to start.

Fortunately there are areas all around South where you can park your car and none are very far from the nearest swims so in no time we had barrowed the gear the few yards from the van to the swims. Cutting a long story short I think we actually arrived too late and by the time we had disturbed the area trying to find spots to present baits most of the fish had done the off. Both of us went to sleep for a few hours in the afternoon by which time the sun was high in the sky and temperatures had soared. I woke up late afternoon in a sweat from the heat as the sun was pitching directly into our swims and my Son found himself in a similar position.

We opted to remain in the bay for the night in the hope that the fish would return at the same time the next morning but despite having several liners during the night I awoke the next morning fishless. Son had lost something during the night that he felt was probably a Bream.

We gave it the morning but it was obvious we weren't going to find success in the back bay so Son went off to do the leg work for his old man and see if he could find us another chance. Before long he was back having found an area where some fish were fizzing and rolling so we both trotted off to have a look at the area. In contrast to the cramped back bay the new area offered plenty of options for both of us with a large expanse of open water in front plus features to cast to.

20 minutes later we had moved the gear to the new swims and set about exploring the area with light leads trying to keep disturbance to a minimum. Again to summarise, the afternoon passed into the evening and night and I awoke the next morning feeling dissatisfied with my efforts. Son was in a similar frame of mind and we sat and had a discussion about tactics.
I had been fishing both rods on an area of firm silt over which I had spombed a couple of kilos of mixed feed. Fish had definitely been bubbling on this area but I felt it was more likely to be Bream so I decided to wind in one of the rods and reposition it to an over hanging willow opposite me on the end of an Island. The cast went spot on, in fact it was one of those hero casts that you know just has to get you a fish. I had to punch it low and hard to get it in position under the overhanging branches to the spot I thought would produce. As it went in the line just caught the very tips of the willow leaves and a little flick with the rod tip saw it ping off, just the job I thought. As I said I just felt it deserved a fish and it came as little surprise a short while later when the alarm signalled a powerful take. I kept the rod low and gave it plenty of side strain as the fish tried to get further under the willow branches, not that there was any real danger as there were no branches actually under the water for it to snag on, other wise I wouldn't have cast it where I did. The fish ploughed up and down and managed to find a couple of small weedbeds, but calm steady pressure and a bit of coaxing from me had it moving again and eventually the boy put the net under a nice sized fish.
On the Scales it weighed exactly 26lb, a short deep bodied Simmo strain fish. Not the prettiest of fish but beggars can't be choosers and still a nice reward for hard work.
Needless to say the rod was recast back to the same spot and once again it landed right on target and a short time later it roared off again with a slightly lesser specimen of 17lb 6oz.
I think the boy was getting a little frustrated by this time seeing the old man show him how it's done! I suggested he place one of his rods to an Island margin to his right as the sun was beginning to show signs of breaking through the clouds and lighting up the margins of the Island. Kudos to him he managed to get an absolutely spot on cast in under some overhanging branches on the Island and again it was one of those casts that deserved a reward. Sure enough with just two hours of our trip left he received a take from the spot. The end result after a plodding fight was a lovely grey coloured Mirror of 20lb 4oz.
Despite the initial disappointment of not being able to get on the Match lake we had managed to bank three fish between us, a good enough result given the circumstances and we both returned home buoyed by our success. To be honest I'm kind of glad that we were forced onto the South lake as I think we both needed to catch a fish, The Match lake is a ball breaker for many people who aren't local and can't pre bait spots and visit it often enough to get in tune with the lake. I'm under no illusion that we have set ourselves a difficult task in catching any fish from Match and so an occasional trip over the road to get a bend in the rod will be needed from time to time. South lake isn't a hard lake but it still requires a bit of thought and I believe very precise bait placement is the key. There are still some very good fish in the South lake and some very nice looking one's so I won't mind too much in future if we have no choice but to spend time on this lovely little water.

A solid lump weighing 26lb not especially pretty but very welcome!

The boy did better in the nice looking fish stakes with this wonderfully grey coloured 20lb 4oz Mirror.

Trying too hard?

Last weekend my Son and I returned to the Yateley complex, upon arriving in the Car park after a two hour journey, most of which was taken up with the ferry crossing from our Island home, we found that there weren't very many other anglers on the complex, always a bonus and it meant that we pretty much had carte blanch when it came to choice of swim.

With it being so quiet it didn't take us very long to find some fish, and they were feeding in a quiet margin. I sent the boy shinning up a nearby tree to have a look and he confirmed that several good fish were indeed present and making the most of a natural larder. Being the generous Dad that I am I gave him dibs on the swim but we still continued round the rest of the complex to see if we could find any other opportunities. We toured all three lakes but the only other activity we could find was in a swim opposite where we had found the feeding fish on Match and so after much deliberation I decided to pitch up in this swim. And the lad pitched up opposite in the other swim where we had found the feeding fish on arrival. I actually found some pretty decent spots in my swim where fish had obviously fed previously and was confident that my presentation would be good.

Well the first night passed quietly for both of us though I did have several odd bleeps from the alarms, the feeding activity wasn't repeated the next day. I have often found that fish will return to a spot a couple of days on the trot to feed and I have successfully caught fish in the past on this basis but this time it didn't follow through and as we were keen to present ourselves with as many chances as we could to catch we wound in and went for a look around again. This time we found fish frequenting a couple of areas on Nursery and Copse and so we set up adjacently for the next night with me on Copse and the boy on Nursery. Now the problem with moving swims was that I had had a senior moment and forgotten the handles for the wheelbarrow! Not a clever thing to do on these waters especially for an old geezer approaching his fiftieth year! We were both shattered by the time we'd moved and I began to also realise that I wasn't feeling too good, and over the rest of the session I had a bout of man-flu come on which made me feel totally crap and certainly not in the right frame of mind for the task in hand..

Apart from a liner in the early hours for me it was another fishless night. When I checked the spot in the margin that I had the liner on it confirmed my suspicion that it had been visited by fish and they had eaten the small amount of bait I had put in and done the off and probably my rig with it!

Once again we both felt that our chance had passed and after another huge amount of effort we returned to Match but in different swims to the first night. both of us had large holes in the extensive weed beds to fish to and indeed fish were present in the adjacent weed. For once I was feeling quite confident, I found the clearer areas in the holes and wrapped the rods accurately and dispatched the baits to the areas. The boy did the same and we both settled in for the night. Once again morning broke without a fish despite my Son having constant activity in his swim. These fish really are some of the trickiest we are ever likely to fish for, add to that the constant merry go round of anglers coming and going, and the ever present thick weed and we have really presented ourselves with the ultimate challenge.

We are not however giving up, and will be returning hopefully in a couple of weeks time.
I think this time personally I will take a more static approach and work my chosen swim, the fish seem to get all over the lake and they always seem to be widespread throughout. Due to the sheltered nature of the lakes with all the tall trees around them they don't seem to be affected by the wind very much so it doesn't push them to one end or another. I think in any given 24 hour cycle fish will come past your baited area and most likely feed on it, whether they end up making a mistake and pick up your hook bait is another matter.

So in summary not the best session for several reasons not least the fact I was feeling unwell and probably made several errors of judgement. I felt I should have stayed in my first choice swim on Match, there were fish showing in an adjacent weed bed and time spent applying bait little and often may well have coaxed them out and onto the baited area. The Youngster felt the same, it's easy to get carried away and end up chasing the fish around, and there is no denying that sometimes this approach can work well but I think on these busy pressured circuit waters it can be a better proposition to sit on your hands and wait, apply bait little and often and let the fish come to you. My first instincts are normally pretty good when it comes to fish location even if there are no obvious signs. As always it's a case of fitting the pieces of the puzzle together and as we slip into autumn and winter things will become simpler rig and bait wise, the weed will die back and hopefully the picture will start to become clearer. It'll certainly be a bonus if I don't forget the handles for the barrow in future or contract a deadly man-flu virus while I'm fishing!

Rig revisions and thoughts

How efficient are our rigs?

I'm sure that we all spend hours playing with different rigs in an effort to come up with the ultimate answer to ensuring we hook as many fish as possible when they pick up the bait. I personally have spent hundreds of hours over the last 30 odd years tying, testing and retying rigs. I've caught fish on many of those rigs and some I've tied up and never used, binning them before ever chucking them in the pond...
The Internet and Carp magazines are full of the next new rig fads. No doubt some of them work very well.

It's my certain belief that any rig will catch fish, I have seen what I consider to be very badly tied rigs catch fish much to my surprise. But as long as a fish sucks it into it's mouth there is always the possibility of the hook catching hold before it's rejected and blown back out.
It's the percentage chance of the hook catching in the mouth that is the crucial point. There are many variables here, the mechanics of the rig itself, the manner in which the fish feeds and what it does with regard to movement once it sucks in the bait, the bottom structure over which we are fishing dictates which type of rig we might choose or be forced to use...
I'm sure by now most of you will have seen the Korda Underwater video's, myself included, and whilst fascinating to watch I found them very demoralising watching how many times some seemingly very good rigs were picked up and blown out without the fish getting caught. Sometimes the fish did get pricked by the hook but were able to shake the hook out using the lead as a lever the 'throw' the hook. So there is another variable to add in, what happens after the fish realises it has been hooked. It isn't just the hook link that needs extreme consideration but also the lead arrangement.

My own rigs have evolved over the years of course, from simple braided hair rigs to coated braids to Blow back rigs and Chod rigs. I've used many different materials including mono and Fluorocarbon and Amnesia, all with different hook patterns to try and find the holy grail and they all caught me fish. The standard advice is to choose a rig you're confident in and stick with it. This is good advice and I follow it myself whenever possible. Once I found a rig I was happy in I stuck with it. I have stuck with one type of rig for the last few years, and it has served me very well catching me plenty of fish and some good one's at that. There's nothing overly special about it, it's a normal blow back rig using coated braid. There are however a few crucial aspects as far as I am concerned that make it what I believe to be the most efficient version of a Blow back rig that I can come up with.

 Firstly I use a rig ring on the hook for the blow back aspect rather than trapping the hair with silicone tube. The problem with using silicone tube, and this is well known, is that the rig will not reset, once a fish has picked it up and ejected it, the rig is rendered almost useless as the silicone tube will be blown back to the eye of the hook, trapped there by the silicone. Sure there is always a chance that the hook will catch if another fish picks it up again, but mechanically the rig is not fishing as effectively as it was before.

The second aspect of my Blow back rig is that I use one of the new generation of stiff coated braids. Though difficult to work with when tying rigs, these super stiff - rigid once steamed - materials are I believe, very difficult for Carp to deal with, plus they are sitting out almost perfectly straight on the lake bed, so it only takes minimal movement from the Carp to make the hook turn and catch in the mouth. I do strip some of the coating off to allow the hook to turn, but not by the eye, I leave about 2cm of coating on as it exits the eye leaving almost an extended line aligner using the stiff coating. I strip about 1.5cm of coating off and add a large piece of putty where the stiff coating starts again, almost like I would when fishing a nailed down pop up...

 Which is the third aspect, I believe this helps the hook to turn quickly and get dragged downwards towards the bottom lip. In practice this works about 80% of the time but sometimes I have found the hook to be in the scissors which simply means the fish has turned to the side as it picks up the bait, the rig still working as intended as the hook hold is inevitably in the lower part of the scissors. I always use this rig with a Snowman set up, with a small 10mm pop up on top of a 15mm bottom bait making for a slightly more buoyant hook bait ensuring it's easier for the fish to suck in. This also ensures the hook bait is sitting virtually on top of the hook which is lying flat on the lake bed, not that I am convinced fish recognise hooks for what they are, but it helps to add to the subtlety of the overall presentation. The rig is tied in conjunction with a curve shank hook which promotes a very aggressive flip. I can attribute a better catch rate than ever before to this rig, and I believe it is an extremely efficient rig, however it is only suitable for clean bottoms over gravel or clay, it definitely isn't a rig for fishing in weed. Most of my local fishing is on weed free waters so this isn't an issue and I will use this rig wherever I go as long as I can fish it over a clean bottom.

The other rig I have ultimate faith in is the Chod rig. Now I understand the Chod rig is a bit Marmite, some love it and some hate it. I started on the hate side and moved over to the love side once I found out what I was doing wrong. You could say I changed from the dark to the light side! There are three crucial aspects of the Chod Rig that many people get wrong which is what leads to the notorious hook pulls that are the result of not getting it right. The first is simply in the tying and positioning of the curve in the stiff bristle filament. The second and most critical aspect is that the Chod rig is often over weighted. it needs to be fish as a critically balanced bait. Lead core in my opinion is too heavy for the Chod rig and then some people add extra weight, this is the single reason why it won't work properly. The rig needs to be fished on a leadless leader or as a naked version straight onto Fluorocarbon mainline. The last part that many people get wrong is not allowing the Chod to run up and down the mainline enough. Trapping it in place tightly between two beads so there is no free movement is a mistake, either allow it to run the full length of the leader from the lead to the top bead or as I prefer leave a gap between the two beads of a few inches to allow the rig to run between allowing the fish to suck the rig in further and thus facilitating a better hook hold. In short the fish needs to be able to suck the rig off the lake bed just as a normal rig would allow it to. This is why an un weighted leader is the best option, pinning the rig down with leadcore or extra putty only serves to prevent this. A very buoyant hookbait is also the best choice, if it's still too buoyant and lifting the mainline or un weighted leader off the bottom then by all means add some putty but only so the rig sinks super slowly and only just touches the bottom. All these tweaks allow the rig to function better and reduce the risk of losing fish through hook pulls as it allows the fish to such the bait in much more freely.

Conventional wisdom suggests that 'if it isn't broke don't try and fix it', and I would agree with that statement, but as anglers we are always trying to gain those extra percentage points and so I will be experimenting over the next few weeks with a version of another well known rig but with my own little tweaks. I am hoping it will perform as well as my current rig but will offer more versatility when fishing over different bottom structure including weed. If I'm happy with it I will write about it here, If it's rubbish and doesn't work, well it's back to my old faithfuls!

I mentioned the Lead arrangement as also being crucial as to what happens after the fish has picked up the bait and pricked itself. With so many waters being extremely pressured these days, the Carp have learned to deal with being hooked almost on a casual basis as if it's an almost normal occurrence, which it is given that they are being fished for pretty much 24/7. They have learned that by shaking their heads as such, they can dislodge the hook with the weight of the lead, as you may have seen in the Korda video's. Years ago I used to receive odd single bleeps or knocks on the rod tip, I would put this down to fish bumping the line in the vicinity of the hook bait, but in reality I now realise it was more likely fish 'getting away with it' and dislodging the hook having actually picked up the bait. This happens far less these days than before, because my rigs are clearly converting more pick ups into fish. However having said that I wrote in an earlier blog of how I believed the Yateley Match lake fish were doing me at night as I was getting several bleeps which didn't lead to a run and in the morning I found my rigs in slightly different places to where I had placed them the night before. This happened not just once but two or three times which is what led me to make my conclusion. The worst thing was I was using my old faithful rigs, which of course diminished my faith in them....BUT.. in actual fact the rigs were doing their job and there was nothing wrong with them, they were clearly hooking the fish. In reality what was at fault was my lead arrangement which was a standard inline set up. I was fishing over a clean gravelly area and the surrounding weed wasn't going to be a problem as it wasn't thick or up to the surface and therefore the thought of discharging the lead wasn't an issue, however the fish were able to dislodge the hook using the weight of the lead. Had I been using a drop off lead set up,  or a helicopter rig with a friction fit bead that slid every time they tried to shake it might have been a different story..
A bit of a schoolboy error on my part, but I keep telling myself I can't be brilliant all the time !! To get the pick ups was an achievement, to not convert them into fish on the bank, very frustrating and I should have known they would be extremely wise indeed!

Having said that I used a drop off lead on a difficult session on Yateley pads lake due to there being weed present, The first time I had really encountered a situation like this were it would be prudent to discharge the lead. I managed to get a take and had a fish on for a minute or two whereupon it simply came adrift.. Now at this point I will say that my hooked fish to landing ratio is very good and apart from when I have had to use Barbless hooks I really am not in the habit of dropping fish. Do I put it down to bad luck or do I look at the drop off lead arrangement? Perhaps the lead discharged too early not having had chance to drive the hook point in far enough before being shaken off by the fish? It's my feeling that this is what happened so I now have a bit of a headache and several hours of experimentation regarding the perfect moment to allow the lead to discharge. So far I am not happy with the results of the tweaks I have made but I hope to arrive at a satisfactory system soon. In the past on weedy waters I have always searched for the thinner patches and then deposited a solid PVA  bag on them with a light inline lead and had no problems, but I would say the weed was nothing like I have encountered on the Yateley lakes and so I was able to present well with the solid bags and the small leads were really not an issue. 

This is something I will also be addressing over the next few weeks and certainly when I return to Yateley I won't be making that same mistake!

Which brings me onto the palm test.

 Once we have tied up our latest super efficient ( we hope! ) creation, we need to test it. The standard practice over the years has been to drag it across your palm of your hand and see how quickly the hook flips over and catches in the skin. Not only how quickly but also how many times out of a hundred times dragged across it actually does it! I have seen a few comments here and there about the palm test being a load of rubbish and bearing no relevance to what actually happens in the water with a bait attached. While I agree your rig will behave slightly differently once you have some buoyancy added from the water or a buoyant hook bait I still believe the Palm test is a reasonable guide but perhaps not a definitive test. I will continue to use the Palm test and always take into account the fact that there may be subtle differences once any buoyancy is added when a bait is attached. My recent rig experiments have taken this into account as I want to use a wafter hook bait so the rig has actually been designed with this in mind.


Below: Whether you believe in the palm test or not, I feel its a fair guide as to how your rigs are working. OUCH!

Update, Yateley and VMC Carp hooks.

We're now in early July and I haven't Carp fished or indeed done any Freshwater fishing since April when we had our final sessions on our little water. Once the weather began to warm and Sea temperatures rose to an ideal level the Carp gear was put away and we moved on to some Saltwater fishing. This is a normal pattern for myself and my fishing friends which might sound strange to many Carp anglers, especially those that hang up their gear for the winter. There is no doubt that Carp are easier to catch during the summer months but I have always found it less of a challenge. That probably sounds like an arrogant statement, and it is in a way, but I have always said I have a short attention span when it comes to fishing and once I have achieved a target I get bored and feel the need to move on. Now living where I do on an Island, the challenges are limited as far as freshwater and Carp fishing goes and I hate going over old ground again and again. It isn't an easy thing for me to travel to new destinations both logistically and financially so I have to look elsewhere for those challenges and the Saltwater that I am surrounded by holds plenty of those hence why I hang up the Carp rods for the summer. Having said all that, all this fishing takes a lot of planning and usually I am thinking months ahead, so through the late winter  and early spring I am preparing for the summer and usually about this time of year I start to think about my Autumn and winter fishing whilst still pursuing my summer targets. I won't write about my current summer exploits here as I want to keep this blog about the Coarse side
of things but if you are interested you can catch up with them here : https://saltwaterflyfishingdiary.blogspot.com/

So what are my plans for later in the year?

Last Autumn saw me visit the famous Yateley complex with a particular interest in the Match lake, an extremely challenging water for many reasons and made all the harder by not being able to spend much time there. I only managed a couple of trips for various reasons which was less than I was planning on, but the two trips that I did do were very interesting and I did learn a few things. I have outlined them in the previous posts and I hope to return for some more sessions this Autumn and winter. I will however be making my first trip earlier than last year whilst it is still relatively warm to give myself at least a fairly decent chance of learning more about the lakes residents and their movements and feeding habits. I will be taking what I learned on the two previous trips and implementing that knowledge in my baiting situations and presentation. I don't like to move too far out of my comfort zone when it comes to how I fish wherever I go, and I have a few tried and tested presentations that I am confident in but will be making small adjustments for this particular water...


Travelling for my fishing is nothing new to me and is something I have always done and I have managed to be fairly successful on some quite challenging waters up and down the country, so I am not daunted by the prospect of this particular water. Carp are Carp and they have to feed at some point, if you're there when they do then you stand a chance of catching them, if you're not there then you won't. That's the way I look at it anyway, if you've got a bait in the water you stand as much chance as anyone else, more so if you look, listen, and learn. Cagey they may be and as I discovered on my first trip, they are clever enough to get away with it on a regular basis but eventually they will make a mistake.
The biggest issue for me is the amount of kit needed for these long sessions, 48 - 72 hours is quite a long time and logistically a total pain. I am a far better short session angler and always have been. I like to be mobile, and focused but with 3 tons of gear that is impossible! So this is something I am going to be looking at. I moved a couple of times on the last Yateley trip and I was completely exhausted by the time I'd finished! I aim to be more mobile, even if it means leaving food and drink etc. in the car and not carrying it with me, at least I can fish off the barrow then and be much more mobile if I need to be.

I'm still a few weeks away from any of that at the moment and will be continuing my Saltwater fishing both in the meantime and in between any Carp sessions that I manage to do.

On another note:

As part of my tackle business I have introduced a small range of low cost Terminal tackle bits for Carp fishing, all of which I use myself and have done for some time and have been very successful whilst using it. The range includes Semi translucent rig bits such as Tube, Lead Clips, Beads etc. I am a huge fan of this type of end tackle as I believe it is much harder for the Carp to detect it and it blends in far better with most lake bottoms than some of the solid coloured stuff on the market The range is based on over 30 years of Carp fishing experience.  Along with this I am stocking the superb new VMC range of Carp hooks. Again I have extensively trialled this range and I am of the opinion they are amongst the best hooks I have ever used. If you are interested please visit the Ebay shop and have a look at the range, if you make a purchase and aren't happy for any reason I will give you your money back, no questions asked!
 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/saltwaterandpredatorflies/Carp-fishing/_i.html?_storecat=11809259015

Until next time tight lines and Thanks for reading!

Yateley Match lake session 2

Myself and my Son travelled back up to Yateley again for a three night session this weekend. Being half term it was an ideal opportunity to do another longer session. This would likely be our last trip this side of Christmas but we do have another penned into the diary as soon as the festive season will allow before normality resumes in the New year.

Upon arrival it seemed the lake was pretty quiet which went against our expectations, however it seemed the reason for this was the lake had been fishing hard the last couple of weeks since our last visit which seemed to have put many off. From what I have gleaned so far this is pretty much the norm on the Match lake anyway and not to be put off we went in search of suitable swims in which to set up camp.
I had a hankering to pick up where I left off last time and decided to do a night in the bottom bay again and pending any activity or lack thereof would be prepared to move onto any showing fish. You may recall last time I felt I had definitely had pick ups while in the bottom bay but that the fish were 'getting away with it' and I had come suitably armed with a modified rig to hopefully convert any pick ups into fish. It seemed however that this time I was not visited during that first night as I had no obvious signs of activity from the alarms.
It was apparent laid there all night listening to fish ( they sounded more like cattle being thrown in ! ), crash out a few swims further up that a move was indeed needed, and so the next morning I wandered up the bank with a  rod and a light lead to search out any clearer areas in amongst the still profuse weed beds on which I might present a bait in the areas they had been showing. Indeed I saw signs of fish in the thicker parts of the weed beds while having a feel around and felt confident I was making the right decision.
Having moved the house and all the gear and settled into the new swim, right hand gravelly I think it's called, fish continued to show in the general area throughout the rest of the day making me more certain I was in with a chance. Fishing the left hand rod on a Chod rig in a channel in the weed and the right hand rod on my normal blow back rig close to the Island on the right hand side of the swim on what felt like a clear spot.
What I didn't account for that evening was the way the temperature suddenly plummeted and almost certainly dropped into single figures from being in the upper teens or low twenties. It was a shock to me and I'm pretty sure it was to the fish too! Late October I have found can be a tricky time with the temperatures yo yo'ing as they do and needless to say a very quiet night followed with an odd fish showing here and there but they seemed to have moved off the area.
A warm day followed and the next night was a lot warmer, in fact ridiculously so with the air temperature staying in low double to mid double figures. Crazy weather, and it's no wonder the fish seem confused and difficult to tempt. Despite the odd fish still showing here and there they just didn't seem to be showing any obvious signs of feeding, in fact I am more of the opinion they were just ridding themselves of parasites from being laid up in the weed beds and inactive.
Quite a frustrating session to be honest, especially as my Son managed to get a take on the third morning which he unfortunately lost due to a cut off. Such a shame as he worked hard to get the fish's head down only to lose it to misfortune. He did nothing wrong, the line must have simply touched a sharp Mussel or something when under tension. I felt for him and he handled it well considering. He re set the trap hopeful of a repeat occurrence but no more action came during the rest of our stay.
To say the Match lake is a head banger is an understatement, but we will continue to persevere . All being well by the time the next session comes around some of the extensive weed will have died back and the fish should have settled into a more predictable pattern as should the weather.
To be honest I fully expected our first few sessions to be tricky so I am by no means bemoaning our luck. In fact I actually think we have done better than most having had chances on our first and second sessions on the lake. I have fished plenty of difficult waters in the past so this is nothing new. Carp fishing is a puzzle and I think we are close but need to find a few more pieces before the picture begins to look complete.

Another atmospheric Yateley morning.

Back home and rig testing

After the serious stuff at the Match lake it was time to return to our little fun water this weekend. The high winds we have been experiencing with Hurricane Ophelia and storm Brian had coloured the water slightly due to the undertow created by the prevailing wind and the long narrow shape of the lake, thus stirring up the clay sediment on the bottom.
I opted to try out a rig modification I have come up with for the Match lake, and though these fish are very far from clued up when it comes to rigs It would still give me an indication as to whether the rig is working as I intend it too.
After a long slow day with little buzzer activity I finally had a take on one of the rods. I had placed this rod away from the usual areas we have been catching from in an attempt to see if I could tempt one of the better fish in the lake. After a short fight a glance in the net confirmed I had managed to score one of the slightly better residents possibly proving my theory right as to the kind of areas they preferred to feed. My test rig also seemed to be working as I intended and therefore will be being used on our next trip to the Match lake later this week. All being well if I can find some feeding fish it will be put to the true test.
The fish itself was slightly pale in colour as expected due to the lack of water clarity, but a pretty specimen nonetheless and heavily scaled on both sides.

 The next few days will be spent preparing to do battle with those famous old wily Yateley Carp! Lets hope they are in a feeding mood and that my modified rig proves difficult for them to deal with!

Yateley Match Lake

Our Autumn adventures proper began last Thursday as we packed the car and headed off to the Ferry. Our destination being the famous Yateley Match Lake. I like many thousands of other Carp anglers have wanted to fish the Yateley lakes for as long as I can remember. I have never been a crowd follower and never will be, but there is no denying the heritage that these lakes represent in English Carp fishing history.

The lakes these days are not the same as they were back in the early days, most of the original stock for which these lakes are well known have long since gone, but they still hold some superb looking specimens from subsequent stockings and in the case of the Match lake a mere handful of original fish survive to this day. The selling off of these lakes by the previous owners CEMEX saw the lakes on the East of the complex bought up by Farnham Angling society, an open to all fishing club with a large membership and some very nice existing waters in their portfolio. This means of course that the lakes do get busy at times and the fish are under an enormous amount of pressure all year round. If you are lucky enough to be able to drop on the fish, with the right approach, there are some incredible rewards to be had.

Travelling long distances to fish for wary Carp has never bothered me, no chance of pre baiting and it takes much longer to get to know a lake and it's residents habits, but if you have a bait in the water, as far as I'm concerned you have as much chance as the next fellow. Observation on arrival is key of course and we, my Son and best friend and myself walked the Match lake and adjacent Copse and Nursery lakes looking for clues as to where we might find success. None of us expected to catch on our first session at a strange water of course and this proved to be the case, but during the next few days we learnt an awful lot which will stand us in very good favour for subsequent visits, and of course we shall continue to learn more on each try.

The Match lake is roughly 13 to 14 acres and for much of the year solid with various types of weed. A large proportion of this seems to be a cotton candy type silk weed that reaches from the bottom almost to the surface, only small areas being clearer or supporting a more normal type of hornwort or Canadian pond weed. The silk weed is nigh on impossible to fish or present a bait in and then the chances of actually landing a fish buried in this mess is probably extremely slim. The areas with hornwort also seem to be the more popular swims, as it can be raked out a lot easier than silk weed and there are clearer patches amongst it if you search hard enough. I would imagine that once the first frosts set in, ( if we get any! ) the weed might abate a bit. This is what we are banking on for the next few months anyway as it should make presenting a bait a bit easier even if the Carp feed less as the temperature drops!

Our observations on this visit led us to believe the majority of the fish were favouring the areas of silk weed, no doubt they can move through it fine and will have created underwater corridors for themselves to navigate around it, they certainly showed more regularly in amongst it than anywhere else on the lake.

Eventually after a couple of hours walking and very tired legs we all decided on out individual plots. No social session this one as we all chose very different areas to fish, so it was communication by text for the most part, sharing our findings and observations in these areas.

For my part I chose the furthest point from the car park, a small bay in the far corner which despite still containing some weed seemed to offer a fishable and bait presentable area. I won't give a blow by blow account of my findings but I did find some obvious areas that fish had clearly visited and presented two baits on those spots.
We'd been told by other anglers that it was a night water, but as always your own findings are the best guide before taking notice of what others say. My own experience on this trip would suggest this may indeed be the case as all buzzer activity was between set times in the hours of darkness. Indeed for the three nights we were there I received activity on the two baited spots on every night and only at night, the daytimes being seemingly devoid of activity or fish in the bay. Further more I am certain my baits were picked up and ejected on all three nights with the fish ' getting away with it'. the positions of the bobbins and line angles confirming this in my mind after each subsequent bleep or series of bleeps on the alarms. clearly these fish are extremely cute when it comes to dealing with anglers rigs. This is something I have taken a great deal of interest in over the last few years, rather than dismissing each bit of buzzer activity as simply liners or small fish attacking the baits. I believe on many waters we are constantly being picked up and our rigs being ejected by fish without even knowing it. This has made me pay particular attention to certain aspects of rig mechanics, constantly making adjustments until they stared to convert more of these pick ups into fish. It seems likely that despite using my normal rigs that I supremely confident in, these fish have diminished that confidence and it's back to the drawing board! I am actually not convinced the rigs themselves are at fault, more what happens after the fish has pricked itself and the headshake that causes the hook to be flung from their mouths. Heavier leads and taking the leads out of the equation as soon as possible after the rig is picked up are things that I shall be looking at for the next trip. Pick ups from these fish will be hard won and I can tell you it was very frustrating knowing I was indeed getting those pick ups but not converting them into fish on the bank!

Hopefully there will be more to report on the Match lake and Yateley in the coming weeks and months.