Fishing can be so so cruel........

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Just a very quick update to say I fished for the elusive carp yesterday evening, and tonight also and unsurprisingly they are STILL elusive!

[Newt]

I've never managed to catch one while they were actively spawning.

 

Once in a while if the location is such that there is a break into deep water within 20-50 yards of the spawning area I can manage a female or two by fishing the deep edge where I guess they are staging before heading toward the spawning area.

 

This is when you need channel catfish since they ignore the carp to concentrate on the easy meal of freshly fertilized carp eggs. They are in a feeding frenzy and very willing to take other baits.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Agreed, spawning carp are impossible to catch. Thing is, despite these 2 small ones the other night, I've seen no others 'at it' and those two have been silent since too!

 

Its been an odd year though with april being far milder than usual so perhaps I'm just still ahead of myself a bit. People spoke of pike spawning many weeks earlier than usual but that wasnt my experience this year, and the pike I netted yesterday clearly still expected more action!

 

My theory was (and still is) that the carp congregate in the spawning area but have a final nosh up before actually spawning.

 

Reading back through this thread, the active weeks were mid may to the beginning of june........lets see what happens.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

I give up!

 

The weather was set to dry up yesterday evening but I thought the change of weather might see my luck change. Went to the tench pool but set up in a different swim to usual.........only 10 to 15 yds away but more of an open swim. I still had weed close to my right and some about 15 yds to the left but I felt a slightly more open swim might help me out a bit.

 

Boy did I get THAT wrong!

 

Sat there for 3 hours and didnt get a sausage.......not even a roach or tiny skimmer on the float set-up. Oh the weather didn't dry up either, it peed down all evening so my gear is all outdrying now.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Just a quick update......went to the tench pool again tonight and fished the peg which I blanked on the other night. Was VERY quiet for a long time but in the end took a small roach and 2 small bream (2lb ish and 3lb ish) on the float. Still no tench though.

 

Interestingly non of the 3 fish actually managed to dip the float under yet I'm using a much smaller float than I usually use! The float would just meander around in like a 2 foot square.......in fact I should have had more fish as I dismissed a few of these moves earlier as false bites like liners. I used a plummet to plumb the depth before I tarted too..........wierd.

 

Next week I really need to get my act together and get back to the carp pool and leave these tench alone for a while.

 

Will keep this thread updated.

 

Thanks or looking in.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Fished the tench pool again last night. Weather had been awful but had dried up just before I left. I was therefore a bit earlier than usual and got half an hour of daylight to fish in. I chucked out a couple of handfuls of hemp to the spot where I normally float fish and took one roach and 2 bream quite quickly.

 

It all went quiet then till quite late when I took another couple of small bream.

 

Still no sign of the tench though.

 

Any suggestions to help me out a bit here?

 

I'm using sweetcorn on the hook (they seemed to turn their noses up at maggots and worm fared little better than sweetcorn). I have a method feeder on one rod with a blend of bread, hemp and some sweetcorn around it and the other setup is a float set-up.

 

Due to the snaggyness of where I am, my tackle is a bit on the heavy side but i've picked up bbream as small as a pound and a few roach so don't think its overly heavy.

 

Fishing about 15 out in almost 6 ft of water very close to a weedbed with the float and tried the feeder in all sorts of spots......further out in open water, tucked under a tree just 4ft out etc with no joy.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Well it was a bit chilly, but it was clam and no rain so decided to hit my carp venue again tonight as I'd not done it for a few days..........and besdies those pesky tench are not playing ball at the other place!

 

Looked promising at first with signs of fish activity although to be fair I think most of it was bream activity rather than carp.

 

I'd decided to use the same idea as for the tench, a feeder on one rod and float on the other. I'd boiled up some hemp fresh before I left and chuch a few handfuls to a spot nice and close to one of the weedbeds as soon as I got there.

 

My plan was to float fish over that and chuck the feeder out a bit further, just on the fringes of weed and open water.

 

An hour went by and the float hadnt even dipped for a second! No knocks on the feeder either even though I'd seen a couple of fish surface directly above it early on. I decided to rebait the feeder and drew it in.......I'd only given the handle a couple of turns when all of sudden it went taught and a fish screemed off! Now I'm not sure if a fish had picked up the bait as I move it, if I'd foul hooked one or if a pike had grabbed the bait but one thing was for sure it wanted line BADLY! The clutch was tight and I was adding further pressure on the reel, but even so the fish told me to give it line or it would snap me up so I grudgingly gave line. It took more and more line and probably made it all the way through the weed bed and out the other side. I managed to get it almost all the way back through the weed before it left me with some weed on the hook as a souvenir of the scrap! BUGGER IT!!!

 

Gave up on the float and put a feeder on it and chucked it out a bit further and picked up 2 bream of around 1.5lb

 

At least now I know the carp are in the area (the timing is right date wise for their arrival) and I'll be back for another go in the coming days!!!

 

Something was in the shallows close to me too again but I didnt get to see them. Judging by how permanently active in a confined area they are, I'd hazard a guess and say its the pike still at it.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

Went and had another try for the carp last night. The lake was overflowing and the water chilly compared to how it had been so reckoned it might be tough.

 

Had a variation on my usual groundbait..........whilst walking around earlswood the other night I found a couple of unopened bags of pellets which someone had left so added some of these and a few micro halibuts to my mix. Also took a handful of maggots to use on the hook.

 

Didn't get any carp but the bream were knocking and twitching the rod tip most of the evening and a couple of clumsy ones managed to hook themselves..........biggest was 5.5lb, the biggest I've had for a while which was nice.

 

A few small carp thrashing about in the weeds closeby.

[Anderoo]

A few small carp thrashing about in the weeds closeby.

 

Sounds like spawning behaviour. Hope you get the big one soon!

[Newt]

Still no sign of the tench though.

Any suggestions to help me out a bit here?

Cockles or mussels?