Monday 9 July 2012

Shy Biters.....Hard Fighters

A change from the norm we were to meet at Bury Hill fisheries for days crucian fishing. I love crucians and so do the members of the Traditional fisherman’s forum, little bars of gold, can be shy biters but once hooked they try every trick in the book to free themselves. And on the bank, well Gold is all that can be said, pure Gold. Jeff had arranged the day, one of the many organised meets the TFF have throughout the year where likeminded souls can get together, fish, drink tea and talk about their favourite pastime. I was looking forward to this one very much; crucians and tench with the chance of a carp or two, the day couldn’t come soon enough.

I left home fairly early, around half 5 and followed sat nav along the A3 and onto Dorking. I arrived and found Jeff and his boy Connor already there. We said our hello’s and headed to the tackle shop/café to purchase our tickets and any items of tackle or bait we might need. The extensive range of bait and tackle on offer was very impressive, and the adjacent café served food and drinks all day. Coupled with a very nice toilet and shower block I see this as the perfect venue for a few days away. Once everyone had arrived we took a stroll to Milton Pool, it was pouring with rain and didn’t much look like stopping any time soon. The pool was beautiful, shaped with bays, reed lined, an island in the middle and classic lily pads. It just screamed crucians and tench and I couldn’t wait to get started.


As I am still to acquire a light action cane rod suitable for float fishing I had to opt for a 13ft waggler rod, but I did use the centrepin. The reel was loaded with 3.5lb line and I used a small pole float that carried 4 number 10 shot, so all very delicate and sensitive. The hook was a 14 and the bait was a single grain of corn. The swim I chose had a big reed bed jutting out to the left, meaning I could fish pretty much off the rod tip against the reeds in around four feet of water, perfect! There were tales of a handful of carp being in the lake, and in the event of a capture they had to go into the pool behind us, Bonds. But Jeff assured me that they don’t come out too often and in the years he’s been fishing there he’d not seen one caught.

After plumbing and feeding the spot I took a walk to Dave’s swim for a quick natter followed by John’s swim. When I returned I could see bubbles appearing over where I’d fed. The loose feed consisted of sweetcorn and pellets. The first cast/lower resulted in the tiny float tip soon sliding under and a very spirited hand size tench was brought to the net. A few more bites followed which were missed but the next one I connected with brought me to my feet. The rod arched over and whatever was on the other end was powerful and very angry. It shot off to the left round the great reed bed and for a minute or two it really did look like I’d get smashed. But slowly it started to come back and swam out away from danger. I called out to Dave that I might need a hand with the net and as I gently played the fish out in front of me Dave waited with an outstretched net. Top marks to the ghillie the fish went in first time, and what a fish. It turned out to be a beautiful fully scaled mirror carp, somewhere around ten pounds I would guess, but fantastic sport on the fine tackle I was using.

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The fish was returned to Bonds Pool as instructed, and with a spring in my step I trotted back to my swim to continue and see what else the morning would bring. I continued fishing and as I did the rain got harder. It mattered not as the brolly sheltered me and the reed bed stopped most of the wind. The bites continued and another tench was landed along with a rudd and a few roach. Finally I managed to hit one of the finicky bites I was receiving and the first of the crucians come to the net, a wonderful gold fish of around a pound. I tricked it by cutting the grain of corn down in size, a trick that has helped me out in the past. Again, Dave helped with the picture.

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After a quick visit to the onsite tackle shop I armed myself with a few things I didn’t have with me for whatever reason, some scissors, a plumet, some hooks to nylon and a bait box. I’d sussed how to hit the bites successfully I caught quite a few, along with more tench and roach, but there were still a lot of missed bites. The crucians weren’t big ones, not for the lake anyway as it is rumoured that they go to almost 4lbs in Milton Pool, but constant action was had and those jagged little battlers came frequently.

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The rain finally subsided and out came the sun. It felt lovely too and added to the spectacular day I was having, lilys, tench, crucians and sunshine, perfect! At around lunchtime, just after polishing of the sandwiches I’d taken, I hooked something that made me give line and kept taking line. At first I thought it was another carp but soon realised it was a good tench when I saw bottle green roll on the surface. It was a splendid looking fish, especially in the new sunshine.

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A short while after I went to visit John via Dave and his wonderful coconut and cherry cake. John, Dave and I decided to have a try on the carp pool, Bonds, for the afternoon and packed away ready for the move. Before we set forth to Bonds we stopped by at Craig’s swim to see how he was doing and ultimately Jeff and Connor who were having a great time catching fish in the sunshine. A quick tour of Bonds showed that there were a few other anglers enjoying sport using normal bottom fishing tactics, but as we were geared up for float fishing we really wanted to stay with it. I found a swim that just screamed carp, the swims had wooden platforms to fish from but this particular one had a perfect looking tree/bush hanging over the water just off the platform. I plumbed the depth and found almost four feet of water right off the end of the boards, “that’ll do me” I said to John. John chose the next swim to the right and fished into open water and Dave followed suit in the next peg along. A handful of pellet and corn just off the overhang was introduced and after leaving it quiet for a few minutes I gently lowered the float over the spot. A few twitches later and the small float tip shot under, I struck and carp number one was tearing around in front of me sending the centrepin spinning like mad. I got the fish under control but it darted around for a good few minutes before I could slip the net under it. John came round to call me a few names and once the fish was released we got back to our fishing.

I half expected the swim to die for a while after that but the bait was topped up; the rig was lowered in and after a couple of minutes I was away again. This one fought even harder and looked to be roughly the same size as the last one, but when it rolled I could see scales, lots of them, for it was to be my second fully scaled mirror of the day. John took a few shots for me, called me a few more names and got back to his swim.

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The next bite was not long after releasing the fully, only this one had other plans. It shot off to the right at a tare of knots, all I could do was hold on for dear life, try my best to stop the revolving pin from burning my thumb and warn John and Dave that they had a runaway train heading their way! Much laughing incurred, I could just about see my line all the way to Dave’s swim and I was getting a serious ribbing from my two companions. It took a while but with as much pressure as I dare apply with such light tackle I gently coaxed the fish back into my swim and into Dave’s awaiting net. It was a lovely common, streamlined and scale perfect. Not big, it may have made 8lbs or so, but on light tackle these hard fighting fish really can’t be topped.

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My swim went quiet after that capture so I visited John for a chat. I sat on the platform nattering away and flicked one of my special pellets out next to his float. Fifteen seconds later his float slid away and he was connected to his first carp of the day. As the fish slipped over the net cord we could both see that it was the fish of the day, not the biggest, but a lovely dark mirror carp with big plated scales. I congratulated him, took a few snaps for him and returned to my swim. I did receive a few more bites but failed to connect with any of them. At around 4:30pm everyone decided to call it a day with Sunday dinners waiting for them on returning home. We stood around in the car park for a while chatting about the day, laughing and joking and tucking into John’s lemon drizzle cake. So looking forward to the next TFF outing and also my next trip to Bury Hill fisheries.

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2 comments:

  1. Hectic day and some beautiful fish, what more could a man want :-)

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  2. Spot on Dave

    It was one of those day's we promise ourselves but never actually find the time for. Well I'm so glad I did, and I'll be repeating it again reall soon too....

    Cheers
    SK

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