Barons pond 2012
Barons ponds are 2 small lakes set in Liss, Hampshire. They are run by MBK fisheries both lakes are well stocked with carp to over 20lb, crucians and some big roach and rudd, aswell as some large perch.
My first session here was a late afternoon session from 1530 until 2100. I decided that as it had been so long since I had used a float rod I would stick with the pellet waggler for today.
I chose to fish one of the swims against the island because when I had arrived there were a few fish topping in the area, and I could see a few carp cruising slowing about the island.
Setting up my proton 12ft float rod (this is a rod made by sundridge) its about 15+yrs old and perfect for this style of fishing. The rod was couple with my ever reliable shimano stradic 3000 and 4lb line.
The rig was simple, a 6gr pellet float locked in place by 4ssg and a couple of bb's either side.
Hooklength is a daiwa tdr rig line in 4lb tied with a knotless knot to a barbless drennan size 14. On the hair rig i looped a guru bait band to attacth my pellet to.
Hook bait and feed is Sonubaits halibut pellets. In 4, 6 and 8mm. Ill feed 4 and 6mm pellets a pinch at a time, and fish with 6 and 8mm on the hair band. I also have some 11mm pellets and some 10mm boilies as change baits.
As it had been so long since I fished the waggler, it took a little while to get into a stride of casting and feeding.
I started at about 4ft deep in 6ft of water, spraying about 6-10 pellets every 30-40seconds.
Around about 30minutes in I started getting bites, when my catapult elastic snapped, or so I thought. It turned out the small plastic peg holding the pouch to the elastic had snapped. A bit unfortunate I thought, good job I had bought a couple of spares kits for them when I was in the local tackle shop
I replaced the peg and continued regular feeding.
I started getting regular bites again and eventually landed my first fish of 2012!!
A nice plump roach had taken an 8mm pellet. A few more similar sized roach followed before the peg on the catapult snapped on the otherside!!
Surely that cant be right!! Another replacement peg put in and I was back fishing.
I started to the swim going now with.fish taking the pellet within a few seconds of it hitting the water.
It was at this point that the rod tip whipped round and I hooked into a carp. A dogged fight ensued pretty much beating me up and doing as it pleased, eventually coming off as it tried to make a sunken bush just to the left of the island I was fishing to.
I rebaited and continued regular feeding again. There were plenty of fish in from of me now, with some big swirls right close to the island.
With this style of fishing you are supposed to wait for the tip to pull round, that way you know the fish is hooked, BUT its hard not to strike when the float goes under, which in turn is frustrating because I was then missing 9 out of 10 bites!!
I was starting to get into tangles too as I was using alot of shot around the base of the float, and the hooklength was tangling and knotting, meaning I had to retie my rig a couple of times!!
Next cast I hooked another carp which I managed to land this time, a small common about 4lb.
Again regular feeding of pellets kept the fish in front of me, I was just struggling to catch them. I knew the session would be a bit like this as it had been so long since I had done this type of fishing.
I had one more carp of about 7-8lb, which put up a good scrap. I slipped the fish back straight away and very next cast the elastic on the catapult snapped!! You could make out it had been worn through from the top of the peg!
As you can see from the above picture, the peg pushes through the hole on the side of the pouch and then the elastic pushes over the end of the peg.
So, catapult repaired again, I hooked another carp, one of about 6lb this time, hook firmly in the tail. He put up a hell of a fight, but my hooklength and hook stayed firm.
Next cast I landed a crucian carp that must have weighed in at about 1lb8oz
Just after this Chris Fox from Grayshott Angling arrived amd came over for a chat. He offered me a few pointers, which certainly helped me. He also showed me a neat little weighted float adaptor that eliminated the tangles I was experiencing. So I need to pick up some of them next time Im in there.
Anyway Chris had a rod in the van, and after a few minutes of feeding pellets, he was asking to nick a boilie for the hook! 5 minutes later he was walking back towards me, rod bent round leading a carp into my swim as he didnt have a landing net!! A nice mid double was netted and released then he said good bye, jumped in the van and off he went!!!
I had a few more roach and a nice rudd which rounded the evening off and I packed up about 9pm.
Looking back, I knew it would be a difficult session, so Im not surprised I had some teething problems!
The problem with the catapult seems to be down to the pegs. They are too sharp which means in repeated use (as a catapult should be used) it wears to elastic causing it to split. I emailed Guru and received an email back confirming that they knew there was an issue with the pegs and they were working on a fix. In the mean time I have been sent a couple of extra spare kits by them by way of compensation, and they advised an updated version was being released.
The concept is a very good one, its fully adjustable meaning you can always hit the same spot, and it is very accurate, i was getting a good grouping of pellets aroubd my float everytime, so I hope they solve this problem soon.
Til next time...
My first session here was a late afternoon session from 1530 until 2100. I decided that as it had been so long since I had used a float rod I would stick with the pellet waggler for today.
I chose to fish one of the swims against the island because when I had arrived there were a few fish topping in the area, and I could see a few carp cruising slowing about the island.
Setting up my proton 12ft float rod (this is a rod made by sundridge) its about 15+yrs old and perfect for this style of fishing. The rod was couple with my ever reliable shimano stradic 3000 and 4lb line.
The rig was simple, a 6gr pellet float locked in place by 4ssg and a couple of bb's either side.
Hooklength is a daiwa tdr rig line in 4lb tied with a knotless knot to a barbless drennan size 14. On the hair rig i looped a guru bait band to attacth my pellet to.
Hook bait and feed is Sonubaits halibut pellets. In 4, 6 and 8mm. Ill feed 4 and 6mm pellets a pinch at a time, and fish with 6 and 8mm on the hair band. I also have some 11mm pellets and some 10mm boilies as change baits.
As it had been so long since I fished the waggler, it took a little while to get into a stride of casting and feeding.
I started at about 4ft deep in 6ft of water, spraying about 6-10 pellets every 30-40seconds.
Around about 30minutes in I started getting bites, when my catapult elastic snapped, or so I thought. It turned out the small plastic peg holding the pouch to the elastic had snapped. A bit unfortunate I thought, good job I had bought a couple of spares kits for them when I was in the local tackle shop
I replaced the peg and continued regular feeding.
I started getting regular bites again and eventually landed my first fish of 2012!!
A nice plump roach had taken an 8mm pellet. A few more similar sized roach followed before the peg on the catapult snapped on the otherside!!
Surely that cant be right!! Another replacement peg put in and I was back fishing.
I started to the swim going now with.fish taking the pellet within a few seconds of it hitting the water.
It was at this point that the rod tip whipped round and I hooked into a carp. A dogged fight ensued pretty much beating me up and doing as it pleased, eventually coming off as it tried to make a sunken bush just to the left of the island I was fishing to.
I rebaited and continued regular feeding again. There were plenty of fish in from of me now, with some big swirls right close to the island.
With this style of fishing you are supposed to wait for the tip to pull round, that way you know the fish is hooked, BUT its hard not to strike when the float goes under, which in turn is frustrating because I was then missing 9 out of 10 bites!!
I was starting to get into tangles too as I was using alot of shot around the base of the float, and the hooklength was tangling and knotting, meaning I had to retie my rig a couple of times!!
Next cast I hooked another carp which I managed to land this time, a small common about 4lb.
Again regular feeding of pellets kept the fish in front of me, I was just struggling to catch them. I knew the session would be a bit like this as it had been so long since I had done this type of fishing.
I had one more carp of about 7-8lb, which put up a good scrap. I slipped the fish back straight away and very next cast the elastic on the catapult snapped!! You could make out it had been worn through from the top of the peg!
As you can see from the above picture, the peg pushes through the hole on the side of the pouch and then the elastic pushes over the end of the peg.
So, catapult repaired again, I hooked another carp, one of about 6lb this time, hook firmly in the tail. He put up a hell of a fight, but my hooklength and hook stayed firm.
Next cast I landed a crucian carp that must have weighed in at about 1lb8oz
Just after this Chris Fox from Grayshott Angling arrived amd came over for a chat. He offered me a few pointers, which certainly helped me. He also showed me a neat little weighted float adaptor that eliminated the tangles I was experiencing. So I need to pick up some of them next time Im in there.
Anyway Chris had a rod in the van, and after a few minutes of feeding pellets, he was asking to nick a boilie for the hook! 5 minutes later he was walking back towards me, rod bent round leading a carp into my swim as he didnt have a landing net!! A nice mid double was netted and released then he said good bye, jumped in the van and off he went!!!
I had a few more roach and a nice rudd which rounded the evening off and I packed up about 9pm.
Looking back, I knew it would be a difficult session, so Im not surprised I had some teething problems!
The problem with the catapult seems to be down to the pegs. They are too sharp which means in repeated use (as a catapult should be used) it wears to elastic causing it to split. I emailed Guru and received an email back confirming that they knew there was an issue with the pegs and they were working on a fix. In the mean time I have been sent a couple of extra spare kits by them by way of compensation, and they advised an updated version was being released.
The concept is a very good one, its fully adjustable meaning you can always hit the same spot, and it is very accurate, i was getting a good grouping of pellets aroubd my float everytime, so I hope they solve this problem soon.
Til next time...
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