Goldfish Strikes

June Cambridge Carp Bait competition WINNER from Josh Jackson, here is his catch report.

“Last weekend i took a trip to my local lake which i had heard was fishing quite slow. I went armed with 2kg of the 18mm goldfish and absolutely hammered the place catching over 11 catfish in just one day session! Nine of the catfish were over the 10lb mark two of which were 22lb and 27.10lb. The goldfish definitely produced the goods and my confidence is sky high now.

I was the only person to catch catfish on the lake so i was well pleased! All the cats were caught on size 6 widegapes on a 8inch 20lb esp strip tease hook length with a 2oz dumpy pear Korda lead.”

Rods: 2.75lb t/c berkley b4s
Reels: Shimano navi big pits
Line: 17lb pro clear

Well done Josh that’s a really top result!

If you would like to enter our give-away then send in your catch reports to competitions@premiumcarpfishing.co.uk

This months winner of our bait giveaway is Tony Hull from St Neots in Cambridgeshire for is top bit of dangling on the Pads lake, Yateley.

The Pads lake at Yateley is steeped in carp fishing history and has been fished by all the legends and has  had some of the most sort after carp in the country swimming around within its hallowed banks.

Tony’s catch is as he says “1st English 30 at Pads Lake Yateley caught on Red berry” and hopefully not the last either.

Caught on Red Berry at Pads Lake Yateley 24 May 2010 at 6am  in swim No. 1 known as Pole Position.

Rods: Chub Pro Hunter’s
Line: ESP 15lb
Reels: ext 10000

Home made Chod Rig, 25lb ESP d rig link 2 inches off bottom, size 6 ESP Hook one bottom bait one top bait
3 oz woodchip lead
Tony has chosen a 50/50 mix of 3kg Goldfish and 3Kg of Red Berry for his prize and we have also thrown in a pot of  Fluoro-berry Popups too!

Top Roding Tony!

Monthly Competition Winner Daniel Jones

Daniel Gets £60 worth of cambridge carp bait for his efforts. Well done Daniel!

It was Saturday the 20th February and during the week My mate Steve and I had made plans to travel down to Pembroke to a small farm lake which I had discovered near the end of last year. It was a cold morning but at 6am we were both up and full of confidence, the car was packed and we were ready to make the 80 minute drive into the heart of west Wales.

The drive was a long treacherous one after reaching the end of the M4 began the endless drive on frost covered A roads, as we traveled the temperature gauge in the car was slowly going down until it bottomed out at -6.5°C.

After a brief walk round the lake we opted to set up on the point as there was ice formed on other parts of the lake and the morning sun seemed to be dispersing the ice from around the point.

I set up using a set of new rigs that I had tied especially for pop-ups with coated braid, using a Fluero-Berry pop on the hair which I gluged in Red Berry Carpagra Juice then attached a small PVA bag of chopped Winter Berry boilies. I cast one bait out into the shadow of some over hanging trees on the far bank then cast the other bait out into what I believe is a deep gully also close to the far bank. Now it was time to sit back and wait to see if my new rigs and the CCB boilies could beat the cold.

Just over two and a half hours had passed and I had gone to check on the bait I had dropped in the margin before we had set up and it was almost like they were waiting until my attention was turned, the fluro-berry pop-up out in the deep gully was picked up, no warning beeps or signs of fish near the bait it just tore off. Steve was on hand and pick up the rod while I dashed back eager to take control of the rod. The fish was playing hard making heavy lunges and not giving any line back, it was it was an immense feeling to be hooked up to good sized Carp for the first time in months. After a short while I started to gain some line back and started to steer the fish round to the right side of the point, it felt heavy and was fighting it out like it had a good weight behind it and after a good few minutes I caught my first glimpse of the thick back of a Mirror Carp and by what I had seen and the way it was kicking back I was sure that I had a good mid double on. After all the effort it had put in this powerful mirror finally succumb to the net and the first fish of the day was mine.

On the bank it look like a good mid double but when I lifted it off the mat into the weigh sling I just didn’t feel as heavy as it look and both had over shot the make with our estimate weights when the scales confirmed the weight at 12lb 14oz, but it was nothing to get disheartened about it was still a lovely mirror in its bright winter colours.

The day passed by and the sun slowly cleared the banks and lake of any signs of how cold it had been the night before with only a few single beeps to keep us on our toes the realisation of how slow winter Carp fishing can be was setting in.

During the day I had agreed that Steve could take the next run even if it was on my rods as when we fish together we always fish as a team and it is always better when we both manage to back a fish, but when the time came and the fluoro Berry pop-up was picked up for the second time I nearly regretted my words as Steve bolted towards my rod, but the second take was short lived and whatever had picked it up managed to make a few powerful lunges before throwing the hook.

We ended the session as the light began to fade. I would consider today to be a good session ,we had both a some action and I was pretty pleases that my rigs and the fluro berry pop-ups done their jobs resulting in a double in sub-zero temperatures who would be disappointed in that.

Next month it’s all change for the Competition with Carp Talk and Fenland Fisheries Watch this space!