General

Red Fish and Choco Malt (Terry Hearn)

The last time I wrote a piece for the website I talked a little about the various waters I’d been using the new baits on. Much of it was whilst field testing and before the Red Fish was released. The Big Surrey Pit, Oxfordshire’s Stoneacres, Berkshire’s Dinton Pastures and Gloucestershire’s Home Pool; the Red Fish done the business wherever I took it, tempting the largest fish from all four venues. If ever confidence was available in a bag then as far as I’m concerned it has Red Fish written on the side of it. I just love the stuff, and after my results during the field testing period I felt sure that wherever I decided to fish next the carp would love it too.

    This piece isn’t so much about where I’m fishing, more about how I’ve gone about using the new baits, but its still worth saying a little about the type of venue I’m currently concentrating on. It’s another big pit, not far short of a hundred acres and one that contains a fair head of carp. The ultimate prize is the fish of many a carp anglers dreams, but it’s a rarely caught specimen that’s only seen the bank five times, ever. To my mind it’s the challenge of all challenges, but if ever there was a time to take it on it was now whilst my confidence in the new bait was through the roof. 

    Getting to grips with a new water is often a slow process, but on the larger pits, particularly one as split up as this one, it can sometimes seem an impossible task. With more islands, bays, spits and points than I can count, there is always somewhere to be looking, and so soon after beginning to fish there I made the decision to buy a mountain bike, which as you can imagine made getting around all the easier. Whereas a walk round the lake could take a good couple of hours, the same journey on a bike could be done in half an hour, even with all the little stops en route.

    I got into the habit of carrying a little rucksack with a kilo or so of boilies in it, introducing a little here and there whenever I cycled round and it wasn’t long before I started to notice the signs and get amongst the fish. No monsters, but I was catching carp and from different areas around the lake. The pit got smaller and smaller with every cycle round, and by early September I’d settled on just two areas in which to concentrate the bait.

    One spot seemed to produce mainly the smaller ones, and though I tempted a dozen carp from this swim, the majority were upper doubles and low twenties. It was however a lovely spot that I could drop into just before dark and expect action at some stage in the night, and as the spots were ever so close in I could always see whether the pre-bait was being eaten or not.

    The other area I’d been baiting was in a completely different part of the pit and was much further out. To begin with I’d just dropped in after seeing a carp jump out, and after catching one of the original old mirrors I decided to do the obvious and give it a good whack of bait before leaving for home. Five kilos of 18mm Red Fish were scattered across the area with a catapult, and then two days later I was back to give the swim another try. Once again the buzzers signalled action, and so at the end of that trip I again got to work with the catapult, and that’s how it carried on. After a short while, what had started as just a quick overnighter in a new swim had soon developed into a full on baiting campaign, and by early September I was introducing 15-20 kilos of boilies each and every week.

    By now I’d started using the Chocolate Malt as well and was introducing the two baits mixed together 50/50, in 15, 18 and 20mm sizes, and rather than catapulting it all out, which it has to be said was rather painful and time consuming, by now I’d taken the sensible option of taking all the pre-bait out with a bait boat. I was beginning to think that the area could well reach its prime towards the end of the autumn as the water temperature dropped, and seeing as I still intended to keep large quantities of boilies going in throughout, I thought it a good idea to start putting in the Chocolate Malt birdfood boilies as well, mainly because of their lovely crumbly texture, the sort of bait that goes straight through them even in cool water.  Also, seeing as the Red Fish is made with fresh fish instead of egg this is another bait that lends itself well to heavy baiting in cooler water, plus baiting with both gave me the option to switch hookbaits.    

    As it turned out I caught equally well on both, but towards the end I leant more towards using the Red Fish on the hair, mainly because of the loss of what felt like a good fish on the Choco Malt in September. Even if it was the fish of my dreams that had come adrift I felt quite sure that it would eat the Chocolate Malt again, but just in case, and to keep the old confidence at the max, I began using the Red Fish on two of my three rods.

    For a month or so I kept up the pre-baiting in the two areas mentioned, but it wasn’t long before it became clear that the more heavily baited area in open water was attracting and producing the bigger fish. In fact, the longer the baiting went on the better the fishing got, not just in terms of how many I caught, but when it came to the size of the carp as well. The heavily baited area produced my first 30 from the pit, a lovely mirror of 32lb 8oz, and from that point on the better fish began to show.

    For one reason or another I had to change swims and fish the same area from a different angle around this time, a change that meant instead of a fifty yard cast I now had to tow my rigs 150 yards with a bait boat. Its funny, but what at first looked a bit hit and miss turned into a blessing in disguise, and I was now able to spread three rods across the area. Not only that, but fishing the area from a long way away meant that I could keep my mainlines lower in the water, and whereas before I’d often have a hooked fish wipe out my other rod (I could only fish two from the original swim), fishing it from this angle and distance I’d normally manage to land everything without any tangle ups.

    When things are going to plan I always try my hardest to keep things running smoothly, and by October I’d gone into machine mode, following an exact set routine on every trip. The rods would be sent out to the same spots every single time, and in the event of action I’d always made sure to have a supply of rigs ready to tie on so I could send my bait back out to the zone as quick as possible.

    At the end of each trip I’d do at least three trips with the Microcat brimming with both the Red Fish and the Choco Malt, and on top of this I’d always add a line of Monster Tiger Nuts. In all I’d put out a whole jar of tigers with every hit of boilies. I see them as an important part of any large scale baiting campaign, they provide crunch, but mainly because they provide the noise. Sound travels a long way under water and I’m sure that carp can hear other carp crunching tigers up from a long way away, just as they would carp crunching zebra mussels, something this particular pit has a great abundance of. The colouring up of the water and the smell of the bait goes a long way when encouraging carp to get stuck in, but add sound and the picture is even more complete.

    To go into detail about all that happened is probably best saved for when I’ve got a bit more space, after all I’m talking about a spell of fishing that covered over 50 nights in that one swim alone. Some of the highlights were a brace of the lakes bigger mirrors, fish of 40lb 8oz along with a proper old Leney mirror of 35lb 14oz, and another trip where I hooked and landed ten carp up to 34lb, something that didn’t just help install even more confidence in the bait but also told me my rigs were sound as well.

    In true baiting Pyramid style the biggest were the last to come to the bait, and I had to wait until the full moon of November for the night of the monsters. Three fish came to the rods that night, one on each as it was too difficult to get them back out again once it was dark. Mirrors of 45lb 4oz, 37lb 2oz and 30lb 4oz, add to those a corker of 36lb taken the previous night and it was certainly a case of enter the monsters.

   By the middle of November I was thinking that the swim had to die a death soon, but still I kept the bait going in regardless of weather, and still the action kept coming. Sure it began to slow a little, but a couple more of the lakes better mirrors came my way, including another lovely original of 33lbs, before eventually the cold weather really took a grip and I stopped going.

    The truth is my back gave way on me; I’m sure as a result of sitting about and sleeping on a bedchair for long sessions week after week. Staying in just the one swim had been great as far as the fishing was concerned, but sitting about does your circulation no good at all, and most nights I’d then be jumping straight out of a warm sleeping bag and pumping a carp in from 150 yards, when it was really rocking two or even three in a night. Don’t get me wrong, I blooming loved every minute of it, but by the middle of November I just knew my back was about to give way, and one trip whilst loading the kit into the car that’s exactly what it did. I was actually pretty lucky as a couple of lads saw me struggling with my kit and very kindly helped me carry the rest back to the car, but once home I just knew I’d be out of action for a few days at least.

    As it happened, if its possible for a bad back to be well timed then I was in luck as the weather turned ever so nasty with biting cold North Westerly winds blowing into my plot for days on end. I’d have given the actual fishing a miss even if I’d been well, but despite that, and the fact that I couldn’t even stand up straight, I still caused myself even more injury by driving back and forth a couple of times each week to keep the bait going in, just in case the weather should come good again, and by some miracle my back got better, as for sure there was no way I could fish in the crippled condition I was in. I did try as soon as we got a short break in the freezing weather, but when it came to reeling the rods in from 150 yards I had to kneel down as I couldn’t stand up straight to lean into the rod, plus I had to have a break half way in. Honestly, I couldn’t reel my rigs in let alone a carp!

    In a way I was happy to call it a day. I’d absolutely fished my heart out to the point of causing myself ill health, but with 73 carp under my belt including many of the lakes most prized specimens I couldn’t have been happier with my results…well, not much happier, as the biggest prize of all had still eluded me, but you know what I’m saying. I was over the moon with how the campaign had gone, and with Christmas just around the corner it was time to return to the real world, and more importantly it was time to start eating properly again! There was always next year, and oh how I missed those Sunday roasts round dads.

    I still kept the bait going in right into December, and with my back finally on the mend I managed one last trip during a short spell of mild weather just a few days before Christmas, taking a common of 21lbs (on my birthday). With seriously poor weather forecast to follow that trip I had to make a decision whether or not to carry on with the pre-baiting, and I think I made the right decision knocking it on the head at that point as for certain last winter was one of the worst on record. Besides, I’d been looking forward to having another go for a group of secret barbel that I’d found in a small Thames tributary the previous year.

    My first winter after the barbel I’d used Source and done well, but this time round with my confidence in the Fresh Fish concept so high I decided to go in with straight Fresh Fish. Just as I would with the carp I kept the bait going in regular, not so much whilst I was fishing, but in-between trips I’d regularly drive back and forth just to introduce a few ten millers, and it wasn’t long before the swim was primed and ready for fishing.

    Rather than fishing full day sessions I only ever fished a couple of hours at a time, either at first or last light, but by the beginning of the new year I’d managed 16 barbel, including the biggest of the group at 15lb 2oz, just a couple of ounces short of this particular rivers record for the species. Maybe next winter…

Wherever your fishing, be lucky, Tel.