Xmas and new year on the bank

The holidays are here and I've been looking forward to having some time off work, the weather is still mild for this time of year and couldn't wait to get my rods back out to see if i could bag any lumps.

My first trip of the holidays was to the folly lakes for four nights, this would be the first time in ages I've not been at home for Xmas but with empty banks i thought why not.

I arrived at the lake on the Sunday 22nd of December and with most of the swims to choose from i didn't no were to start. I ended up setting in a swim I've done well in over the last winter months and with a few mates down i thought someone had to catch something.

The nights past with out a bite, few guys packed up and went home after a four night blank. Me and my mate nick decided to move swims as the fish just wasn't in the area so the barrow was packed and round to the other side of the lake we went.

The nights kept passing without any joy and catching a Xmas lump wasn't looking to good. Boxing day came and it was time for me to head off as i was heading out to Spain at the weekend to try my luck at a new years fish on the Ebro.





Heading out to the Ebro.

The weekend was here and I was getting excited about my trip to Spain and with a week to play with I thought I had a chance to bag a few before 2014 started.

I was heading out on my own to meet my mate nick who lives out there, he had a bit of time off from his guiding so we hit the banks for a few days. ( http://www.ebrocarpfishing.com/ )

As nick misses was having a baby any day now we had to fish swims with phone signal so up river was a bit of a no go so the first night we headed down to fayon.

The First night came to a blank for both of us and didn't have a nock all night, so we thought we would head up river for the night and see if we could bag a new year stunner.

The gear was packed away and with only the rods to go we thought we would give it just a few more hours before we headed up river, the sun was out and was looking good for a bite then all of a sudden my rod ripped off, what a fight knew it was a good fish from the way it was taking line and fighting.

A new years eve Ebro common was on the bank. Not the 40lb+ i was after but a stunning low 30 was always welcome

Moments later nicks rod ripped off bagging a low 20 for himself. wasn't the best time to leave as it looked like the fish was moving in but we brought the rods in and hit the road on the hunt for a new swim.

Back in the UK.............

Wile i was away few guys were fishing the folly lakes over the new year and one of the most consistent anglers i no mark was doing what he does best bagging a stunner on new years eve.

Back to the Ebro..........

We got to caspa just before dark and found a swim with about 30ft of water to try for the night. Still buzzing from the fish we caught a few hours before we didn't mind if we didn't catch tonight but would take any size fish if they did come.
After a quite night with no bites we packed up and headed off again. We headed down to Mequinenza to check out a few swims but all the best ones were taken so back in the truck and headed back down to fayon for the last night.

Was a good move in the end as it didn't take long for us to start getting the bites with nick landing 12 fish all around the 20lb mark and i bagged another stunner around the 28lb mark and a few smaller ones.I ended 2013 on a high and started 2014 on a high what more can you ask for.

Dont you just love blanking

Blanking comes to us all and after 3 weeks of blanks its starting to get to me.
carp fishing has its ups and downs and the last few weeks has been a bit of a down for me, with others catching the odd one or two I didn't no what I was doing wrong.


Few Winter Stunners from the last week - even a 52lb cat that you don't see much of this time of year

Wrong swim? wrong baits or rigs? I don't no I thought I had this lake sussed out by now but it looks like I was wrong.

I Cant let it beat me and I will keep at it for the short time I've got left this year and looking back to when I started this blog I'm gonna try what worked for me back then.

Heavy baiting over one area with hemp, party mix, low oil pellet, corn and mixed boilies seemed to work and catching 38 fish over the winter months I would be silly not to try it again.

Winter time I always use white pop ups as they stand out well over big beds of bait and i have full confidence in using them. i haven't tried it for a wile but on my next fishing trip i will be soaking them in irn bru giving the white choc pop ups a bit of a kick with the unique combination of 32 flavours and citric acids.

Big commons seem to like it and seeing this common come out not long ago at 38lb+ it could go 40lb this winter.

With so many fish stacking the weight on i must have at least 6 40lb fish to go at just hope the carp gods are kind.

Some of the 40lb carp i'm after this winter -

Over Nighters

Few Fish over the odd night - still doing it just not getting the time wish my xmas holidays would hurry up :)

New PB for my mate Ben of 37lb was glad to see the smile on his face when he pulled it in

The Autumnal Equinox

After a few weeks off from fishing it was nice to get back out on the bank for a few nights with some mates.

I headed down to the lake after work on the Friday and with the fish on the feed big time I armed myself with 5kg of bait as I know they can be greedy buggers and like to clear you out.

With it being a weekend I knew it would be busy so I aimed to head to the pads midweek and when I sore it was free when I arrived I was one happy man as I knew the fish would be in and out of there wile there was a southwesterly wind and spots of sunshine.

The nights are starting to pull in now so I didn't have much time to find my spots before it was dark so I had a quick lead about near a small weed patch and found it was fishable so I baited it up with 3kg of 15mm monster squid and kg of mixed black monster squid and amber strawberry dumbbells.

With the swim so tight I was only fishing with two rods so one rod went onto the baited area in about 12ft of water and the other rod went towards the pads I around 8ft of water.

My choice of rig for the area I was fishing was a stiff hinge rig made from 12 inches of silt black missing link and 3 inches of fluoro carbon with a size 6 fang x hook.
Bait Wise I armed the rig up with 2 10mm white amber pop ups to match the freebees I had put out.

I like to use white hook baits as the lake has lots of muscle beds that glow white on the lake bed so i think the fish feel comfortable feeding on them and don't see white baits as much of a threat.

After a quite night with only the odd liners I spreaded out a few more handfuls of monster squid over the area as I knew the fish would soon be moving in when the sun started to get up and it wasn't long before me and my mate nick was into some action.

25lb leather carp

Fight blood to nick with this nice 25lb leather carp. The fish started to show big time this end of the lake so I knew we had a good chance of bagging a few.

I headed back to my bivvy to have a recast on my right hand rod to move it off the pads towards my baited area and moments later my left hand rod started to scream off so I dropped my rod and struck into the other to feel the force of a hard fighting carp, I knew it was a good fish from the way it was plodding along with the odd burst of fight.
I got it closer and sore it was a common and a good one at that so I played it softly and slipped it into my net. I took a quick peep and knew it was over 30lb so I unhooked it in the net and slipped it into my retainer sling and went round to grab my mate for some pictures.

35lb 8oz

35lb 8oz

35lb 8oz

I was buzzing to catch and was even more buzzing that it was another 30lb+ fish, 35lb 8oz this weighed and after a quick few pictures the lump was slipped back into the lake to fight another day

After a few beers to wash down the excitement of catching such a lump it wasn't long before the rod was off again, this time a cracking mirror which looked bigger then the common I had earlier that day but as I was just about to net it the hook pulled and the carp turned over and swam back to the depths. GUTTED! that's fishing for ya cant get them all.

With no bait left singles was all I was left with to fish with and wasn't feeling to confident as I knew they had cleared me out.

With my mate nick in the next swim he managed to get a few more bagging a few 26lbs and a cracking 29lb 15oz two tone mirror



29lb 15oz

26lb+

26lb+

Home Sweet Home

After another crazy trip to spain it was back to the lake and after a few weekends of blanks I managed to catch this cracking mid 20 carp on a short overnighter.

Just cant wait for winter now Bring on the lumps :)

Birthday bash

Its that time of year when I need to get away and enjoy some sun and ice cold beers and some fishing, even though I have spent most of the year doing this my birthday was just another excuse to hit the might ebro river again.

I headed out with a mate and we had 4 nights fishing ahead of us - we met up with my mate nick that lives out in spain and he had a few other guys out fishing with him at the time so it was a nice small bunch of us and I couldn't wait to see what the river was going to produce





The sun started to rise and the sound of carp and cats boshing all over, this is a truly stunning place to wake up to and I really feel at home when ever I come out here.

Here is a few of the cats we all caught over the Two days

Paul with his PB cat 110lb

Dave with a 80lb+ cat

133lb lump

Andrew with his PB cat 133lb

Not a PB but couldn't let them have all the fun with the cats 60lb+

 

 

 

Now On To The Reason I Come Out Here

THE CARP

 

With me letting my mate have most of the cat runs I was just fishing for carp and I managed to get loads of runs from 20lb to a new Ebro PB hard fighting common of 31lb