The Active Approach... Rob Shanks

This entry was posted on 7th May, 2013

I was buzzing after banking the big common and for a few days my interest in hitting the bank was zero, it’s all too easy to let the moment slip you by so I made sure to sniff the roses for a few days, I had a couple of quick sessions where fishing took the back seat and I did some socialising with friends to celebrate, I toyed with joining someone else but when I thought about it, it didn’t make sense with it being so early and the lake having another few good commons over the thirty five pound mark so it wasn’t long until the fires were burning again and I was keen to get back down the lake.

I did an overnighter on a very wind Thursday night but blanked, the conditions were really tough and the undertow was atrocious and getting a decent line lay was next to impossible. When I left I made sure to get some bait into a couple of my favourite areas as I was planning on returning the Friday for four eight hours as my wife was taking the kids away for the weekend, my usual concoction, Sticky Baits Vortex and Krill boilies mixed 50/50 and a drizzle of Sticky Baits Krill liquid that Nigela Lawson would be proud of. When I got to the lake on the Friday evening the lake was quite and the wind was pushing nicely into one of the areas I baited so I was straight round there. As soon as I was in the swim I noticed a carp’s head push out of the water down to my left in, so the carp were clear there and hopefully they had been troffing on the bait I’d primed the area with.

The rods went out lovely with the left hand and middle rods being fished close to marginal snags, simple bottom rigs incorporating ESP ghost and Long-shanx hooks on helicopter rigs. Both rigs were baited with a Sticky baits barrel shaped wafter and the traps were set with two good handfuls of matching freebies over each. The left hand rod was cast about thirty five yards out into lake to an area where I’d seen quite a lot of fish activity whilst I was sorting the other two rods. This rod was my ever faithful ESP running chod rig set up with a Sticky baits pineapple hook bait. I spread sixty 16mm krill boilies over the area. Over the next few hours the wind dropped and the fish put on an impressive show rolling and fizzing all over the swim, it looked like they were almost playing with each other but in reality were probably clearing their gills. I sat on the edge of the bedchair into darkness watching a listening and I was confident that I’d get a bit any minute when I climbed into the sleeping bag. I was shocked when I woke at first light bite-less and to make matters worse the overnight temperature hand dropped like a stone and the bivvy was covered in ice and frost again.

The sun was out and quickly warmed the day and it was lovely after a busy week at work to just relax in the bivvy and feel the warmth and enjoy the peace and quite. It was around 10.30am when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bit of surface movement just out to the left of the swim, so I quickly grabbed the ESP stalker sunglasses and went to investigate. The guilty culprits were two carp, one most definitely a thirty. I just sat and watch them for a while and then noticed another and them another. All of a sudden there was fish everywhere, not too far away from one of the shallow marginal snags I had a rig positioned under. After a good few hours it was clear the fish just weren’t interested in feeding, I’d tried tempting them in the edge with a few pellets and chopped boilies and they were not having it at all, they were clearly just interested in getting the sun on there backs.

I decided a zig rig would be worth ago, and for anyone who knows me they will know how much I hate fishing them, so it really was desperate times. I set up a seven foot zig with Drennans Supplex mono in 10lb with an ESP Raptor size 7 hook and after waiting for the right opportunity for the fish to move out of the area placed it in the path the fish had been taking all morning. I could see the yellow foam hook bait as clear as day in the clear water and out of nowhere a upper twenty common took a path straight towards it. My eyes were fixed on the hook bait as the fish approached it, the fish opened it’s mouth to suck it in and before I could blink in went in and unfortunately out as quick as flash and continued on it’s path, which did very little to raise my confidence in this style of fishing. Plan C was required. I reeled the zig in and decide to feed some bread and floaters at close range, the idea being to get the fish closer enough to the bank to free line a bait, they were clearly being extremely cautious.

The fish were extremely cautious at first but one eventually sucked in a piece of bread, then another and a few other fish started paying interest and joining in not wanting to miss out. I quickly took the opportunity to get bait into the water. I couldn’t have been any simpler; 10lb straight through mono and a size ten Big-T with a knotless knotted hair completed the set up, the hook bait was trimmed down sticky baits pop up.

The fish that were present ignored the bait completely and I was starting to think I needed to get the bait in front of some moving fish to catch them off guard when I noticed two fish creeping into the swim, I quickly reeled the rod in and cast the bait in their path and the first fish ignored the bait but the second fish swam straight up and sucked it in. I struck as soon as the bait disappeared and the water exploded as the hooked fish bolted off, the fish stayed high in the water for the whole fight with nothing on the line and was quickly gulping air and sliding over the net. A lovely dark mirror of 23.08 was my prize and I was pleased to punch to have snaffled one of the surface. It would have been so easy to sit in the bivvy all day but sometimes you have to make it happen for yourself.

The evening a night followed the same pattern as the previous day, lots of fish activity again, no bites and cold weather. I thought it was going to be a repeat of the day before but by 11.30am I had seen one carp so I decided to pack up and go home. A few anglers had turned up, the lake was getting busy and the carp were clearly elsewhere. In no time at all I was pushing the barrow toward the car park but I just decided to check out one of the quiet corner swims as I went passed and I was greeted with the sight of four carp feeding in the edge. I was in a rush to get home but I just couldn’t walk passed them without having a go. I quietly crept to the front of the swim taking care not to spook the carp and careful plopped three mixers in to see if I got any interest.

The fish ignored them completely, noses in the silty clearly feeding on the natural so I decided to try something slightly different. I set the nine foot stalking rod up again and rather than a mixer I decided to try and free line a single 16mm Sticky baits krill boilie. I wanted to catch the carp attention so I want to gently plop the bait in a few feet in front of the carp so they would notice it falling through the water. As soon as I had a carp, a lovely mid twenty mirror facing the right direction I flicked the bait in front of it first time of asking. Before the bait had a chance to hit the bottom the fish raced toward it and sucked it in on the drop and I could watch the hooked fish bolt off as I struck the hook home in the shallow clear margin. After a good scrap she was in the net and went 25.04 on the scales.

I was over the moon, what had been a gruelling of session behind the buzzers had turned up two extremely exciting captures and I would have almost certainly blanked if I hadn’t made the effort. On both captures I was able to watch the fish suck the bait in and I will certainly be doing a lot more of this style of angling throughout the year and feel it may even give me a better opportunity to single out one off the lakes other big commons.



Robs Tackle Box: ESP Raptor D7 Hooks Drennan Supplex Mono Drennan Boilie Pult Trakker Sanctuary Retention Sling ESP Stalker Sunglasses