Dave Coster's Fishing Diary - May 2018

This entry was posted on 29th May, 2018

At the beginning of the month I was keen to put a new 8m Advanta Margin Pole sample through some rigorous testing, so I reckoned the match lake at Stretton would be an ideal place for this. I picked a swim at the far end that had some decent tree cover to the right of the peg and quickly decided that paste would be my main line of attack.

The new pole was kitted out with 15H Preston dark blue hollow elastic, which is just about strong enough to stop a train in its tracks! To match this, I attached a rig with a 0.18mm hook length and 0.20mm main line, set up with a pole float that had a slightly longer than normal sight tip. I find the latter is important when using big dollops of soft paste on the hook. A long antenna allows you to set the rig at exact depth, so the weight of the hook bait pulls the float’s tip down slightly as it comes to rest on the bottom. This lets you know if the bait comes off, because the float tip lifts up a tad higher above the surface.



My favourite way of using paste is to make it from groundbait, because that way you can feed the groundbait in soft form and plonk the hook bait right on top of a thin carpet of the same gear. But in order to get soft paste out to the desired spot, you need a small pot attached to your pole to transport the baited hook, otherwise if the lower end of the rig touches the water the paste is likely to come off. You can buy various Cad style pots for this, but generally I use the tops from plastic drink bottles, fixing them lower down the pole with looped pole elastic.



With a lower set paste pot your rig is less likely to tangle. All you need to do is ship the pole out, hold it high at full length and turn it over to release the bait. Then, when the hook bait is dangling in the air you can aim the pole tip at your target and slowly lower the rig in. When fishing the margins, I like to drop the rig a foot further out to where I want it and then gently edge the float into position until the bait comes to rest on the bottom. This way your hook length line is almost against the shelf, which helps to eliminate false line bites and accidentally foul hooked fish.



Dynamite Swim Stim Betaine Green Groundbait is brilliant for paste fishing. I mix some of this up for both feeding and for use as hook bait. I keep a bowl of water next to it so I can flick some extra moisture on when I want to form a soft ball of paste for the hook.

I tend to use longer paste style pole floats in deep water, but for the margins I prefer shorter models, as mentioned before, with decent length antennas.

I keep my paste rigs very simple. Using a 30cm long hook length with no shot on it. All the weight the float carries is positioned in a bulk just above the lighter trace – on the main line.



To begin with I cupped in two big helpings of loose groundbait and a few pellets. This is normally enough to kick start the action, in this case under some overhanging branches in around 3 feet of water.

I deliberately leave the groundbait a bit lumpy by the way, so that fish can graze over it, picking out various sized particles. A larger hooked piece of paste over the top doesn’t look so out of place when presented over an uneven bed of groundbait.

During the first 20 minutes of the session I missed a few “ghost” bites where the float buried and yet nothing was there. I think these are caused by small fish, which tend to home in on groundbait first. However, after that I was soon giving the margin pole some serious stick, trying to lever something wild away from the tangle of roots and overhanging branches to my right. Everything held and once the fish was in open water I soon got the upper hand and guided it into my landing net. A nice streamlined carp with a big paddle of a tail.



After that it turned into a hectic session. Plenty of bites, a few missed but many converted into elastic stretching carp. I found the best spot for catching was just under the far edge of the overhanging branches. You don’t want to fish too tight to cover like this because carp in particular are masters at burying your tackle in any snags they can find. When fishing close to cover it’s a case of hit and hold! You also need to keep on your toes. If you start to let your eyes wander, to look at things other than your float, it’s a fair bet you will suddenly find your rig embedded in an immoveable object!



During the rest of the session the Advanta Margin pole handled very nicely. I reasoned it could take even heavier tackle than I was using and cope with carp into double figures. I had already done some testing at home, putting a good bend into the pole at varying lengths, just to make sure all the sections were sound. But there’s nothing like the real thing. Having a lively turbo charged carp attached, puts tackle through an equivalent of what your car gets during an MOT.



I finished the session off with this much thicker set carp, which tried everything to get in the tangle of roots along the margins. I really gave the pole some serious stick to get it out and once again everything held up just fine. The new margin pole should be in Angling Direct shops later this year, at a very competitive Advanta price point (of course).



For my next outing I visited a couple of small ponds at Long Bennington, a new addition on the Grantham Anglers Association club book. I tried the weedy one first. I noticed a couple of swims had recently been raked so I opted for one of these. I really didn’t know what to expect as I could find nothing about the place on the Internet. The water was very clear and the underwater weed growth was extensive to say the least. But by exploring around with a waggler I found a reasonably clear spot I could fish about three rod lengths out. I hit this with groundbait, loose fed pellets, casters and a few maggots over the top.



This pond was just over half an acre I reckoned and for the first two hours there wasn’t a sign of a fish. It was a super bright sunny day, which didn’t help either. Getting a bit bored, I tried flicking a few maggots down the margins and soon had some small perch showing interest. I dangled my rig in and caught all seven of the fish I could see. Amazingly twenty minutes later I could see seven perch back in exactly the same spot! I caught a couple again and then decided to try the other pond.



The second pond is slightly bigger and much deeper and there was far less weed. I could also see some decent size koi carp swimming about on the surface. There was a right mixture of them. A couple of white ones, one the colour of a goldfish and several black variations with unusual white tipped fins. I think I also spotted a couple of fully scaled carp, but nothing else.

I gave it a good go fishing a pole float down the deep margins with a long rod, tackled up with sturdy gear because a lot of the fish I could see were doubles. However, the carp seemed more interested in chasing each other around than feeding, probably getting ready for spawning. I also noticed they were rod shy, cleverly steering around the spot I was fishing. I tried absolutely everything but not so much as a bite. Even a trickle of maggots down the edge failed to pull anything.



I went for a walk and spotted two koi carp in the margins, at the overgrown far end of the pond. Another angler had been fishing on the far side near here and hadn’t caught anything either. Oh well, early days. I’m sure the Grantham club will sort this place out. I suspect some predator damage might have occurred here, hence the dearth of smaller fish. But I still fancy giving the weedy pond another go; it looks perfect for tench.

I finished the month with an open match at Priory Lakes. The weather forecast was dire, predicting a string of thunderstorms. Well it was a bank holiday Monday!

When I got to the main match lake it was bright and sunny, if a bit breezy. I drew my peg and decided on a two-pronged approach. Long pole for silvers and margin pole for carp. I cupped in three good helpings of chopped worm, casters and 4mm pellets at 13 metres and then two cups of groundbait dust and pellets down the edge.

It was a slow start, only small perch and rudd to begin with on my long line and no response at all on the margin pole. I cupped in another ball of caster, chop and pellets long and was suddenly attached to a good bream, followed soon after by another. Then it was small fish and the odd net roach. I tried loose feeding caster over the top and had a good spell catching quality roach, small hybrids and rudd fishing shallow, but then that died.

Time for another look in the margins and the dollop of paste trick brought a positive bite from something big and powerful. I gave the fish some serious stick, but it roared off through a lily bed and just kept on going. Then everything went solid. I kept the pressure on, then released it and then reapplied it, but I suspect the carp was long gone. I got my whole rig back when pulling for a break, which was my only bonus.

Back on the long pole I had another flurry of three bream, but it was getting harder and harder to gain bites after that. I kept on dinking a few casters out with a catapult and nicked the odd roach, perch, rudd and hybrid every now and then. The storms never materialised but the hot and sunny conditions made it very difficult. I had to work really hard to keep a few fish going in my keepnet.

The gusting north easterly wind didn’t help presentation either, but I was pleased to end up with just a fraction under 20 lbs of silver fish. This turned out to be enough to squeeze in third as there were two carp weights at the other end of the lake. Shame about that lost lump of a carp, which could have leapfrogged me into first spot. But that’s fishing for you!