Getting What I Joined For... Scott Kingsley

This entry was posted on 1st July, 2013

Getting What I Joined For... Scott Kingsley

As we started too get the first glimpses of some summery weather I decided it was time too book a few days off work and to get down the syndicate for a longer session. Working in the tackle trade, shipping thousands of pounds worth of tackle and constantly taking tackle and fishing seven days a week, still doesn’t temper my enthusiasm, as I love it! The fact is, it drives me even more and when my day off comes round I look forward to nothing more than getting down the lake! Usually it’s all about short single overnighters, where I have limited time to find and catch, but this session was going to be different, different in the way that I was going to have 4-5 days of trying to catch them!

I arrived at the lake after work on Saturday to find it was quite busy, anglers populated all the usual haunts and heavily fished swims; I suppose it was a peak night! Walking round I’d already made my mind up, like normal I wanted to avoid the crowds and wanted to target a quieter area of the lake.

For my first night I thought I would chance it and go on my gut instinct as I fished the swim without seeing any signs of carp, this is not something I normally do but the fish were not showing themselves anywhere. Soon the Fox Supa Brolly was up and the rods were out on the spots, I stayed up late to listen for signs of carp but unfortunately not a lot happened. It only seemed like a few hours had passed before I was up again at first light, once again on the look out for any signs of fish.

With absolutely no sign of activity I started debating whether to move or not, I eventual came up with the conclusion that I would give it a couple more hours and then move.

Within an hour the wind direction had changed and was hacking into the far margin, an area that I had baited and one where I’d positioned one of my rods, all of a sudden things started to look good for a bite.

I sat tight and within half an hour my margin rod screamed off! After a short, but exciting fight, I was off the mark! A lovely mint Silver Common was in the net, not a massive fish but a fish just short of 20lb.

The fish fell too my normal arrangement which was a Combi-rig consisting of Gardner Subterfuge soft paired with the Gardner Trickster Heavy braid, both in 15lb. A Gardner Covert Mugga in a size 8 was the hook choice and a metre long Gardner Heavy Plummet leadcore leader in brown with a standard leadclip arrangement completed the set up. On the hook I used a snowman presentation with a glugged 15mm CC Moore Meteor, tipped with a 12mm Northern Special, this was fished over a kilo of Meteor freebies.

I stayed in the same swim for about another hour before I started to feel that nothing more was going to happen, there didn’t seem to be great numbers of fish present so I decided to move.

It wasn’t long before I was set up again, this time in a different part of the lake, but once again it was very hard too spot any signs of fish. I had chosen an area near an Island, an area where I know the fish do patrol, an area full of lily pads which can sometimes be an absolute haven for the Carp.

Soon my rods where out in the area, one of them close to the lily’s and one off the far margin, an area which I was able to cast on the bank and then walk round and deposit my rig by hand.

Confidence was high as I felt this new spot would reward me with a fish or to.

My instinct was correct, at around 3 o’clock in the morning  I received a brutal take on the right hand rod, but unfortunately the fish had lead me into a huge snag and the hook pulled. Things were slow again the next morning and I started to get itchy feet, I felt that another move was in order. I will always move if I feel there aren’t many fish in the area or if I feel that they have moved. A mobile approach in my eyes is always better than just sitting in a swim for days with no action; you will find you can earn a bonus fish or two by moving about.

The next move I made was the right one. I choose to fish an area right up the far end of the lake, an area I had always wanted to fish, but for one reason or another I’d never had the chance too. I stood in the swim and made the final decision, it looked perfect for a few bites, a new wind was hacking into the swim and I spotted a couple of fish in the reed beds to my left.

I put a couple of handfuls of CC Moore Meteor boilies on the clear spot amongst the reed bed, on the area where I’d spotted the fish and quickly went and grabbed my barrow from my previous swim. As I arrived back in the swim the spot that I had baited was clean, I knew the carp had been in and done a demolition job and one thing was for sure, a rod was definitely going on the spot!

As I was putting fresh baits on my rigs, fish started showing all over the swim, a nice fish head and shouldered on the far margin and two boshed out in quick succession, right on top of a shallow bar. There was no need for marker floats, or ‘leading’ around the fish had done the hard work for me, as I know had a spot for each of the three rods.

I started preparing my rods, all with ‘classic’ set up I mentioned earlier, the hook baits remained the same but on each rod I did add a little PVA bag, just for that extra added attraction. I used crumbed CC Moore Meteor, CC Moore Krill meal powder and CC Moore Shrimp pellet; I mean what Carp could resist that combination of smells and attractants! The rods were cast out and soon bang on the money!



I made my way round to the margin spot to check I was happy,  one look at the spot through the clear water, confirmed I had nothing to worry about as all I saw was the glowing red of the meteor crumb bang in the centre of the sandy spot. As soon as I got back round to my rods the far margin rod was away, a belter of a take.

After a short spirited fight, the fish was quickly netted and as soon as it was over the net cord the solid bag rod in the reeds melted off. I was quickly on the rod and playing the next fish, steering the fish out of the reeds keeping the pressure on the rod I was praying that it didn’t come off. Soon there were two fish in the landing net and I had to gather myself together again, I prepared the unhooking matt, sling and camera and got the two rods out again armed with fresh baits. Pictures where then taken of the two mid doubles, a common and a mirror and quickly returned to the water.

Within 15 minutes the margin rod was away again, I got the feeling I had found a bulk of the fish now as I was getting steady takes. This went on for the afternoon and after the fourth fish which again came from the clear spot in the reeds again, this one being a 24.06lb two tone mirror.

My third rod had remained quiet, which was strange seeing as I’d seen signs of fish, so I decided to try and spur then into action! 2 kilos of Meteor freebies was spread over the area and it was left to settle.  Nothing happened on this rod until dark; when things went crazy! I received 4 takes off of this rod in the hours of darkness and at at 3 o’clock in the morning I got what I’d joined the lake for….  another one of the original residents, a oak carving Linear which went 25.07lb!

This year I am hunting out stunners, not really big fish, but to me fishing isn’t always about catching the biggest! The surroundings and quality of stock is something I look into before I join a lake, especially a syndicate. This fishery has the package I was looking for, even though you do have to wade through the Tench and mid double Stockies!

The next couple of days I hooked a fish each morning but things did slow up.

I ended up with 12 fish and lost 3, bearing in mind that 11 fish came from this one swim and 8 of them in a 12 hr period and 2 of them being originals it really did go mad. One of them days when you can’t do anything wrong, I am a firm believer that the CC Moore Meteor boilies are now starting to establish in the lake and that I wouldn’t have had as many fish if I wasn’t fishing with the CC Moore Quality.

I really am proud to be fishing with such good quality bait and to have the CC Moore lad’s advice to hand if needed. These Guys really do know bait and in fact anything Carpy! Look no further than CC Moore.

The Tackle Box… Fox Supa Brolly Gardner Covert Mugga Hooks CC Moore Northern Specials CC Moore Meteor Boilies Gardner Leadcore Leaders