12 Acre German Mystery - Part 2

At the end of part 1 it was the middle of June the weather was warm but I still had not seen a carp on the top in open water. When I did see a fish it was always a grass carp and some of those were big. It was then that I decided to get some dog biscuits and see if I could get them to feed off the top. The local supermarket only had 10kg bag and I really didn’t need that much for a trial, I looked around in another shop and found a bag of 1.5kg, just right I thought. Over the next few visits I was firing out these floaters but never saw any fish take them. I was starting to think that my theory about these fish being bottom dwellers was being confirmed as although the water was very clear the fish were all pale and washed out. I still kept on firing them out and on one the pouch hit the frame and a couple dropped in the edge, to my amazement they sank! In disbelief I got some more out the bag and threw them in the edge, they sank as well. Time for a rethink, more about the sinking dog food later! On a clear warm day in August I fired out a few crusts and was pleased to see some action. I quickly set up a floater rod and fired out some more crusts. It looked to be a single fish so I cast to it and had a take, it was a scraper 20lb common. I repeated this a couple of weeks later when conditions were right and had the same 20lb common although a pound heavier this time. On this session I managed to pull a grass carp up to take some free offerings but couldn’t get him to take, I did however take one from the bottom on a boilie at 18lb.

All along the west bank is a thick reed bed that is over 8ft tall, local rules say you cannot cut it but a swim has been cut by someone using a digger and the margin here is a foot deeper, the swim is about 10ft wide and a perfect margin ambush point. I started to feed it while fishing at the bottom corner and it became apparent that fish were visiting it on a regular basis. I started to make notes of the time between the fish feeding and disappearing from the spot. I soon saw a  pattern emerge that about an hour was the average wait time before the fish would feed. 

I chose the next Sunday to target the margin swim as the reed bed was adjacent to the access road of the gravel works and I could do without the tipper trucks trundling past every half hour! It was an afternoon session, the margin was fed and then I set up in the corner swim to wait fr the fish. I went to check on the margin after 30 minutes and it had already been cleaned out so the game was on. I re-fed and went to get the rod. My notes showed it was 25 minutes before the fish arrived, I had sat behind the reeds with the rod lying on the bank and a completely slack line, a pineapple wafter was the hookbait. Two fish were feeding confidently and although I could not see any detail I could see that there was a big one and a little one. I saw the small one bolt, the line tighten and I was in. When I stood up I was amazed to see the big one still there but it soon went! I landed the 12lb common, fed the margin and took the fish to the corner swim to get it sorted and released. Back in the margin swim it was 40 minutes before a fish returned and a carbon copy of the last capture occurred. As it powered out of the margin I could see it was a decent mirror and after a spirited fight it went just under 25lb. This fish looked familiar and so it proved, this was the first fish again. That was now 3 times in 5 weeks (more about recaptures later).

At this stage I thought I had cracked it, the method worked like a dream and I was thinking that I would empty it. I was soon to find out that the Carp Gods have a way of levelling the playing field! The next day I went back and did exactly the same with the identical set up but it was not meant to be. The fish would come on to the spot, feed confidently, get closer to the rig and just stop and amble out of the swim with lots of food still on the table. This happened a few times and I could see that they knew they were being fished for. There was no panic they left the spot just as calmly as they arrived but I knew they had seen the rig. Without a rig in the water the spot got cleaned every time, put a rig in and they just left. Back to the day job where I didn’t have to watch them take the mick!

I haven’t said much about the layout of the pit, it is very clear with the odd algal bloom that gives it a green tinge at certain times of the year. There is no weed and virtually no snags apart from all of the dead wood and fallen trees on the north bank. I have found one snag though; it is on the road bank about half way down near the margin swim. The first time I found it I had had a double take and being on my own I had opened the bail arm and let it run, turned off the alarm and concentrated on the one I was playing. Once this one was in the net I picked up the other rod but it had gone. I sorted out and released the fish in the net and went to reel in the other rod. It had taken a lot of line I reeled about 50-60 yards and it went solid, completely solid. 

Some weeks later I was fishing at the other corner of the road bank when I had a take that was obviously a big fish that stayed deep and just kept going. Normally this is not a problem unless they kite into the reeds but this one was staying out. Eventually it ran out of steam and I was gaining line quite easily when it just went solid. It is hard to judge but as I was 120 yards from the other corner and this fish had taken a lot of line I figured it could be the same snag. As I said it was solid. The only line I could gain was the stretch in the mono, so I put the rod back in the pod and had a cup of tea. After a while there was a single bleep on the alarm and then it started to take line again. I picked up the rod and it took more line but I soon stopped it and started to gain line but all I did was pull it back into the snag. The fish had gone through something or under something; my thought is a wire hawser or a pipe that lies over a gravel bar enabling a fish to swim under it and then go over the bar to the deep water on the other side. I should say at this point I only use barbless hooks by choice and a running in-line lead set up would have made it safe. I have talked to another angler who has lost a fish there and he thought it was a pipe. At least now I know it’s there and will make a bigger effort to get fish off the bottom early in the fight if one goes that way.

At the back end of last season I had used all of my shop bought boilies and with just a couple of weeks left did not want to buy anymore. Remembering the sinking dog food I read the nutritional value on the packet and to my amazement it was almost identical to the boilies I had been using but with extra vitamins and minerals. The carp liked them but the crayfish loved them. I did catch two fish on them but had to recast every 30 minutes as I was never sure there was anything left on the hair. Read part 3 of my story where I talk about my bait choices in a bit more depth!