Below The Surface: John Kneebone

I like diving at Wraysbury. It’s clear, iconic, full of history, and there’s often a chance of spotting a fish or two. Add in the mix that my subject for this month’s BTS was none other than the former editor of Maximum Carp and a man I have spent quite a bit of time with on dive features in the past, and I knew we were going to be in for some fun.

On arrival

Now John is a bit of a perfectionist… and a bit of a worrier. He likes things to be perfect, and if it isn’t, he’ll have a little worry. If it is, he’ll still have a little worry just in case, so the wind up miles were clocking up. It was no surprise that he got to Wraysbury hours before me to have a few laps and put himself in with the best chance of catching a few carp.

“O’Ive jumped in ‘ere cos a blokes ‘ad a load over the previous day or so,” announced John in his West Country drawl as I rocked into the swim, admittedly slightly late…

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, for three days prior to our arrival a guy had been rocking the peg and landed 20 or so fish. Now jumping in after a big hit can often be a recipe for disaster as the bloke that has got it going knows it well. More often than not, a newcomer into the peg will struggle, and time and time before we’ve seen that happen. But when you are faced with few swims left, and one that is on fire, it’s always difficult to walk past it.

John didn’t and before I turned up, he’d had a few flicks with a lead to establish the area and then fired a few singles out to get a quick bite. He fished two on singles to keep disturbance down and kept the third ready. After a while of no action it was time to prep the spot for the night. He had a lead around and found a spot then fired in a load of bait to get going. Opting for the boilie approach, he Spombed a few loads out there and got his rigs on the spots.

“There’s a load of weed between me and the area I’m fishing, before it drops down into some candy flossy type stuff then turns clear. The spot itself is quite big, certainly big enough to get three rods on, and it’s hard with a bit of silt on and a few bits of straggly weed here and there. It’s about 5-6ft deep and pretty clean. It’s not too bad on the spot itself and I can certainly present a bait on it. I’m fishing to the backside of it and the bait should be fairly close. I felt a donk with a bit of cushion rather than a crack so it’s not perfectly clear but should be okay.”

A decent swim summary and one that I would soon test. He felt his line lay would be pretty poor due to the weed and also that he was fishing a semi-tight line but felt the leader may be off the deck but he wasn’t overly worried!

Three rods were on the dance floor and I was on my way in.

Balanced wafters were the order of the day

Below the surface

As predicted, there was weed straight off the tips. It carried on almost all the way over and then started to thin out into candy flossy type stuff on the lower levels. The spot then appeared below me and looked to be really clear. Some parts of it were sandy and others were really stony where the carp had clearly been feeding recently and had gone right down to the gravel.

I could see clumps of John’s bait standing out on the bottom. All of the bait was boilies and they were tightly grouped as they usually are from a Spomb delivery.

Dropping down to the bottom and immediately I could see the leader was, as expected, off the deck. More worrying was how much the line stood out. It was really obvious and being brown/black in colour it stood out. I’m always very wary about my line colour, and brown/black is okay in the winter, or in muddy pools, but in summer, in clear water, it does tend to stand out, especially in crystal clear gravel pit water.

Line and line lay apart, I’ve got to say that at this stage of the dive I was really impressed with everything other than line colour. John had called the swim almost perfectly, and it wasn’t a particularly easy one to call. In fact, I’d go as far as to say he was absolutely spot-on, and that included how he thought his lines would be laying.

The bait looked very tight too, and there were three distinct areas and a bit of “bleed” between the two connecting them up. For a boilie only presentation it was looking pretty good if somewhat tight. This is where the choice of Spomb/Impact/spod is so important. The big ones deliver bait quickly, but sometimes less boilies in a smaller gadget can give you a slightly better spread. You can get a lot of bait in a large Spomb, but in shallow water, with heavy boilies, they’re going to stay tight.

I then had to find the rigs, which to be fair wasn’t a problem because following the line was simple. All three were just into the weed by about a foot or so, and they were incredibly consistent. In fact, all three spots were. There was a clump of boilies on the clear, and the rigs were sat directly behind them in the weed.

Rig One had landed just into the weed, and whilst still presented, it was difficult to see how it was lying. The lead was in the weed and also the two bait stringer had dragged the hookbait right down.

Rig Two was very similar, and once again the rig was presented but hard to make out. And then Rig Three was what looked to be a pop-up but once again was in the weed. Sadly this time the weed was a little heavier and slightly worse on the presentation front. All three could potentially get bites, but all three were out of the area they should be in, by almost exactly the same distance. He’s certainly consistent.

Final tweaks before casting out

Hearing what Hughesy had to say at the end of the first dive…

Although he put a few out with the throwing stick, the bulk of the bait was dispatched via a Spomb

John used Mainline’s latest blockbuster bait: Essential Cell

John decided to fish all three rods on the same spot but it looks as though he got two of the rigs a bit too close!

Rob descending into the crystal clear waters of Wraysbury 1

There were lumps of candy flossy stuff dotted here and there

The bait was tightly grouped and you can see here where the carp have gone through the surface layers and down to the stone below

A close inspection of the Essential Cell showed the flavour leakage after only a couple of hours

Stick or twist

Back on shore and John was impressed and concerned in equal measure. He’d definitely got a lot right, but the line was a concern as was the dropping of the rigs into the weed. He was wrapping for accurate distance, but they were touching down a couple of feet too far.

Seeing the evidence he opted to twist, and re-did all three rods.

As it was now just about to drop dark and light was fading, I decided not to go back into the water as it might spoil his chances. I hadn’t seen any fish on the dive, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t seen me.

Rig One had landed just into the weed, and whilst still presented, it was difficult to see how it was lying

Rig Two was also in the weed, almost parallel to the other at exactly the same distance into the weedy bit

Rig Three, which looked to be a pop-up, was also well into the weed, but this time the weed was a little thicker so the presentation suffered a bit more

Being brown/black, the line stood out like a sore thumb in the summer water. I always change mine over come winter as a green is better for this time of year

Whilst he got everything else pretty much bang-on, it was just his line that let John down

Indication test

The following day dawned, somewhat disappointingly with a blank, and John was scratching his head wanting to know what the problem was. The recast had landed with a crack so they should be clear. He’d dropped half a wrap off his length and was sure they were in the right spot now.

I waited for early morning bite time to pass, and when we both agreed that the chance had gone, I finned back out and immediately saw a load of bait left. In fact, I’d be prepared to say that I don’t think a fish had been on the spot. Now it may have been a slight change in weather, a new wind, me swimming round the spot, or John’s prep the day before, but either way there were no carp in the area and none had visited the dining table.

The recast had worked, and all three rods were now better presented and sort of on the money. One was clean and on the deck, another was on the dance floor but had been tightened up into a little bit of candy floss weed masking presentation a bit, and the third was just off to the one side in the weed, but as it was a pop-up it was probably the best presented.

If the fish were there, and had fed on that grub, he would have had bites. A look at the rigs shows the difference between night and morning, but interestingly when I picked one of the baits up to do the indication test, I noticed that the boilie had spun on the Hair and the hook point was well and truly masked. Game over for anything that picked that rig up.

The reduced distance re-cast had dropped the rigs back on the spot

This re-cast presentation looked bang-on. Laying lovely and flat on the deck

However, on closer inspection, the hook point was nipped into the boilie

The light fluffy weed was caught up on the hook on the other rod

The pop-up was just in the weed on the one side of the spot, but it was presented fine

I carried on with the indication test, and I’m not going to embarrass the company that makes this type of line, but needless to say that when I have tested it before in a similar situation, e.g. not tight, it has performed very, very badly indeed. I wasn’t expecting a lot more this time and so it proved. I put a stone on the deck by the rig, picked up the bait and started swimming off. Now usually I have some form of resistance from a strike within a few feet. Good lines take from hand to elbow.

This one didn’t and I had to move. In fact, I kept moving and when I eventually felt a resistance I made a mark in the sand. Checking the distance afterwards it was approximately 10ft, and more worryingly when I spoke to John about it, he said that he had a tightening of the bobbin and then a bleep or two. 10ft and virtually no indication! Shocking!

I’ve said it before and will say it again: your line is massively important in your indication. It’s not just about casting and breaking strain. It’s about indication, visibility, line lay etc., etc. Get them all right and you’re giving yourself a much better chance of catching. One or two areas wrong and it’ll affect you. All of them and you are basically relying on the fish hanging themselves. It’s your choice, but if you do get it right when you have been getting it wrong before, you’ll see your catch-rate rise for sure.

The final words were for John…

High point

“I’m really pleased with the way that I read the swim. It was exactly as I thought it would be and that’s a really positive thought. Reading the swim and getting everything in the right place is a massive part of fishing effectively and successfully so I’m very happy that my swim admin was bang-on.”

The lead clip and components were disguised in the weed

The floating weed had shifted a little and was clinging to the line

It was clear that there was still a load of bait around. In fact, I don’t think any had been touched

Low point

“That all three rigs were in the weed. I knew there was a little bit down there, but having read the rest of the swim so well I’m surprised that the rigs were in the weed. I can only think that it is something to do with the line and the stretch. It was all wrapped up and accurate, just in the weed. I knew the weed was there from my feature finding so it’s something to do with the way that I’m casting, or the way the line is reacting that let it get into the weed in the first place. Maybe it’s the water depth, because I use this line in 15ft of water without a problem, Being shallow I think that the stretch is not having the chance to re-coil and the rigs are ending up further out than they should. In deeper water there would be time for the line to behave as I would expect it.”

Biggest lesson learned

“Change my line. It stands out too much and the indication was terrible. I didn’t expect it to be brilliant but I thought that it being heavy and sinking would help. It’s just buggered up my indication and I still feel that the stretch in it has something to do with the fact that I put the rigs in the weed. It’ll be interesting to see what the position would be if the line was different.

‘I am happy with the way that I tried singles for the fish when I first moved into the swim to keep disturbance down, very happy with my swim reading and accuracy, and also happy with the presentation for the rigs once they were sitting in the right spot. It’s just that bloody line…”