Location Corner: Jack Brown
Ever turned up to a lake and been unsure of what to head for? Here we describe a situation to a successful angler and get them to detail what they'd do.
Turning up at your local day ticket lake only to find half the swims occupied is a situation many anglers face each and every weekend. With limited options, how do you decide where to go and how to start your session? Well, that’s we want to find out from top carper, Jack Brown, as we confront him with our hypothetical lake.
To get things started we’ve told Jack that he is permitted three rods on this fairly busy four-acre lake, as pegs 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 14 are already taken. The conditions are warm and sunny with the air-pressure fairly average for June at 1020 and there is a light 5-10mph WSW wind blowing.
Okay, that’s the scenario, now lets see what swim Jack settles for and where he’d cast his rods…
“The swim that looks the ideal place to set-up in would have to be Peg 8. Taking the weather conditions into account, a warm southwest wind is blowing down into the corner, to the swims left. There is a nice bay here which is quite an unpressured area of the lake, it is also fairly shallow around 7ft, in this warmer weather and gentle warm breeze it acts as an ideal place for a few fish to hold up in.
"To the right of the swim there is a large weedbed, which is located fairly centrally in the middle of the lake. This weedbed has grown to the lake’s surface; again for this time of year any large area of weed holds a large abundance of natural food and the fish will relish this and spend a lot of their time here especially pre-spawning. Also, with the busy nature of the lake the fish will take refuge in the weedbed when angling pressure becomes more apparent.
"In front of the swim and slightly to the left there are three shallow bars, which run parallel between the surface weedbed and the unpressured bay. The fish will naturally use these bars as roadways when moving from the bay to the weedbed and vice-versa, acting as a perfect ambush point to intercept a fish when on the move.
“Looking at rig placement, the first area I’d present a hookbait would be to the left of the swim in the bay, potentially being a good holding area, I’d be inclined to fish over some bait in anticipation of holding a few fish.
"My middle rod would be placed either on top of the first or second bar, or in the gully between the two. This rod I’d more than likely fish a more one bite tactic, minimal baiting or a solid PVA bag, regularly casting between the three spots to try and identify which route the fish are more confident in taking when moving from the weedbed to the bay. If there are regular bites from one of the spots a greater quantity of bait can be added.
"For my right-hand rod I’d try and find a presentable spot as close to the weedbed as possible without interfering with the angler present to my right, this may mean fishing over the back of the first bar. Baiting would depend on what the bites are like, starting off minimal and potentially slowly increasing the amount of bait if the action becomes thick and fast.”