This is my account of the events of last summer from which Ibelieve is one of Linear’s finest waters, Hunts Corner Lake.
In the autumn of 1999, Len acquired a new water for the day ticketsite, Hunts Corner Lake. I didn’t really take much notice at first,but the results that Dave Lane and co were having was hard to ignore.At the time I was still enjoying success on St Johns, but I thoughtto myself that maybe I should go down there for a session.
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That first session was in February 2000 and to cut a long storyshort, I managed a mirror of 20lb 2oz. It wasn’t until July 2000 thatI decided to do a couple of months on the place, doing two, three andfour night sessions every week.
The Lake
The lake itself is around eight acres in size and has a carp stockof around 120 and to back this up there are a few chub and perch. Sothere isn’t really any nuisance fish so you are able to experimentwith alternative baits if you wish. The margins are by far thebiggest feature on Hunts along with small, tucked away, spots whereyou could bait up and wait for the fish to return and feed. Thisproved effective; a method not to be ignored. Also, the open body ofthe lake is stuffed with features like bars and plateaus and plentyof weed growth.
Spooky Carp On Margin Bars
I spent most of my time in peg 10 fishing the two margin bars ineight and nine feet of water. They seemed to prefer using the back ofthe bars to move into the top bay and the front to move out. It wasfunny, I could only get takes off the front of the bars, and no takescame from behind them, which were 7ft in depth at the back. Maybe thecarp didn’t like lines going over the top of the bars, maybe that’swhy the front of them were the hot spots because I was able toperfectly hide my slack lines away in the weed running up to the barsbase where I could present a bottom bait more naturally.
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Now, seeing that the Hunts carp are so spooky, piling the bait inat the beginning of a session is the kiss of death. I saw it happenso many times over the summer. For each fish caught, my baitingsituation was ten Mainline Assassin-8 boilies, half a pint of pelletand a few handfuls of hemp around each hookbait that was fishing thebottom of the bars up against the weed.
A Small Snack
The plan was to try getting the fish to come out of the weed andhave a small snack (hence the minimum baiting), which over a periodof time seemed to be the winning method. But at the end of eachsession I put my left-over bait onto the features I was fishing andreturned the next week when it was quiet, and then fish over smallbeds of bait. This tactic seemed to hold fish in the area but thatalso had a lot to do with the weed growth. At the time; the weed inHunts was very thick in the central part of the lake and by what Isaw most of the fish stayed in or around it all summer long, but thatcould be a different story now if Roy has treated it.
Rigs
A bit of info on the rigs that I used down there. Each set-upcomprised 7ft E.S.P leadcore leaders, Korda safety clips, 1.5 oz pearleads and 25lb Snakebite hooklinks, knotless-knotted to E.S.P RaptorG-4’s in size seven with a two-inch hair. All very simple really.
Throughout the summer I managed several doubles and twenties, alake record 31lb 8oz common and February 2001 saw me land anotherlake record in the shape of a 32lb 6oz mirror.
What a water!
Well, for this year I will be fishing the Guys syndicate andpitting my wits against those Manor fish, and of course, back toHunts Corner.
I strongly advise anybody to get down to Hunts Corner Lake,believe me, the carp in there are stunning and are growing at a rateof knots. Set in mature quiet surroundings the lake gives you a goodchance of a bend or two in your rod.
Be lucky.
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