After looking at the rules for one of the venues I was going to try a d then decided not to go went to Lodge Farm.
I fished the large natural pool. This one is shallow compared to the other one that was dug out. Average two and a half foot deep compared to average five foot deep.
I set up 10metres of pole and 3 topkits, plus an old nine foot silstar kevlar diaflex tip rod, into which I inserted three quarter ounce tip. Mainline was 5lbs Sensor to hooklength of 6lbs Guru gauge with a size 12 lswg hook with baitband connected via quick change bead for ease of changing hooklength, casting weight was a 6g inline olivette.Bait was a 12mm Ringers chocolate orange wafter.
The topkits were set up with a 4 x 14 drennan choppa on 0.14 n gauge to a size 20 b911 fi hook, this was set slightly overdepth in 2' of water, elastic was slip size 6 set slightly pingy.
The 2and top kit was a 4 x12 maver float line was 0.14 shimano Silk shock to a size 18 guru swg hook.this was set dead depth in 15" of water at 10 metres.
The third topkit was a 0.25g drennan crystal dibber set at 9" in just over 2.5 feet of water, line was 0.16 n gauge to a 16 swg hook with baitband.
Bait was a mix of yellow and red maggots , ringers wafters, hard 6mm pellets soak in Dynamite baits F1 pellet oil both for feed and bait. And finally Fjuka white soft pellets,
I cast out the bomb rod to my right about 15 yards away towards an island. Bait was chocolate orange wafter over a scattering of hard soaked 6mm pellets.
I fed 3 swims at 10 o'clock (maggots) 12 o clock ( maggots and Fjuka pellets)and 2 oclock, ( hard 6mm pellets)the 12 oclock swim was at 10 metres the other 2 swims were at 8 metres.
Sport was slow at first on the pole, the maggots picking up some small to decent silvers and a few small carp in the one pound range , I kept a trickle of feed going in at 10 metres and threw a few hard pellets out at 8 metres., hoping to see a few swirls on the surface from feeding fish.
After a few line bites on the bomb rod the tip went round and the first of a few carp graced the net.
I noticed when I was feeding the 10metre line that the bottom was staring to show signs of fish, with it being very shallow ,it was like a margin swim but in open water. A few swirls and mud clouds were present, it was similar in 10 o'clock swim but not as prevalent.
I went over the 10 oclock swim with double maggot on the hook but the stamp of carp were on the small side with a few silvers, The very shallow 2 oclock set up didnt produce on had pellet.
I baited up with a white Fjuka pellet and put a few in a kinder pot with a few maggots and went over the 12 oclock swim,trickling a few in as I lowered the pole rig in the water.
A minute later the float dips and a fair bit of 8 elastic comes out of the topkit, I emptied the kinder pot into the swim as I started to play the fish.
A few minutes later a decent carp of around 4lbs was in the net, This happened more or less I fed the swim and waited for it to cloud up with mud swirls before going over it.
While I waited ,sometimes it was around a minute or others five minutes, I plundered the silvers and small carp on 10 oclock swim. I picked the odd carp from the 2 oclock swim by fishing Fjuka pellet over it at 15" in 2.5 feet of water.
I kept the topkit ready baited to go over the 12 oclock swim after the carp had moved in, it was just a case of one topkit off and replaced by the other.I latched onto what I thought was a small carp by the way it was played, not much elastic out, it must not have realized it was hooked by the way it was " walked " towards my landing net, then it woke up, and yards of 8 elastic zoomed out. Luckily I was down to my top 5 sections so there was a bit of give in the pole as I played the fish instead of down to top 2 or 3 sections.
After a hectic battle trying to keep it from underwater snags and the bankside vegetation i managed to land a common of around 7lb.
I had a good days fishing catching various sized carp and silvers.
People may scoff at the concept of Fjuka pellets and think they are a gimmick, I have tried them on a few waters and never failed to catch.Maybe because i am using a different bait than the usual ones the fish get caught on ,who knows, they work for me so i will keep using them.
A friend who was in a match on Partridge lakes last week got battered by a lad a few pegs away, he weighed in 65lb of various sized F1s all caught on Fjuka pellets, my friend who is a good match angler managed 25lb along with most of the others in the section. The fish weren't shoaled up, the guy who had 65lb had had large weights on the pellets before, ( I have no connection to Fjuka baits) .
The weather was sunny but not to hort and a breeze kept coming and going all day, All in all a pleasant day fishing.a couple of pics of the carp caught on wafter, and Fjuka pellets
