Russ is shop manager at Bury Hill Fisheries near Dorking, Surrey and I caught up with him on the two-acre Bonds Lake on the complex just as he was setting up in Peg 8 and my first question had to be, “why this swim?”
Russ explained that it was just one of many good pegs on the lake and he would be confident of picking up a few fish anywhere but this particular one had been in decent form during recent matches and there was a nice comfortable chuck to the island where he reckoned he would find most of the fish.
Bonds is a typical small commercial with depths down to five feet and a big head of smaller carp in the 3 to 5lb range with just the occasional better specimen into double figures. Typical winning weights in club matches are in the 60 to 80lb range but the open match record is close to 150lb and pleasure catches regularly top 100lb.
With the early autumn conditions warm and the fish still very active you might expect an attacking approach in respect of bait but this is where a number of anglers go wrong and fail to get the most from their swim; in fact many blow their chances before they even cast out their hookbait. Russ explained:
“Fish are very, very wary of bait being balled in so the softly, softly approach is the way to go. It’s always said but the little and often approach really is key and the aim – what I’m going to try and do here today – is create a competitive feeding situation with a steady drip of feed and the carp having to actively compete with one another to get it.”
Russ kicks off with a small-sized Drennan cage feeder packed with Swimstim Green groundbait to which he has added a little Sticky Baits’ Oily Hemp, some 4mm krill pellets and a few 
grains of corn; all of it dampened with some Sticky Baits’ Pure Krill.
“I really like oily hemp” he said, “It has massive attraction and with the other bits I’ve got in the mix it should be just enough to get the fish searching the peg.”
A re-cast every five to ten minutes gets the feed going in to start the session but the plan is to switch to the ‘mini’ version of the feeder once he starts catching to help to create the competitive feeding behaviour he is looking for. As well as the feeder Russ also catapults a few pellets over to the island margins every few minutes as his back up approach if the feeder line goes quiet will be the pellet waggler.
The island feature is familiar on many commercials and typically this one features a shallow margin with a sloping shelf into the deeper water. The plan is to cast to and feed both areas initially to see where the fish are most comfortable feeding.
Russ’ set up is very simple with a 12ft Carbonactive rod fitted with a 2oz tip, the feeder free running on 8lb Direct Mono (he will switch to 6lb in winter) through to a Korum Quick Change Bead. At the business end he employs either a size 16 Middy Las-soo hook or a size 16 Korum Quickstop hook, depending on the hookbait he is using.
As far as hookbaits for this session are concerned Russ starts on an 8mm Skretting pellet with a bloodworm glug and the tip starts to twitch after a couple of casts – line bites as fish start to graze over the feed but it’s not long before the pull is solid and after a typically hard fight the first Bond’s carp is in the net and it’s soon followed by another.
Despite having netted a couple of nice fish on pellet Russ switches over to a corn hookbait for his next cast and I have to ask why he has changed what was clearly a winning formula!
“I like to keep them guessing Ian” he replied, “I always alternate between different hookbaits throughout a session, and not just if bites dry up. I find a switch to corn or meat will often produce a better stamp of fish and if I think there are better fish to be caught I’ll make a change, even if I’m catching well. Those bonus fish win matches.”
As if to prove the point the next bite results in an arm-aching tussle with a lovely double-figure common the result.
It doesn’t take Russ long to realise that the better fish are coming to the casts dropped short to the bottom of the ledge and by constantly changing hookbaits it also becomes apparent that punched meat hookbaits seem to be out fishing the pellets or the corn and during the next hour Russ nets a number of fish to the method.
When the bites finally dry up a change to pellet gets the tip moving again and only when action on all three baits really slow up does Russ reach for his Carbonactive 11ft float rod rigged with a pellet waggler set to fish 18in deep over the top of the 2ft deep island margins.
The constant ‘plop’ of two or three pellets every cast rings the dinner bell and it’s a bite first cast as the carp move up in the water to get on the feed falling through the water column – but Russ misses it, and the next one too.
“The fish are there but the bites are really twitchy” he said, “I’m going to shorten up the length of my hair loop to see if that makes a difference.”
Sure enough, as with the bait switch earlier, the next carp is nailed and Russ gets into a feeding and catching rhythm – although a stiff and variable breeze is not ideal for the technique and before long he’s back on the feeder and catching again.
With heavy downpours due and dense black clouds building overhead we called it a day early in the afternoon with Russ returning a serious weight of carp on a day when most other anglers on the lake were struggling to get amongst the fish.
You may think commercial pools are simply a case of cast out and catch but by watching an angler like Russ you soon realise there are ways to stack the odds in your favour and keep bites coming throughout the day, no matter what the conditions. Despite the fact I tend to target bigger fish I picked up some cracking advice which will apply to my style of fishing, different disciplines do have a lot to lend to one another and the anglers who pick up on this are those who, like Russ, will stay ahead of the game.
Make sure you check the Homepage regularly for a chance to watch a video of Russ explaining his baiting preferences for commercial pools and a chance to win a couple of Russ’ great ‘Obsessed Angler’ DVDs – coming soon!
