my first post !

Spring is well on its way and with it I'm sure the carp in our country's lakes are awakening from their winters slumber. With this in mind this past week I have set about my bait preparations for this years campaign. My hemp is maturing nicely in two ten litre buckets, as is my maize and my tiger nuts are fermenting as I write. Yesterday i had a play around with a batch of boilies in the form of the club mix and koi rearer squid and octopus. They are hung up drying now and seem to be just what i want :)

But will they catch fish ? Wells there is only one way to find out i guess. I will test them on my local runs water Shruggs Wood first to see if the carp in there are fond of them. The fish in there will eat practically anything, iv caught them on haribo sweets before now just to prove a point. I put this down to the high stocking levels of this small park pond (about 100 carp) considering that the pond is less than an acre in size i consider this to be high. Along side all the other species in the pond. The carp in here are by no means monsters but average around the 10lb mark with a few fish exceeding 20lb. I have spent many a day (and night) on this water, its was the first water that i started carp fishing on and provided me with some good sport although in my first year i only managed one fish at 11lb all year ! Now i can usually get a couple of fish a session, although I'm still yet to catch either of the big fish in there but that's fishing i guess.


An average shruggs common .

I intend to fish a water at Withnel heavily this year, this is a pretty little water and at couple of acres in size its not too daunting. This is a water with a good stocking of carp which average mid teens and above with a good number of fish over 20lb so i am told. I fished this water in November for three nights, i managed two fish of 14lb 8oz and 15lb 14oz and lost two others. This was a good result as it was the fist time i had seen the water .



An old warrior from withnel very welcome at nearly 16lb.

The other water which I'm baiting regularly this year is farrington lodges. This is a more difficult water and is requiring a different approach. As pellets are banned and this water is sparsely stocked I've been baiting with hemp and tigers although ill be putting in some boilies in the warmer months. I fished this water a few single night sessions last year and managed to bank a wonderful common of around 10lb aswel as a cracking tench and a few bream one night. So my hopes are high for this season, you never know i might be writing about a monster that Ive landed this time next year or maybe even sooner, who knows ?


tight lines
nige