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It's Not Always About The Size... Justin Grapes
Friday night came around and, as the nights are drawing in, I didn't have much time to find a swim and get set up. On arrival, I had a walk down the closest bank to the car park to have a quick look about and I found a few free swims, of which one had more open water. I thought this would probably be the one to go for, as my good friend Darryn was coming down a little later for a social. As I stood in the swim I saw a couple of carp roll at around 60 yards so that was enough for me, as normally where there's carp the coarse fish won't be far behind.
As I got into the swim I got a message from Darryn saying he wasn't going to get there till after dark, so I got the marker sticks out and the spod rod to make a big baited area we could both fish to. After sorting out all the bait for the session, which consisted of hemp, Sonu Scopex Corn, maggots, casters, and Sonu Bream Feed Groundbait, I began laying a bed of it out over the swim. I like to start spodding at the marked range first, for half of the amount, then peel off half a rod length of braid, then put the rest out. Next was to sort new rigs out for the session. I was going to start off with one on the method feeder and the other one on a maggot feeder on a Korum Heli kit, just to see which one produced first. Hooklinks were Korda Supernatural in 18lb in conjunction with their size 12 Mixa Hooks and for bait it was going to be Enterprise fake maggots on the maggot feeder rig and a small 6 mm pineapple boilie on the method feeder rig. The first cast was made about an hour before dark and, while I waited to see if anything would happen, I got the brolly in order and a bit of bait ready to put out after dark if needs be. Within the first few minutes I had a liner which was promising and after another 10 minutes or so the maggot feeder rod was away. "Fish on” and after a short fight a small bream was landed.
It was starting to get dark now and I was still getting liners when Darryn arrived. I helped to get him sorted out, as there was some rain forecast, and just as we had finished getting him cast out I had another bite, which again ended up in being a small bream around the 3lb mark. As the darkness set in we had a cuppa and talked fishing till it was bed time – as it was raining we retreated back to the brollies. It was a quieter night than I was expecting but I still managed another couple of bream, to the method rig this time. As dawn broke I stood watching the lake for any activity and from the moment I stood up I could see fish rolling over the baited area. After a recast, as I thought I should have had a bite, the maggot rod sprung into life almost instantly. From that minute to the end of the session I had fish after fish on that rig, with the occasional one on the boilie. I didn't change over to both on the maggot feeder because I felt that if any bigger fish were to make an appearance it might be more suitable for them.
Mixed in with all the bream I did manage the species I was mainly after – roach – and with a couple going 1lb8oz and 1lb10oz I was well chuffed!
It did seem like the more bait I spombed out the quicker the bites were coming. I lost count of the amount of times I had double pick ups. In the end I managed 35+ bream to 5lb8oz, those lovely roach, and a bonus tench of 6lb. All in all it was a cracking session and a great social.
The maggot feeder rig was the one which did most of the damage on that day but I'm sure the method rig will work well on another day as well. I will be back to Catch 22 this winter to target roach again, as they do grow to 2lb+ there, but for now it's back on the rivers for a spot of chub fishing. Until the next time, tight lines.
