Saturday 18 February 2012

Hollyhurst Lakes


FISHING WITH PAUL RINGER
Hollyhurst Lakes.



Hello and welcome to my fishing Blog.

My aim here is to spend 48 hours (fiancée permitting) fishing a range of venues giving you all the information I can gain from baits and rigs to location and catch reports.

If you would like me to review a venue near you just ask....




Today I'm going to review Hollyhurst Lakes near Coventry http://www.fisheries.co.uk/hollyhurst/index.htm


We arrived at Hollyhurst lakes at around 6am on the Friday. We had a good old walk around with the dog on the specimen lake. The specimen lake has two huge islands, standing from the specimen lake car park looking over the lake. From right to left I would say it is around 5ft deep at the left hand side of the car park running to around 7-8ft deep toward the right hand side of the lake.


If the weather is dry you are able to drive all the way around the lake and drop your gear off, because it was fairly dry we choose two pegs between the two islands on the far side of the lake. We drove round, dumped the gear then put the car in the car park.


With my Brother Mark choosing the left hand island I took up residence on the right hand island and with three rods each to play with we could cover tons of water between us and still have space between the rods.


So first things first, get some bait out... a lot of bait. The Carp in Hollyhurst are boilie eating monsters! I would think nothing with starting off loading my swim with 1kg of my favourite boilies with a mix of 15mm and 20mm then topping up with another 20-30 boilies after each fish.. Even in the colder months!


Rig wise ,I favour the Chod Rig for two reasons.
1) It wont tangle up on the cast so 
2) While fishing between the islands during the summer months there can be tons of weed and I know this rig will give me the best possible presentation. 


OK, time for the rods to go out, One in the open channel of water between the islands, One to the right in between two clumps of rushes and the last ('my banker') in the near margin.
I never fail to catch in the near margins at Hollyhurst.


So with the rods out its time to set up, its always a good idea to get here early because it can get quite busy at weekends


While we were setting up the bivvy Mark had a screaming take on his right hand rod between the islands. If you're ever struggling for a bite then do something that requires two hands, I'm sure the fish are watching us! In the commotion the bivvy got dropped on the dog (sorry Trudy) and the tackle box got a good kicking..


The fish took Mark right round the back of the left hand island toward a load of bull rushes, you could see the concentration on Marks face as he gingerly (no pun intended) guided it back around the island and towards the waiting landing net.


17lb 4oz


A stunning looking common in the early morning light and at 17lb 4oz a very good start to the weekend.


With the fish weighed, photographed and safely returned it was time to finish putting up the bivvy while the dog sat well away from us, sulking at being assaulted by flailing tent poles.


With the bivvy up and all the gear put back in the tackle box it was time to put the kettle on and relax for a while... Fat chance!


Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp, Mark was in again, same rod as before on a 20mm Robin Red boilie. Only a small Carp this time at a little over 7lb but welcome all the same.


7:30am and already two carp accounted for.


By 8am it was fully light and promising to be a fine morning, and with it came a few more anglers.




It was 11am before we had any more action and this time it was to my rods :) a drop back on my middle rod. With a steady plod and occasional lunge I could feel that I was into a good fish and it was staying deep, 10mins later I still hadn't seen whatever it was that I was connected too! Plod, plod plod, up and down the middle of the lake not taking line nor letting me gain much.
Another 5mins and at last, I started to gain some line and steer the fish towards the net. 




A lean and powerful Linear Carp weighing in at 13lb exactly, Result.
By no means a big fish but this is the average stamp of fish you could expect to catch at Hollyhurst. Not bad at all. 


With the score 2-1 to Mark I had some catching up to do, so out went another 20 boilies and with four more on a stringer attached to the hook to minimize tangles. Game On!!


Our fishing weekends never start off as a contest but normally result in a little brotherly competition.. Its healthy to have a little wager now and again, right? And so the loser of today's little contest would have to make breakfast in the morning, a full English!


By about 2pm we were struggling for bites, and being plagued by a strong northerly wind.


Time for a change I think, out came some ground bait, tuna (in brine) and a tin of sweetcorn (I never leave home without some form of method mix) out came the left hand rod that was between the two islands and on it went a 35g method feeder, a 3" hook length of 8lb hair rigged to a size 14 hook. On the hair went my favourite method combination, two grains of corn and one grain of yellow pop-up plastic corn.


With the method rig set up it was quickly cast over the top of my pre baited area of boilies in between the islands topped up with two balls of tuna and corn ground bait. 


With nothing but a few bleeps to show for the next two hours I decided to have a walk back to the car to retrieve my big jacket, on the way back I could see my Brother Mark bent into a fish.. I blurted a few obscenities then started to jog over to lend a hand in netting.


 A lovely 11lb 9oz mirror Carp
making it 3-1 to mark... and as you can expect he took a lot of pleasure in reminding me of the fact.








Nothing much happened for a while and it wasn't until the light started to fade that at last my method rig roared off, the screech of my alarm made me jump out of my skin but I was on it lightning quick. The fish turned as soon as I applied pressure and ran full pelt towards us, a few more obscenities later and I had it plodding under the rod tip almost beat and ready for the net. Mark was playing the role of chief nets man and as my hard earned prize made its final approach toward the mesh tragedy struck, the Carp made one final bid for freedom and won. 


Every angler that has ever lost a good fish knows the feeling, the hollow empty dull ache in the pit of your stomach, I was beyond gutted.


5:20pm and it was getting dark fast, just enough time to recast all the rods and bait up for the night but just before I picked up the method rod it gave a single beep so I struck into it on the off chance as I was running out of light fast and needed to finish up before it was too dark too cast.



Well what do you know! A short and spirited fight produced a plucky little  common of 6lb, a very welcome fish. Almost as soon as id finished baiting up the method rod was in again with a fish of 8lb 2oz, this was one fish that was not at all happy about being caught and preceded to smash me in the face with its tale and jump and wriggle all over the unhooking mat. One of the hardest photos I've had to stay still for!!













Three all? OK, not in the same league but who's counting?  :)


By the time we got back into the bivvy we were well over due for a cup of coffee, and with the kettle on the tent soon warmed up giving the dog no reason to keep her eves open any longer then was needed.


The rest of the night went without any more action except for the odd bleep.


7am on the Saturday and time to check the rods, bait up and recast. However, everything changes with an over enthusiastic cast! Crash... straight through some f**king bull rushes!!




The only thing I dreaded doing! Oh well only one thing for it, bring on the canoe....  




 One feature that will save you a lot of money on end tackle is Hollyhursts canoe.




However nerve racking an experience it is, its far better than losing £5's worth of rig and lead every time you over cook the cast!






Job done!  End tackle out of the bush and still dry!


The rest of the morning was pretty much a non starter, with only a few knocks to stir us from our daydreams it passed without event until Marks margin rod's alarm went into meltdown, a real one toner! All the way down his left near margin this fish charged on, taking line at a rate of knots! After a scary fight that almost resulted in Mark getting in the water to free off the line that was tangled around a marginal bush his fish was on its way to the bank and the waiting net. 








A stunning Linear Carp going 21lb 8oz on the scales, Guess I'm cooking the fry-up...








So, with the cooking out of the way I had time to relax for a while, well longer than expected in fact, with the day closing into night nothing else happened until around 2am when my 'banker' (near margin rod) finally produced a take, and what a take it was!


From nowhere, not even the odd bleep came a pure 'one toner' that even made the dog jump and give a little startled bark!


Running like a madman I finally reached my rods but it seemed like it took forever as the alarm was going nuts. As I bent into the fish I could tell it was a 'good un' taking me around the back of the island more than once! Its scary enough being dragged around the back of an island during the day but in the pitch black it was nerve shattering! After the scariest fight of my life I lifted the net on an enormous specimen! My hands were all over the place while trying to remove the hook but eventually 'She' was free to pose for the camera..




A 27lb 6oz personal best! What a way to even the score with Mark!


With no more action in the night we managed a few hours uninterrupted sleep before having to pack up early and head home as Mark had to work a night shift that night.



This lake is awesome! and I've fished it a lot, because its local to work I spend a fair few weekends here now chasing its resident Carp.


This is a special venue for me because it holds my personal best Carp to date.



Thank you for reading my blog, if you liked this page or even if you didn't please write a comment and follow me on twitter. copy and paste this URL to like minded/fishing obsessed friends and forums. All comments and criticisms are very much appreciated.


Paul Ringer.













Friday 17 February 2012

River Nene Chub

FISHING WITH PAUL RINGER
The river Nene.





Hello and welcome to my fishing Blog.

My aim here is to spend 48 hours (fiancée permitting) fishing a range of venues giving you all the information I can gain from baits and rigs to location and catch reports.

If you would like me to review a venue near you just ask....




My latest venture was the lovely river Nene near Peterborough, part of the Bluebell Lakes complex http://www.bluebell-lakes.co.uk/ on the 11th of February 2012.


We were due to spend the weekend on kingfisher lake targeting the the resident monster carp, however the weather had other ideas.... with temperatures dipping to -11c the lakes were 3" thick with ice so we decided to fish the river.
  
We arrived at around midday and it was already -4c.
Seeing as the lakes were more ice rink than water we thought we would have a walk up and down the river banks with the dogs to see if we could spot any fish.


With the distinct lack of showing fish to guide us we settled on a swim on a back water of the Nene also controlled by Bluebell Lakes called Willow Creek. The chosen swim had a few overhanging trees, some dead weed rafts and a nice crease in the flow just down from the weir, but just as importantly it had space to bivvy up for the weekend!






With the swim chosen and the gear out of the cars we decided to move the cars to the edge of the road that runs behind Willow Creek.  BAD IDEA! they just slipped and skidded around on the snow and ice making a right mess, so we had no choice but to leave them on the road and hope no one else was crazy enough to venture this far down the track in the snow.


With never fishing a river before we were in a bit of a pickle and in need of a strategy re-think. We debated between ourselves for a while about bait and rigs. I decided on simple running rigs  with a 3oz Fox gripper lead and a 8lb mono hook link to a size 14 wide gape hook hair rigged with three pieces of sweet corn, while my Brother Mark opted for a semi fixed flat pear lead with a similar hook and hook link, bait wise he went for a white floro pop-up boile on one rod and a polaris float with a 1oz square pear lead to a 6lb mono hook link and a size 16 hook.


With the set-ups sorted the next task was baiting up our swims. I knew the flow would carry our bait down stream so I decided to bait up around 6 meters up stream to allow the bait to sink to  the river bed around my rigs. How wrong was I? The lose fed bait drifted down past where I wanted to place my rigs and ended up about 4 meters further down? Wow this river is deep! 13ft to be exact, OK rethink... With my brains racked I went for some ground bait to help carry my feed to the deck, so armed with five good sized balls of bright red ground bait holding my sweetcorn and hemp I 'plopped' them in between four and five meters up stream, with two in the near margin and three in the main flow... perfect!


With the swim 'rested' and the light rapidly fading it was time to position the rigs, one in the near margin and one just out of the main flow of the river.


I'm always shocked at how fast it gets dark in the winter, one second the light is just starting to fade the next its pitch black!
Time to retire for the night, or so we thought.. A little after 8pm I started to have a few beeps on my margin rod, and then out of nowhere Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppp, my alarm went into meltdown!


I rushed out of the bivvy with my Brother hot on my heels closely followed by both dogs and all of the warmth from the still boiling kettle.


The margin rod was still giving a steady beep beep beep beep but when I struck into the 12' of carbon it felt like nothing was on the other end? Winding in as fast as I could I finally bent into something that pulled back, it was heading straight into the dead weed bed a little further down stream.


After a few more heart stopping lunges my prize was finally on its sidewards glide to the waiting landing net that was being positioned by my Brother Mark.


Well not what I was expecting but a result all the same, a cracking bronze flanked 5lb 9oz Chub! 






The rest of the night passed without event except for a few bleeps from Marks left hand rod and quickly faded into a very cold morning.


6am and Mark was the first one out of the bivvy to check on his rods while the dogs went about their business. Because the night was so cold (-11c) I had to defrost the water-butt on top of my engine before I could make a much needed cup of coffee for us both, I'm sure there would have been a few raised eyebrows at the inappropriate noises I was making while hugging a warming engine block! The temperature was still -4c.



The rest of the morning went by without any other action other than a pair of swans thinking it amusing to make Marks right hand feeder rod's clutch scream in protest at being dragged round by a stray leg! 






It was also a slow afternoon with only a few roach falling to Marks feeder fished maggots over a bed of red ground bait.


The evening arrived and with it a bitter freezing wind, with not so much as another knock on any rod despite trying everything we could think of to coax a bite from the freezing depths, the reels stayed motionless.


With the nights baiting up completed we got into the bivvy to cook our food, make another cuppa and prepare for another cold night ahead. And it was cold...


Well morning again and with it came a mild front and light drizzly rain. No action through the night, nothing, not even a singular beep!


 While Mark was checking his rods and the dogs were out and about I decided to put the kettle on for a coffee and start the bacon sandwiches. No sooner had I opened the plastic wrapper of the bacon did my right hand rod let out a beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep,  beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!! Sorry bacon but you didn't stand a chance, I was at my rods and striking into the run before the bacon had even hit the floor!


While VERY nearly ending up in the drink I grabbed my screaming rod with my left hand and struck into the fish, it kite'd hard across the flow of the river making a desperate run for the half sunken branch on the far bank. 


After gaining some balance I clamped my right hand over the reel and put the brakes on this runaway fish, it wasn't long before I had the culprit heading in my direction, or more importantly in the direction of the waiting landing net, again piloted by Mark.


In the net lay a another stunning chub this one silver and bronze flanked, scale perfect and weighing in at a very healthy 5lb 2oz.


With the fish slipped back into the water it was time to finish cooking the bacon. Only one problem...... No bacon?? Humm....... I wonder where that went?? I'm sure my dog has a small smile on her face!


And with a smile on my face from two nice Chub and the missing bacon, the time has come to pack up and start the 80 mile journey back home to Birmingham after a wonderful weekend's fishing.


So when all's said and done, two five pound plus Chub and a handful of Roach in near Arctic condition's can't be too bad, with the added bonus of being in  beautiful surroundings 








  






                            With my Brother and our dogs..



















Our trip to Peterborough was very much a learning curve, on my next visit to the river Nene on the Bluebell lake complex I think I'll have more of a game plan and hopefully catch some of the rivers hard fighting Carp.




Thank you for reading my blog, if you liked this page or even if you didn't please write a comment and copy and paste this URL to like minded/fishing obsessed friends and forums. All comments and criticisms are very much appreciated.


Paul Ringer.