ONE-ROD ATTACK FOR WINTER WHACKER
WHILE MOST carpers were still digesting their Christmas dinner, Phil Nicholls – along with friend and angling partner Martin Bowler – was busy priming a few spots on a Dorset estate lake, with a big winter mirror at the top of his New Year wish list.
Mindful that the fish would be wary of big beds of bait, Phil and Martin baited up with a highly-digestible and megaattractive mix comprising 12mm Sticky Krill boilies that had been blitzed into crumb using a blender, leaving the odd larger particle, a sprinkling of neat Krill powder, hempseed and a large splosh each of Krill liquid and Hemp Oil.
Martin said: “Earlier in the year we’d both enjoyed huge success on Sticky’s Krill boilies, but now we knew beds of round balls weren’t the way to go. The carp were certainly feeding, but in all probability on small natural food items, so we needed to follow suit.”
The pair’s plan worked a treat, and on their first trip after two prebaiting visits during the preceding week Phil caught the biggest fish in the venue weighing 54lb, adding two more carp over the next 24 hours, including a cracking 37lb common.
Phil used a standard bottom bait rig incorporating a size 5 E-S-P Gripper hook and a 12mm Krill boilie.
FISHING one rod off to the side of the main baited area is a tactic that can really produce the goods on highlypressured day-ticket venues, and often leads to the downfall of the bigger fish in the lake which sometimes hang back and view big beds of bait with caution.
As was the case with Zak Szakaly’s capture of the highly-prized Kempy’s Linear from Manor Farm lake on the Linear Fisheries complex, Oxfordshire, in February at a weight of 48lb 7oz.
The 47-year-old ex-serviceman began his session at the Oxfordshire day ticket complex by spodding out a mix of boilies, pellets, hemp and corn, but after being plagued by diving ducks and coots, opted to fish one rod slightly off to the side on a solid PVA bag. On the second evening of his stay, that rod pulled up tight and Zak promptly lifted into one of Linear’s prized assets.