Whiting Out!

Alright Folks,

I have a few people waiting for this so here it goes. You don't think its an advantage to white your no.1 section out?

Think again....

Big difference huh?

All is involved is a simple spray or brush on the no.1 section. I have found white to be more effective than grey. Less spooked fish and a higher catch rate. Ideal for margins and up in the water fishing. All i used for this experience was two tops kits, one whited out the other plain carbon and a 2ft deep tub filled with water, simply got a photo taken from the underside of it.

Have a try and see how you get one!

Nathan

Browning Z9 - Honest Review time.

Hi Folks,

So i have had my Z9 around the 6 month mark now and thought it was about time to give it a proper review, seen a few knocking about on the forums but nothing in depth .

So here goes, First of all, I paid £2300 for the 18m Package, Which included:

1. Standard Package
2. 11 Top 2's (Including Puller kits)
3. 2 Small extensions.
4. Extension to 18m
5. Cupping kit
6. Short No.4
7. 2 x Spare No.4
8. Large holdall, Large carryall and a small rod bag.

My first observation when i first started using the pole was how good the pulla kits were. I think they are the best on the market for strength and practicality. They have a simple 2 whole set up....

See how easy it is to pull. Its alot easier on the cold days too! The rings are reinforced and wont rub on your elastic due to a smooth metal exterior the section of the puller is also reinforced carbon and its pretty strong.

The kits are able to support 14 Solid and 20H in my eyes. I have elastics ranging from 4 - 8 solid & 11h - 19h it handles them all well.

So to the important stuff,

The pole its self is very light and also very stiff. It weighs a tiny 1330g @16m the lightest on the market i believe and it doesn't lack on strength either.

Lengh/dip ....

Pole @ 13m

Pole @ 14.5m

Pole @ 16m

As you will see, there really is minimal drop and dip in the pole. Its as stiff as they come. I will point out that once you put the 18m section on it does dip considerably  but it is still fairly easy to fish @ 18m for a 6 hour match.

Its got a really good finish with the pole and the minimal graphics give it a nice smooth finish and smart appearance...

I have had carp up to the 18lb mark from the margins under my feet and the whole pole has performed well. Its a stiff pole with a thorough through action, which will help prevent breaks...

Heres a few pictures of the action whilst fish playing...

All the above are from a recent field test @ Sycamore lakes -  http://www.sycamorelakes.co.uk/ one of the bets paste venues!

Now for a party trick from my browning Z9...Can you do this with your pole?

One Handed!

Can you do this with your 16m pole and look up it? A good test for any pole i think!

Evaluation.

So over all, the Browning Z9 is the best pole i have ever owned. I have had the Tourney Pro and most of Maps top end poles and they all out fish them all. I have field tested a few for a local tackle shop and my opinion still stands with the Z9 its responsive and not to stiff like some of the competitors poles. It'll handle 20lb carp and 1g roach easily.

If you want a pole that'll do all the above....my opinion is, go and have a look at a Z9.

Cheers,


Nathan

Back in the Day...

My break in match fishing saw me going for a bit of big carp in the UK. This 49lber is the biggest i have ever caught.

As i remember i caught it on a slack line rig with back leads on Trigga ice after feeding 30kg of Trigga through the summer and winter. Courtesy of Nutrabaits.

Just a bit of insight into my history:P.

Be back doing some blogs tomorrow on a few more rigs, Sadly not out fishing until Friday though!

Ze Paste

Hi Folks,

 

Before i start here is some key notes to keep in mind:

1. Keep a small amount of line between float - pole.
2. Plump up well. You ideally want to be 2 inch over depth on Margins and a little less in open water - It'll stop you getting so many foul hooked fish and Liners.
3. Never move your float once its in. Your paste will still be effective. 
4. Unless your feeding a margin swim for later on in the day - DONT feed anything.

As i have said previously the idea is to have a simple but effective approach, this starts with the Paste contents...

My Paste mix always consists of these two key items. Dynamites Green Swim stim & Water. Its basic but works. A lot of people use this mix now a days. Its more consistency than mixture in my view.

Basic mixing pattern is all you need. A pinching motion with a circular motion works for me.

You want it pretty much like slob. Sort of thick pea soup consistency or semolina if that's a better description.

It'll not stay on the hook. Its not meant to. As long as your hook is within the paste when its on the bottom you'll get bites. The carp will come and actually suck it up with the ground bait particles.

Another key piece of kit is a cup. You don't want these daft  little ones that they sell in packs of 3 for a fiver! Aerosol lids do the job or my fav - playdo tubs! You want some bait out there. But you don't want to introduce a second bait into the swim. So going for a volume of around a golf ball of paste is about the right idea.

That's the sort of paste specimen your after, a good amount is always best. Simply flatten your pate' paste, put your hook in it, and softly push it over the hook then put into your cup! Simple. Another hint for fishing in shallow swims is to use a whited out top 1 on your kit. Try it and see the difference for your self. 

So once you are all plumbed and picked your spot. Your ready to go, use your cup to take your paste out.drop it in, and slide your pole back so its level with your float (If your have your cup to close to your bush, you will tangle easily).

If your fishing close in on paste and suffering hook pulls. Instead of sticking the top 2 straight into the air. Try pointing it directly to the fish (Top 2 only, don't try it with multiple sections, you may lose one!), it'll help set the hook, obviously only a good idea in open water.

Your pretty much ready to go now. I practiced this today on Canal pond at Hallcroft and banked well over 100lbs of Carp to 5lbs. Once you start on paste, its very hard to catch on other baits in the swim. So make sure you get everything right.

Hope you have as much success as me on the tips i have given you.

Good luck,

Nathan

Perfect Paste Rig

Hi Chaps,

As promised. A little 101 in paste rigs. Some will agree with the follwing rigs, some may disagree, all i am giving you is a method i have used on 100's of occasions to win matches and catch over 200lb of Fish in one sitting.


Tip 1:

The float, as you may know - its good to have a long float for stability in the water. It helps masses for the float to have a fairly long stem to. I personally prefer the Preston Innovations PB22 - I like its slim body and i use sizes between .5 - 1g.

A long stem helps a lot to detect liners over real bites and it also keeps it stable in the water. The above float is all i uses for Paste fishing. (I also use it for Chop worm on occasions too).

Tip 2:

So we have our float sorted. Its time to actually make the rig its self. The next stage is to pick our line. I personally don't use anything other than PowerLine, I stick to what i know works for me and this has over the years. I carry a wide range of sizes but for the carp i will be targeting on these specific rigs are within 2-10lb region so i reckon 6lb will suffice for open water and 8lb for marginal swims. I will twin this with 13 & 15 Hollo Elastic from Preston Innovations. *Quick tip* I avoid using hook lengths while paste fishing as you don't want anything within 2ft of the hook if possible.

Probably the second most important item in the rig is the Hook. For paste specifically try to use the biggest hook possible (Whilst keeping to venue rules). I personally like Middy and Drennan Wide Gapes in the larger sizes - Around 8 - 12.

Be careful with silver hooks with picky fish.

Now we have our hook, its time to sort the weights and the shot pattern out. I opt every time for a mid shot pattern. Meaning if its a 6ft rig. I'll have my weight @ 3ft above the hook, just keep an open mind whilst setting up and try to keep your shot in the mid range between your float and hook. It'll save you striking and liner after liner.

Leave a small gap in your shots and you wontget the curly wurly effect as above!

The finished article should look something similar to this.....

Just like to thank the bit of Banana peel for acting as bait.

In my experience, i have found paste fishes well up to around 6ft of water. What I have also found paste fishing is that your hook doesn't stay sharp for too long. So the wise idea would be to tie several. I tie 2 Up to go on spare top 2's and 1 to stay in my box. So i have an immediate back up and a 3rd if need be.

Its also good to label your floats. In order to get the right one at each time. I only put simple info on my labels, such as hooks, line etc...

4ft Deep, 1Gram Float, Drennan Wide Gape 10 and 6lb Power line.

Paste fishing is an art form. Once you have mastered Paste you will improve your catch rate wonders. Its a bait that produces when no other baits will, Its also very effective when the fish are very lazy and basking. One of the bad point in paste fishing is the amount of fish you have in your swim at once. Its difficult to monitor but one thing i will mention and stick to every time is *****DO NOT FEED ANYTHING******

you WILL get liners and most likely foul hooked fish, but if you follow your tips above. You WILL catch more fish. Stay aware of your hook. Don't be afraid to change hook if you feels its not as sharp as it could be.

Come back tomorrow and i'll show you my ingredients, mixing, Tactics & Cupping the bait in.

See you tomorrow,

Nathan.

Back to the Commies

Hi Guy's,

I'm at Hallcroft tomorrow practicing for a Team event on the 10th. I'll mostly be practicing a few Paste methods on the feeder and the pole.

I'll chuck a few diagrams on here later of a perfect paste rig.

See ya Later,

Nathan

Previous Wednesday - Langold Lake.

I'd always been attracted to Langold lake and the hard yet good fishing it offered. It offers a break from 100lb plus commercial nets and offers the very much needed hit of bream i craved. As above, it wasn't exactly bream weather but to be honest, 'the wall' seems to always fish pretty well as long as you can get far enough out on the Float/Pole, although i dont dismiss the feeder on some of the wall pegs.

My plan of action was a simple and finely tuned approach which works time and time again on this venue. It Consists of 3 specific items.

1: Ground Bait - I use a particular G/B mix and i ALWAYS ball it in. I have had much success using Bream & Roach 3000 from the guys at Sensas on a 1,1,2 Ratio with Brown Crumb. Be careful with Roach 3000 though, its always good to mix this the night before on some occasions as it does have floating particles, hence its used for roach, but i also like the softness, texture and sweetness for bream. *Note i do not use Brasem*.

DONT forget the most important ingredient. Good old Fashioned Brown Crumb.

To get the right consistency you should add little water and often.

No Whisks here! Good old Fashioned Hands, mix in a 'pinching' motion. Unlike my feeder fishing, I;m not overly worried about having a fluffy texture.

Then add your worms (About 1cm long!)

Then add your Perch Deterant - Casters! Then mix again.

Next - Make them into balls. Dont be shy with the size. They're not called baby heads for nothing.

2: Hook Bait - Worms, worms and more worms! It has to be the best bait for just about every species out there. Add a caster or few and you can target specific species. A lot of people now a days seem to clean their worms in water but i prefer the good old fashioned method.

A Simple Riggle in a riddle does the Job!

In my personal experience i find it an advantage on some Bream locations to leave some soil in, it acts like Leam on some occasions and only adds to the attractant of the worms by oozing the juices.

Next, give them a good chopping. Don't mush them up to much, i like to give em around 1cm in length so it still leaves me a chance to fish a long or short bait. I also feed the same size as i fish on the hook. Targeting Bream in a water like Langold Lake with worm as a hook bait requires some measures to avoid the population of Perch! A simple Worm and Caster approach should suffice for most of the time.

Yum, Could have it on Toast!

3: Getting fishing! Prior to any fishing on the Lake, i always spend time Plumbing up. On several Pegs of the lake it can drop to 20ft around 4m out. So its good to have a plump prior to putting any bait in. Today i fished peg 64. Which is just off a corner of the wall which is rarely fished. Partly because of the weed. Its easily over come if you are capable of fishing @ 14m+ on a pole though.

On the day i found a spot around 14m or so out. I found ft drop to some water around 6ft or so deep. I chose this purely because of the ledge. Time to bait up!

I tend to just lay my pole flat on the water when i bait up by my self, as i do not tend to use the "claw" attachments you get in various adaptions. I however, had a helper today to sit on my pole! (Thanks Katie!).

Nice and Precise!:).

So we have sort all our bases out. Its time to get catching some fish.

I was in within  30 Seconds.

First catch of the day 1lb+ battered bream!

I got in undated with skimmers this size!

I was beginning to think that it may of been the calm weather and the heat that put the better ones off today. I'd think i did manage to get somewhere around the 40lb Mark of Skimmers and Bream in 6 hours.

A couple of 4lbs came out!

Hopefully when it starts to cool off a bit i'll have a few more to show you. But just for a hint, if you are fishing a venue for bream like Langold Lake. It can pay to ball in every 2 hours. It very rarely puts the fish off, depending on population obviously.

That concludes my Monthly Bream hit, Its back to the commercials i go, I'll show you some rigs and the basics such as Elastic and Line strengths which i recommend for open water bream fishing next month.

Cheers,

Nathan