Welcome to Clumber - Part 3

Welcome back,

This time i'll be going through swim selection going towards the deeper parts of the lake and going towards to hardwick end. Ive not had huge success down this area but the areas that i have had fish on, have been highlighted. The important thing to remember down this area i feel is not always go for the long chuck near the arm and bowl.

Peg H - 150 Yards, 178 Yards & 190 Yards.
This peg is ideal for the big chuckers. VERY productive when other pegs struggle. There is a prominent shelf the drops and this can be a real advantage. As can be fishing on top of the shelf. You will clearly be able to see the shelf on a clear day. You will also be able to sea the sunken ship which your left hand rod should be located!:) Recommend Chods and bottom baits.

Peg I - 44 Yards, 60 Yards & 85 Yards.
Once again a nice peg. Has done better for me just when the season starts. Not a long chuck and just tend to fish chods out there. You will need waders for this peg.

Peg J - 41 Yards, 110 Yards & 110 Yards.
This particular peg can be pretty odd to be sat on. You have hundreds of snags to the right of you and this can be productive but often not. I tend to sit on a bit of bait and try the peg for a couple of hours each time i visit. Its not a long chuck but fish as far as you can easily get the boilies out. You will need waders for this peg.

Peg K - 40 Yards & 20 Yards.
Great peg on the start of the season. This is where a lot of carp spawn. Water is very clear so would definitely suggest slack lines. Its fairly hard surface to chuck on, very stoney and snaggy so also suggest a long snag leader of leadcore about 20ft with the lead taken out. Single baits with a baiting campaign work well. I wondered bother with small baits as the bream like this area of the lake, as do the tench! Im particularly partial to this peg as you can get tucked away in the trees. Waders are required for this peg.

Peg L - 31 Yards & 90 Yards.
Just try to cover all of the area in front of you on this peg. These side of the lake drops of fairly quickly so the margins must not be over looked. Would suggest single baits on the margins with a little campaign and chods out to the middle just after the final drop.

Peg M - 50 Yards, 70 Yards & 40 Yards.
As above really, don't forget the margins!

I'll be doing a few more instalments but this is it for now, I'll go through a good baiting strategy and bait in the next few days...

Tara Folks

Welcome to Clumber park - 2nd Instalment

Sorry about the delay on this, i've been busy doing other articles and just living a hectic life style at the same time!

As promised im going to run through a few of the swim locations i would recommend to folk. Just bear in mind when reading it that i would probably tackle all of those swims in a week. I would most likely move upto 3 times a day, thus requiring a fairly mobile approach.

First of all, here is the first section of the lake, in my opinion and from what i have found this is the most productive section of the lake. I rarely venture further down until its been a week or two of blanks. Fish constantly show up here.

Start from the first till the last.

Peg A - 62 Yards & 72 Yards.
Very good area to be in when the warmer weather starts to be continuous. Beware though as this area is VERY snaggy. You require waders for this peg. Often a good head of bream is also present, would advise large baits.

Peg B - 35 Yards & 28 Yards.
Good little area is nothing else is doing, have had the odd bonus fish from here just plonking on it for the last ten minute. Slack lines defo up this area, Just a couple of rod lengths out.

Peg C - 72 Yards, & 70 Yards & 40 Yards.
Not so many fish seen up here but you do tend to get the odd one come further down the wall than the rest. You advise chucking a few boilies in over time and fishing a very shallow zig with bread.

Peg D - 60 Yards & 40 Yards.
Very similar to peg D with the added bit of silt to fish on.Would probably recommend chods on these rigs. Nutrabaits Pineapple but beware of bream in sizes under 18mm.
.
Peg E - 125 Yards & 100 Yards.
Some massive fish have came to my net of this peg, just buy having a good baiting strategy. By the time fish have started to come to this area more often than not it is in weed. I would definitely suggest a strong baiting campaign fishing over sold bags or Chod rigs. If you go the solid bag route expect to need 24mm Boilies due to the freebees.

Peg F - 140 Yards & 120 Yards.
Same attack as peg E, beware of a sunken tree off the edge of the island.Waders required for this peg.

Peg G - 140 Yards, 120 Yards & 130 Yards.
Very good area once again. Tend to be a smaller stamp around here. When i say smaller i mean Twenties upper and lower. Would advise Bread zigged and chods for this area. try to find the silt. Fish a drop off system. Waders required on this peg.

For all the areas mentioned dont feel the need to fish with 3 Rods. Often i rarely get the third rod out, you really do need to maximise the amount of time on each peg but at the same time try others. A light mobile approach was taken by myself. Don't let the look of the swim put you off either. Swims may look like the havn't been fishing for centuries but chuck your waders on and get in there!

Check in later on the the next instalment!

Problems with holding on to them

Ladies and Gents,

If your struggling to get a good hook hold and don't know what else to try as there is that many fads around the mags these days give the simple rig a try. Nothing new needed all the bits should already be in your box. 

I'm not going into the knitty gritty about the rig the picture should be self explanatory. Just make sure you use a small enough skrink tubing and burn the end to form a tight seal. I would recommend a small hair for the rig. 

The reason this particular rig works efficiently is because alot of extra weight has been put on the hook point.

Give it a whirl:)

Fishing liquidised bread on the hair

Hi Folks,

I've just been having a gander at some old haunts and whilst looking at old photos i've taken with certain fish, ive come across a rig that i used to use a lot when the going was difficult and often very pressured. 

Im a big fan of the Boilie only approach as most of my fishing is done on large mixed lakes and i feel that boilies only tends to avoid the bream and tench alot more effective than anything else.

I have, however had very good success on bread. Particular in a pop up and liquidised form at medium to long range. Now your probably asking how the hell you get liquidised bread to 100 - 200 yards?

I developed a way to use it just by using a simple small bit of netting. Im not saying im the first person to do this but i havn't seen it being used with bread at all.

To start with get a womans tights or stockings. Ideally you want a loose gap rather than the tight sorts but not  fishnets!

If you put a little water on the work top before hand then it will be a lot easier to manage.

The simply liquidise or make some mush out of a slice of bread!

At this point it is ideal to introduce any extra attractant, however, i've had considerably more success with just plain old bread. Adding extra attractants i've found can stop the bread emulsifying in the water and thus stop particles lingering around the baited area which ultimately makes the attraction decline. 

 I then simply roll it up and tie it together using a simple knot and then simply connect it to the hair. I do suggest that you tie it on rather than mount it using a traditional hair rig. I would suggest going through the knot as this is the most secure point and will present the bait getting swallowed!

I like to use a short hair on this particular method as the bait then sits very close to the bait and the hook rarely get a visual detection. 

You should end up with something like this. I like to you a good old fashioned rig ring combo on this, paired with a long shank hook.

There is a few things to think about before attempting this rig. Ive done test after test to ensure that my bait remains on the hair and doesnt get swallowed. You should DO THIS to. If your not confident in this rig staying together then please do not try it. 

Once you are confident then the world is your oyster...You can parcel hemp and any other particle up you would normally struggle to fish.

Check it out!

Nathan.

End to tuition and a rest to the match days...

Hi folks,

As you may be aware i am now retiring from match fishing. A few reasons but ones i wont go into right now.

I've now taken up a consultation and development role with a major fishing tackle manufacturer and so there for i am getting back to my roots and going back to the specimen scene. Match fishing isn't what it once used to be and the enjoyment for me is back to targeting once specific fish on huge and difficult waters.   Along with the end of match fishing comes the end of my tuition days, i will still honour the gents that have been kind enough to book with me until August and then i will  NOT be taking anymore bookings, this is purely because i am not on the scene and wouldn't want to preach any out of date methods. As so many are asking about it i will still be doing my distance casting and accuracy tuition on specific venues.

Many thanks and i look forward to posting all my specimen tips, teasers and blogs in the future!

My way with the floating feeder - Grange Park (Golf Club)

Alright Folks,

Had a good few days free this week so decided to give the grange a bash seen as though the weather was picking up and the carp would be up in the water:).

Now its by far a new method, but i like to think they come and go. You can purchase no end of different type but i prefer to make my own. All i use is a cheap cage feeder or just get some mesh and simply wedge poly into it (but no further than half way).

Something like this...

The idea i go with, is that you want the bait to stick into the feeder so your quarry basically attack it. For this by far the best base to mix with is pure brown crumb, its got a good stodgey thickness to it sticks to anything. I simply just add other items like slow sinking pellets etc. I also either match this so 3-5 reds on a hook and fish 4-5 inch deep, or simply put a floating bait on. The results vary to which bait your choose but i finds as the day goes on, better results are from a floating bait. A sinking bait in my opinions is optimized when i'm chucking to a far bank or feature. 

You'll see on the picture that i have extended the feeder with groundbait and sloped it off a little. This is basically a cast aid. You will be surprised how far your can chuck one of these!

How i actually fish this method is simple, i have 2 ways. First of all, i don't watch the tip, nor do i strike when the feeder goes under or moves. I simply watch the slack line at the end of the rod or wait for my drag to go, whilst still keeping the rod at a good angle. This way, your sure to not cause any unnecessary disturbance to the water by striking constantly!

You can pretty much relax with this method.  

Some good tips for this method in my opinion are;

• Use a long rod - Mainly i like using a longer rod just because it keeps the feeder up at a good angle off the survive and doesn't cause to much splash on the retrieve. (14ft)
• Light lines - You don't need massive line strengths 4lb can land pretty much anything.
• Use a stiff hook length and change it often, if you do it right, your hooks will bet batter and your line with constantly be under tension so change your links often.
• Don't feel the need to chuck in the same place all the time. Often chucking 5 ft to the left or right will land a bonus fish.
• Don't chase the fish. Don't cast to showing fish. They will come.

Nathan

@Fish4Thought.

Welcome to Clumber Park - The Secrets 2006 Part 1 Marking and Swim Selection.

Welcome to Clumber Park..

Now, Folks, this isn't going to be an article of Secrets of the lake, its going to be my own view and how i had great success on what i find to be, one of the hardest day ticket water in the area.

Its not a huge secret anymore that Clumber Park has a good head of sizable carp to its name, but that doesn't stop the lads on site trying.

I can remember when i first took on the idea of tackling Clumber Park. I walked around endless times with a friend weeks before the start of the season and the place was teeming with carp from 10lb - 30lb just basking in the son.

It was to be the start of a full year of day and evening sessions for me. I couldn't wait to get started. At the start i had a friend doing the campaign with me. We sort of set out to feed an area and fish over it, sort of let the fish come to us way of doing things. So we just kept looking for signs of fish during the closed season and made our decisions from that point on.

Now rightly or wrongly, i made the decision to marker up in the closed season, call it.....Immature lack of patience. How ever, this did give me some very good information about the lake, i'm not going to go into the Specifics about marking out a lake etc as I've gone over this before, but the keys points at Clumber to think about when marking up are.

• Try not to use Distance leads, a flat lead is almost the perfect shape. If you do use a pear or distance lead and cast onto silt. It'll add about 2-3 ft onto your depth. 
• Use a buoyant float. I've always liked the Nash Weedy Marker float range. 
• Spend a day or as much time as possible on any individual swim. Its better to have Knowledge of those key areas rather than go blind.
• Mark it all out and do doodles as accurately as possible.

If you get it right and spend time, you'll get something that resembles a tidier version than this;

And the other end....

Its also good to measure the distance. If you have not done this before then its pretty simple. Simply get a good distance rod. Century NG for instance, longer the better, so i'd go for the 13ft 50mm Ring versions. Get some 8-10lb line on the reel with a shock leader of 20lb braid. and put this to a 3-4oz lead and that's it sorted. Simply cast in and retrieve counting the turns and your sorted. Measure what a turn is and multiply and your have a near perfect distance recorded.

Again, i record all my finding on paper.

• A - 46m 
• B - 62m
• C - 112m
• D - 124m
• E - 173m
• F - 131m

There are reasons for this this, if you can accurately judge the distance then its going to give you a realistic idea for when you require the use of a Spod.

Check in tomorrow for Part 2 where i will be covering swim and bait selection.