SAE Bait Developments

Following on from my three night session at the end of my first piece, I had a weekend off from the lake due to family weddings and birthdays and returned for a two night session on the 14/08/2009. The usual suspects were all in the same swims as on my previous session and I was surprised to find my productive swim empty!! Jeff told me that Ken had fished the swim midweek and hadn't received so much as a liner so I wasn't to sure as to whether or not to fish it. I dropped in there and with the rods still clipped up from the last session all three rods went out on the most productive spot from the previous week. The same combination of 14mm and 18mm crab and oyster went out and again I sat back to see what would unfold. I wasn't disappointed as the following morning produced the goods again with mirrors of; 18lb 8oz and 18lb 12oz. The following day was quiet as usual but what came during the night completely blew me away. At 01:30am I had an absolute screamer which I thought was going to be one of the lakes little commons but on lifting the rod I knew it was something much bigger! 20 minuets later I slipped the net under a huge framed mirror which turned out to be a known fish known as 'Stumpy Two' at 26lb 2oz. I had at last actually landed a fish that I had thought I’d landed earlier on in the year due to a case of mis-identification on the part of Mike the bailiff. I was on cloud nine and found it hard to get back to sleep, Just as I had drifted off I was woken again by another run at 03:30am on the same rod! This time the fish made it known straight away that it was no baby and just hugged the bottom of the lake through the whole fight, on three occasions it was a complete stalemate I just could not gain any line on the fish! Eventually with a lot pulling from both ends I slipped the net under my biggest fish from the lake so far; a rarely caught mirror of 28lb 4oz!!! I was absolutely ecstatic and weighed the fish again just to make sure I wasn't seeing things!!! Things were going really well and with another mirror of 18lb 6oz at around 09:30am that made it five in two nights fishing and again there were only four other fish caught between twelve anglers that weekend! The bait was playing a big part in my results although I must have been doing something else right as Martyn is on the same bait and he couldn't buy a fish?? Ah well, we all have lean spells and I’m sure his day will come soon!

18lb 8oz

18lb 12oz

Stumpy 2

28lb 4oz

18lb 6oz

It was the bank holiday weekend at the end of August 28/08/2009 before I got down to the mere again, two lads that I’ve not fished with for a while, Wayne and Faz, came down to join me and Martyn for a weekend, they had arrived on the Thursday night and were already set up in pegs one and three, so with the pull of peg eight in my mind and the results of the last two sessions it was with little confidence that I set up in Peg five so that we could have a bit of a social. My lack of confidence in the swim was put to bed at 22:30 on the first night when I had a screaming run. The fish fought hard and tried to make its way round the back of the small island to my left, I was pumping the rod like mad trying to get the fish round to my side of the island but it made it and I could feel that awful grating on the line as the fish pulled me round the sunken branches of an over hanging tree! I was convinced I was going to loose the fish so gave it a little slack to see how it would react, the second the line went slack the fish must have turned full circle and headed back out to open water because when I tightened down again the fish was coming straight at me and I had to wind like mad to get in contact with it again! Martyn did the honours again with net and scooped him first time. When I had stopped shaking I looked into the net and there lay the best looking old English mirror I have ever had!! The weight of 26lb 8oz just made the capture even more special, I showed the picks to the bailiff the next morning and he told me it was a fish known as Bungle not the best name for such a pretty fish but what the heck, I didn't mind!

Bungle

To be honest, that would have been enough for me that weekend, but later that evening around the same time as the previous night I was away again on the same rod, I instantly knew the fish was heavy but it wasn't really putting up that much of a fight and within five minuets Martyn had him in the net, I hadn't really seen the fish but before I had chance to look Martyn turned to me and the look on his face said it all!!! this was a BIG fish and Martyn said it could even be that magical thirty that I’ve longed for all these years, only when I got it up onto the mat did I realise it was the 28 pounder I’d had the previous week only without the cut on it's side that I’d treated. I was still happy though as you can see from pics. I had another two small commons through the night and Martyn finally broke his blank with a 19lb common that I was more than happy to net for him as he'd done the honours for me so many times recently!!!!

28lb 4oz

I then lost two fish; one that I just couldn't stop from getting round the island and the other right at the net (Gutted) but I did get a consolation prize in the shape of an 18 lb mirror. The following week 04/09/2009 and it was another of those last minute overnighters, arriving in the dark and this one resulted in a lovely golden common of 16lb that really shone in the early morning sun.

16lb 4oz

The next session on the mere was a two nighter I arrived Friday around midnight!! I know this is a strange time to go fishing but I’d finished work at 10pm and was planning on getting up at 4am to get to the lake early so I thought I might as well go, get myself set up and wait for first light just casting out bags till I could see what I was doing. When I got there Martyn told me there were hordes of people on the lake! Obviously someone had opened their mouths about what had been getting caught recently and the glory hunters had arrived! We woke up the next morning fishless, which I wasn't surprised about but Martyn was getting itchy feet and wanted to move into some of the pegs that were becoming available, I said I was staying put at first but when my favourite peg five became free I soon changed my mind and humped all the gear round to the swim. I had a quick chat to Ste and he told me he had managed a 22lb mirror during the night from long range so I knew the fish were about and as the guy in Peg 4 was also leaving I had a good chunk of water to go at. Out went the marker on the usual spot followed by a good helping of the Crab and a bait was positioned either side of the marker. Just then the guy from peg 4 came over for a chat and it turned out to be a guy that I knew called Stan but the bad thing was he was now staying another night! now Stan is a really nice guy but can put himself across as a bit of a know all, we had a chat about all things carpy and the subject turned to bait "What you on there then" he said so I told him as I’ve no qualms about telling people things like that and his reply was something along the lines of "I'm a mainline man me! I’ve got the new grange there, that’s what I had my 17 pounder on last night, I wouldn't use owt else" so I humoured him as best I could and went about my business. It all kicked off that night around half ten and the action was frantic right through till 2am resulting in mirrors of 24lb 2oz, 22lb 4oz ,17lb 10oz and five of the little scrappy commons that seem to follow me around. Stan on the super new grange blanked! The picture of the 24 pounder had to be taken on a mobile phone so please excuse the quality.

24lb 2oz

22lb 4oz

17lb 10oz

Next session on was another one of those frantic last minute overnighters that seemed to becoming so regular on the 17/10/2009, again we turned up to find a very busy lake and decided to drop into an area that wasn't too pressured. Sheba, my carp dog was a bit unsettled that night for some reason so I took her for a couple of laps round the lake, I never saw or heard anything so thought we where in as good a place as any and when I got back to the swim I set about getting things sorted. Now I’d never fished this swim and my first instinct was to get the marker rod out and see what I could find but as the sun dropped behind the far margin trees the water in front of us turned into a frothing Jacuzzi of bubbles and I new we had dropped lucky and were on the fish.

I got in the bag that night expecting to catch loads of fish but it never happened! I did manage one fish and I was really happy as it was the biggest common I’ve had from the lake at 24lb exactly I christened it the oddball as it was the strangest shaped fish I’d ever caught, Martyn also managed a 15lb mirror so we were happy but I couldn't help thinking I’d got something wrong as there were defiantly a lot of fish in front of us that night.

Finally, and to bring us right up to date, we fished a two night session on the weekend of the 23/10/2009. It all looked great when we arrived as the hordes that had been present the last couple of weeks had run away with their tails between their legs after blanking for days on end! I dropped in my usual peg five with another mate Faz, next to me in Peg four. Martyn opted to get a little further down in Peg 2 but between us we had the whole of bivvy corner (as it has become known) to ourselves. The nights had started drawing in really early and on this night the temperature plummeted, so against my usual stance I allowed Faz to bring his DVD player round and we sat watching max and paddy!! whilst having a giggle at the telly we were talking fishing and Faz asked when I was going to catch one as he hadn't seen a fish from the lake "about half ten” I said and that was that. We got the cooking gear out, made a big spag bol and settled down for the night, later on I had a screaming run and lifted into what felt like a good fish. A long fight later and there lay Tommy for the third time this season and at an even higher weight than before - 19lb 8oz! After the pics Faz turned to me and said "you won't believe what time it is mate, it's five to eleven" I must have hooked the fish at almost the exact time I predicted.

The following night the carp gods blessed me again and although it was another recapture I was happy to meet my old friend Wrinkles again, at a weight of 27lb 2oz!! That fish has spent as much time as me on the bank this season!

Tommy, now at 19lb 8oz!

Three up!

So there we are, all up to date. I’ve not been back on the mere for 4 weeks I think, I may be turning into a fair weather fisherman in my old age, lol!

I’m planning to get a few more before the season ends though, so I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading…

Mark Unsworth