Charman’s Challenge – MBK
Barons Big Pond.
Date – Thursday 15th
May 2014
Venue fact file –
Barons St Patrick’s Lane, Liss, Hants
GU33 7HF
Tickets Adult £10-00, OAP and
juniors £7-00 available in advance from Grayshott Tackle GU26 6HJ.
Tel - 01428 606122. (Season tickets available)
Stock – Plenty of carp to over
20lb plus good tench, crucians and perch plus rudd and roach.
Conditions – Atmospherics
seriously high at 1034mb with no wind and a cold night down to 3
degrees but blue skies see temp rising to a high of 20.
I’ve been
slagging the bloody wind off for a number of weeks yet today was one
that would have made all the difference as any ripple would have
given us a fighting chance against what can only be described as
horrendous conditions. My brother and friends even struggled at carp
bagging venue Broadwater the day before so I wasn’t surprised when
the usual instant response failed to materialise.
Barons is similar
to MBK Pump Station, great for disabled, juniors and elderly anglers
with toilets and car parks close to the lakes and the plat formed
swim, although not my cup of tea are well constructed and
comfortable.
I had been told
that the lake had been fishing its nuts of recently, in fact one
match was won with over 60lb of crucians, yet its bigger residents
were my target and a few double figured carp was what I expected.
Setting up halfway along the causeway I initially introduced five
balls of pellets which were allowed to settle as I set up. During the
summer the rules only allow one rod, the sport can be that hectic and
my choice today was a 9ft Nash Scope, 10lb main line with a 1.5oz
free running inline lead along with an 8lb mono hooklink and
oversized 14 hook tied knotless knot style leaving a hair that would
initially contain a 10mm Tangerine Dream Nash Instant Action boilie.
Placing the rig
within a half filled Nash Ballmaker I then filled this to the top,
pressed the plunger and out came a perfectly formed pellet ball that
I simply swung into position. Straight away it was obvious that fish
were around as the rod tip constantly tapped and although this
continued even after three more casts I just couldn’t buy a proper
bite. Finally after around thirty minutes line started to leave the
spool but somehow the first carp was lassoed by my hooklink.
Introducing five more balls of pellet I left the swim to settle
whilst having a cuppa and talking to dad who was on the next peg
float fishing prawns. He had also landed a carp plus a few perch but
wasn’t exactly bagging up. Back in my swim I swung another ball
into position only to have the rod ripped from my grasp as the next
carp fell for the new tactic followed by a tench and although the
action was steady with modest mirrors and the odd tench throughout
the morning the bigger carp just weren’t having it. Constantly
changing hookbaits to try and find a winner failed to sort out the
bigger fish and with the sun now high and temperatures rising I
decided to cast further out. Five quick cast to get some bait in the
swim then saw my rig falling over the top and straight away the spool
leapt into life, this time from something slightly larger, a common
around 10lb. I thought that I had found the solution as the next cast
bought another carp somewhat smaller, however these two fish were all
I could get from this spot and with dad having caught the odd carp
early on but now being plagued by small perch we decided that it was
just one of those days that whatever you try just isn’t going to
work.
Get the right day
and either of the lakes will see fish crawling up the rods yet with a
dying wind, cold night and bright sunny conditions, today just wasn’t
the right one yet we still caught a few fish and its days like this
that makes us all better anglers.
Images –
Normally you can catch loads like
this and bigger.
- There are loads of good tench and crucians as well.
- The new Nash Ballmaker allows the rig to be placed within.
- Fill to the top.
- Press the other part into.
- 2mm pellets around the hookbait, what more do you want.
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