Catch Reports
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Posted in Catch Reports on 21st August 2009Essential Bait boss Mike Willmott is having a tremendous year with a number of big fish from various venues including a few UK river systems, however, his latest big hit tops the lot! Mike has recently turned back time and re-visited a large gravel pit that he used to fish many years ago, and what a welcome back present he had! On his very first session he managed to bank an immaculate 38lb mirror (1st image) which at the time was the biggest fish to be caught from the venue so far this season, however, little did he know what was in store for him on his next trip!
The following week Mike returned for his second session on the venue, and what a memorable session it turned out to be! Fishing over beds Shellfish B5 boilies and matching B5 pellets to a marginal slope at 90-yards he managed to bank two forties!! The first being a stunning leathery type mirror of 48lb 8oz (2nd image) followed by an immaculate mirror of 41lb 2oz (3rd image) which hadn’t seen the bank for 3-years! As you would expect Mike used his favourite bait, Shellfish B5, and fished over beds of 16mm and 20mm boilies at various ranges to nail each of the fish.
Rigs included single 20mm B5 bottom bait mounted blowback style to size 6 Gardner Mugga hooks, 5-inches 25lb Gardner Sink-Skin hooklinks and 3.5oz semi-fixed leads. Each fish fell to 3kg mixed sized (16mm and 20mm)B5 boilies and matching B5 pellets. Rods were 12ft 3.75tc Daiwa Infinity Magnum’s coupled with Daiwa Tournament Basiair reels loaded with 16lb mono.
Footnote: Whilst compiling this report Mike has since returned to the venue to catch yet another whacker! Once again the B5 doing the business to catch this awesome looking mirror of 35lb 10oz (4th image)
Hard Hook Baits (Mike's view)
There are often times throughout the season when I find myself having to use hard hook baits. There’s nothing worse than reeling in after you’ve seen a frenzied amount of fishing activity over your baited area, only to find that your hook baits have been nibbled away by nuisance fish! Some venues are obviously more prone to nuisance fish activity than others, but it’s not just nuisance fish that can be a problem. Diving birds or even pick ups from swans will often result in ‘missing hook baits’!
Hard hook baits will alleviate this problem, in fact, I actually think it’s advantageous when a diving bird picks up my hard hook bait. It gives me confidence that my presentation is good, and as the bird drops the rig, I actually believe it straightens everything out and gives me a better presentation that I can achieve via casting. I can remember fishing at Frampton some years ago, when the only time I could seemingly get a bite, was after a coot had picked up and dropped my hard hook bait!
Top Tip
After you’ve made a batch of hard hookers, leave them out on a towel to air dry for at least ten days, preferably in a warm dry place. Once they have sufficiently dried out, put them in a polythene bag and add a small amount of ‘Boilie Glug’ or ‘Liquid Food’ and shake well. For extra convenience transfer them to an empty pop-up jar or similar before placing them in the fridge or the freezer until needed. If keeping in the fridge, make sure you give them a good shake every few days and top up the liquid if and as required.
