Mike’s Diary
Old year out - new year in!
Posted in Mike’s Diary on 02nd January 2012The past few December's have seen lakes up and down the country iced over and under several inches of snow - but not this year! It's been incredibly mild with lots of much needed rain, and of course, the milder temperature often means prolonged feeding spells for our beloved quarry - time to up the ante!!
After missing much of 2011 due to my new house build I was now itching to get back on the bank, and I knew my enthusiasm had returned with a vengeance when I found myself travelling the 100-mile round trip to bait up my chosen venue with 10kg boilies at 1am on Christmas day morning!! Let's be fair, the carp are entitled to a good Christmas dinner as well!!!
I returned 48-hours later to bank an absolutely stunning 30lb 4oz common followed by another lovely common of 22lb - what a nice way to end the year. I was now well and truly back in the zone!
After another baiting up visit I was back on the bank for a day only session as daylight broke on the first day of the year. Back to the pre-baited spots, out went the rigs, on went the kettle and off went the Delkim!! A nice long lean 19lb common was my first carp meeting of 2012 - I just love this game!
Happy new year to each and every one of you.
Fluoro pop-ups
Whilst carp are not generally recognised as sight feeders, there are undoubtedly times when they are visually drawn to a food source and bright pop-ups are a classic example of this. It's not surprising therefore, that fluoro pop-ups have proved very effective, particularly if just using a single bait with no free offerings. The winter and spring months are a classic example of this and a single fluoro pop-up cast to a 'showing' fish has resulted in the downfall of many a carp.
But it would be a mistake to think fluoro pop-ups should be just restricted to single bait presentation. Quite often, a fluoro pop-up fished over a bed of bait can fool the wariest of carp and a little 10mm fluoro pop-up mounted above a standard bottom bait can act as a very good visual sight and lead to a bite or two when other methods fail to produce.
