Mike’s Diary
A busy year
Posted in Mike’s Diary on 18th September 2014Well it's now September and I would like to say it's been a busy year with my fishing, but in all honesty, it's been anything but! I've hardly fished at all this summer, mainly due to a busy personal life, which included my daughter getting married. I must say, that was without doubt the proudest day of my life. We held the event here at Springwood Fishery, and although it was a massive amount of work and effort to get the site prepared for such a big occasion, it was worth every minute of it. Seeing my daughter Kelly, and new son-in-law Dean sat looking over our lake on their happy day was the ultimate dream from my point of view.
back to fishing now, and on the catch report front it has been a fantastic year. I must admit that I'm more pro-active on facebook than on this website, so most of the reports tend to go on our essential baits facebook page, although some of them do appear on here - occasionally!! Thanks to everyone for sending their pics, it's always greatly appreciated.
For those who have enquired about Carp Life 2, I am still working on it from time to time and hope to get much of it finished this coming winter for a release sometime in 2015. But for now I'm finally back on the bank and managed a couple of high twenties within the first few hours of getting the rods out. From a fishing front however, the highlight of my year so far, was witnessing my son, Lee, catch Springwood's first ever forty at a weight of 41lb 12oz and what a stunning fish as well! 15-years of fishery management and we have now finally achieved our goal!!
Balanced Dumbells
There are definitely times when standard round hook baits can lose their effectiveness and a switch to a different shape can often produce the goods. These pellet shaped hook baits offer a viable alternative to standard round hook baits and when mounted on a slightly longer hair and fished over a bed of pellets, they can often make the difference between success and failure!
Their shape not only makes them very difficult for the fish to eject, but coupled with their added buoyancy due to the inclusion of cork dust, they are also superb for fishing over the top of silt or weed. They are also very durable and will last for many hours without being nibbled away by nuisance fish, Crayfish or diving birds. Definitely worth considering when the going gets tough!
Top tip
Try mounting the dumbell on the hair long-ways. This will enter the carp's mouth easier, but will spin around on ejection thus making it more difficult for the carp to eject the hook.
