November 9th 2013! Quick 24hr at Old Mill

Stood watching the water for movement!

November 9th 2013!  Quick 24hr at Old Mill 


Hello again guys & girls my latest session was at Old Mill Fisheries, Market Rasen.I got to the lake around 2pm saturday as i got there i had noticed Chris (the owner) had been working hard putting up a fence around the 2 pits to keep otters away so I couldn't drive up to drop the gear off, so I had to park in the car park to un load and walk it up to the peg i was choosing. First off i had a walk around the lake, the lake i was fishing was birch which is the main lake with Carp which should be doing 40+ if they have had a good munch on!. The biggest to date which has been out was a 39lb common know as (big common) absolute beauty. Anyway i carried on walking around the lake trying to look for showing fish as i walked around i came back to where i started still not seeing any signs of fishing moving around i saw a nice little peg on the old side of the lake and decided to fish there it looked like a nice area to put a few rigs into place, so i went back to the car got all the gear out and lugged it over to the peg. As i got there i saw a fish bosh over by the far reed bed this made me more confident in my choice of peg i quickly set up my rods and got a rig over by were i saw the fish boshing. On that rod i used size 8 curve shank hook from Rc Tackle Developments ( sharpest hooks I've ever seen check them out on Facebook) tied with a standard knotless knot about 6 inch hooklink which was N-trap semi stiff in gravel at 20lb then to a simple lead clip system I was only using a 1 oz lead as this was plenty to get me to the spot i wonted. On to the buisness end the bait i used a milky toffee pop up with a few sticky baits bloodworm boilie as free offerings I casted the rig were i saw the fish boshing and left it there and went on to set my second rod up. I set this rod up exactly the same as before but i was putting around 20/30 maggots onto the hair simply by threading them onto some floss with a needle and tying it to the hair. I used this rig in conjunction with a pva bag full of maggots half dead half alive so i new there would still be some around my hook bait and not riggled off. I put my second rod out by the island to my left. As i got the bivvy up and everything inside the skys opened and the rain came thrashing down so i had to retreat into my bivvy!. As the hours past and it got dark all was quite so i decided to get my head down for the night. I had a few knocks in the night on my maggot rig but nothing came of it.

Cold morning!

 I woke around 7am sunday morning it was a very cold night getting down to around 1 degree I opened the front of my bivvy to see it was frozen as well as my rods and net!! i reeled my rods in and rebaited using the same method as i did at the start and positioning the rods in the same place this time i scattered 50/60 sticky baits bloodworm boilies around both my hook baits to see if i get get a early morning bite! . After i had had my breakfast and a nice warm cuppa i took a walk up the bank to scatter maggots around my maggot rig simply buy catapulting them to the far island, i left it for another couple of hours with no response at all it was looking like a blank at this time! . As i was sat watching the water as i like to do to see any signs of moving fish, over to the reed bed on the far left i saw a fish make a swift but noisy appearance so i reeled my maggot rig in rebated and chucked to were i saw the fish show just to try nab a bite. As i was sat there another angler came walking round who had packed up and on his way home, i managed to talk to him, he had been on a 48hr session with no fish at all but i did manage to find out that a bloke had been fishing the same swim i was in with maggots and he was fishing them to the island were i was also fishing them this gave me a bit more confidence that i might just grab a bit! .

Frozen rods and net!

As dinner time came there was a big south westerly blowing into the bay that i was fishing i decided to bait up with my last couple of pints of maggots over my left hand rod as i was walking down the bank i saw a micro light coming into land i stood and watched him come over my head which i was later to regret as i got to the peg next door to me i heard a "beep beep" then bang my rod went screaming off!! i ran as fast as i could to my rod but as i got there the screaming stopped i struck into what i though was going to b a fish and it actually ended but being nothing!! the fish had spat the hook and i was left stood there thinking why did i go to bait up but thats the whole fun in fishing. After that i had nothing else and the session came to a close with me blanking but….. i will b back with a few tweaks to the rigs i will hopefully b able to bag a nice one before christmas comes!. 

right hand side of swim!

left hand side of swim!