JIM WILSON REVEALS HIS TACTICS THAT PROVED to be THE DOWNFALL OF SOME HUGE FISH FROM HIS LINCOLNSHIRE SYNDICATE!
Fishing up north can be tricky, you certainly have to keep your eye out for new venues and predict which ones are worth taking a punt on. One particular venue in Lincolnshire first caught my eye in 2011, but I didn’t fish it properly for many years after acquiring a winter ticket. The winter ticket gave me access to a full ticket for the lake the following summer and it proved to be a great choice.
The 30-acre lake holds over 350 carp, 10 of those over 40lb and the best part of 100 fish over the 30lb barrier, which for a lake in that area, is unheard of. There is a shallow bay at one end, which is actually an out of bounds, so the fish spend a lot of time in there. The rest of the lake has an average depth of around 12ft, with a few deeper areas in places too.
With the shape of the lake being quite long and rectangular, a lot of the fishing is done at range. The fish do spend a lot of time in the middle area, which is hard for most anglers to fish to, being over 145 yards out. There is a line and lead size limit too, which makes it hard to get out to these areas. It isn’t all range fishing, a lot of it is around 100 yards, which is a comfortable distance to fish in most conditions.
With very little weed in the lake, the bait is the feature in most swims. You do find harder drops, gravel and weed in places, but I tend to fish the firmer, silty areas. If I get a softer drop, but it’s clean, then I am happy to fish it. I feel that most anglers would go for the harder, gravel type spots, so to be different I fish the softer areas. I feel that these sorts of spots will naturally hold the lake’s food larder, so the carp will be visiting them regardless of anyone’s baiting.
FISHING ON A SOFTER BOTTOM GIVES ME MORE CONFIDENCE!
With very little weed in the lake, the bait is the feature in most swims. You do find harder drops, gravel and weed in places, but I tend to fish the firmer, silty areas. If I get a softer drop, but it’s clean, then I am happy to fish it. I feel that most anglers would go for the harder, gravel type spots, so to be different I fish the softer areas. I feel that these sorts of spots will naturally hold the lake’s food larder, so the carp will be visiting them regardless of anyone’s baiting.
The fish are a lot easier to catch in the softer areas too, as your presentation and the way that they feed lends itself to better hook holds. The fish move around a lot more, aren’t just sat there hugging the spot. As a result, I put the majority of the bait down the middle of my spots, but for every four Spombs I put out, I put one either side of the spot, which gives it a slight spread.
My bait is simple, with the main bulk of the mix being Krill boilies in 12mm and 16mm sizes. I like having a mixture of sizes and I don’t use them straight from the bag either. I tend to coat the baits in Pure Tuna Liquid and an oil of some sort, before covering in GLM and Krill Powder. This really ramps up the attraction of the baited area and ensures my bait becomes a prominent feature in what is a relatively featureless lake. In the summer months, I also add some hemp, pellets and corn to the mix, just to bulk out the bait and keep the fish grubbing round for longer.
In the early part of my time on the venue, I used the 360 rig for a lot of my fishing, but after a few hook pulls I swapped to the ever faithful Stiff Hinge. I tend to use pop-ups a lot, as not only do I believe they give you better hook holds than bottom baits do, but they also suit the dirty spots I tend to fish as well. As far as the hookbaits go themselves, I tend to use fluoro baits in the early part of the year and then match the hatch ones in the autumn time.
ONCE AUTUMN COMES AROUND, THE FISH ARE VERY TUNED INTO THE BAIT SO A MATCHING HOOKBAIT OUTSCORES A FLUORO IN MY OPINION
THE FISH ARE VERY TUNED INTO THE BAIT in autumn SO A MATCHING HOOKBAIT OUTSCORES A FLUORO IN MY OPINION
Due to the competitive feeding response using three rods on a spot, I have amassed many good hits of fish, six to nine fish catches were a regular occurrence, with many thirties thrown into the mix. I had a stroke of luck in the spring, when I decided one Saturday afternoon that I could go fishing for the night. I had been really busy with work and my head just wasn’t really in it at the time, but for whatever reason, something told me I just had to get down the lake. It was quite busy, but the swim I wanted was free.
With fish showing in the swim, I didn’t want to lead around. Knowing the spots from before but being unsure of how clean they were, I simply wrapped the rods up to their marks and lengthened the booms on the rigs. I flicked them out and put 15 Spombs of bait out. It was around 4pm that I got the first bite on the right-hander, a cracking 34lb mirror. I then got a bite on the left-hander from a low-twenty, only 20 minutes after putting the first one back.
I decided not to top the spot up and leave it how it was and at midnight, the middle rod was away, this time with something a lot bigger! It was the lake’s big mirror, 3-Scales at a lake record weight of just under 49lb. It was a crazy night; a huge buzz and the lake had been kind to me once again. I didn’t top the spot up, which I regretted, as that was it for that session. It is a truly special place and is set to become one of the best lakes in the country in my opinion, not just the north. There is some amazing fishing out there and for us northern lads, this is just one of the few gems coming through the ranks.
