Linch Hill Fishery has always been on my radar, and when it turned into a day ticket fishery a few years ago, I jumped at the chance to fish there. Christchurch Lake really appealed to me, and despite a distinct lack of recent winter form, I decided to tackle it from late-November. To cut a long story short, I found success eventually, but this wasn’t without a lot of time and effort. I amassed multiple thirties and two 40lb commons topped by the mighty Benny’s common.

STEVE RENYARD'S 9 STEP GUIDE TO THE PERFECT SOLID BAG


STEVE RENYARD'S 9 STEP GUIDE TO

ATTRACTING IN THE WINTER


STEP 1

Place the hookbait in the bottom of the bag.

STEP 2

Add a few 2.3mm Bloodworm pellets.

STEP 3

Then add the Manilla and pellet mix.

STEP 4

Followed by some more pellets.

STEP 5

Compact the bag right down.

STEP 6

Twist the top and lick it.

STEP 7

You will be left with this, nice and neat.

STEP 8

Lick and stick each of the corners.

STEP 9

The end result is a perfect pile of food that matches the spod mix.


In the end, I don’t think any of those Christchurch carp could resist the mix I used. Something about it, whether that be how small every food item was, or, just the sheer amount of attraction it pumped out made it a very special combination for me. It certainly was a winters’ angling I will never forget!

EXTRA HINTS & TIPS

Here are a couple of Steve’s top tips, they’re not an essential, but something that can really increase catching those all important carp.

I changed to small hookbaits and size 8-hooks.

Trimmed down Manilla Wafters were the chosen hookbait.

Fluorcarbon was the only chance I had of trying to pin the lines out the way.

The day time action was slowing down and the carp turned very nocturnal.

A short rig, with an inline lead and the bait trapped tight to the hook seemed to be the effective presentation.

A mix of Manilla boilie crumb and 2.3mm Bloodworm pellets were keeping the fish feeding.

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY

Christchurch is a day ticket water based in Oxfordshire on the Linch Hill complex and has always been a firm favourite with anglers.