Shiplate Farm Pleasure Session.

After not being able to decide what I fancied doing this Saturday and having a weeks holiday to look forward to I decided to have a day on the Main lake of Shiplate Farm for a change, I left my pole at home as I planned to try out my new Shimano reels (Baitrunner X-Aero 4000FA & the Aero feeder 4000FA, I chose a peg on the far bank with the wind off my back setting up a bomb to fish meat over towards the island which was a fair chuck' And a pellet waggler to fish at about 25mts out into the open water. I did go with all the good intentions of setting up the bomb rod when I arrived at my peg but after taking my hard case with the pellet waggler rod already assembled I couldn't resist to have a few chucks to see if there were any shallow although the rod had an older reel of mine attached but if it did get any signs I would switch to a new reel,

I fed a few 6mm hard pellet at regular intervals onto the 25mt line to start with and had a few chucks as far to the island as I could get without feeding, After 10mins I did miss a bite but could see a few blows were I had been feeding so came in over the top, feeding around a dozen 6mm pellet and casting onto it I didn't take long to get my first fish of around 5lb, Rather than get carried away I swapped the reel over to the Aero feeder model loaded with 5lb line and a smaller lighter float to cause less splash when it hit the water this being a balsa model it also sat straight up on impact. This worked a treat and soon I had fish competing and thanks to the lovely wife she managed to take some well timed shots".

 

 

 

Needless to say I didn't get to try the bait runner reel out with the bomb rod but it was a pleasure to use the feeder model with the wider spool aiding to the casting and the ultra smooth silent drag was easy to set, I had some big fish though out the day the best being around 17lb which un-fortunate for me the wife was yet to arrive with the camera' Once I got into a pattern of feeding, casting re-fed then reel in and repeat the process my bites came as the rig hit the water of after I twitched the rig if you left it still they wouldn't take it, It was also important to feed the peg whilst playing fish which sounds tricky but after a bit of practice is easier than it sounds, With the clutch set low I drape the catty over my leg, fill it with my left hand and trap the rod between my knees freeing both hands to feed accurately. After trying 8mm hair rig pellet on the hook and missing a few bite I soon switched to 6mm which seemed to work a lot better.

 

 

I ended the day with 37 carp with the smallest being 3lb but averaged around 6lb I had a cracking days fishing and it was nice to blow away a few cobwebs at the same time, Forgot to mention I use the Middy Carp Bandits Pre-tied Hooklengh's either size 16 on 0.15 or 14 on 0.16 if there really having it, These have a double knotted hair of the hook which keeps the pellet stiff and away from the hook resulting in more hit bites" You get 10 in a pack all of the same size 12inch length for £2.25 which would cost as much as that to make your own so a good buy

Off to Summerhayes again tomorrow for open match and after last week I'm looking forward to having another crack on longs lake.