A.M. Bait Services - Lewis' Blog

The Pads Lake 6/07/10

When I arrived at this tempting new water, I was amazed at how many carp I could actually find. I walked half of the lake, and in a tempting bay (right in the teeth of the wind), I found no less than 15 carp, with the majority of them looking close to 20 pounds. There was one fish which I was able to recognise which is known as ‘the Italian’; it is a beautifully marked deep fish, which hardly ever graces the bank. This fish only reaches a top weight of roughly 23 pounds, but it is a stunner none the less.

Now this water is by no means classed as easy, and it is well on its way to becoming an exclusive syndicate water. The fish are still growing, with the lake record in this particular lake being 28 pound. The fish are top class though, and this is what entices so many people to fish the waters. I knew I had my work cut out right from the start, but with the average weight being high doubles, and most of them being either dark commons or heavily scaled mirrors, if I could land just one I would be a very happy man!

I started the session just flicking out a few baits all around the area. I then hastily made up several PVA mesh bags of stick mix, which included ground up AM Baits SLR boilies. I then put two 14 mm baits on one hair, and on the other I put one 18 mm bait, tipped with a bit of fake yellow corn.

As this lake is known for the extremity of some of its snags, I thought that I would not target them directly, as most people on the water seemed to be doing this at the time. Instead, a placed my baits between snags, in a bid to pick up a carp on its travels.

When I was all set up and happy, I was kept on my feet by the constant line bites I was getting. I knew there was quite a lot of roach in here, but I hadn’t heard anyone complaining about them... whatever was on my baits was doing my head in! As it was approaching night time, I decided to put about half a kilo of SLR over each of the 2 spots. I was just about to cast when bailiff came round for a chat.

After introducing myself, I told him if the situation I was in. After half an hour of talking, I managed to find out PLENTY of information. I found out that I was in fact having trouble with crayfish (I should have guessed), and apparently it is near on impossible to put a boilies in the hair without it being mauled! He also told me that the year before he had removed nearly 300 kilos of the things!

Due to this new found information, I decided to adapt my approach. I put to bits of fake pop-up corn on both hairs, white on one and yellow on the other. I put these on a KD rig, and when I cast I made sure that they were as critically balanced as possible.

From here the time flew by, and before I knew it was 3 pm the next day, and I had to leave. By this time I had managed to catch no less than 3 crayfish (the indigenous species, all on fake corn!), and a whopping bream of 7 and half pound. As soon as I get the time and the money, I will be back down there, and I am determined to catch one of lakes stunning residents. I will be testing AM Baits infamous Salmon and Plum boilies next, so watch this space....

COMING TO AN END 6/04/10

As I walked round to the pre baited swim, I was disappointed to see several young carpers sharing the swim. I walked on anyway, and had a quick chat. After finding out where they had been fishing, what bait they were using etc, it came to my knowledge that they were in fact getting picked up shortly.

I strolled into their swim with my gear, and set up on the left hand side. I was having a little social at the time, and my cousin turned up shortly after and plonked next to me. After setting up my bivvy, bed chair and all my other comforts, I got to work sorting out the rods. As I have had good success using the small bags of chilli hemp along with a stringer of A.M Baits Milk Chocolate boilies, I did not alter my approach. The only change I made was the hook, and I simply went from a size 6 to an 8, as I believe that my presentation was a lot better this way.

I cast one down the channel, and one next to the island out in front, one in about 5 ft of water, the other in about 3. Before I left for the session, I decided (due to the weather, time of year and all that) that I would put in a bit of bait, to see how they reacted. I chucked in roughly 50 baits over each, some 18 mm and some 15. Literally 10 minutes after putting the rods out, I had a meltdown run, which resulted in a plump little mirror of about 6 pounds. I was pleased with the result, and I soon had my head down, as it was getting on. However, I got absolutely no sleep.

From here, every half hour to an hour one of my rods where tearing off. By 7am the next day, I had banked no less than 11 fish, with the biggest being about 13 pound. Although the size wasn’t what it had been in previous weeks, I was ecstatic to see that the bait was working, and the fish were waking up. I was not disheartened about the size though; some real stunners were banked, as you can see in the picture below.

As soon as it was light though, all bites dried up completely. Not just for me, but for all of the 8 other anglers on the lake. In the night also, I believe only 1 other fish came out, so I must have been on the fish!! As no more bites were coming, I decided on a move. I went to the car park end of the lake, were the pressure was less. I then went on to bank to more fish to low doubles, and a bream of about a pound.

Overall, it was a wicked session! There is one problem though... I’ve only got 1kg of boilies left! However, they have worth it entirely, as you can see I have had numerous carp on these, and in the worst months to fish for them! Oh well, next stop, salmon and plum...

KNACKERED, BUT STILL FISHING! 04/04/10

I didn’t turn up to the lake until roughly midday (which is due to the fact that I hadn’t had much sleep in the last couple of days), because to be honest, I didn’t initially want to go; I was totally drained! However, seeing my dad ready to go, I couldn’t resist and I quickly loaded my stuff into the van.

When we arrived there were no cars, however there was 1 person fishing, and he was in the ‘double swim’, the one which I had been pre-baiting. Typical. However, I suppose I should have got there earlier! I walked around the lake, and my dad plonked in a swim situated opposite the other person, and I chose to set up right in the teeth of the wind, at the far end of the lake. As I was setting up (rather slowly), the boy in my pre-baited swim had 2 fish, however they were both single figure fish. Hearing his buzzer put me more in the mood, and I soon had 2 rigs combined with a mesh bag of chilli hemp along with a stringer of A.M Baits Milk Chocolate, and another on the hair. This time though I decided to use the 18mm instead of the smaller boilies, as it seems to me when they are waking up from the winter, they want as much food as possible, and the bigger the bait the better.

I cast one to a snag just off one of the islands, and the other was towards my left, an under arm flick into one of the deepest parts in the lake, roughly 6-8 feet. A small handful of boilies then went over both, and I then sat on my chair and attempted to make a ‘wind breaker’ with my coat, as it was absolutely freezing.

After roughly an hour with no action, I had a recast on both. Both went to the same spots, but the snag one was now about 3 feet further away, and the other was in slightly shallower water, probably 5-6 feet. As I was sitting watching the lake, two geese came wandering over, and they then started fighting right over where my line entered the water. My left buzzer was going berserk, so after scaring the geese off, I sorted out my alarm and hanger. Literally 5 seconds later, it screamed again, and I hooked into what I thought was a nice fish. Maybe it wasn’t the geese then, I thought to myself.

The carp was giving me a quality fight, and it was good to get a better bend in my rods. After about 5 minutes, I had a long common lying in the bottom of my landing net. My dad came round to take some photos, and on the scales it went 17 exactly. I recognised the fish, as a friend of mine had caught it the previous season at 19 pounds, and judging by the sheer size of the fish’s head; it was obvious to see that it was down in weight. Another great result on the bait! Just before I left, I chucked in another kilo of boilies where I caught the fish. I will be returning for my first night of the season on Tuesday with my cousin, and hopefully I can get in on the action once again

ANOTHER SUCCESS! 14/03/2010

Previous to my session, I had been pre-baiting with Milk Chocolate boilies for about 2 weeks. In this time, I used about 4 kilos varying in size, which were 15 and 18mm. I baited a swim between 2 islands in the deeper water; a known holding area for carp.

I turned up to the lake at roughly 5 to 6 with my dad, and we had a quick stroll around the lake. After seeing no signs of carp we decided to settle in the pre-baited swim, as it was big enough for two (at this point I would like to thank my pops for giving me a lift all the time!).

After attaching new rigs and leadcore, I put 2 fresh baits on the hairs, each a trimmed 15mm Milk Chocolate boilie, tipped with a tiny slither of fake corn on each, one red and one yellow. Also, I attached a small PVA mesh bag containing Chilli Hemp to each along with a 3 bait stringer, consisting of the same boilies. I placed one close to the island, in about 4ft of water. The other rod was placed in about 6ft of water, in the middle of a small channel.

I then dozed off, reading ‘Fox Pool’ written by the infamous Rob Maylin. I had just opened my eyes, when my hanger dropped to the floor. I shot off my chair and placed my hand around the reel seat. The hanger then raised quickly, and I struck into what I thought was a relatively small fish. However, after playing the fish for a while, I soon decided that it was bigger than I thought. My dad slipped the net under the fish, and he said ‘you’ve got a biggun’ there mate!’

When I placed it on the mat, I soon recognised it as a fish known as ‘Chop-Tail’, a fish I had caught previously, once at 14 pounds, and the other at 16. We weighed it, and it swung the scales round to 17 pounds. I was well chuffed, and that’s another fish on the Milk Chocolate… and in the middle of March!

And now we’ve just got to see how the Salmon and Plum does this spring and summer…

FIRST TEST SUCCESS!

I arrived at the lake at 7 am on the Friday, my only day off college, just as it was getting light. I unloaded the gear out of my dads van, and I plonked it in the car park swim as dad sped off to work. There were only 2 cars in the car park, and seeing as the lake was 19 acres, there was a good bet i'd get the swim I wanted. As I walked around the lake (the margins were frozen at this point!) I walked past the 2 bivvies, and they were right in the deep end, or dam wall as its more commonly known. Walking behind them, I noticed that one of their nets was laying on the unhooking mat covered in water and slime; at least the bream were active I suppose!

At this point, I hadn't seen one show at all. I then look down the lake, towards the only island. At the back of the island were about 20 geese, just cruising around. I watched for a while, and then off they went. I kept looking at were they had taken off from, and 5 minutes later, a carp finally showed itself. As it was coming to coldest time of the year, I soon decided that the show was obviously my best bet.

I chucked my gear on my back, and walked swiftly around to the island swim. The ground was frozen, and there was no old bait or footsteps lying around, so I gathered that the swim hadn't been fished for a while. I sat on my chair, making up a few PVA bags for the rods. In went a small helping of chilli hemp, and then I got out my Krusha, and in went 3 AM Baits Milk Chocolate boilies. I repeated this twice, and when I next looked out in the water, I saw what I think was another show, about 10 yards to the right of an overhanging tree, just off the island.

I put one rod on the spot, with a mesh bag which I threaded onto the hair rig, and a soaked Milk Chocolate 15mm on the hair. Then, the other rod I put out about 30 yards behind the island, inpretty much the same line as the other rod. The other rod was fished exactly the same, however it was tipped with a small piece of corn.

I then set up my brolly, because the weather said it was meant to rain, heavily! After that the last thing I remember is reading Carpworld, and I woke up and checked the lake. No one else had turned up, and with the sun out it looked great for a bite. I went and sat back down, and started to cook some baked beans, smuthered in Tobasco. Ickecked the time, and it said 3 pm... I didn't know i'd slept that long! Just as the beans were simmering nicely, I had a run, typical. I went to the island rod, but that one was stuck solid. By now the other rod had slowed down, but the clutch was still ticking quickly. I struck into what felt like a bream, and after a pretty uneventful fight (apart from one 20 yard surge) I netted a mint condition 12 pound common... the first on the Milk Chocolate!! I was ecstatic with the capture, and one of the lads in the dam end come and took a few pictures for me.

By this time it was 4 pm, and I had to unfortunately pack up. Just before I went though, I catapulted out the rest of the kilo, hopefully drawing them in for next time. As I loaded the van, I had a quick look back at the lake, and by this point, the shallow end of the lake had aready started to freeze. Looked like a chose the right day to get the rods out!