Catch Reports
Brace of thirties for Jerry
Posted in Catch Reports on 26th May 2014Jerry Mills from Bridgwater had never been fortunate enough to catch a thirty pound carp until recently, but when he did, he caught two on the trot!! Jerry, decided to fish an overnighter on a local syndicate water where he introduced a kilo of Shellfish B5 frozen boilies to a marginal spot no more than 3-yards from the bank.
Within an hour of fishing Jerry's rod ripped off and after a hectic battle, he banked a lovely 30lb 12oz common. Absolutely elated with his capture Jerry then put the rod back out, but little did he know only a matter of hours would pass before he was doing battle with another big fish! This one turned out to be a 31lb mirror!
Two personal bests in the matter of hours. Top B5 Bombing Jerry and huge congratulations - 'Fat Boys' rule okay....
Hard Hook Baits (Mike's view)
There are often times throughout the season when I find myself having to use hard hook baits. There’s nothing worse than reeling in after you’ve seen a frenzied amount of fishing activity over your baited area, only to find that your hook baits have been nibbled away by nuisance fish! Some venues are obviously more prone to nuisance fish activity than others, but it’s not just nuisance fish that can be a problem. Diving birds or even pick ups from swans will often result in ‘missing hook baits’!
Hard hook baits will alleviate this problem, in fact, I actually think it’s advantageous when a diving bird picks up my hard hook bait. It gives me confidence that my presentation is good, and as the bird drops the rig, I actually believe it straightens everything out and gives me a better presentation that I can achieve via casting. I can remember fishing at Frampton some years ago, when the only time I could seemingly get a bite, was after a coot had picked up and dropped my hard hook bait!
Top Tip
After you’ve made a batch of hard hookers, leave them out on a towel to air dry for at least ten days, preferably in a warm dry place. Once they have sufficiently dried out, put them in a polythene bag and add a small amount of ‘Boilie Glug’ or ‘Liquid Food’ and shake well. For extra convenience transfer them to an empty pop-up jar or similar before placing them in the fridge or the freezer until needed. If keeping in the fridge, make sure you give them a good shake every few days and top up the liquid if and as required.
