New stillwater lake...

I have a very soft spot for this place as I caught my very first fish ever at The Willows Angling Centre (Ex Bax Farm). Recently under new management it has been improved greatly with a newly refurbished, well stocked tackle shop. They have just spent the past month or so refurbishing the specimen lake. The original lake was the amalgamation of two smaller lakes linked with a channel and always had the feel of just that, two lakes. The work has just been completed and they have produced this video to show just how much work has been carried out.

Once the ground has recovered, and the water does whatever water needs to do before it can be fished, I am sure it will attract anglers from far and wide. I for one will be back to bother a few fish!

Ralph.

Upper crust fishing...

No, not all that posh stuff, no ghillie and cane baskets, no tweed jackets and funny hats. I am talking about bread. Just bread, bread for hook-bait and liquidised or crumb bread as groundbait.

We have been lucky so far this year with the temperatures holding up at night as well as during the day. This has given us a chance have a really good go at targeting F1s, on the flat-backed method feeder, for reasonable bags of fish. In a match situation, this is a great tactic when aiming at weight on rod and line. It will never out-fish the pole, but at least I can keep myself catching fish. Now I more or less have the hang of it, the tactic can get boring as a pleasure technique. Using my Two Dog groundbait mix and 9mm punched bacon grill will just produce fish after fish. I never thought I would say this, but it is just too easy on a well stocked lake, especially if it is familiar water.

Horseshoe pond is tucked away in a corner of the fishery. This is the pond in June this year The flora will have died back somewhat now. The central 'finger' has three swims - ideal for my next visit

Now the weather looks like it will at last start to produce cool nights as well as days, the fish will slow down and feed less, I need to look at honing some other techniques. I fancy having a go at targeting silvers in one of the other lakes at Beaver. There is a small pond, tucked away in a corner of the complex, that is listed as carp-free. According to the fishery's literature, it is stocked with bream to over 7lb, Tench and perch to 4lb as well as roach, rudd and gudgeon.

The 'vintage' bread punch is nicely made

This pond will give me a chance to target some other species. Initially, I am going to have a go at targeting the roach and rudd. Using small bread punch tactics. I have a rather nice vintage punch with brass inserts that looks as if it will be perfect.

This punch will cut and compress the bread if used on a hard surface such as this small cutting board

I want to try some larger punched bread and see what takes the larger bait. This will be a learning curve for me, never having fished using bread before. I acquired some time ago a neat punch with a plunger I use for punching meat, the plunger is used to eject the meat. I saw it being used to punch and compress bread, which, after giving it a quick go, I can say it seems to do this very well. A small cutting board that I bought in the local pound-shop makes an ideal surface on which to punch the bread on and is small enough to take to the bank.

Neat little Lesney Bread Press really compresses the bread

I was given a lot of 'vintage' fishing tackle during the summer that included a box full of bits and pieces. The bread punch with brass heads, mentioned above, was part of that lot. Sitting in one of the compartments of the box was a small cast metal press. Moulded into the side it proclaimed to be a "Lesney bread bait press". I know that name, they made 'Matchbox' toys (cars and other vehicles). An internet search revealed they also made this little thing and packaged it in a matchbox-style box too! I suspect a lot of you already know about this little tool but I had not seen one before. Further searching revealed the instructions...

LESNEY
BREAD BAIT PRESS 
 Peel off the crust from a sliced loaf, leaving three
eighths of an inch of bread on the crust. Place bread
in the Bait Press and screw down.
 This will give you two pellets of crust ready with a
hole for your hook.
 On entering the water this will quickly swell to the
size of a cube of sugar. If a larger piece of bait is
required fold the length of crust in two before placing
in press.

 

I have transcribed the instructors above verbatim. It is interesting to see how society has changed in fifty years. Back in the 1960s, sugar cubes were commonplace. I wonder how many kids today would know what size that is? Today, measured quantities are more commonly presented in paper or plastic sachets, contributing even further to the rubbish mountain, in the name of hygiene and/or convenience. Intrigued by this little tool, I followed the instructions and it produced two very flat, rectangular pieces of bread that when placed in water slowly expanded. It appears that if the crust is left on, the bait will be slightly buoyant. This could be interesting. I feel some experimentation coming on here while I am waiting to find a gap in my, now busy, work schedule when I can go fishing to try it out for real.

Ralph.

Fishing with Bro...

Well, I did manage to drag myself out of bed, on Sunday, load the van and get on the road before 06:00 AM. A good run out of The Smoke and even the M25 was moving. I got to Beaver just as Ben (Today's host) was driving through the gate... That's handy! I followed him in and the gate closed behind me - Result! While Ben was sorting himself out, I started to set up our gear and went back to pay our day tickets - No sign of Bro...

Just as I finished setting up the phone rang...

   "Hello?"  
   "Ello Bro" 
   "Where are you?"  
   "Here!"....

I think you can guess how the rest of that went - Plonka!

I told him to turn around and waved at him. That seemed to do the job. Tim got back in his car, drove up and parked next to my van, that was obviously hard to see initially, being light Blue against the green backdrop of trees. I was wearing my camouflage pattern hat - maybe it does work after all.

Tim had missed out on all the feeder fishing and had not encountered the Two Dog ground bait first hand until now. I gave him a quick catch-up on what I know about feeder fishing, explained clipping up and showed him how to cast. I then put a hooklength on my rig, loaded the feeder and showed him how to use the push-stop hair to carry the hook-bait. Cast out and was about to say about leaving for forty seconds, if nothing happens... when the tip bent double and it was fish on, with the first cast. Tim was impressed. He then replicated the same thing  also taking a fish on his first cast. Another F1. That did the job, the look on his face says it all.

"I got one!"

The interesting thing here is that Tim has never feeder fished before in his life and yet he pulled out over thirty fish (and that is being conservative) with very little effort. He was using my Two Dog groundbait, 9mm punched Bacon Grill hair rigged to size 12 Guru MWG hook on a 4 inch, 6lb hook length. After a while he was moaning because he was not getting a chance to drink his coffee! Although we were targeting F1's Tim managed to catch a couple of bream, just to slime up my nets. He also discovered how slippery they are.

One of Tim's bream behaves itself just before it slid back into the net and was helped back into the lake

Considering the time of year we have been privy to some high night time temperatures preventing the water from cooling down too much. The fish seem to be feeding well at the moment down here in the south. For this reason we were using the full strength Two Dog mix on the 30g flat backed method feeders. I think Tim had a good day. He caught more fish than he has ever done before and from looking around the lake, more fish than anyone else too. In fact most of the others fishing the lake gave up and went home just after lunch leaving us with the lake to our selves other than a couple of children and their dad (?) dabbling away in the far corner. As far as we were concerned it proved the Two Dog mix really does work. Tim was catching as rapidly as I was on his first time out.

We packed up as the light was fading and a good, no, a great day, was had by all. There you go Tim, I told you I would not mention the fact that you broke my feeder mould and my favourite 11ft feeder rod - you know, the one I have been using all year...

Ralph

Feeding my brother...

Tim's last catch, back in April - let's see if we can do better than that on Sunday

When I started this blog and my journey down the road to become an angler, never, in a million years, would I have thought I would be sitting here writing about fishing. Let alone passing on some of the limited skills I have managed to glean, in the past year or so. Neither did I expect I would be doing it, most of the time, solo!

The original idea was to find an interest that would give me and my brother an excuse to meet up that was not a meeting of 'this thing of ours'. As it has turned out, poor old Tim has had a busy year and the last time he went fishing with me was back in April. Since then my whole fishing world has changed and so has my level of skill. No, I do not profess to be an expert, but a good few hours on the bank and four matches under my belt this summer has improved my knowledge and experience. This Sunday, I hope to pass some of that to Tim and help him catch a good bag of fish.

I plan to introduce Tim to feeder fishing. I have a couple of identical rod and reel set-ups so we can fish in the same manner. We can even use the same bait and method mix for a while, guess what that will be... Clue HERE. But once we have been fishing for a while, it will give us the opportunity to directly compare some of the other bait options.

I am really looking forward to Sunday. Even the thought of dragging myself out of bed at five o'clock in the morning has not dampened the enthusiasm, even if the act might! I have the rods made up and ready to go. Tonight I will prepare all the bait and that will be ready. We are out all day on Saturday visiting my Godson and his wife, who has just give birth to a baby boy. Do you think, at two weeks old, he will be a bit young for a fishing rod? I suspect we will not be home until late so I need to have everything ready to go tonight.

Not happy

When will I ever learn? Tempted by the prospect of saving a few pennies and not having to make the nine-mile round trip to my local tackle shop I decided to buy some hooks from an internet supplier. Next day delivery was offered and this was Monday. It is now Friday and still no hooks. I wanted then earlier in the week so I could spend a couple of nights tying hook lengths. I know I was going to visit the tackle shop today to get some bait anyway and did not want to make a double trip. Now I have left myself tight for time, exactly what I was trying to avoid...

...Door bell ringing... Guess what? Just as I start to bemoan my predicament, the hooks have arrived. Shipping was 48 hour signed for. So that means they should have been here Wednesday or Thursday. I really wish paranoid suppliers would not send stuff signed for, there is absolutely no need for it when the item value is this small and all it seems to do is hold everything up. Unless I have a couple of weeks spare I will not be going down this route again. There are some suppliers that are brilliant and I have mentioned one by name in the past that I cannot fault, but there are a lot of small 'widget' businesses out there that seem to make it hard, both for themselves and ME!

Now I am off to tie a bundle of hook lengths, and sort out the rest of the gear before making a trip to my local tackle shop for some friendly chat and a chance increase their turnover for the day... I wonder if they have had their Preston order in yet?

Ralph. 

      

No Dogs at Beaver - Except Toby!

Autumn colour reflects in Jeff's Lake as I look out over my rod tip

Toby? He is the owners black Labrador who takes great delight in creeping up on the paying customers and surprising them - we all love Toby... Honest!

The usual early start was rewarded by an early entrance to the fishery. I was mindful that the clocks going back, the weekend before, meant the the evenings would be darker sooner but to our advantage, the mornings would be lighter too. No matter what time I have arrived at the fishery, I have never been at the front of the queue, today there was no queue. As I turned off the A22, I could see the time controlled, electricity operated gate was already open. It turned out that the gate had not been reset to take account of the time change as the guy who knows how to do it was on holiday...

06:46 and parked up

That's handy! I drove in to find the office open and the first line of defence manned by Ben, our new (additional) full-time fishery officer, greeting all comers with his usual warm welcome.  I paid the day ticket fee and headed for my favoured spot on Jeff's lake. It was just light, the mist hanging over the lake and there was not a soul about. I had made up my rods the night before and all I needed to do was set up my chair, bait waiter and landing net etc. and I was fishing by 07:00.

I was trying out my latest groundbait method mix. My trusty Two Dog mix has been an absolute winner all year enabling me to catch lots of fish at every session. Okay, I am not catching record amounts but I am catching enough to hold a reasonable position in the friendly matches held at Beaver during the warmer months. Considering I have only been fishing a little over a year I am happy with that result. I am constantly being asked how I am catching so many fish by others on the lake and all I can say is that it must be down to my bait/method mix combination.

My Two Dog mix is fortified with ground up dog biscuit (Wagg) and hot dog sausages - hence Two Dog. As the weather gets cooler, I am told I need to feed less as the fish do not feed as vigorously as they do in the warmer periods. This all sounds reasonable. I am targeting carp in Jeff's lake, mainly F1s and these do not slow down their feeding as much as other fish which is why the fisheries love them. Nevertheless, it seemed reasonable to cut down the amount of food in the mix and see what happens. I have already talked about my No Dog groundbait mix HERE. In essence, it is a stripped down version of the Two Dog mix with the meat and dog biscuit stripped out and some peeper added to increase the attractive qualities of the turmeric.

The revised recipe is shown below but the breadcrumb/biscuit mix can be anything that will not become bound together when it gets wet.
 

My No Dog Groundbait Recipe

• 975g Breadcrumb
• 975g Rich Tea biscuits
• 50g Turmeric powder 
• 2-3g Finely ground black pepper

Using my trusty 11ft feeder rod and small, 30g flat-backed method feeder I made a couple of casts without a hooklength attached to establish where I wanted to clip up to. I had picked three markers on the opposite bank. One of these was my favoured life belt I have mentioned before. I also had a couple of other trees earmarked as markers for two other lines. Now I was ready to fish.

One of a couple of mirror carp caught during the session

Sticking with my usual set up of a four inch hooklength, hair rigged to a push stop (or what ever you call them depending on the make!) on an NWM size 12 hook. I have also found some really small tube to hold the hair in position on the hook. I know I could just add more turns to the knotless-knot but I think this is a more elegant way of doing it as I am using fairly heavy line (6 or 8lb) and I do not risk catching the line on the point of the hook, creating a week point or dulling the point on the hook. I had fun working out just how to get a tiny piece of silicone tube onto the hook. Getting it on the line was much easier than I thought it would be as it just slides through with little or no resistance. I found the way to get it on the hood is not to try and thread it on as this results in the hook point piercing the tubing.

The best way I found to do it is to use the push stop needle, which has a blunt point- if you see what I mean, that will push its way through the tubing, after it has been fitted on the line. The line can be pulled away from the needle opening up a gap into which the hook can be passed through easily without causing any damage to the line, hook point or tube. The other advantage of using this method is that the hair can be set to length and the tubing will hold it in place while the knot is being tied.

Tackle aside, I rigged a 9mm thick, 9mm diameter punched piece of bacon grill on the hair and placed it in the bottom of the feeder mould, Filled the feeder with my new 'lean' groundbait and pushed the feeder into the mould. after releasing it I then placed a small anount of the mix into the mould and applied the ready loaded feeder to the mould again, pressing it in firmly, to add a second skin of groundbait to cover the hook bait.

...and here's another mirror, they really fight hard, I thought I had hooked something much bigger!

A nice controlled flick and the feeder plopped into the lake bang on target - I am getting better at this as time goes on. It is all about getting out there and trying over and over again until it becomes natural. It is not there yet, but I am getting there slowly and each outing I get a little more consistent. I was expecting to get a few feeder loads out before I got any action but to my complete surprise, I had a fish on after about 20 seconds. My two or three empty feeder casts while I was checking my ranging must have got the fish interested. Three more casts, three more bites, two of which I landed.

I was fishing the lifebelt line and it was paying off. Then, someone else arrived and took the peg opposite me right under the lifebelt. Not wanting to cast at another angler when there was plenty of space I made a few more rapid casts to lay down some groundbait and moved to another line.

My plan was to have a few chucks at the original spot when the bloke opposite went for a break during the day or at lunch. As It happened, I was fishing my other two lines perfectly happily all day pulling fish out at a fair old rate and did not get back to that line until I noticed the bloke opposite was packing up early and going home. By this time I had run out of my experimental no-meat groundbait mix and was back on the original Two Dog mix. Although the new mix was working. reverting back to the original mix really showed a marked difference, fish were on it straight away and the catch rate increased almost immediately. I think this may be because although it was the 1st November, it was still not that cold. I moved back to the original line and almost as soon as the feeder landed I was getting a bite and landing one fish after another. It will be interesting to see how it goes as the weather cools down even further. I am back at Beaver next Sunday as a planned trip to Ironbridge has been cancelled due to pressure of work, so by Sunday I will be glad of the break. You never know, I might have some company as my brother is threatening to come. Maybe I will be able to get him catching his first good bag of fish.

The clean-up crew are not far away as the sun starts to go down behind the trees

Another great day fishing for me. I left just as it was starting to get dark so I had a good few hours of fun and proved that although the lean version of my groundbait worked, the full bodied meaty version is still getting the fish excited. 

Ralph    

Dropshotting the Regent's

Back in November last year, The Angling Times ran a short article about urban fishing in London using the Oyster card to get around. Travelling around London using public transport has never been easier. It is almost impossible to park in London without incurring ridiculous parking charges or even worse getting a fine or towed away. That is without all the hassle of battling with London's everlasting traffic. London is a twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week city. Even on a Sunday, the place is buzzing.

Sunday morning and the sun is just about to show itself

As the clocks went back on Sunday morning (02:00 AM) I decided to take advantage of the extra hour and drag myself out of bed and make an effort to catch an early train into town. Sue, foolishly, made the decision to come along too. Our aim was to get to Camden Town and, initially, head east from there towards Kings Cross.

The alarm went off at 05:30 Sunday morning. It is at these times when the thought of going fishing does not sound as appealing as it did the night before. Telling ourselves it will be worth it when we get there, we dragged ourselves out of bed, and made it out of the house in time to walk to the station and catch the 07:12 to London Bridge. Bearing in mind this is Sunday morning - the train was packed! I was amazed to see the crowds of people heading down the tunnel that leads to the way out, and Underground station.

Deserted streets of Camden. The side of the building in the centre of the picture shows that
street 'art is not just confined to our current times.
The sign reads: "You save money by shopping at Boots chemists" 

We made it through tunnel and onto the Northern Line tube to Camden Town. Barely an hour after leaving home we were standing outside the station in the empty streets of Camden Town looking at the street art, old and new.

Street art of the highest standard, just around the corner from the tube station

A short walk from the station heading North along any of the roads that radiate in that direction will take you to the canal. We walked along Kentish Town Road until we crossed the canal and walked down the steps to the towpath. It is now getting on for 08:00 and the towpath is deserted.

Time to get my rod set up. I bought my rod and reel earlier in the year with the proceeds of a Christmas/birthday fund-raising scheme, just as I used to do when I was a kid - it worked! I also bought a couple of packs of dropshotting rigs that came with a few small plastic lures.

At the time it was almost impossible to get hold of the yellow braid so I ended up with a brown coloured line.Now I needed some jig heads. Not knowing where to start with jigging tackle, I visited to my local tackle shop and bought a few bits and pieces. They have a huge collection of course fishing tackle but are a bit limited on dropshotting/jigging gear. The smallest jig heads I could find were 10g. I had hopped to find some smaller ones but they were going to be better than nothing, or so I thought. I also bought a few soft plastic lures - well you can't not, can you?

I had pre-rigged the the new lures with the jig heads the night before, and fitted them with a wire trace just in case I hooked a pike! These I mounted on a wine cork to protect the points and prevent them hooking up with anything in my bag of minimal tackle.

The jig heads were far too heavy but they were all I had

I also fitted a quick-release clip to the end of the line onto which I would be able to attach my pre-made trace/jig rig. I attempted a few casts just to get the feel of the ultra-light rod and found it was more a case of flicking it out rather than a full blown cast. the retrieve was interesting to say the least. The soft plastic lure fell like a stone, attached to that enormous weight and simply collected a hook-full of weed. I persevered but I was getting nothing, although I was managing to put it where I wanted it to go without too much trouble. I tried open water and under the bridges but didn't even get a knock, that I could feel.

Best I could do was to drag up some weed

By now I had resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be most unlikely that I would catch anything. This did not bother me, I just wanted to get some experience. By now the sun had come out to play and the nip in the air had been replaced with the warm feel of the sun on our backs making distinct shadows on the towpath.

At this point we were lucky to catch our shadow, but no fish

We continued to walk along the towpath taking in the sights and having a jig between the covering of weed that seemed to be covering the whole canal in places. The wildlife seemed to be enjoying it and curious to see if we had brought any food.

Egyptian geese looking for free handouts - sorry mate no edible bait today!

Arriving at Kings cross we sat on the steps that lead to the old, now filled in basin to change the tackle. it was obvious to me that the jig heads I had bought were totally wrong for what I was attempting to do. I removed my end tackle and replaced it with a dropshot rig. Now without the advantage of using the jigging gear to find the fish I was fishing blind. At this point a young lad appeared, rod in hand and started to fish.

I went over and spoke to him and he turned out to be a very friendly young man, by the name of Tom who was also doing a spot of dropshotting. He new exactly what he was doing and and was happy to show me where I was going wrong. He confirmed the jig heads I was attempting to use were far too heavy and my lures were all wrong too. He was fishing with a 2 or 3g flexible jigging head arrangement that looked far superior to my cumbersome rig I had been chucking around earlier. He also very kindly gave me a couple of small 50mm shads that looked far more like what should be using on my rig. He offered me a smaller jig head but I declined, not wanting to take advantage. Just a few minutes talking to someone on the bank is worth hours of reading and watching videos - you can't beat it.

Just to prove there are fish in the canal Tom sent me a picture of one of the perch he managed to catch that day

We decided to walk back to Camden market and visit the street food stalls selling all kinds of food from around the world. Stopping off along the way to have a dabble with the dropshotting gear. No luck but it was fun trying. I packed the rod away and we hurried off to sample some of the street food. Staying moderately cautious, we opted for some Polish sausage in a roll with onions. We made the right choice, it tasted every bit as good as it smelt.

Dropshotting near one of the bridges - still no luck but I am getting some experience

After polishing off the grub, we set off towards Paddington. With the gear packed away, knowing I really needed some different jig heads and shads, I was happy to just explore as much of the canal as we could. It was a fine day and by now the towpath was getting busy with walkers joggers and cyclists. I do wonder how many of the cyclists end up in the canal...

Early afternoon and the place comes to life with people

We walked away from the market now heading West. The route takes you through Regent's Park and slices through London Zoo. there are lots of potential fishing spots all the way along but at this time of day the canal is full of boats chugging their way along. I think it is a case of getting a few hours in early and then moving to the ends of the canal, where is does not seem to be so busy. Once we arrived at Paddington Basin we walked over to the station and hopped on a train back to kings cross so we could start exploring the Eastern section beyond Kings Cross.

Long stretches of the canal are covered in weed

As we headed away from Kings cross towards Islington and Hackney it was starting to cloud over and the temperature dropped. our feet were starting to complain so as we approached the Kingsland Road we decided to leave the canal and head home.
Well, we didn't catch anything but we had a very enjoyable day. I learnt an awful lot and got the chance to experience a side of London I have not visited before. Now I have a better idea of what I need, next time I will take a selection of smaller jig-heads and shads so next tome I can catch a perch like Toms! I also have a much better idea of the layout and where I will be fishing next time.

Ralph.     

More from the Regents Canal HERE >>>

Wagg 3, grinder 0

The incredibly powerful Duronic BL1200 blender

During the summer I have been using my Two Dog groundbait to great success. One of the main ingredients is ground Wagg dog biscuits. When dry, to say these things are hard is an understatement, they are bullet-proof. I like to add them as a fine powder to the mix initially as this way it all gets thoroughly mixed with the other dry ingredients without forming clumps.

I first tried processing them in my little food processor, but to no avail. all that did was to knock a few edges off and bounce them around violently. They are also extremely abrasive and scratch the inside of the mixing bowl. Defeated by this I then tried the good old pestle and mortar. Although I have a reasonably substantial one, the pestle and mortar made little progress and it was a job to stop the bits getting thrown out of the mortar if any force was applied.

Finally I came up with the idea of using a coffee grinder. The first one did actually last long enough to process just over a kilo of wag before it started it sound a bit rough, finally giving up the ghost in a puff of smoke and giving off an acrid smell... Hmmm... I think I pushed that a little too far, although I was being careful, I was obviously over loading it. Okay, I will put that down to experience. I bought a new one. This time I will be ultra careful and only put a few bits in the grinding chamber. Turned it on and it went round a couple of times and made a loud click at which point the motor was spinning free while the blade was stationary. These small modern appliances are impossible to get into without breaking something so It went back to the shop and was upgraded for a slightly more powerful model. That lasted not much longer and this time it was the blade that gave out and snapped!

Third one - time to give up with coffee grinders

At this point, I gave up with the idea of grinding Wagg in a cheap coffee grinder - it just is not up to the job. I was now considering the percussive approach, but hitting each one with a 26oz Estwing framing hammer might result in more on the floor than in the groundbait as well as taking half a lifetime to 'process' a kilo box full of the stuff. I was just about to give up on the idea of grinding the stuff to a fine powder when an on-line mate of mine put me on to the Duronic BL1200. The what? I hear you say. That was my first thought, what on earth is that? Well, it's a 'blender' or what I always called a 'liquidiser'. This thing has an unbelievable specification including a really heavy glass jug and a 1200W motor. All this for a shade under £56.00, delivered.

One extra advantage is the ease of cleaning - brilliant!

Now you know what they say about something being too good to be true, well this thing is the exception to the rule. Its robust build and powerful motor turned the Wagg into a fine dust with very little effort. It will also 'liquidise' bread and biscuit with very little effort. Problem solved!

Ralph.  
        

No-dog groundbait for winter...

My exploits with groundbait over the past few months have worked very well. In fact, much better than I had imagined, but now winter is around the corner I am told I need to cut back on the feed content, but maintain the attractant. This means I need to modify my method mix, and particularly my Two Dog groundbait mix that I have been using so successfully over the summer, for use over the winter. My initial plan is to remove the 'dogs' from the recipe. That will leave bread, biscuit and turmeric. By adding a small amount of very finely ground black pepper, I am told that this will significantly increase the attractive powers of the turmeric. It all gets a bit technical for me as I did not study chemistry at school or in further education.  For those who, like me, are interested in such matters, here is the bones of it, Thanks to Chris Barker at LaGuna, who was very helpful by explaining to me what is actually happening.

Turmeric on its own works mainly as a visual attraction and will create a good yellow cloud. It is not so good as a stimulating ingredient on the fish's sense of smell. Adding a small amount of black pepper to the turmeric creates a chemical iron/curcumin (present in the turmeric) complex causing a chemical reaction that binds the iron. This enables the fish to detect it easier in the water. The quantities of fine ground black pepper are very small, less than 5% of the turmeric. in my recipe, that is only 2½g - might have to get the jewellery scales out for this one!

Manual labour...

..not a bad result

If I am not careful I could get stuck in a rut with this. My Two Dog mix works well for what it is intended for,  now I am thinking that I need to start from scratch with this one. I need to decide exactly want I want, or in this case what I don't. After discussing this with some of the guys, on the angling forums I frequent, I now know that if I want to continue to use a method feeder, which I do, I need to cut down on the feed content and use the method feeder as a form of 'signal' to tell the fish there is something worth investigating. If the feed is fine enough it should disperse in the water and although the fish will be able to taste/sense it, it should not fill them up. I am thinking I will adjust the mix on the bank by adding a few free offerings if necessary.

Now I think about it, I also need to look at the hook bait. Maybe I will scale down the size of the punched Bacon Grill I have been using. All summer I have been catching lots of fish on 9mm thick, 9mm punched 'pellets' of Bacon Grill. Maybe I need to be using smaller pieces or even go away from meat altogether and go for sweetcorn or even actual pellets.

Less thinking more doing...  

Right, what I need is some fine powdered something or other. I could probably use more or less anything, I can dry and render into a fine powder, for the base. Having used bread/biscuit based mixes for all the recipes I have published so far I thought I would try something different. but what?

At 80p per kilo it has to
be worth a try

I know, you are all sitting there reading this thinking why change? Well, because I can, and experimenting is the only way to learn what works and what does not. I am building a knowledge base here that I will be able to draw on in the future. I have some ideas on summer high-food mixes for next year that involve using loose animal feed. Here in London we don't have that many 'feed' stores to frequent so it my be, for now, a case of seeing what I can get hold of. I know if I want huge bags of feed I can always get it delivered but I don't really want that quantity of dry goods sitting around to feed the mice and rats. They say wherever you are in London that you are never more than six feet away from a rat! That aside, 'er-in-doors would go nuts if I started buying bulk feed and storing it in my fishing 'office' as she described it today. It is really the utility room but, until I get around to decorating it, I have moved in. I really don't want to upset my little fruit bat as she is very tolerant of my fishing and even joins in with the bait-making from time to time. I digress (again).

The best place I can find locally, without having to drive miles, to buy loose feed is our local Pets at Home store. According to their website, I can buy a 15kg bag of Vitalin for £11.99 that equates to 80p/kg which is about the same as biscuit crumb and about 1½ times the price of dried bread but without the hassle of drying it off.

At this point er-in-doors asked if I could give here a lift to the station, as it was raining. She was off to Kensington Palace for a meeting (sounds posh, so I had to put that in). After I dropped her off I thought I would make the effort and call into our local Pets at Home store to buy a bag of Vitalin. Well, as usual nothing is that simple. The normally ten minute journey turned into forty minutes, thanks to some operatives drinking tea next to a hole in the road. When I finally got there, the place was stuffed to the gunnels with bags of dry feed for every animal you can think of. They also sell lots of other dubious things like clothes for dogs! But, you've guessed it, despite having it on their website, they had no Vitalin in store. The very nice young lady on the till said they did not stock it in that store and perhaps I could try another store she recommended, but it might be an idea to call first... Groan. I drove out of the retail park, and joined the queue of traffic that had built up heading down to the junction with the South Circular. Another half an hour of my life I am never going to get back.

No Vitalin at home...

When I eventually arrived home again, I revisited the Pets at Home website to look for the telephone number of the other store. While I was trying to navigate through a minefield of "type your postcode here" and why we need your mobile telephone number, I stumbled upon a tab that said "Collect in store"...   I ordered my bag of Vitalin, designated the store to which I wanted it to be delivered to and paid my £11.99. The page disappeared and that was it. No confirmation, nothing.  Gordon Bennett! How did I get on this treadmill... Several hours later an e-mail confirmation arrived and the blood pressure returned to closer what is regarded as normal.

Just one - for me, not the fish

Along with this confirmation was a tracking number - Click! The result was a single line that read something like: "We have no record of that transaction". Repeatedly head-butting the keyboard did nothing to improve the situation, only prompting a second and third screen showing the same message. Losing the will to live, I gave up and decamped to the kitchen for a cuppa and a caramel wafer.

To cut a very long story short, in the end it appears that my bag of Vitalin will be in store tomorrow for me to collect. All I have to do is try and avoid the traffic. Maybe I'll walk, and take Sue with me. I will need someone to carry it back home... What? No, it will be fine, she is used to carrying the shopping home. I wonder what we are having for supper...

The other thing I needed to resolve before I could go much further was to replace/repair my third coffee grinder. The Wagg dog biscuit I have been using is really hard and has defeated three coffee grinders so far. The latest one was powerful enough but the blade was not up to the job. A friend of mine recommended a blender that he swears by. It is a monster 1200W motor and enormous 1.8litre thick glass jug. I have ordered one and it will be here tomorrow. I will also order a new blade for my coffee grinder as it is really useful for converting small things like peppercorns into a fine powder probably more effectively than the pestle and mortar. More in a day or so...

Ralph.

Well, it was a day fishing...

I have got this off to a fine art. Alarm set for 05:00 Packed and ready to go the night before. Rods all tackled up, bait prepared and in the fridge, rolls made (Thanks Sue!) and a full tank of diesel...Hmmm... hold on a minute... Alarm set for 04:45.

I got there in the end - get back in there!

Crisp and dry first thing and it is really dark. Summer is well and truly over but I was not complaining, at least it was dry. The weather forecast was for a dry but overcast day, not overly warm but that was fine by me, I just took a couple more layers of clothing. I arrived at the fishery in good time and the gate opened at it's allotted time - just one of the few things that went to plan today...

My two chosen lines - I think the fish see the keep nets go in and go off and hide...

I parked the van and headed for the chalet where, on the veranda, the draw is usually posted. This time there was no draw just a map of the lake with pegs marked. I shuffled off to find out what was happening. Apparently there had been some talk of pre-baiting swims, I think these allegations had been made in jest but to avoid any others being levelled at competitors the draw was arranged differently.  This time a list of names had been drawn and the top of the list had the first pick and so on down the list. Far be it for me to judge, but this seemed fair enough to me. It is now about 07:10 and the match is not meant to start until 09:00 so the best part of a couple of hours away. The only problem was that the name on the top of the list had not arrived.  Some of the guys were getting niggled as they wanted to get set up.

There was an 'exchange' between the match organiser and a few of the guys that resulted in three of them deciding not to fish. Whatever the rights or wrongs of this, it meant we were down to only nine competitors and there was an unpleasant atmosphere. It is exactly this sort of thing that spoils it for me and why I was so against getting involved with fishing matches. The really silly thing here is that it is supposed to be  a bit of fun. It is not as if there are any big money prizes at stake.

A few minutes after the trio of disgruntled competitors walked out, the guy who was top of the draw list arrived and the pick of the pegs began. He pumped for my first choice. I did consider nobbeling him but there had been enough aggravation for one morning so I decided to let him off this time, The fact that he is much bigger than me had no bearing on the situation... I managed to get my second choice of peg in my other favoured place opposite the red lifebelt I have used as a target in the past. I am getting to know this lake now and I had a plan. 

A quick riddle of the maggots woke them up a bit after their week's sabbatical in the kitchen fridge.  They were all nice and lively by the time I had prepared the Two Dog groundbait mix. I was planning fishing two lines on the feeder and then once the fish were up in the water I would switch to the feeder float and pick them off the top like sitting ducks.  Well that was the plan.  I had been on the lake last week and was pulling fish out one after the other. For this reason I had thought, if I get a run on I could over-fill the carp net. My local fishing tackle shop had sold out of keep nets - not just the type I wanted, but any keep nets! With some reluctance I abandoned that plan. However, while waiting for the draw, I was chatting to the match organiser in the fishery shop about my net-less tackle shop and he promptly produced just what I wanted. Eager to try my new net, I thought a bit of intimidation tactics might work in my favour, so I set about casting three keep nets, two carp and a silvers. That will get them worried, I thought to myself.

By the time the all-in was called I was ready and keen to go. Working to my plan I cast a couple feeders full of the Two Dog and hooked a fish. I think I was the first to land a fish. Great! that's the way to do it. Ten minutes in and I had two in the net. It all started off to plan. Then it started to dry up and nothing was biting, not a sniff. Looking at my end tackle I realised I had probably made the hair a bit too long so I topped the punched bacon grill with a single kernel of sweetcorn. That did the trick and I caught a few more. Then I started to lose them off the hook, several times I would get a bite only for the fish to throw the hook. I changed hooklengths to a different hook and shorter hair (Kamasan 911x, from a  Guru QM1. Both size 12) I was still losing fish.

The last remaining Cygnet was looking a bit lonely...

By now the rain was falling, you know the rain that was not supposed to be here. I was not worried, I had my waterproofs what difference would it make? What I had not thought about was the Two Dog and loading the feeder.  It gets everywhere and before too long the cloth and towel were wet and sticky, the rod and reel were caked in the stuff. It was 'orrible! On top of this I was not catching many fish. I was not having a good time. I looked around and others were catching on the surface, so I decided to give that a go using a feeder float set up. after half an hour or so, with no bites and getting covered in groundbait, I gave up and went back to the feeder.

The rain had turned into that misting fine rain that never stops but completely soaks everything. and the temperature had dropped like a stone. At one point I would have been warmer in my fridge than it was there! Just as quickly as the temperature dropped it rose again to a much more comfortable level.

The end result

The fish were not playing and I was still losing fish - one in the very last couple of minutes. Not the best day's fishing I have ever had, but after all the upsets I still managed to come 5th with 24½ lb of mixed carp and bream, out of nine fishing, placing me smack in the middle of the table. Overall I had a good day out and met some more like minded anglers. I discovered a few things and came away with another experience to chalk up. That was the last match of the year at Beaver Fishery. Time to look at some other forms of fishing...

Ralph.           

Red Dog or Two Dog?

Over the summer, I have been playing around with groundbait on the feeder. My Two Dog groundbait seems to be the best of the bunch. The others work well, but the one I was not sure about was Red Dog. It has had its moments but overall it just does not seem to have the same effect as the Two Dog. Yesterday I decided to compare the two.

Hidden, well almost...

 The normal early start got me to Beaver just as the gate opened. After finding a good spot to hide the van, I got set up in no time on a peg on the other side of the lake from where I was fishing last week. By the time I was heading home, on my last visit, I was just getting the swim going. Today I wanted to try what I had learnt last week in a different part of the Jeff's lake. My intention was twofold. First I wanted to spend more time getting my cast better. Second I wanted to test the validity of my Two Dog Groundbait. It was just getting light, the mist was still hanging around and the place was deserted, much to my surprise as the forecast was for good weather I thought there would be more people about. What I had not realised was there were, they were all on Major's lake - yesterday was the first day of the pike season and Major's Lake is where the action could be had. As I am still trying to master this feeder lark the pike will have to wait... Hmmm... how about some home made lures? At that time of the morning it was still a bit chilly but with the promise of a nice sunny day in prospect. As I was setting up I could feel the sun on my back as it burnt away the remaining mist. I had the lake to myself for the first few hours, just me and my shadow.

Me and my shadow...

First thing, before I got into the method mix test, I thought I would try the swim feeder. This, I was thinking, might give me another string to the bow, in my quest to overcome the definite disadvantage to not having a pole, and supply a few silvers to bolster the catch of carp. I filled an open-ended swim feeder with a groundbait/maggot sandwich, baited up with a red maggot and cast. It didn't take long and it was fish on! This is good, I am thinking to myself, at this rate I will have a bag full of fish in no time. One minuscule rudd and three gudgeon later I went back to the feeder. I must admit that I really like gudgeon they are perfect little fish with oversized fins, they just don't add much weight to a match catch.

It may be cute but it ain't heavy

I Started to fish one line out to my left using the Two Dog mix, almost immediately I was getting bites and landing fish. I fished and fished for an hour or so and this line was still supplying fish on almost every cast. I then moved to a line to the right of me and tried the Red Dog mix. Six or seven casts produced nothing. Eventually I caught a few fish and then it dried up. I then loaded the feeder with Two Dog. First cast and bang! I had a fish on. I tried it again and caught another. time and again it was catching fish. By this time I had a flurry of fish waiting for it. As I cast out, there would be a whirl of activity on the surface and the fish would follow the feeder down.

Red Dog up against the odds on favourite, Two Dog 

Once I had them going I changed back to the Red Dog. Cast out, a small amount of activity on the first cast and then nothing. I cast again, nothing. Thinking I had fished out this swim I went back to the line on my right. Same result - nothing after maybe six or seven casts. I loaded the feeder with Two dog  and cast, expecting to have to wait and rebuild the swim I was not expecting what happened next. As soon as the feeder hit the water, the rod tip bent over double and the line was running against the clutch. I tightened the clutch slightly and it stopped. When I got it landed the fish was a decent size, no great shakes, but it must have been so happy see the Two Dog mix again it was off celebrating!

Gotcha!

Over and over again it was cast, lots of surface action then a few seconds later a bite. I think the fish were following the hook bait down but could not catch it, as it was on a short, four inch hooklength. Next time I might try a twelve inch length once the fish are up in the water. By this time my arm was aching from fighting the dozens of F1s scoffing the Two Dog. I thought this would be a good time to try the Red Dog again. Guess what? Nothing. It was as if they were just discussed with the offering. Just like the mood changes when an unwelcome visitor enters a room. Six or seven more casts and not even a hint on interest.

I am now totally convinced that there is something in the Two Dog mix that the fish crave and once they get a taste they can't leave it alone. On this visit my main intention was to get the casting sorted out (It's getting better!) so I was not counting fish, but now I wish I had. I honestly have no idea how many fish I landed but it was dozens of them. I usually work my 2-4-40 system, which entails using Two Dog groundbait, four inch hooklength and letting it sit for forty seconds. If nothing happens after that time, the feeder is retrieved, reloaded and cast again. Yesterday I don't think I managed to get to a forty-count except when I was using the Red Dog mix.

Hook bait (or should that be hair-bait?) is punched bacon grill, both fried off in oil and as it comes, They really seem to like the fried off stuff and it stays on the hair better than meat fresh from the tin. Just for a change I use a bit of sweetcorn now and again but I think the bacon grill is better. 

riddle,riddle, riddle...

As for the Two Dog itself it has to be prepared and looked after during the session. It gets riddled straight from the bag, it is then wet and mixed, riddled again. For use on the feeder it needs to be wet enough to stay on but dry enough to 'explode' from the feeder. If the fish are on the surface the bait is placed in the bottom of the feeder mould and over-filled with groundbait. The flat bottom feeder is pressed into the mould and the whole thing is released. If I am just getting going I will cast out two or three feeders with the bait method mix double skinned, that is to say that after the first application as described above the mould is filled again and the feeder with the existing mix and hook bait are reapplied to the mould to add more mix. This helps take the hook-bait further down in the water column before it is released and depositing a good amount of groundbait to hold the fish in the swim while retrieving and recasting.   

The other thing I have done differently was to improve the accuracy of my casting. This makes a real difference. Getting the feeder to land in the same place over and over again  builds up a good bed of feed that keeps the fish in the swim. A combination of my improved technique and the Two Dog groundbait will give me a much better chance of not being bottom of the leader board next Wednesday, when I will be fishing the last match of the season at Beaver Fishery, I wonder if the new toilet and shower block will be finished?

Posh bogs at Beaver - nearly finished!

By the time I got home I was knackered... (can I say that here? Too late!) but very satisfied with my day. Even though my arms ache, I reckon I could get to like this fishing lark...

Ralph.