Sam & Mark's Carping Escapades Ep. 1

Sam & Mark's Carping Escapades Episode 1

Firstly welcome to the first in this mini series of blogs from myself and The Man, The Myth  and The Legend…Mr Mark Ellicock.

So a little about us, I am 22 years old and I have been fishing since I was 10, not seriously or all that often to start with but thats when I started wetting a line.  I've fished various venues, from runs water day tickets, to big, open deep reservoirs to where I am now on my first syndicate.  Mark got into carp fishing through a very good friend of his at the age of 16 and cut his teeth on the famous and historic Walthamstow complex, catching any of the famed fish, and fishing various other waters to the syndicate that I am currently on.  It was Mark that got me on to the water that we are both currently fishing. Finally and obviously we are both proud to be a part of Hydra Baits.

Right, now onto the fishing side of things.  I want to roll back the clock a couple of months ago to late June.  The water we are currently fishing still implements a closed season from the 31st of March until the 1st of June, so with that in mind we have both booked holiday from work to get to the lake on the 1st and fish for 4 days until the Sunday.  Or so we thought.  Through events that took place over the winter and some unfortunate ill health from the owner of the lake, the start of the season was pushed back until the Sunday that we were both planning on finishing our sessions on, not starting.  I was very fortunate with my work and was able to change my holiday days and take the whole of the following week off, and fish Sunday-Saturday but the same couldn't be said for Mark who could only do a few hours on the Sunday after the draw.  Myself and Mark both marked the same peg as the one we would favour most if we came out first in the draw, so we devised a plan that although Mark was only there for the day he would still enter the draw, basically giving me two chances.

I came out second in the draw luckily enough and opted for a peg I knew well and have fished numerous times, it was my second choice of peg so no dramas, as did Mark in another peg.  After a short period of time with the marker rod I had mapped out my 2 spots in the under water jungle that is the weed in this lake.  Rods clipped up, Liver Pro pop ups on and rods out.  The same series of events took place for Mark with the difference that he was fishing with TNT pop ups.  The time came for Mark to break down the rods and leave me for my long session ahead and unfortunately without a fish.  My first 48 hours were uneventful with an angler to my left landing a mid 20 and the owner catching one of the originals at 28lb on the first evening.  Then finally early in the morning I had a take but I was disastrously cut off.  Fuming, and to add insult to injury the guy to my left had another at 31lb.  Rod back on the spot and it took another 24 hours to get another bite but this time she tipped over the cord on my net after a spirited (and nervous) fight.  The scales spun round to 27lb 5oz, RESULT!  

27lb 5oz Common

Back in the bivvy preparing that rod to go back out I heard the most almighty crash and I shot out to have a look, I was greeted with the awesome sight of a froth on the surface from something feeding directly on my spot.  Needless to say I was excited.  10 minutes later and another flying take before I'd had a chance to get the other rod back out.  The result was a target fish of mine which is an old original called the Fat Belly Common, and to make it even better at one of her best weights of 29lb 7oz. 

Fat Belly Common, 29lb 7oz

The last couple of days were uneventful I had no more fish and 2 days after I left the complex the fish started to spawn.  

So thats the start of the season and myself and Mark have been back twice now but to get the details you'll have to read the next instalment.

All the best

Sam & Mark

Round Table #1

Round Table #1

Targeting Tricky Low Stocked & Syndicate Waters

Welcome to the 1^st instalment of the Hydra Baits Round Table. These discussions will be based around a particular topic, be it current affairs in carping or just an overall “discussion” to gather opinions/ideas about a particular aspect of fishing from the team at Hydra in order to pass the knowledge/tips to the user(s).

Following the recent successes for Hydra team members on their syndicate/target waters we thought it would only be appropriate for some of the team who are fishing syndicates or targeting specific fish in their water to take some time & pass on some of the knowledge that they have acquired during their long hair pulling blanks & the euphoric highs.

The team was asked for responses to 5 questions regarding targeting low stocked & syndicate waters. These questions were: -

·         What are your main thoughts about targeting a trickier water for the first time?

·         You have been on the water for a few sessions and are still to catch. Would you ever consider a change to your approach?

·         What importance would you put on “outside influences” such as moon phases, weather etc.?

·         What are your feelings towards pre-baiting “unfavoured” swims and launching a “campaign”?

·         Do you have any stories of “out of the box” thinking methods that have been employed in pursuit of your target fish?

What are your main thoughts about targeting a trickier water for the first time?

“Research & homework first walk the water a good few times and speak to the guys already on there, then piece together the jigsaw from the false info fed” – anonymous

“Get to know the venue. Dates/Times of captures, known hot spots. Speak to the squirrels to gain as much info as possible and spend as much time at the venue” – Richard Freeman

“1^st and foremost polaroid glasses look & look even hard. 2^nd if you’re doing the night get up at 4am and watch the water for showing fish & bubblers. 3^rd look even harder” – Mark Ellicock

“Speak to bailiffs or local tackle shops. But do plenty of walking around the lake dropping a bit of bait in” – Craig Challinor

You have been on the water for a few sessions and are still to catch. Would you ever consider a change to your approach?

“Yes, but each rod would be fished on differing tactics from the start to see if one had better responses” – anonymous

“Yes always open approach, go with various methods until one starts to produce” – Richard Freeman

“No I never second guess an approach that worked before BUT new products can help fine tune an approach for me this has happened in the shape of Korda chod dropper bead” – Mark Ellicock

“If you’re confident in your usual approach stick to it.. if it aint broke don’t fix it” – Craig Challinor

What importance would you put on “outside influences” such as moon phases, weather etc.?

“Low pressure and westerly/south westerly winds are the starting point” – anonymous

“Pressure yes deffo effect, moon phases debatable” – Richard Freeman

“Never gave the moon any creedance only ever as a joke fish get caught what ever amount of moon you can see or not. Wind can play a big importance in location. Heavy rain has ruined many a good days fishing just because I hate getting soaked” – Mark Ellicock

“Being a weekend angler I don’t have the luxury to worry about this” – Craig Challinor

What are your feelings towards pre-baiting “unflavoured” swims and launching a “campaign”?

“Again part of the jigsaw, “unfavoured” swims will generally produce after a baiting campaign provided the fish are happy to be in the area” – anonymous

“Absolutely, prebaiting would be an essential part” – Richard Freeman

“Unfavoured swims I love ‘em I’ve had some good results from areas of the lake no one wants to fish 9 times out of 10 it’s because they are awkward casting or uncomfortable but the fish don’t care” – Mark Ellicock

“I’ve tried it on club waters to good success..especially on less targeted swims” – Craig Challinor

Do you have any stories of “out of the box” thinking methods that have been employed in pursuit of your target fish?

“A certain water “didn’t respond to mass particle fishing”, until that method was employed and target fish was caught on second session using the method. Quote “only boilies work on here mate” well that’s funny as target was caught on a corn rig fished heli style with single grain of plastic!” – anonymous

“Fishing a well known water I would introduce heavy baiting at 3:30am when the campers were asleep” – Richard Freeman

“During my time on Walthamstow 90% of my fishing was on singles hunting fish but I always fed 3lb of bait when I left on showing fish or my trusted spots” – Mark Ellicock

“Had a lot of success in 2001 by using strawberry paste wrapped around my boilie in a PVA bag filled with pellets mixed with strawberry flavoured milkshake powder and bicarbonate of soda” – Craig Challinor

Hopefully by employing these tips & edges into your own fishing arsenal they should help you track down and catch that elusive target fish on your water.

Tight Lines

The Hydra Team