As the heatwave draws to an end I hope you have been out making the most it, while of course still moaning about how hot and sweaty it is along the way. Long walks with lots of luggage are not a good idea as I found out the hard way after misplacing the handles of my barrow, but anyway enough waffle and on to some fishing.
The Carp are still on my brain so I have been out on a few jaunts in a bid to capture a few.The results haven't been amazing but I have still managed to put a few on the bank none the less,a quick session on a local still-water gifted me with a stunner of a ghost carp caught on the same tactics I explained in my last blog post.
Mean while I have very much struggled in my pursuit of a running water carp, a few of my mates have caught some belter's this season but not me. My time will come, and I like to think if I hadn't have spent so much of my recent time lure angling I'm sure I could have tripped a few up.But then again, I wouldn't of caught all the fish I have had on the lures would I?
I guess it boils down to the fact of there being too many fishes and not enough time to make it all happen as quickly as I want it to, but never mind that back to the lure stuff.
In the last week I have added 5 new species to my ultra light hit list bringing the tally up to 18. the new fish are as follows, Bass , Mullet , Chub , Brown trout , Horse mackerel
The most significant capture on that list has to be the Mullet,I have been watching these funny creatures for year's now but never have I found myself targeting these tricky feeder's;until now that is.The ultra light fishing has really opened up a whole world of excitement and adventure. I must thank the likes of Julian Chidgey,Adam Moxey and Steve Moore for opening my eyes to the method and giving me a few pointer's along the way.Now ,about these Mullet, As a species these fish are very unexploited.As some of you may know they are very picky when it comes to what they eat, in most cases they will be feeding on tiny items that would require a magnifying glass and a size 50 hook.They are also very alert fish and will spook off at the sight of a intruding baseball cap or the slightest flail of an arm.During the warmer months you will find them mooching way up from the sea and into the fresh water of the rivers, this is where I have observed this behaviour but until I had caught the ultra light bug I have always been content just to watch them whilst targeting other species,god had I been missing a trick!
I have heard them being dubbed as the poor mans bone fish, and after hooking my first of the species I could see why. talk about pound for pound, my first must have just about scraped the 3 mark but my god did it scrap.Proper smoked my baby reel out whilst bending the rod like it was made out of rubber,you get the picture,Mullet are the nuts!
tacticly we had to be a bit clever to get the bites,Myslf and Mox had noticed a group of Mullet milling about in shallow water,they could be seen mouthing streams of weed and feeding on algea.We didnt have any algea on us so instead we mounted the tiney-est pieces of green isome worm on a 1g size 12 jig head tied to a 6lb flurocarbon trace,the odd fish would show interest but as quickly as the lure was sucked in it would be blown back out leaving you a split second to set the hook.Awesome stuff!
Chub have also been great sport on the light lures, a trip to the River Tone saw me score a butt load of fish to the 3lb mark on micro crankbaits fished on or slightly below the surface,the takes are explosive and very sudden,most fish nailed the lure so hard there was no need to lift or strike,these fish wanted it.
Credit to Marcin Kwasniewski for showing us round his stomping ground and guiding us all to lots of hook-ups,good times.
I,m trying to work out where I can add some more species to the ultra light hit list for now.
Til next time
Good luck
