I would like more Ken! I am slowly reading through them all 
OK...More to come over the weekend. Thanks for the last three posts 
In reply to Post #149
Seen a lot of thIs before, and it's great seeing it all again, brings back fond memeries of the past on Rac waters, happy times.
Keep it coming Ken, love it
Seen a lot of thIs before, and it's great seeing it all again, brings back fond memeries of the past on Rac waters, happy times.
Keep it coming Ken, love it
In reply to Post #150
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these as you pop them onto the forum.
Its a great way of spending your lunch hour
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these as you pop them onto the forum.
Its a great way of spending your lunch hour
Sorry if my random tales jump about in time somewhat but at my age (whisper it quietly...it's 70) I find it increasingly hard to concentrate on a timeline from then to now and subsequently describing what lies between the two points in any kind of structured manner! There are simply too many memories of the south west and elsewhere as so much has happened in my angling life, especially back in those halcyon days when carp fishing was full of uncertainties with none of the vids, TV shows and mags that make it comparatively 'easy' these days. Every trip was a flight into the unknown: new venues, new fish, new experiences, new triumphs and disasters. It seems to me that these days just about everything is handed to carpers on a plate, but that's probably the old fogie in me coming out.
It is inevitable that some memories get mixed up with others and that the repetition of some reminiscences will inevitably occur and possibly even in slightly different forms. Please bear with me! One tale that I think is worth telling recalls a few particularly eventful trips that took place in the late summer/early autumn of 1987.
I guess many of you will think that what follows is pretty nondescript, and I suppose by today's standards you could be right. Nowadays twenties are seemingly commonplace and hardly merit a passing mention in the news. Every youngster and newcomer to the sport has been weaned on a diet of 30s and 40s (and bigger) and they see it as a 'right' that they should land a thirty within ten minutes of their first ever trip! However, 30 years ago a twenty was not to be sniffed at and deservedly so, as they didn't grow on trees, especially in darkest, deepest Cornwall!
At the time we are talking about I was mainly concentrating my fishing effort on two vastly different venues; College, the 40-acre reservoir near Penryn, and Salamander Lake, my name for a tiny little pond close to my home on the south coast of Cornwall. This first shot shows my Dave Barnes Aqua-Shed set up in The Beach in the autumn of 1987, about the time the events I am about to describe to you took place.
And this is the Lifebelt swim on Salamander, my favourite swim on the lake. You can just catch a glimpse of the lifebelt in the hole in the tree line behind the actual swim. Sadly it looks nothing like so 'carpy' today as the park has been 'tidied' by over zealous staff with too many power tools to hand!
I had been enjoying relative success on most of the lakes I had visited, thanks in no small part to the bait that Tim had put me on. The controversial theory of Nutritional Recognition had long been discussed by better brains than mine for several years and opinions were pretty divided back then as to whether it was a load of old hokum or not. (Pretty much the same as now, then!)
Starting a few years earlier I had by pure chance fallen under the influence of the two arguably greatest brains in the carp world at that time, Tim Paisley and Keith Sykes, and I had been enjoying a prolonged and somewhat confusing (on my part) correspondence for some time with them both. Keith's letters sometimes ran to 30 pages or more, starting off typed, but then as his brain ran away with him in longhand. I still keep that correspondence as the contents are as valid today as they were back then.
It is inevitable that some memories get mixed up with others and that the repetition of some reminiscences will inevitably occur and possibly even in slightly different forms. Please bear with me! One tale that I think is worth telling recalls a few particularly eventful trips that took place in the late summer/early autumn of 1987.
I guess many of you will think that what follows is pretty nondescript, and I suppose by today's standards you could be right. Nowadays twenties are seemingly commonplace and hardly merit a passing mention in the news. Every youngster and newcomer to the sport has been weaned on a diet of 30s and 40s (and bigger) and they see it as a 'right' that they should land a thirty within ten minutes of their first ever trip! However, 30 years ago a twenty was not to be sniffed at and deservedly so, as they didn't grow on trees, especially in darkest, deepest Cornwall!
At the time we are talking about I was mainly concentrating my fishing effort on two vastly different venues; College, the 40-acre reservoir near Penryn, and Salamander Lake, my name for a tiny little pond close to my home on the south coast of Cornwall. This first shot shows my Dave Barnes Aqua-Shed set up in The Beach in the autumn of 1987, about the time the events I am about to describe to you took place.
And this is the Lifebelt swim on Salamander, my favourite swim on the lake. You can just catch a glimpse of the lifebelt in the hole in the tree line behind the actual swim. Sadly it looks nothing like so 'carpy' today as the park has been 'tidied' by over zealous staff with too many power tools to hand!
I had been enjoying relative success on most of the lakes I had visited, thanks in no small part to the bait that Tim had put me on. The controversial theory of Nutritional Recognition had long been discussed by better brains than mine for several years and opinions were pretty divided back then as to whether it was a load of old hokum or not. (Pretty much the same as now, then!)
Starting a few years earlier I had by pure chance fallen under the influence of the two arguably greatest brains in the carp world at that time, Tim Paisley and Keith Sykes, and I had been enjoying a prolonged and somewhat confusing (on my part) correspondence for some time with them both. Keith's letters sometimes ran to 30 pages or more, starting off typed, but then as his brain ran away with him in longhand. I still keep that correspondence as the contents are as valid today as they were back then.
In reply to Post #152
As you can see, Keith was a member of the famous (or perhaps infamous) Official Longfield Drinking Team, which was perhaps just a tad less esoteric than the Golden Scale Club, which was also around at the time. A am sorry but I have had to blank out some of the product references in the letter as these were then and are now closely guarded secrets...you'll note that one particular product was released commercially and it is still 'out there' in various (predominantly diluted!) guises.
Keith's correspondence contained way more information than I was capable of handling but all that brain power aimed my way was bound to have an effect, and even my tiny mind was open enough to accept that what he said made sense. Not only that, the proof of the pudding had most assuredly been in the eating, as I had enjoyed fishing beyond my wildest dreams using baits based on their ideas and concepts. This is some of the reading material that Keith sent me.
Given the amount of info that came my way via Tim and Keith it is small wonder I became hooked on the science of carp bait and to this day I remain hugely grateful to the pair of them. Many thanks, Keith and Tim.
The more I read and researched the more the concept of natural attraction sat easy with me, all the more so when Keith suggested a number of nutritional aspects of bait that had not really been covered to date. In addition his experiences in the Far East, working with koi rearers, suggested a positive response by carp to a number of what appeared to be natural feeding triggers among them certain amino acids one of which was betaine! Tim was also a fan and had used it I n his original HERNV recipe and Nutrabaits also took on the product. Nowadays there is more betaine in one for or another on the carp bait market to float a boat!
Keith put me onto a source of a crystalline, highly soluble betaine and I incorporated it into my baits right away. Almost immediately it started bearing fruit in my fishing and as my results soared it became clear to me that betaine was a very positive attractor or feeding trigger of some kind. Keith also suggested a couple of other naturally occurring substances that would also help, not so much as nutritional aids but more in the way of detection and attraction. One of these was citric acid, which I have used in just about every bait I have made since.
By now I had moved away from the pure milk protein-based HNV that had formed the basis of Tim's concept and was now using a bait that was a cross between a milk protein HNV and a raw fishmeal bait. The recipe included the traditional milks – rennet casein, calcium caseinate, lactalbumin – as well as a blend of fishmeals, full fat soya, some Red Factor and a dab of Robin Red. In addition I was using 5g/lb of betaine in with the eggs, and a further 10g scattered over the cooling baits prior to freezing. This bait I rather unimaginatively called, ‘The Bait'. Finally to act as a label I used a combination of two essential oils at very low levels.
By now I had also grasped the concept of using boosted, high-attract alternative hookbaits thanks to input from Tim and Bill during Nutrabaits' formative years pre-1987 This was a two-egg mix containing additional Betaine and a new ingredient (to me) Green Lipped Mussel Extract (GLME), with elevated levels of the essential oil package. I called these hookbaits my Betaine Specials (more blistering originality there, Ken). Bill had waxed lyrical about the GLM extract as during testing in Kent it had proved to be the best of several extracts that were out on test at the time.
As you can see, Keith was a member of the famous (or perhaps infamous) Official Longfield Drinking Team, which was perhaps just a tad less esoteric than the Golden Scale Club, which was also around at the time. A am sorry but I have had to blank out some of the product references in the letter as these were then and are now closely guarded secrets...you'll note that one particular product was released commercially and it is still 'out there' in various (predominantly diluted!) guises.
Keith's correspondence contained way more information than I was capable of handling but all that brain power aimed my way was bound to have an effect, and even my tiny mind was open enough to accept that what he said made sense. Not only that, the proof of the pudding had most assuredly been in the eating, as I had enjoyed fishing beyond my wildest dreams using baits based on their ideas and concepts. This is some of the reading material that Keith sent me.
Given the amount of info that came my way via Tim and Keith it is small wonder I became hooked on the science of carp bait and to this day I remain hugely grateful to the pair of them. Many thanks, Keith and Tim.
The more I read and researched the more the concept of natural attraction sat easy with me, all the more so when Keith suggested a number of nutritional aspects of bait that had not really been covered to date. In addition his experiences in the Far East, working with koi rearers, suggested a positive response by carp to a number of what appeared to be natural feeding triggers among them certain amino acids one of which was betaine! Tim was also a fan and had used it I n his original HERNV recipe and Nutrabaits also took on the product. Nowadays there is more betaine in one for or another on the carp bait market to float a boat!
Keith put me onto a source of a crystalline, highly soluble betaine and I incorporated it into my baits right away. Almost immediately it started bearing fruit in my fishing and as my results soared it became clear to me that betaine was a very positive attractor or feeding trigger of some kind. Keith also suggested a couple of other naturally occurring substances that would also help, not so much as nutritional aids but more in the way of detection and attraction. One of these was citric acid, which I have used in just about every bait I have made since.
By now I had moved away from the pure milk protein-based HNV that had formed the basis of Tim's concept and was now using a bait that was a cross between a milk protein HNV and a raw fishmeal bait. The recipe included the traditional milks – rennet casein, calcium caseinate, lactalbumin – as well as a blend of fishmeals, full fat soya, some Red Factor and a dab of Robin Red. In addition I was using 5g/lb of betaine in with the eggs, and a further 10g scattered over the cooling baits prior to freezing. This bait I rather unimaginatively called, ‘The Bait'. Finally to act as a label I used a combination of two essential oils at very low levels.
By now I had also grasped the concept of using boosted, high-attract alternative hookbaits thanks to input from Tim and Bill during Nutrabaits' formative years pre-1987 This was a two-egg mix containing additional Betaine and a new ingredient (to me) Green Lipped Mussel Extract (GLME), with elevated levels of the essential oil package. I called these hookbaits my Betaine Specials (more blistering originality there, Ken). Bill had waxed lyrical about the GLM extract as during testing in Kent it had proved to be the best of several extracts that were out on test at the time.
In reply to Post #153
When I was first getting into bait both Tim and Keith set great store in freshness. Indeed, they was adamant that all my bait should be 'freezer fresh' as Tim put it. It seemed that freezing was the key to the bait as it never worked as well when it was introduced de-frosted or even freshly rolled. Something positive clearly happened to the bait while it was in the freezer and though I had no idea what, it was obviously significant in terms of attraction.
I used to take my bait down to College still frozen and store it in the freezer of The New Inn at Mabe Burnthouse, a nearby pub, which became a second home to many College anglers over the years! This gave me the perfect excuse to go down the boozer every day for fresh bait and naturally a pint or two followed. For Salamander, with the lake being so close to home, I had no excuse! Where possible I liked to introduce the bait while it was still frozen and would keep a couple of Thermos flasks of frozen bait in the car or the back of the bivvy if the car got too hot.
So now to the trips in question, which I will illustrate with photos of the relevant pages of my diary. Back in those days there was nothing like the number of active carpers around and midweek it was quite likely I would have the lake to myself. What bliss! To have the run of the place with time to chose the most suitable swim for the conditions without a frantic race from the car park or the threat of violence if you happened to get the ‘going' swim.
In the case of College at the time there were two or three banker swims, all situated on the west bank where the shallower water could be found. These swims were the Swamp, the Ponderosa and the Beach and when I arrived I found myself spoilt for choice, all three being empty. In fact apart from Graham fishing the SE point I had the lake to myself.
The forecast gave falling pressure and increasing south west wind, which on the fact of it would indicate that the east bank might be a better propositions. However, I knew full well that the College fish were particularly supercilious in accepting human dictates and a large proportion of the College fish stubbornly refused to follow the wind...any wind! I therefore set up in the Ponderosa in the relative lee of the forest behind me. I wanted to get set up before the rain arrived and by seven in the evening the baits were out and three frozen mixes of The Bait had been scattered far and wide over the shallows in front of and to the side of the Ponderosa.
The first run, which came at 9.30 that evening produced a 19lb mirror and this was followed by a further three fish, all mirrors during the night. By now it was raining heavily but in a lull I managed to put out a further three mixes and change hookbaits. This is the first page in my diary that relates to those trips.
We had found that the hookbaits and the freebies bait seldom lasted more than 12 hours in the water before softening up considerably as they took on lake water as the bait broke down and maybe, just maybe, the enzymes worked as intended...a once in a thousand occurrence. It was quite usual to bring back empty hair and a lot of guesswork went on trying to find the optimum time to reel in...when it was pissing down definitely was not the optimum time, but it's only rain...Can't kill ‘ya!
However, it can kill a camera so when the next run scorched off at a ferocious pace at just after eight in the morning when the coffee cup was half way to my lips - it went everywhere - I thought to myself, if this isn't a twenty it's going back without a pic. Of course, it simply had to be a twenty and a common at that, so not wishing to get my camera gear drenched and ruined I set up the camera on its tripod and squeezed it into one corner of my bivvy. Cradling the common in my arms I crouched down in the opposite corner and fired off several shots using the bulb operated shutter release. Remember, this was in the days when digital cameras were a far off dream so there was no in-camera reviewing of shots taken to check that they are OK. You just had to wait until the film came back from the processors. The photo here is the best of a very bad lot. It does no justice whatsoever to a lovely fish and leaves me looking like some sheepish fish nicker caught in the act!
When I was first getting into bait both Tim and Keith set great store in freshness. Indeed, they was adamant that all my bait should be 'freezer fresh' as Tim put it. It seemed that freezing was the key to the bait as it never worked as well when it was introduced de-frosted or even freshly rolled. Something positive clearly happened to the bait while it was in the freezer and though I had no idea what, it was obviously significant in terms of attraction.
I used to take my bait down to College still frozen and store it in the freezer of The New Inn at Mabe Burnthouse, a nearby pub, which became a second home to many College anglers over the years! This gave me the perfect excuse to go down the boozer every day for fresh bait and naturally a pint or two followed. For Salamander, with the lake being so close to home, I had no excuse! Where possible I liked to introduce the bait while it was still frozen and would keep a couple of Thermos flasks of frozen bait in the car or the back of the bivvy if the car got too hot.
So now to the trips in question, which I will illustrate with photos of the relevant pages of my diary. Back in those days there was nothing like the number of active carpers around and midweek it was quite likely I would have the lake to myself. What bliss! To have the run of the place with time to chose the most suitable swim for the conditions without a frantic race from the car park or the threat of violence if you happened to get the ‘going' swim.
In the case of College at the time there were two or three banker swims, all situated on the west bank where the shallower water could be found. These swims were the Swamp, the Ponderosa and the Beach and when I arrived I found myself spoilt for choice, all three being empty. In fact apart from Graham fishing the SE point I had the lake to myself.
The forecast gave falling pressure and increasing south west wind, which on the fact of it would indicate that the east bank might be a better propositions. However, I knew full well that the College fish were particularly supercilious in accepting human dictates and a large proportion of the College fish stubbornly refused to follow the wind...any wind! I therefore set up in the Ponderosa in the relative lee of the forest behind me. I wanted to get set up before the rain arrived and by seven in the evening the baits were out and three frozen mixes of The Bait had been scattered far and wide over the shallows in front of and to the side of the Ponderosa.
The first run, which came at 9.30 that evening produced a 19lb mirror and this was followed by a further three fish, all mirrors during the night. By now it was raining heavily but in a lull I managed to put out a further three mixes and change hookbaits. This is the first page in my diary that relates to those trips.
We had found that the hookbaits and the freebies bait seldom lasted more than 12 hours in the water before softening up considerably as they took on lake water as the bait broke down and maybe, just maybe, the enzymes worked as intended...a once in a thousand occurrence. It was quite usual to bring back empty hair and a lot of guesswork went on trying to find the optimum time to reel in...when it was pissing down definitely was not the optimum time, but it's only rain...Can't kill ‘ya!
However, it can kill a camera so when the next run scorched off at a ferocious pace at just after eight in the morning when the coffee cup was half way to my lips - it went everywhere - I thought to myself, if this isn't a twenty it's going back without a pic. Of course, it simply had to be a twenty and a common at that, so not wishing to get my camera gear drenched and ruined I set up the camera on its tripod and squeezed it into one corner of my bivvy. Cradling the common in my arms I crouched down in the opposite corner and fired off several shots using the bulb operated shutter release. Remember, this was in the days when digital cameras were a far off dream so there was no in-camera reviewing of shots taken to check that they are OK. You just had to wait until the film came back from the processors. The photo here is the best of a very bad lot. It does no justice whatsoever to a lovely fish and leaves me looking like some sheepish fish nicker caught in the act!
In reply to Post #154
The rain continued to teem and the fish continued to feed. Three more twenties followed, a 23lb common and mirrors of 21lb 12oz and 20lb 2oz. This made it four twenties on the trot. Everything right was coming together at once, the bait, the hookbaits and the weather. Peering out into the lowering skies I saw a carp poke its head and shoulders out less than thirty yards out. It was shallow there...we waded past that spot to cast for heaven's sake. Still, if that's where they want to feed, then that's where I'll put the baits! This is page two of the relevant diary entries.
I put in some more bait and added fresh hookbaits to the hairs and cast all three to the general area where I had seen the fish and then sat down to my first meal for over 24 hours. Somehow in all the excitement I had completely forgotten to eat! Then half way through my meal I had the fish we called the Near Leather. This was a comparatively rare capture during College's 'special years' as it was seldom caught.
The rain had long ago stopped but the midnight shipping gave gales on the way and falling pressure. I took advantage of the lull to clean the bivvy of accumulated mud and debris, some of which was clinging to the roof...How on earth did it get up there?
At one in the morning I had the most friendly carp in the lake, Two Scales at 18lb 6oz. It was widely thought that she had died after the peanut blitz as she had looked rough as rats on her last capture. I popped her in a sack to show Gra in the morning - he had now moved into the Swamp.
I then decided to part with the rest of my frozen bait and three fresh hookbaits. I had to be away by ten that morning and I never took any bait home with me. The final four mixes including all but half a dozen overloaded hookbaits went out onto the hole in the weed where the fish had showed. It was so close in and therefore shallow I could have put them in by hand if I'd had my chesties.
Graham, now in the Swamp, came up to the Ponderosa for a social so we shared a glass or three before tuning in. Two fish on at once came at 04.50, then a lull until a double figure common at 08.15. With only three hookbaits left I rebaited and chucked these out to the same area and within the hour had another big double on the bank. The fish were showing all over the baited area, though I doubt there was much bait left apart from the smell of the solubles and the rapidly dissolving and softening paste that had once been boiled bait. Further takes were a racing cert and they came half an hour apart at 09.20h and 09.50h, the final fish being an awesome half-linear mirror with a huge mouth, that went by the unlovely name of Big Gob! Gra did the pix and I packed up, thankful that I had managed to do so in the dry.
Well that was very nice I said to myself as I left the car park; five twenties and nine back ups! Must try to get back here soon as possible...But my plans to revisit College were thwarted by a car that adamantly refused to start...so I got a taxi to Salamander instead.
The generally low pressure that had been sweeping Cornwall for a couple of weeks showed no signs of moving on. Water temperatures hovered around the magical 50 degree mark (I say magical, as in my experience this is the optimum temperature for sustained feeding activity. I have been convinced of this fact ever since reading Carp Fever, in which KM draws similar conclusions. If they are good enough for him, then they are good enough for me.)
I went into the Lifebelt swim and fished with two rods away down along the left hand margins, heavily baited, and the other away along the right hand margins baited only with a stringer of mini baits to bring them onto the high attract Betaine Special hookbaits.
The rain continued to teem and the fish continued to feed. Three more twenties followed, a 23lb common and mirrors of 21lb 12oz and 20lb 2oz. This made it four twenties on the trot. Everything right was coming together at once, the bait, the hookbaits and the weather. Peering out into the lowering skies I saw a carp poke its head and shoulders out less than thirty yards out. It was shallow there...we waded past that spot to cast for heaven's sake. Still, if that's where they want to feed, then that's where I'll put the baits! This is page two of the relevant diary entries.
I put in some more bait and added fresh hookbaits to the hairs and cast all three to the general area where I had seen the fish and then sat down to my first meal for over 24 hours. Somehow in all the excitement I had completely forgotten to eat! Then half way through my meal I had the fish we called the Near Leather. This was a comparatively rare capture during College's 'special years' as it was seldom caught.
The rain had long ago stopped but the midnight shipping gave gales on the way and falling pressure. I took advantage of the lull to clean the bivvy of accumulated mud and debris, some of which was clinging to the roof...How on earth did it get up there?
At one in the morning I had the most friendly carp in the lake, Two Scales at 18lb 6oz. It was widely thought that she had died after the peanut blitz as she had looked rough as rats on her last capture. I popped her in a sack to show Gra in the morning - he had now moved into the Swamp.
I then decided to part with the rest of my frozen bait and three fresh hookbaits. I had to be away by ten that morning and I never took any bait home with me. The final four mixes including all but half a dozen overloaded hookbaits went out onto the hole in the weed where the fish had showed. It was so close in and therefore shallow I could have put them in by hand if I'd had my chesties.
Graham, now in the Swamp, came up to the Ponderosa for a social so we shared a glass or three before tuning in. Two fish on at once came at 04.50, then a lull until a double figure common at 08.15. With only three hookbaits left I rebaited and chucked these out to the same area and within the hour had another big double on the bank. The fish were showing all over the baited area, though I doubt there was much bait left apart from the smell of the solubles and the rapidly dissolving and softening paste that had once been boiled bait. Further takes were a racing cert and they came half an hour apart at 09.20h and 09.50h, the final fish being an awesome half-linear mirror with a huge mouth, that went by the unlovely name of Big Gob! Gra did the pix and I packed up, thankful that I had managed to do so in the dry.
Well that was very nice I said to myself as I left the car park; five twenties and nine back ups! Must try to get back here soon as possible...But my plans to revisit College were thwarted by a car that adamantly refused to start...so I got a taxi to Salamander instead.
The generally low pressure that had been sweeping Cornwall for a couple of weeks showed no signs of moving on. Water temperatures hovered around the magical 50 degree mark (I say magical, as in my experience this is the optimum temperature for sustained feeding activity. I have been convinced of this fact ever since reading Carp Fever, in which KM draws similar conclusions. If they are good enough for him, then they are good enough for me.)
I went into the Lifebelt swim and fished with two rods away down along the left hand margins, heavily baited, and the other away along the right hand margins baited only with a stringer of mini baits to bring them onto the high attract Betaine Special hookbaits.
In reply to Post #155
There was only one other angler on the lake, a local policeman called Dave. He had been developing nicely as an angler and was also well and truly hooked on the idea and concept of quality bait. Dave was down at the outlet end of the lake and he reported lots of movement in front of him with fish puffing up the bottom. I wished him luck between gritted teeth. When they are clouding up like this the Salamander fish seem to loose all caution. This madness doesn't last long, however, and you need to be on your toes to take advantage of it.
I had a good kip that first night, undisturbed by any carpy action whatsoever, but when I crept down to my left hand baited area the following morning I saw that all the bait had gone. The eels in Salamander were notorious bait robbers and any bait with milks in was asking for a visit. The resident swans too were not averse to wiping you out during the night. Undaunted I put a fresh (frozen) mix of The Bait into the swim and rebaited with the same bait as hookbaits, and at 10.00h that morning had a big old mirror we had nicknamed Gutbucket, with good reason, as you can see from the photo!
Now one fish per 24 hours is considered good going at Salamander so when I had two more before nightfall including another twenty, Jellybelly at 23lb 6oz, I thought things could not get any better. This is the relevant page from my diary on the 3rd October 1987 after a blank first night.
Things most certainly did get better...I had Big Daddy at noon the next day and persuaded Dave to give me a lift back home for more bait. His payment was a mix for himself. He used it well, opening his Salamander account with, unfortunately, the smallest fish in the lake! Here Daddy rests grudgingly in the landing net!
And here's the old girl going back.
And this is Dave the Plod with his first Salamander carp. The first is always the hardest to catch, so the folk lore has it. There must be some truth in that old adage as he went on to fill his boots in the subsequent years.
There was only one other angler on the lake, a local policeman called Dave. He had been developing nicely as an angler and was also well and truly hooked on the idea and concept of quality bait. Dave was down at the outlet end of the lake and he reported lots of movement in front of him with fish puffing up the bottom. I wished him luck between gritted teeth. When they are clouding up like this the Salamander fish seem to loose all caution. This madness doesn't last long, however, and you need to be on your toes to take advantage of it.
I had a good kip that first night, undisturbed by any carpy action whatsoever, but when I crept down to my left hand baited area the following morning I saw that all the bait had gone. The eels in Salamander were notorious bait robbers and any bait with milks in was asking for a visit. The resident swans too were not averse to wiping you out during the night. Undaunted I put a fresh (frozen) mix of The Bait into the swim and rebaited with the same bait as hookbaits, and at 10.00h that morning had a big old mirror we had nicknamed Gutbucket, with good reason, as you can see from the photo!
Now one fish per 24 hours is considered good going at Salamander so when I had two more before nightfall including another twenty, Jellybelly at 23lb 6oz, I thought things could not get any better. This is the relevant page from my diary on the 3rd October 1987 after a blank first night.
Things most certainly did get better...I had Big Daddy at noon the next day and persuaded Dave to give me a lift back home for more bait. His payment was a mix for himself. He used it well, opening his Salamander account with, unfortunately, the smallest fish in the lake! Here Daddy rests grudgingly in the landing net!
And here's the old girl going back.
And this is Dave the Plod with his first Salamander carp. The first is always the hardest to catch, so the folk lore has it. There must be some truth in that old adage as he went on to fill his boots in the subsequent years.
In reply to Post #156
A further three mixes produced another seven fish including, Humpy at just under 19lb, the Pet at 21lb 2oz, landed at one in the morning, returned without a pic, and Goldie at 19lb 4oz.
This is Humpy going back.
And this is Goldie. The self-takes pix that were taken at the time of this capture did not come out well so I have used this one of Goldie at the time of a subsequent capture. I think the colour on the trees provides a perfect background. I think this is a fantastic pic and thanks go to Tat for doing such a good job!
And here's Goldie going back ...
And so the session came to an end with a dozen coming to the next...And this from a lake where every take is regarded as a precious gift from the gods and one fish a session is good going. This is the final page of my diary for that memorable session first on College and then on Salamander.
Two trips; ten twenties. Thank you Tim and Keith. Where would I have been without you!
As a rather nice footnote, I returned to Salamander for a short day session while my car was at the car doctor's just down the road. I had only one take, but it was The Pet once again, and this time I did manage a pic or two!
A further three mixes produced another seven fish including, Humpy at just under 19lb, the Pet at 21lb 2oz, landed at one in the morning, returned without a pic, and Goldie at 19lb 4oz.
This is Humpy going back.
And this is Goldie. The self-takes pix that were taken at the time of this capture did not come out well so I have used this one of Goldie at the time of a subsequent capture. I think the colour on the trees provides a perfect background. I think this is a fantastic pic and thanks go to Tat for doing such a good job!
And here's Goldie going back ...
And so the session came to an end with a dozen coming to the next...And this from a lake where every take is regarded as a precious gift from the gods and one fish a session is good going. This is the final page of my diary for that memorable session first on College and then on Salamander.
Two trips; ten twenties. Thank you Tim and Keith. Where would I have been without you!
As a rather nice footnote, I returned to Salamander for a short day session while my car was at the car doctor's just down the road. I had only one take, but it was The Pet once again, and this time I did manage a pic or two!
In reply to Post #157
In reply to Post #157
Good read ken, keep em coming mate, don't forget to save some for the book.
Good read ken, keep em coming mate, don't forget to save some for the book.
In reply to Post #160
Not a clue mate,don't tell me its on my door step or I'll kick myself,i could name a place but the farm building in the back ground doesn't fit.
Not a clue mate,don't tell me its on my door step or I'll kick myself,i could name a place but the farm building in the back ground doesn't fit.
In reply to Post #161
Let's put it this way, Paul. It's definitely not in Staffordshire!
Let's put it this way, Paul. It's definitely not in Staffordshire!
In reply to Post #162
Then I'm sorry but I haven't a lot of experience outside of Staffordshire or Cheshire.
Then I'm sorry but I haven't a lot of experience outside of Staffordshire or Cheshire.