August 2009 (3)

A day on the ‘Duckpond’.

Situated right at the top of the Baden Hall complex, you will find the ‘Duckpond’. At a little over 2 acres, this intimate pool has everything you could wish for when it comes to peaceful relaxation. Shaded pegs, varying depths, an island, deep margins and of course, lots of hungry carp to catch!

‘DUCKPOND’

With fish to over 20lbs, the Duckpond will appeal to many carp anglers, and, with this in mind, I wanted to set up two carp rods to try to catch one. Arriving early, I had a wander around the pool to try to find the fish. I found an awful lot of carp cruising the surface layers towards the middle of the water, but others were spread throughout the lake.  I thought that the recent hot weather may still be having an effect on feeding patterns, and perhaps the carp would be doing what they have been doing for the last fortnight; spawning, but not eating. Further investigations found carp in the edges, (right in the edge, so close that I could’ve tickled them.) and feeding hard, so I would advise anyone fishing here to take the time to walk the water and locate a likely feeding spot before casting.

The weather was warm but muggy, light breezes, with the promise of rain in the next hour or two. Because of the forthcoming rain, I set one rod up with a bottom rig consisting of 24” of rig tubing terminating in a rubber bead to protect the swivel, which in turn had a shortish  9” ‘Black Mamba’ braided hooklink which I have been trialling attached to size 8 fox 2B hook. My 1oz lead ran freely on the rig tube. I used a light lead to give me as much sensitivity as possible when it came to bite indication. Baited with cooked prawns on a hair rig, this was placed by hand in the margins about 3’ from where I was sitting. By putting the rig in carefully, I could ensure no tangles, and my groundbait was right on top of the hooklink to mask it from wary carp. The second rod was rigged as a ‘zig rig’. Designed to fish a bait in the upper layers of the water, this set up consisted of a ‘pop-up’ boilie on a 3’ hook length anchored on the surface by a light lead. By throwing in or catapulting floating baits around my hook bait, I wanted to get the fish feeding confidently so they would take my bait.

‘POP-UP HOOK BAIT’

However, the carp took everything except my hook bait, although it did get a good few ‘bumps’ it was never taken properly. I believe that the reason for this may be that the carp on the surface were smaller fish and my hook bait was too big; lesson learned, use a smaller hook and bait.

My prawn bait now had fish over the hook. I could see swirling tails and clouds of mud and bubbles. Within a few minutes, my slackened line went tight and a hooked fish roared off up the lake. By playing the fish well away from my baited margin spot, I could avoid spooking the fish that were still feeding there. The carp in the net wasn’t huge, but it was a stunning looking Common of about 6lbs. Quickly returning the fish, I dropped more prawns on the spot and set the rod back on the alarms...

Breaking down the ‘zig rig’, I tackled up much the same as my first rod with a light running lead but this time with a boilie bait and small PVA stick. I used a short piece of shrink tubing over the swivel to create a ‘boom’ effect  to make the hook length stand away from the mainline during the cast to prevent tangles. This was cast out to the island margin to intercept carp hugging the island under the tree cover.

Tightening up the line this time, I sat back to wait for the next fish.

 ‘RUNNING LEAD SET UP’

Again the prawn hook bait worked to bring another carp of about 5lbs, but fish were still over the baits which had been topped up with another couple of groundbait balls. The groundbait I was using was made up mostly of ‘Vitalin’ which is a cereal based dog food. Passed through a liquidiser to get rid of any big maize flakes, I normally add a tin or two of sardines in oil, a few Baden pellets, a small tin of corn and then a good dollop of black treacle (mixed in boiling water to avoid blobs). After mixing, this is left covered overnight to infuse, then slightly dampened before fishing. The oil in the sardines helps to break down the bait and leave a great scent trail..

By this time, as I looked around the lake, I could see huge amounts of bubbles breaking the surface as fish rooted about on the bottom; big silty clouds told me that fish were feeding all over the lake and the sight of a big tail wafting to the surface only confirmed that they really ‘..had their heads down’. 

Unfortunately, the boilie hook bait was still sitting where it had been cast with no sign of a bite. Winding in, I decided to try corn on the hook. This was returned over the baited patch, and I didn’t even have time to put the rod down properly before it was taken! Again the fish was landed and returned; this pattern continued with fish on both corn and prawns throughout the morning. Boilie was definitely out fished by so called ‘natural’ baits. I even tried maggots hair rigged on a Korda maggot clip, and this to caught carp....so much for boilies.....

By the end of a short four hour session, I’d caught at least a dozen fish up to about 10lbs and learned a lot about the ‘Duckpond’. Fishing short brought just as many fish (if not more) than casting further out, and natural baits were fishing far better than boilies. By using light leads, I’d achieved maximum sensitivity on slack lines close in, and also on tight lines by the island. I missed no bites in the session (except ‘bumps’ on the surface rig) so I know that the terminal rigs were working properly. The fish knew that there was a hook in the surface bait, so smaller hooks may be an advantage when surface angling, but I also think that the uniform shape of the boilie put them off; it may also pay to shave bits off if you use a boiled bait to change its shape slightly. I do think that if I had legered using a quivertip with a corn hookbait and smaller hook, then I would probably have caught (or lost!) a few more fish; trying to concentrate on two rods can occasionally be a disadvantage, and, if I’m completely honest, I think this was one of those times when it would have been more effective to fish one rod and build the swim rather than search for the fish by casting about. The fish were feeding well all over and I really should have stuck to one spot; if you don’t try, you don’t learn..... In spite of that, all the carp were in great condition, fought hard, and the pool is a lovely place to while away a few hours, even if it is raining! Why not try the ‘Duckpond’ for yourself??