Holiday Carping

[ouchthathurt]

Good evening all I have just come back from a drive from Wales dropping my kids off at their mums, but we had two days at a campsite in Shropshire before taking them back. Only did a few hours in the morning and evenings. The hedge separates the swims from the tent. We were about 20ft from the waters edge.

I had treated myself to a pair of Kodex 9ft txi “stalky” 2.75lb tc carp rods as they fitted perfectly in the boot, paired with a pair of shimano baitrunners and nash siren alarms, little tackle bag, a bucket of pellet and a few kg of my home made boilies, my travel unhooking mat and landing net and we were good to go.
The new rods out on the spots.
rigs were simple 1oz running rigs with 4” 12lb fluro hooklinks with braided hairs on size 10 nash hooks, (those weird short shanked hexagonal looking ones, I can’t remember their name!) The session got off to a good start and the first fish soon popped up to a 12mm bottom bait with 7 bait stringer. Me and the boys posing with carp number one.
this was carp number 2 as the sun set behind me (poor photography! Apologies!)
carp number 3. Not bad for a few hours on arrival.
My son was float fishing beside me but was having no joy, so I said he could hit the next run as they were coming at a rate of one every 10mins or so. When it screamed off, he went to action.
landing the first mirror of the trip, a proper prehistoric looking thing! The “mirror” issue became more pronounced as the days went on…

next morning I woke up at 5am and headed to the swim, I had 3 small commons that went back unphotographed then my son arrived wanting to fish. So he plonked beside me with his float rod. As I was setting up his rod and plumbing the depth, a rod screamed off - I told my boy to hit it, which he did…
Another mirror! he wanted his carp rods setting up now, so he ran back to the tent to grab his carp rods. I moved my rods over so he could cast to my going spots and he promptly landed another mirror.
I wanted a mirror yet all I was getting were commons.
We then headed off to Shrewsbury for the day and on the evening we gathered at the lake for a final few hours. Now armed with maggots, my boy got going with the float rod while waiting for his (and my) carp rods to rattle off.
Continued…

 

[ouchthathurt]

Continued…

My boys float rod results (some of them)

(yes he caught another mirror!)
His carp rods didn’t stay quiet either!

 

[ouchthathurt]

continued

I had a few more commons and both boys had one on at the same time
Even wifey got in on the action
as it got dark, I had finally done a bucket of pellet and several kg of boilie, so I started to pack away in the dark. My boy had one more carp on his “big rods”
he continued to fish with the float rod while I packed everything else away ready for the early morning run to wales the net morning. My boy was mocking me for having caught all the mirror carp to my none! I told him to bring the float rod in now as it was dark and time for bed but he wanted one more fish to end on a high, 5mins later his night light topped waggler dipped and he was in…

you guessed it…


Another mirror… ?

 

[Ollieollie]

Top notch reporting! Looks like an excellent time all round mate ??

 

[J Richards]

Thats how to do it mate. Great report and pocs. Making memories with the family…… cant get much better.

 

[flappy]

Top stuff.. happy memories. some decent fish there.
Top tip… bin those Nash hooks..

 

[GPSguru]

Excellent fishing there, well done.

Yes, bin the Nash hooks (Nash are good at luggage and feck'all else) and use Korda hooks.

I have just lent my gear to the Grandson (who comes out on the boat with me) and he is fishing the local lakes using my Century NG SU rods, Shimano Ultegra big pit bait runners, Delkim wireless alarms with LED bobbins on carbon fibre droppers, and my Matrix milled stainless buzzer bars. He is doing 4 days fishing, so he has all the gear, and is well clued up on how to use it effectively. His hooks will be Korda tied on Korda hook length material, which will be tied to a short leadcore leader. The weight is configured to drop off on the take.

 

[Thrasher]

Excellent report.

 

[J Richards]

Interesting comments about the Nash hooks… I would choose Nash over Korda, the number of problems i’ve had with Korda….. snapping, burred points when fishing over weed, rusting etc. But even nash would be my 3rd or 4th choice.

 

[Had1]

Well done guys good fun.

Nash fang twisters are decent and sharp out the pack mostly. Never had a problem ,had couple over 40lbs on them. Some of their other patterns are really crap though and thick shanked.
Longshank x kordas are decent aswell in my opinion. Not happy about their other patterns, though the smaller chod sizes are alright aswell.

The one dodgy hook iv found in recent years is the esp trig hammer . They bend out . Great hookers but since had it happen 3 times from different packs I won't use them now. Lost a good fish on one on a tough lake.

 

[flappy]

My favourite hooks always used to be drennan star point hooks not sure if they still make them as it’s been fifteen years since I last went course fishing.

 

[ouchthathurt]

My first choice are the fox medium curves in sizes 4-5. I’ve landed carp to 42lb 8oz on them and never had a problem. On this trip I started with them but had a few dropped runs. I used the Nash hooks as they were the only hooks in size 10 that I had, dropping the hook size started to produce the runs. I did burn through the pack pretty quick though as the hook points burred over very quickly. I switched to Drennan super specialist wide gapes in size 8 afterwards as I had a pack of them in my floater kit, both patterns needed an ESP kicker to widen the gape as the stiffness of the fluro narrowed the gape without it and may have affected the hooking potential. I’ve used korda curves in size 4-6 for Ronnie rigs before and found them acceptable, although I did need to fine tune and polish the points on some of them to bring them up to my standard. (I’m pretty fussy about my hookpoints) the ESP trig-hammers look good, but I found they open out too. Had one open on an eel once.

 

[Ollieollie]

On the rare occasion I do that type of fishing I use a kamasan b175, I seen a scouse geezer tie a hair rig using it on YouTube years ago and it seems to work for me. Fwiw it’s a fly hook….

 

[J Richards]

My first choice are the fox medium curves in sizes 4-5. I’ve landed carp to 42lb 8oz on them and never had a problem. On this trip I started with them but had a few dropped runs. I used the Nash hooks as they were the only hooks in size 10 that I had, dropping the hook size started to produce the runs. I did burn through the pack pretty quick though as the hook points burred over very quickly. I switched to Drennan super specialist wide gapes in size 8 afterwards as I had a pack of them in my floater kit, both patterns needed an ESP kicker to widen the gape as the stiffness of the fluro narrowed the gape without it and may have affected the hooking potential. I’ve used korda curves in size 4-6 for Ronnie rigs before and found them acceptable, although I did need to fine tune and polish the points on some of them to bring them up to my standard. (I’m pretty fussy about my hookpoints) the ESP trig-hammers look good, but I found they open out too. Had one open on an eel once.

Fox Medium curve all the way, had carp to 80lb and catfish over 120lb. Always size 4, more metal in there gob the better. Also a size 4 for hinge stiff Fox stiff rig. Cant beat them. Always sharpen any hook regardless of brand from the packet.

 

[Trampster]

Great write up & photos Ouchy! Not into puddle dipping (been once!) but you and your lads sure had some lovely fish there, and some quality family time. Nice one! ??

EDIT: Damn it - wrote this about 24hrs ago but Senile Sawdust forgot to hit 'Post'! ??

 

[Wolf]

Great catches & piccys lads well done ???

 

[chesilpete]

continued

I had a few more commons and both boys had one on at the same time View attachment 31581
Even wifey got in on the action View attachment 31583
as it got dark, I had finally done a bucket of pellet and several kg of boilie, so I started to pack away in the dark. My boy had one more carp on his “big rods” View attachment 31584
he continued to fish with the float rod while I packed everything else away ready for the early morning run to wales the net morning. My boy was mocking me for having caught all the mirror carp to my none! I told him to bring the float rod in now as it was dark and time for bed but he wanted one more fish to end on a high, 5mins later his night light topped waggler dipped and he was in…

you guessed it…

View attachment 31585
Another mirror… ?

Great report.... love seeing lads fishing!

 

[richtic]

Good evening all I have just come back from a drive from Wales dropping my kids off at their mums, but we had two days at a campsite in Shropshire before taking them back. Only did a few hours in the morning and evenings. The hedge separates the swims from the tent. We were about 20ft from the waters edge. View attachment 31562

I had treated myself to a pair of Kodex 9ft txi “stalky” 2.75lb tc carp rods as they fitted perfectly in the boot, paired with a pair of shimano baitrunners and nash siren alarms, little tackle bag, a bucket of pellet and a few kg of my home made boilies, my travel unhooking mat and landing net and we were good to go.
The new rods out on the spots. View attachment 31564
rigs were simple 1oz running rigs with 4” 12lb fluro hooklinks with braided hairs on size 10 nash hooks, (those weird short shanked hexagonal looking ones, I can’t remember their name!) The session got off to a good start and the first fish soon popped up to a 12mm bottom bait with 7 bait stringer. Me and the boys posing with carp number one. View attachment 31565
this was carp number 2 as the sun set behind me (poor photography! Apologies!) View attachment 31566
carp number 3. Not bad for a few hours on arrival.View attachment 31567
My son was float fishing beside me but was having no joy, so I said he could hit the next run as they were coming at a rate of one every 10mins or so. When it screamed off, he went to action.View attachment 31568
landing the first mirror of the trip, a proper prehistoric looking thing! The “mirror” issue became more pronounced as the days went on…

next morning I woke up at 5am and headed to the swim, I had 3 small commons that went back unphotographed then my son arrived wanting to fish. So he plonked beside me with his float rod. As I was setting up his rod and plumbing the depth, a rod screamed off - I told my boy to hit it, which he did…View attachment 31569
Another mirror! he wanted his carp rods setting up now, so he ran back to the tent to grab his carp rods. I moved my rods over so he could cast to my going spots and he promptly landed another mirror.View attachment 31570
I wanted a mirror yet all I was getting were commons. View attachment 31571View attachment 31572
We then headed off to Shrewsbury for the day and on the evening we gathered at the lake for a final few hours. Now armed with maggots, my boy got going with the float rod while waiting for his (and my) carp rods to rattle off.
Continued…

Great fishing well done. Fishing in my neck of the woods ?

 

[richtic]

Good evening all I have just come back from a drive from Wales dropping my kids off at their mums, but we had two days at a campsite in Shropshire before taking them back. Only did a few hours in the morning and evenings. The hedge separates the swims from the tent. We were about 20ft from the waters edge. View attachment 31562

I had treated myself to a pair of Kodex 9ft txi “stalky” 2.75lb tc carp rods as they fitted perfectly in the boot, paired with a pair of shimano baitrunners and nash siren alarms, little tackle bag, a bucket of pellet and a few kg of my home made boilies, my travel unhooking mat and landing net and we were good to go.
The new rods out on the spots. View attachment 31564
rigs were simple 1oz running rigs with 4” 12lb fluro hooklinks with braided hairs on size 10 nash hooks, (those weird short shanked hexagonal looking ones, I can’t remember their name!) The session got off to a good start and the first fish soon popped up to a 12mm bottom bait with 7 bait stringer. Me and the boys posing with carp number one. View attachment 31565
this was carp number 2 as the sun set behind me (poor photography! Apologies!) View attachment 31566
carp number 3. Not bad for a few hours on arrival.View attachment 31567
My son was float fishing beside me but was having no joy, so I said he could hit the next run as they were coming at a rate of one every 10mins or so. When it screamed off, he went to action.View attachment 31568
landing the first mirror of the trip, a proper prehistoric looking thing! The “mirror” issue became more pronounced as the days went on…

next morning I woke up at 5am and headed to the swim, I had 3 small commons that went back unphotographed then my son arrived wanting to fish. So he plonked beside me with his float rod. As I was setting up his rod and plumbing the depth, a rod screamed off - I told my boy to hit it, which he did…View attachment 31569
Another mirror! he wanted his carp rods setting up now, so he ran back to the tent to grab his carp rods. I moved my rods over so he could cast to my going spots and he promptly landed another mirror.View attachment 31570
I wanted a mirror yet all I was getting were commons. View attachment 31571View attachment 31572
We then headed off to Shrewsbury for the day and on the evening we gathered at the lake for a final few hours. Now armed with maggots, my boy got going with the float rod while waiting for his (and my) carp rods to rattle off.
Continued…

What was the venue, ive not fished any commercial waters for years but i know most of the owners.

 

[ouchthathurt]

Wigmore lakes near Shrewsbury mate ?