Tom Oliver enjoys a productive week at his syndicate!
Unfortunately August was not a great month for my angling as I only managed to squeeze in one quick weekend trip to my syndicate and unfortunately that didn’t produce any fish.  I was very much looking forward to the month of September however as I had the first week of the month booked off work and had a lengthy trip at my syndicate planned. I was hoping to spend some time in one area and build the swim over the course of the week as this tactic can often work extremely well on this venue. I also had some filming lined up with Gardner Tackle at the latter stage of the week so hopefully by then I would have something established enough to get a few bites for the cameras.

I arrived at the lake around mid-day on Sunday the time that most weekend anglers pack up and head for home and was pleased to see they had all followed their normal routine. I knew the swim I needed to be in as the fish had been spending a lot of time in one area of the lake and luckily it was free. It didn’t take me long to get the ridiculous amount of kit needed for the week to the swim and for once I leisurely got everything in to place.

The first thing I wanted to do once set up was confirm the spots and give them a decent hit of bait from the off. It didn’t take too long as I already had a rough idea of the areas I needed to be in and with a friend filling the spomb it was a simple process. I introduced around 10kg of bait on to each spot from the off hoping to get groups of fish regularly visiting the spot. My mix consisted of Hinders Hemp and lots of the Carp Company Caviar and Cranberry chops, around 5kg in total. I also added a good helping of Hinders Fish Pro and Carp Company’s Minamino to help send food signals through the water column.

My first fish came the following morning around 9am when my left hand rod went in to meltdown as a powerful fish surged off towards a dense weed bed behind my spot. Constant steady pressure had the fish heading back in my direction and because the lead had already ejected from the covert clip the fish stayed near the surface layers away from the weed. After a few hairy moments where the fish became weeded solid close in I was finally scooping my net under my first fish of the session.  A nice common of 24.14lb was soon weighed and photographed before being released and the day remained quiet with not a lot happening. I topped up the spot again in the evening after doing several circuits of the lake trying to locate any opportunities in the edge but unfortunately I couldn’t find a thing!

I got the rods out and went to bed hopeful of some action come the morning bite time but as it came and past my bobbins remained motionless. There were visibly less sightings too and it seemed as though they had switched off despite the conditions looking good for it. Around mid-day I decided to wind in and go for another walk around the lake but this time with the floater kit as the weather had warmed up considerably from the previous day. I found a decent amount of fish straight away on the opposite bank sunning themselves in the weed and decided it would be worth a go. I steadily trickled 11mm floating trout pellets soaked in sesame oil out with the catty and after around half an hour I had several fish picking off the odd mixer in the middle of the lake. The fish were eating the mixers that had drifted on the weed and were around fifty yards out so a controller float was required to reach the distance. I choose to use the Gardner Flatliner set up bolt style to aid in the hooking process as it was difficult to see with the chop on the water from the increasing breeze. The cast landed spot on and I was in straight away but unfortunately the hook pulled not long after the fish became weeded. The disturbance had put the other fish on edge and despite my best efforts I was soon heading back to my swim with my tail between my legs.

I topped up the spot with a little more bait and got my head down early exhausted from a day in the hot sun. The following morning I awoke to a take on my left hand rod and I was soon stood playing a fish that was intent on reaching the weed bed behind my spot. Luckily I managed to turn the fish just in time and after an explosive battle under the rod tips I soon netted a fish known as “The Patch Common” at 28lb 4oz. The fish continued to feed on my spots until around 1pm but somehow they had avoided capture or I had been done! I wound in and nothing seemed out of the ordinary so something needed to be changed in order to avoid giving them another free meal the following day.

I decided to shorten the combi -rig to around 5” as I was feeding a good amount of particle and thought that my normal rigs may have been too long if they were feeding very tightly to the bottom. It’s often little changes that bring in big results and the next day Alan Stagg from Gardner turned up just in time to see my left hand rod slowly pick up before going in to absolute meltdown. A lengthy battle ensued as the fish dived in and out of weedbeds and at times I thought all was lost. I have always found constant steady pressure gets things moving again and I soon had a raft of weed nodding its head as it slowly reached the waiting net.  On stripping off the weed an immaculate half fully scaled mirror was revealed and looked amazing in the sun as we did the pictures. The fish was weighed at 26.06lb and was soon followed up with a 19lb mirror from my other spot. It seemed the rig change was working and two fish was a good result for the morning especially with the camera present.

The rest of the day was spent filming various technical bits and pieces and I hoped the following day would repeat itself. I received my first bite of the day around mid-day and played a stumpy mirror of around 22lb all the way to the net cord before one last violent shake of the head caused the hook to pull. I was a little gutted but quickly got the rod back out on the spot with the hope of another bite from the area as fish were still clearly feeding with plumes of bubbles coming up.

Around an hour later the same rod was away again and I landed a real character in the shape of “Blind Eye” at 20lb 2oz. The swim soon went quiet and the rest of the day was spent surface fishing on the adjacent lake in order to gain some footage for the cameras. We managed plenty of fish up to mid-twenties and I was soon itching to return to my swim to get sorted for the forthcoming night.

The following morning remained quiet with the exception of a tench but I remained hopeful as the bites had been coming later as each day had passed. Around 2pm it finally happened and I instantly knew I was in to a better fish from the way it fought. I took my time and slowly lead a decent size common in to the waiting net and was made up when the needle swung around to 32.02lb. It was my first thirty of the trip but that wasn’t important as it was the best looking common I have ever caught to date. The rod was replaced on the spot and half an hour later another good fish was making ground towards the thick weed at the back of the spot.

Everything went well and after a lengthy battle a large framed mirror was coughing water as it slid over the net cord. Upon lifting the fish on to the mat I realised it was another thirty and quickly slipped it in the recovery sling whilst getting everything sorted and arranging a photographer. Once I had the fish on the mat I realised it was a repeat capture of a fish called “The Brute” at a slightly lower weight this time of 30.04lb but I cared not as at least I could get a few snaps in the daytime on this occasion. I managed one more low-twenty mirror before I left and was more than happy with the results and my decision to make a small change to my rig.

The following weekend things were back to normal for me and I arrived after work on Friday to find every swim on the lake was taken.  There was a small stalking swim vacant however next door to a couple of mates so rather than head home I decided to plot up for a social. I managed to position a couple of rods on a baited area on the edge of a weedbed and baited with the same mix as my previous trip. I decided to fish with double bottom baits on this occasion as I just had a feeling it would help with the lake being busy. The first night was uneventful but I left my rods in position all day so as not to disturb my little corner and at around 3pm my right hand Neville was singing its merry tune. I was rewarded with a 23lb 1oz common for my efforts but that was the last of my action for the trip.

The final trip of the month was also on the weekend and despite managing to secure a swim that had produced a string of good fish to one of my friends during the week I only managed a small mirror of 19lb 1oz. The syndicate has been pretty frustrating lately fishing well during the week when the lake is quiet and as soon as Friday comes whether the lake is busy or not they shut off until Monday or Tuesday. October and November have always been good months for me so I am going to be taking full advantage and getting out at every opportunity I can. The autumn feed up is almost upon us and I can’t wait to see what it brings!