A busy cold day with a funny ending

Coate Water on a Saturday. Coate Water on a Saturday that was the first (maybe second) weekend of cooler, pike fishing weather. It was busy, I arrived in good time to walk, chose a swim and set up for the day ticket start. 4 or 5 people arrived at the same time, but were heading for the concrete bowl pike swims, so no problem.

I had 3 swims in mind; the first was a small swim between the cafe and the swim I fished (to the left of the island) last time. Gutted to find it was taken. The second choice was the last on the concrete bow before the diving board, I'd already seen it taken. Third was the swim I fished last time. It was not until I was upon it that I saw the  bivvy. Bugger! So decisions, decisions. I decided to try the other side, I toyed with going right round the back, but with an already painful back I didn't fancy a long push, especially to find my 'special' swim taken. Anyway I fancied a swim by the overflow, but that was taken, then the next and the next. Finally the first swim after the park was free. It's directly opposite the island and is at the point where the lake narrows somewhat and almost forms a 'channel' between the two main ends of the lake.

From my swim I had the main, deeper, bowl end to my right and this 'channel'. It seemed a good spot under the circumstances; there's every chance that carp moving from one end of the lake to the other might pick up a bait on the way thru'

So that was the plan. Put out one rod 60 yds torwards the bowl end, one straight out 'in the channel' just short of half way, and the last to my left at a similar distance. 3 casts were spot on, felt the lead down on every cast, and each felt fine.

Rods out (minues any loose feed, continuing a minimilist approach) and I set up my shelter and tidied up. Boy it was cold, about 4 degress but felt colder, thankfully I brought a flask of coffee, which helped.

One aside, I love that Coate is a public park and that it's not just a carp lake; I'll be fishing for the pike once the really cold weather hits, but, when you can see that another angler is casting out carp rigs, and you've seen where, you don't stand 10yds away, cast over his lines and do some spinning for 10mins.

Anyway, moan over. The trip was unsuccesfull for carp, it was interesting having a few of a number of carp anglers setting up in the afternoon, watching their spodding and bait boat tactics. None of which I can do or really compete with; going to have to find my own way.

Anyway the day wore on, and at 5.0pm I started packing up; usually order, day shelter, main holdall, then pod etc until I was left with 3 rods on the deck and the landing net. I reel in one rod, rig looked fine, not probs. The second felt 'heavy' as I reeled in; then pulled back a bit, then swirled a little. A bream! No sign of a bite at my end; either it had just picked it up, or it had sat hooked, doing nothing for some time.

However it went 8lb 4oz and saved me from another total blank (there's a carp blank and a total blank!). Next visit, I want to go mid-week again, and am really aiming for that small swim, I'll be aiming for the diving board to my left and a long chuck to mid water, plus a 30yd cast to my right. Unless it gets really cold and I may go for pike, though I'm not feeling it yet. 

Finally a carp..

My swim for the day, perfect.

Form my most recent session I'd decided to fish a swim at the very rear of the lake, after a long and painful walk with my barrow, I found the swim already taken - it was never taken! Disappointed I trudged back round to the second swim I fished, between the concrete bowl and the island. I put one rod 10yds from the island, a second in the same spot I caught the bream from, and the third quite far to my left towards the diving board.

Each rig had a stick on plus a small bag of chops.

I set up my shelter, half hoping for even some bream bites whilst I did so, but no luck. I resisted putting bait out, and settled down to watch the lake and wait.
But by lunch I'd had no bites, but maintained my approach of leaving alone, not even sticking out some boilies. I'd been watching other anglers who'd be spodding and sticking out bait, hoping that any disturbance might push fish from their side of the lake to mine, wishful thinking, I guess.

By 3.30pm, and with my time running out, I was giving up hope. Drinking up the last of my coffee, I started to txt home to say when I'd be returning, when I was rudely interrupted - my middle rod roared off, the bait runner screaming as a carp took off out into the lake.

Tightening up to fish I soon realised the fish was kiting to the right towards the island. Knowing that I didn't want it getting to, or round the back, of the island (both would mean I'd lose it) I put a fair amount of pressure on - walking down the swim away from the island, and giving as little line as possible.

22lb 12oz cracking common

The rod was bent at a fairly severe angle, but it turned and headed out into the lake, straight ahead. I let go a little while maintaining some pressure to keep it working! It turned again, then headed to the left, towards the diving board, I gave it some line, as it was still a fair way from it, but soon it turned, and from then on, it was a trouble free landing into my net.

It looked a clearly large fish. Beautiful too, a deep brown/gold, fin-perfect Common Carp. When weighed it went 22lb 12oz, new PB (Common, carp, any fish!), but then I panicked; there was noone else to take a photo, I needed a shot of me with it. I quickly took a pic of it on the mat, then covered it, and ran up the bank to the path. Got the attention of a bloke walking his dog, who happily came down to the swim and took the snaps. Hero! The fish went back strongly, after a small crowd had gathered!
I cast the rig back out, but time was ticking and soon I packed up. My plan came together, and I'd got a lovely fish. Next time I'd have even higher expectations, I'm guessing they'll not be achieved, but I can't wait to be disappointed...

Tactics, lessons learnt, decisions...

Although I'd been unsuccessful in my attempts for Carp, I'd still learnt some valuable lessons and come to some important decisions.
Although I'd not seen any fish I had watched other anglers go about their business. Many would use a marker float and spod out bait; putting out quite large quantities. They'd also use bait boats to do much the same thing. Chod rigs (not just the one I'd reeled in) also seemed popular, as did casting out reasonably long distances.
Most dedicated carpers appeared to bivvie up and stay for overnights/multiple days; a luxury I can't share. This help them overcome putting out large quantities of bait without worrying too much about disturbance, as they're around long enough to wait for the fish to be tempted back in.

I'd also struggle to put out large amounts of baits as I 1) don't have a spod rod, 2) am not up to repeated long casting (shoulder and hip probs) and 3) can't afford the volumes of bait for this tactic.

It seems therefore both impossible and, indeed, foolish for me to try to copy their tactics. Indeed, there is a lot of good evidence that NOT copying what other anglers are doing can reap real benefits, especially if fishing short, day sessions.

I've therefore decided that I should use my limitations as positives. Use them to shape my tactics and make best use of my time on the bank.

Firstly I should just cast out my baits with no additional loose feed, just a stick and/or bag
Secondly I should only put out loose feed after I've caught, or after I've been there fore 5hrs+ and even then only small amounts of scattered bait.
Thirdly I should try different rigs, forgo the popular chod rigs for now...

We'll see if this works..

2 more visits; no more fish!

The first of this two visits saw me fishing a known hotspot, and a swim that's often taken. It's on the concrete bowl as close as your allowed to fish to diving board. I cast two rods close to the diving board and the third out into open water. I baited with loose boilies and chops in groundbait
With the help of some water carriers I managed to set up my shelter on the concrete, which gave me some protection from both the showers and the rampaging public (I'm not complaining really, the shared nature of the park keeps prices down, but after 78 "caught anything mate" you kind of lose your perspective.)
It was a quiet day again, people apart. No runs and no signs of fish. On reeling in at the end of the day, my rigs all seemed in good conditions and should have been sitting perfect.

The second visit allowed me another chance to fish one of the very popular swims; this one was round the other side of the island and nearly always has an angler in situ. I cast one rod to the island, reasonably tight, one around 20 yards off it, and another out into open water to my right.
Baits and rigs were basically the same, and I again baited with sticked-out boilies and pva sticks.
Again no bites were forthcoming, although I could only stay until lunchtime, and I again reeled in fishless, although I did manage to reel in someone's broken off chod rig. As well as no runs, I also was not able to see any signs of fish; rolling, bubbling etc., which obviously makes deciding whether there are fish in front of you difficult. the gulls were again a problem in baiting up, but more of that in the next blog

Second visit: some bites!

This time I decided to fish in one of the popular swims; a lovely long swim, sheltered by trees with the island to your right and the diving board and concrete bowl to your left. I'll call it Tree-Island-Bowl-Swim, which is wrong in so many ways, not least of all 'cos I'll abbreviate it to TIBS.





8lb 10oz Bream



Anyway, enough nonsense. I fished 3 rods again, one again with the KD rig and a pop-up and bottom bait, one standard hair rig with a tiger nut, and one KD rig with a bottom 18mm boilie. I cast one rod close to the island, on about 35yds out, 20 yds to the left of the island and one far to my left and about 40yds out.

9lb 4oz Bream



After casting out my rods, I began tidying up my usual 'set up in a hurry' mess, and began setting up my day shelter. Half way through that I looked at my rods, and the middle bobbin was hanging very low, it then slammed into the rod blank, then dropped low again. Shocked somewhat to have a bite; excited also, though tempered slightly by the obvious 'Bream-like' nature of the bite, I eventually got to the rod and tightened up to the fish.
It felt heavy, but gave no fight, and it was no surprise to pull a Bream into the landing net. However I was still pleased as my previous biggest fish caught 30yrs ago, was 6lbs, and this looked bigger. It went 8lb 10oz, so a new PB. Photo done and after it shared some lovely Bream-slime with me and the net it swam off strongly.
I cast the 18mm boilie rig back out on the same spot, and turned to finish off the shelter, all done, and I began packing my kit away inside it... one I noticed the middle rod's bobbin doing it's dance again. Leant into the fish; it felt very Bream like again and this proved to be true as I drew another large Bream into the net



This one looked bigger, and I hoped for a double figure fish, but it only went 9lb 4oz but a new PB again, so all good. No more bites came my way, I had another doggie visitor to the swim, but just the one, so an improvement

First visit



My swim for the day



It's July and my first chance in the new season to fish Coate. I decided to fish the bay at the rear of the lake; carp definitely congregate there in the close season, they may (or may not) be still around. they will certainly be more secretive.
I chose a swim with a stage on the edge of the bay; allowing me to fish the bay itself and more out into open water. it was a lovely day, with a cooling breeze. I arrived at 6.50am and after the weary barrow bush round to the swim I was set up and cast out by 7.40am. I fished 3 rods, with 3 different rigs. My first rig was a KD rig with a pop-up and bottom bait plus a shot on the hair, nicely balanced. my second was a simple hair rig with a bottom bait; the hair coming off the bend of the hook. the final rig was another pop up fished about 3 inches off the bottom. I cast one to my left into the bay, one straight out about half way across and the third out to open water to my right. I baited with a throwing stick, laying 30 or so boilies (gulls notwithstanding) around the 3 rods in a fairly haphazard pattern. Each rig also had a small stick mix.
The day past quite quietly, as in I had no bites. I did discover, however, a few of the joys of fishing a public park lake. First a woman arrived with 6 dogs, all of which she allowed to swim in the bay; no reason or rules prevented her from doing this, but 6 dogs swimming 20ft from 2 of my baits probably did little for my chances. Second, some kids set up on the other side of the bay and spent a happy, for them, couple of hours, throwing stickes, branches and lumps of mud in the lake.
Anyway I packed up at 4.0pm not entirely miserable but decided I'd fish in a different swim next time.

Introduction and plans..



The bay and far end

 Coate is fairly big water; 50+ acres, with fairly distinct areas: the concrete 'bowl' at the front, the long sides with boating on one and a park and field by the other. Then the more sparsely accessible back end, where it opens out to one side and narrows to small bay on the other.


The concrete bowl end



The predominant species are Bream, Carp and Pike, but here are also Perch, Roach, Rudd and, I believe, Tench. 30 years ago when I first fished as a teenager it was a Bream and Pike water, it still is, but has, over the last decade and a half, developed a reputation as a Carp water: "The Swindon Park Lake". Carpers have a tendency to rename waters as well as name the fish; the largest fish in Coate has been called "The Resident", and at it's biggest weighed in at 47lbs...

However while it still has plenty of Bream and Pike, it has, compared to commercial fisheries, a low stock of carp, although they are generally quite large. It is a tricky water for other reasons; it can 'go off' and appear fishless, the fish can be very nomadic and disappear to the other end of the lake during the course of a day, and while it is not overly weedy, there are numerous snags, both natural and unnatural to make fishing a little harder.
It is also a comparatively cheap place to fish; day tickets are very reasonable priced for as many rods as you've licences for, a season 'day' ticket is extreme value for money - the only problem with each day option is that you're restricted to 7.30am until dusk. The 24 hr season ticket is about £300, not excessive in the scheme of things, with the fish you might catch, but unfortunately out of my budget.
I've therefore got a Day Season Ticket and, although it restricts my usual early starts, it's pretty good value. My next decision was, naturally, where to fish. The usual approach is to visit the lake and watch for signs of fish, however, although I visited the lake many times (usually with my son on walks) the only time I saw fish was in the close season, when they would be up on the surface in the back bay, confident when not fished for and a little preoccupied with spawning. (see video.)
My next clues were obviously looking for where other anglers fished; although you can't just follow and, especially if you want to catch that special fish, just fish where and how others do, it's at least a starting point. There were 3 main 'popular' areas; the conrete bowl end (at either end, by the diving board and the over flow) the island (again either side) and the rear bay, especially at the start of the season. It seemed sensible to concentrate my carping on those areas and see how it developed; after a few seasons catchign carp on commercials and fighting through single-figure fish for those rare upper doubles and low twenties, it woudl be a nice change to fish and wait; knowing that a run would more than likely mean an exciting fish.