i settled for the S canal, and after a brief chat with sue (tims wife) i opted for calamity corner ...peg 1, the first peg off the paddles.
There are a few good rush beds to fish up to, the one to my left at 11 mtrs was to be the first attack, feeding with liquidised corn and bronze maggots, and a second swim at 7 mtrs
directly in front would be fed with a mixture of liquidised corn, soaked micro pellets and sloppy groundbait all mixed together,
pulling no punches today, i set up 2 power top kits, one with a hollow 6 elastic 3lb main line 2lb bottom and a 16 hook to fish maggot and small soft pellets, and a solid 12 elastic 4lb main line and 3lb bottom to a 14 to fish paste and pellet.
on plumbing up the swims i discovered they were identical depths, which gave me a bit of freedom if i wanted to chop and change, but i started on the maggot line and was into the roach , bream and nice skimmers from the first drop, the easterly wind was biting cold, i was glad it wasnt constantly blowing, after unhooking the first few fish my hands were freezing.so i wandered up to the car and put the kettle on...a hot cup of coffee would soon thaw out the hands.
After a hot drink i decided to try the shorter 7 m line, went accross with a lump of paste and a small pot of micro pellets...the float dipped away and id slammed something bigger
the elastic made short work of the fish which seemed to just hang in mid water hardly fighting, until i was down to the top 3 ..then it woke up, after a hair raising close scrap it was in the net 7lbs 12 oz mirror, i was chuffed to bits.
i fished on in the short swim for half an hour or so without another take, but was getting plenty of line bites, so i knew the fish were there..but mixtures of bait i couldnt get bites on, so i swapped to the maggot rig and hooked a 3mm soft krill pellet..bingo a small carp then one on every drop for about 20 fish, before it went quiet again, iwas catching some lovely koi / mirror crosses, ive never seen them before, such lovely fish and beautifully coloured, but only small, id love to meet one of them again when they are about 5 or 6 lbs, bonny fighters, ive tried to photograph them but the pics dont do them justice.
Anyway..on a cold hard day on a pond were blokes took off early cos they wernt catching.. i finished with over 20lbs ..so happy days
.....tooo nippy yet for me to get my pole out 