Higham Lane (Hinckley) Saturday Open 19th November

Today saw me down at Higham Lane Fishery for their local Saturday open. I always like fishing down here when I can. It’s a place where I spent a lot of my early days fishing when I first got into the sport with my brother.

After a good turn out of 25 anglers it was game on for the draw and out came peg 25 (seem to have a knack at drawing peg 25 at the minute on different fisheries) and off I went to my peg which was a short walk from the car park which is always a bonus. The peg its self has plenty of space to the left as you are more or less in the corner with the bank running down the left about 18 meters away. The peg also has the befits of cast straight out into the bowl near middle of the lake running against the bank. With the wind blowing into the left corner I knew I was on for a few fish either there or against the bank. First line to be set up was a pole line 14 meters into the corner. Plumbing up it was only 4 ft deep so choice of float would be a HillBilly 0.4gr Chump float. Same main line as I normally use Browning Cenex 0.16mm to a 6 inch 0.14mm hooklength finished off with a B911 size 16 hook. Elastic would be a double 10 set on a pulla bung. Nice and forgiving giving you the chance to walk the carp out of the swim then when the fish knows it’s been hooked and bolts off it powers up nicely with pulla kit at the net. With some fish in the lake going just above the 20lb mark it’s a setup that I like to use.

For feed I decided on yet again chopped worm and caster and see what comes of it.

As for the other swims I planed on fishing a bomb straight out at 40 reel turns with a 2ft hook length finished off with a PR 36 size 18 hook with a white size 8mm pop up boillie. Reason being the fish were active up in the water and I didn’t feel there would be many feeding on the bottom.

I also set up my Browning commercial force 8ft wand with a 10gr inline method feeder which I intended throwing down the left hand side of the lake due to the wind blowing in the corner and down that bank hopefully might turn in a few carp that may have followed the wind.

With the all in being called out went every angler on the tip having fed my pole line at 14 meters it was out on the method feeder to mug the odd carp that my be down the edge there all ready. Soon enough carp number one was in the net. Throwing down there again saw plenty of indications on the tip that the fish were there but not interested in my bait. One thing I like to do is search down the bank casting as tight as I can to features like reeds, shrubs and trees hoping to catch one or two fish that maybe hiding. This wasn’t the case and after a good hour and half searching and sitting on my hands waiting for the tip to go round it was time to change to another swim.

Out went the bomb and soon enough a 10lb carp was in the net. Looking across the lake I could see another angler who had had 5-6 carp and I was lacking with only 2. This time I just kept plugging away at the bomb line and it paid off with another carp. 3 in the net and not too bad due to the lake not fishing well. With 2 hours to go it was time to go on the pole put still ping some 8mm pellets over the bomb swim every now and then.

Onto the pole line saw the float shoot under and after a healthy battle another carp was in the net. As the match came to an end I had now 6 carp in the bag and around 35lb which I felt stood me a chance of taking the match. I decided to give the bomb swim a few more casts to see if any other fish were in the swim. Just as the all out was called about a second before the rod bent round and I was into another fish, just what I needed due to the fact that the angler on the opposite bank was also into a fish and I had managed to come from behind and level up with him fish for fish. I knew it was going to be tight between me and him and one other lad a few pegs down who had caught steady all day. With scales coming round to my peg I put 39lb on them. As the scales went further down one lad put 42lb on and another 37lb so I had done enough for 2^nd overall which I was happy with as its another lake that has always been kind to me at times and it was nice to come back after not fishing it for a year and getting straight back into the frame.

Sunday should of saw me down Lytchgate Fishery in Stoke Golding for the last of the Rod&Reels Autumn Series but due to poor turn out the match was cancelled. Gutted!!!