Mill On The Soar Midweek Open 12th August

With a trip to the midlands on the cards to see family it would have been rude of me not to take my fishing kit up and have a go at one of the many fisheries that are in the area and enter into a mid week open.

With a look in the local paper I decided on the Mill on the Soar Tuesday open. A place that I enjoy fishing when I get the chance, but not visited in the last 2 or so years. With plenty of bites to be had from the big head of carp down to the bream and skimmers its one of those places you never know what you’re going to hook next.

The night before saw some heavy rain which was sure to move the fish around the lake, and with a wind blowing down one side of the lake when I turned up I wanted to be on the far bank where it was deeper due to how I wanted to fish it. With no luck at the draw and pulling out peg 7 I set off to my peg. The wind didn’t seem to affect this side of the lake with a slight left to right breeze moving down towards peg 2. With the far bank about 20 minutes away and with one of the locals giving me an idea of where the fish would be the first port of call was my 10ft bomb rod with a small inline method feeder. With a post on the far bank at my 11 o’clock and with the bank looking like it was undercut the plan was to throw it tight to the far bank and see what became of it.

With the wind not really affecting the peg I opted on a 3 pronged attack on the pole fishing 13 meters straight out (I didn’t want to go past 13 meters in case the wind picked up and then found it a struggle to hold my pole) one thing I always try and take into consideration when long pole fishing.

I had a short line 5 meters out at 1 o’clock and then another line 5 meters out at 10 o’clock.  Both my long line and my 1 o’clock lines would be fed with soft 4mm pellet with a 6mm soft pellet on the hook that way it gave me the chance to hit the bream, skimmers and carp within the lake (plus it was all I had brought up with me bait wise from down south) I also added a couple of grains of corn into each swim which then gave me a option to change the hook bait over.

My 10 o’clock swim would be a paste swim and would be only touched in the last hour of the match, with there being no depth in the margins I would then treat this as my margin swim where I had found just under 2 ft of water. Another reason why I wanted to draw the other side of the lake due to the better margin pegs, but with the look of the draw gods not on my side I had what I had and had to make it work. 

Rigs for the day consisted of the following 

13m meter swim

3 ½ ft deep to a Hillbilly Chump 0.3g mainline 0.16mm Browning Cenex, 6inch 0.12mm hooklength, Tubertini 606 16 hook (light hooklength to start and depending on if the carp moved in gave me the chance to change up) simple bulk shot and 2 droppers to get the bait down. Elastic Green Browning Cenex set soft on a pulla.

1 o’clock 5 meter swim 3 ½ ft deep Hillbilly Oliver 0.16mm Browning Cenex, 6 inch 0.14mm hooklength, B911 16 hook. Same as my 13 meter swim bulk and 2 droppers and elastic choice.

10 o’clock swim 2ft Hillbilly AK47 float 0.18mm Browning Cenex line, 0.16mm hooklength, B911 size 12 hook. All shot just under float but only half shot to read when the paste came off the hook. Elastic choice purple Hydro. 

With my pole lines covered and having set up a small method feeder and a banjo it wasn’t long before the all in. Straight away all the lines were fed before moving onto my 13 meter line and waiting for the fish to settle. Now when I first initially fed I only fed about 50 4mm pellets and a few grains of corn to try and gauge the swim. This was done on both lines except my paste line which I fed a full pot of 4mm and a bit of paste. With indications on the 13 meter swim that there were fish feeding it didn’t take long before the float went under and carp number 1 was quickly in the net. Another carp quickly followed, followed by 3 skimmers weighing a 1-2 a piece, all this in the first 30 minutes. Looking around and with no one catching it looked like I might be in for a good day if the carp remained in the swim. 

It seemed that the carp had moved out as whilst there were plenty of indications on the float they just didn’t seem interested in my hook bait with the float dipping but nothing on the end. With the possibility they could be liners and that the fish were just of bottom the rig was adjusted where still nothing was hooked. I believe due to the head of silver fish and small skimmers they had moved in and were having a go at my hook bait, that means one thing to me that the carp have moved on as they would normally push the smaller fish out to feed. With a top up of 4mm pellets it was onto my short line to see if I could get anything short, this gave a nil return before moving back out onto the 13 meter line this time with a change of hook bait in the form of a piece of corn. This produced yet another 2 skimmers at a pound a piece yet no carp and with the float constantly dipping it was turning into a frustrating day. 

With things not looking good it was good to see Mark Russell (Drennan Leicester) pop by to see how I was getting on. And whilst I was stumped for ideas he said “fishing corn ? crush the middle out so your left with the skin and try that) I’ve done it in the past but just didn’t think (just goes to show when you think too hard sometimes the basics go out of the window) This proved a good step with a few more skimmers hitting the net before Mr angry carp 1 turned up and dragged me to the far bank into the next swim before losing my hooklength. It wasn’t long before Mr angry carp 2 turned up and dragged me into the empty peg to my left across to the far bank before losing yet another hooklength. Things were clearly not going to plan and what turned out to be a good day were now turning into a bad day and I was fishing just to save face.

With just over an hour to go it was time to hit the paste swim at 11 o’clock 5 meters out. This brought a return straight away with 2 carp in quick succession but yet again the float was dipping it looked light I was going to get bitted out yet again. You could tell when the carp move in as the float would settle and a last thump of the float under the water brought another carp getting it in just before the all out. 

A bad day at the office for a place that has always been a good place to me proved when I put 36lb odd on the scales and with the next peg to my right having a double figure carp in the last 5 minutes proved my fate with me finishing 4^th overall. The far bank (with the wind howling down) produced the goods with 1^st / 2^nd coming from there with my mate on the right taking 3^rd by 3lb.

Looking back at my results in the past its always been on chopped worm and caster and with me not planning to fish the venue before I came up and not being able to get hold of any caster might have proved my downfall, it’s not an excuse but felt with the right bait I could have done better. Still those in the top 3 were worthy winners and to come back to a venue that I hadn’t fished in about 2 years with approx 14-16 on the lake I can take some positives away from it. 

Next stop back to the canal back on the Kennet & Avon for a PDAA match on the Sunday where I feel more comfortable and in tune with the place at the minute, looking at what I might have ahead there is the Sensas Canal masters B&J series as well as a potential winter league mainly on the Thames. Add that to fishing for the Royal Artillery at the end of the month in the inter corps and with the Army Angling Federation Group matches ready to kick back off again on the canal and river its getting busy again.