In search of a St.John s thirty by Kev Hewitt

Transcription

1 In search of a St.John s thirty by Kev Hewitt In the previous few years it seems that spring took forever to arrive but this year was different. During the last weekend of February I decided to head up to Oxland for a couple of nights fishing. Linch hadn t woken up and the catch reports on the linear fisheries web site were non-existent. Not surprising seeing as most lakes had been frozen solid during the previous couple of weeks. In fact it had been thawed out for about 8 days prior to when I turned up but the water temps were still bitterly cold. I had already concluded in my head that I was going to blank but that didn t matter as I was just happy to be getting out for a couple of nights. I dropped a quick txt to my good friend Kieran who was already pitched up on Linch hills Christchurch to see what was going on down there. There had been one fish out the previous week and with it being a Saturday night, every peg was taken. So the plan was to stop into linear for the night, probably Brasenose and then pack up in the morning and head over to Linch and bag a swim when the weekend anglers pull off. The gate at linear closes at 6pm in February which didn t give me a lot of time to look around the complex before I made a decision on where to fish for the night. I turned up at 5.30 after work and decided to stop in the manor/ St.Johns car park and was surprised to see St.Johns was fairly quiet. The entire social bank was empty, an area where I expected the fish would be holding up if previous years were anything to go by. I thought I d take a walk along the road bank and stopped in the beach and dug out swims and chatted to a couple of anglers who revealed that a couple of fish had come off the point. I had only been in the swim for about 30 seconds and I saw a good fish poke his head out in front of the social bank. That was enough for me; I knew if I could spot a fish and get a rig near it, there was a very good chance of a bite. I had the barrow loaded in super quick time and made a bee line for the social bank. As I arrived in the swim the sun was on its way down and darkness was just descending on the Oxfordshire landscape. The second I parked the barrow in my favourite social bank swim, I looked up to see a fish come clean out of the water 60 yards out, bang on the spot I usually fish. Confidence was now on the up and after another 5 or 6 shows in as many minutes I just knew I was going to catch. I started out fishing one on a zig with the old trusty 12Lb double strength and size 10 super specialist barbel hook, with my usual unflavoured trimmed down black foam hookbait. The other two rods were fished on the 60 yard spot where the fish had showed. I only needed two casts with the marker lead to feel that the bottom was clean as a whistle. I put out about 15 spombs of maggots and fished two solid pva bags of pellet with the new hellraiser hookbaits over the top. The rods were out and traps set by 8pm by which point the fish had stopped showing. I was confident something was going to happen. Having seen plenty of fish showing I decided there and then I was going to stay put for the session and all thoughts of Linch hill were pushed to the back of my mind. 29lb 2oz Mini Shoulders on a zig My first take came on the zig in the shape of a 23Lb 2oz mirror at 1am and the bait rod ripped at 4am with a 20Lb 7oz mirror. A brace of 20 s before first light after turning up on darkness in February. A result in itself. I had another couple of 20 s during the day, one on the bait at 10am and one on a zig just before dark. A couple of doubles came my way during the night before my zig rod ripped off just before first light. This time it felt like a better fish and as the light emerged from the horizon I slipped the net under a fish known as mini shoulders. She spun the needle round to 29Lb 2oz and looked fantastic in all her winter colours.

2 I had to be away from the swim for 7.15am at the lasted to make sure I was at work on time and a double take off the bait at 6.30am was the ideal way to end the session, a couple of upper doubles rounded it off nicely. The following weekend I had the pleasure of my angling buddy Mark Bartlett for company and we were actually pencilled in for our next monthly feature called The session and this month we were taking on St.Johns and hoped we had timed it bang on. Well we were soon thinking we had totally got it wrong as the weather turned nasty and a bitterly cold north easterly wind picked up and sleet and snow swept across the lake. All feelings of the early arrival of spring had long been replaced by the bitterly cold winter weather you would expect during January. After 24 hours we even considered aborting our feature and coming back the following week. We had snuck one double out in 24 hours and the fact that Jerry Bridger was coming down to do the photos the following day meant we had to stay. Well I have to say a big thank you to Jerry for forcing us to stay because the following 24 hours were hectic and really couldn t have gone much more to plan. All hell broke loose and Bart and I had 19 fish to 29Lb and a 47Lb 8oz cat thrown in for good measure. At one point we had five rods rip off at once with four twenties and a double landed in two nets! Any way I will leave that story for the readers of crafty carper. Oxfordshire s finest... 29lb 1oz Now would be a good time to mention that myself and Bart had now banked over 100 St.Johns carp since either of us had last banked a fish over 30Lb from the venue! How s your luck?! With that in mind I knew I wasn t going to be too far away from bagging a St.Johns thirty, all I needed to do is keep catching and play the numbers game and one will surely turn up, sooner rather than later hopefully! The following week u turned up on Saturday evening at the usual time, 5.30 and it was rammed. Soon as the catch reports go up on the web it s no surprise everyone is quick to try and jump on the bandwagon and be

3 first to get their hands on one of those big girls. I had a quick walk up to the back bay and straight away seen one show about 15 yards out in front of an empty swim so that will do for the night and re-assess in the morning when it s likely that many will be packing up. Once I plonked my gear in the swim I saw three fish show just 10 yards out in front. I had not fished the swim before and decided to flick a couple of zigs on light leads out to try not to spook them. But first I had to have a quick cast with a mini marker to find the depth. It was only five foot so I set three zigs at four foot and flicked them out to where the fish were showing. Within minutes my left hander dropped to the floor signalling a bite but unfortunately I picked up the rod and connected with nothing. A take within five minutes and then I never saw another show for the rest of the night. I packed up at 7.30am and barrowed up to the deeps. A guy on the social swim I had fished the previous two weeks had nailed the big ghostie during the night at around 33Lb. I really fancied the road bank and the guy in the beach swim was off at about mid day. The swim next to him under the trees was free and my Good friend Andy had been fishing the point but had packed up early to fish the morning with me. I used to fish with Andy regularly but work commitments and a couple of new arrivals in Andy s life had meant that his fishing had taken a back seat in recent years. Andy had to be off at mid day so I told him to get his rods out in the trees for a few hours and we got the cooker on the go with a full fry up and had a bit of a catch up. Within 30 mins Andy s left hand zig was away and he had nailed a double and followed it up with another just 30 mins later. Just goes to show a couple of hours in the right place and the results are there to be had. Top angling! Andy packed up at mid day at about the same time the beach swim became available so I got the rods out and managed an upper double about an hour later. After a quick bite I thought I was going to be on for a few bites but it never materialised and come morning I was still stuck on one fish. That was until 9am when the right hander peeled off and after a spirited battle a 27Lb mirror lay in the bottom of my net. I gave it a few more hours and although I had a caught a could I just didn t feel as if there was a lot in front of me so decided to wind in and go for a walk around at 2pm. A quick check up in the back bay and there was no signs of anything. My last stop was the channel area and straight away I spotted a group of fish just below the surface just shy of half way. That was enough for me and I legged it back to the road bank and packed up my gear and was set up in the channel within half an hour. Again it is an area I have never fished before so I quickly popped up a marker to find the depth six foot so out went three five foot zigs. The left hander was only in place for about 30 minutes before it was away with a small mirror about 14Lb. It was now getting near 4pm and as it cooled down the signs of fish just below the surface disappeared and I decided to put a good bed of maggots out and fish all three on the bait. I had leave for work at 7.30am so had nothing to lose. I had found a lovely clean gravel patch out in front at about 40 yards which was bang on considering most of the swim was covered in a light coating of silk weed. All three rods were fished on the same spot on my faithful mini ESP pva bags of pellet with a new hooklink I have been trying out. ESP camo sinklink in 20Lb is a new hooklink I had been using in recent weeks, it has a thin diameter and is very supple which are exactly what is needed when fishing solid PVA bags. It also has the added bonus that it sinks and furthermore it blends in to the surroundings very well with its alternating colour tones. Hookbait wise I have been doing very well with the CCMoore hellraisers and I always glug them up to the max with the matching dip. One thing I have learned over the years is that St.Johns carp absolutely love glugged u p fruity flavoured flouros and I mount these on my favourite size 8 Curve shanx hook.

4 One thing I have learned over the years is that the St John s Carp love glugged up fruity fluoros! My first take off the bait came at 8pm in the shape of a 27Lb 2oz mirror, my second 27 of the day from two different swims. That will do- or so I thought?! That was until I had another five takes during the night landing four more fish. My last fish came at 6am, just an hour before I had to be packing away for work. I was totally shattered after a lack of sleep but the adrenaline of being attached to yet another St.Johns carp (my 72 nd St.Johns carp since my last 30) kept me from falling asleep standing up. I could see it was a good fish whilst I was playing it but guessed it would probably be another 29Lber like the previous two weeks. It wasn t until I lifted the net from the water that I knew I had finally broken the 30Lb barrier! And by a long way too. The needle spun round to 36Lb 12oz and all the effort I had put in over the last few springs had finally paid off. I must admit it was probably one on the hardest earned thirties that I have caught, certainly in recent years anyway. The Fish was an absolute stunner and in perfect condition with a gorgeous chestnut red winter colouring. After I had got the photos sorted I had a quick brew and was off to work totally buzzing. I did pop back down the following night for a quick overnighter in between work and had the rods out for 7.30 pm and managed to sneak a double and a 22Lber out of the channel over the bait during the night from the swim opposite where I had the 36 from the night before. Spring is definitely here now and those big fish are on the feed. The unit- 36lb 12oz; just 72 fish since my last 30!

5 Just like the busses My following session I turned up Sunday morning a little hungover but seen a few fish showing in the back bay right in the corner just 10 yards out. I decided to travel light and try and zig fish for them for a few hours, a move which paid off straight away. I knew it was 5 foot deep so I flicked out a 4 foot zig right on top of where they were showing. Less than two hours had passed before my rod was away and it felt like a good one. The lead was ejected on the take making the following battle a lot easier and five minutes later I am looking at an absolute stunner in the bottom of my net. I thought it was an upper 20 as this particular fish normally weighs in at around the 28Lb mark but this time it looked notably fatter than normal and pulled the scales just a few ounces past the 30Lb mark. Like buses! My second 30 in two weeks. I moved swims a couple of hours later and managed three more fish during the night to 22Lb and blanked the second night. Finally at last a couple of good fish have ended up in the bottom of my net from St.Johns. Hopefully it won t be long before one of the A team slips up! Just gotta keep going. Tight lines, Kev Hewitt.