Well, where do I start? I suppose with my desire to break my crucian carp pb, which from last year stood at 3lb 7oz. A good fish in it’s own right, but I knew the lake in question held bigger and I was confident if I caught them at the right time, I would be in with a chance of catching another lump.
Gardner Target range.” alt=”Mike used components from the new Gardner Target range.” src=”https://gardnertackle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Product-shot.jpg” width=”300″ height=”225″ />
After driving all around the South Downs during the day for work, I finally ended my day and headed eagerly to the lake. I had a quick look around along the area I wanted to be in, which had a lovely strong fresh South Westerly blowing into it. Unsurprisingly all the swims were taken, so after another quick mooch around I found a swim empty just round the corner on a little point facing back towards where I had wanted to go originally. I dropped my bucket in the swim and nipped back to the van to collect the rest of my gear.
Once back in the swim, I mixed up a large bucket of groundbait consisting of brown crumb and Sonubaits F1, along with a small scattering of micro pellets and corn. Once this lot was ready, I started the bombardment of the swim. A lot of people are still under the belief that crucians are delicate little dainty feeders, and whilst they can be at times, they can also be voracious feeders. The more you work the swim the better your catches will be! I initially introduced about 4kg of groundbait over my spot and set about getting my rods out. These were both rigged up with small inline method feeders, along with imitation rubber casters from Enterprise Tackle on a size 14 Target Specimen hook to a short hooklink of 5lb Target fluorocarbon.
The first rod went out perfectly, and before I could even get my second rod out, it was away. After a short but spirited battle, I was soon looking down on the lovely golden flanks of a large crucian carp. After placing her on the scales, I was very pleased to see that I had beaten my previous pb by an ounce, raising it to 3lb 8oz on my very first cast. I quickly took the obligatory pictures and got the rods back out again. This was soon followed by another fish, this time slightly smaller at 2lb, but still very welcome.
The swim then went quiet for about an hour, before a third take resulted in yet another new pb, this time weighing 3lb 10oz. Whilst I was weighing this one, the other rod went off, so quickly putting the fish back in the net and I struck into what felt like another good crucian. Yet again I was greeted by the sight of a large crucian carp sliding over the drawstring, this time just an ounce smaller at 3lb 9oz. At this point, I would have been over the moon and happy if I didn’t catch anymore, but thankfully the fish were in a very obliging mood.
Regularly topping up and working the the swim, I managed to keep the fish on the feed and by the end of the session I ended up catching 7 over 2lb, 22 over 3lb (with the majority being over 3lb 8oz) and the biggest of the two weighing in at a hefty 4lb 0oz and 4lb 2oz.
Gardner Tackle‘s Mike Lyddon.” alt=”A brace of crucian’s weighing 4lb 0oz and 2lb 7oz for Gardner Tackle‘s Mike Lyddon.” src=”https://gardnertackle.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/40lb-0oz-2lb-7oz-Large.jpg” width=”776″ height=”437″ />
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