On his first trip of the year to a tough, low stock syndicate water, Solar Tackle team member Ignace de Roeck not only landed 6 carp in less than 24-hours, but among them were a big mirror that’s been on the ‘missing list’ for years and one of the lake’s most sought-after residents at over 42lb. Here’s how he did it…
I planned an overnighter on one of my syndicate waters, which I’ve been a member of since 2016 but didn’t get the time to fish very much last year. The lake is a 10-hectare, deep gravel pit, situated in Flanders, Belgium. It has the reputation of being a tough water, partly because it’s very deep but mainly because the stock count is low. It’s home to around 70 carp, with a few originals that are still alive, which are the jewels in the crown. Some fish manage to disappear for years before being caught again and that makes the adventure even more interesting.
Despite not being able to get there very often last year I did manage a couple of trips, which I used a ‘scouting’ sessions to try and get some knowledge about the venue and its inhabitants.
The rules are quite simple on this lake, and almost everything is allowed including boats and prebaiting, which opens a range of possibilities that I’m not used to after fishing my other waters where the rules are quite strict. The topography of the lakebed is rather monotonous and unspectacular, with virtually no variation. It’s just a very deep lake, with depths to more than 12 meters, with shallow margins. In my mind, this makes the venue a much easier target, as the margins are clearly ‘the place to be’, and so although the venue is sizeable I knew where I would concentrate my efforts.
The plan that I had in mind was the same tactic I used last year on one of my ‘scouting trips’, which produced a couple of fish and was by far the more successful method of the ones I tried.
Most of the anglers use boats to bait up with and place their rigs, so I chose the opposite approach. The big advantage of using boats, as I see it, is to increase your fishing area, reaching spots you can’t cast to. But on this venue I opted for a swim where I could cast my rods out. Not only does it create far less disturbance than using a boat, but secondly I think that the line angle you get with castig, and the line lay if far better. This is improtant because I believe that the way your line cuts through the swim from the rod to the fishing spot is a crucial fact in whether you catch or not.
The day before my session I went to the lake with my marker rod to pin point the exact spots to target. Once the spots were marked I baited each with a couple of kilos of Solar’s The Originals Club Mix boilies. These are incredible baits that the team members have had fantastic results on, and Solar will release to the public this autumn.
The next morning, when I arrived in the syndicate car park I saw that no other anglers were there, so I knew that my pre-baited swim would be free, which was a big relief. Getting back into the same swim is always a gamble of pre-baiting.
In this situation, once in the swim, the first thing that I always do is to spread some freebees over the spots to keep any carp that are there feeding. With two rods in position I was just getting ready to cast out the third when the middle rod produced a bite. Completely stunned that it had happen so quickly I picked up the rod. After a fierce battle I managed to land a long, brown 32lb common.
With all the rods now in position, exactly 30minutes later the same rod screamed for attention again, a 25lb mirror being the result this time. After returning the carp I noticed that my unhooking mat was full of partly digested Club Mix bits and pieces. It was clear that the fish were feeding well on the baits.
It was all looking very promising and I was thinking to myself that anything could happen now! To cut a long story short, in the late afternoon 2 more fish came along. A lovely, young 25lb common and a stunning looking 37lb mirror (After the session I found out that this mirror had been on the ‘missing list’ for several years, which made it that much more special).
As usual when fishing over a bed of boilies, a snowman hook bait was the order of the day. A 20mm Club Mix bottom bait and a 14mm Dairy Cream pop-up coupled with a Stronghold 101 hook tempted every bite. I like to use a big hook bait when fishing over beds of large boilies, it’s what has produced my best results.
The rest of the evening and night remained quiet. I was on edge, expecting a bite in the evening because it was prime for it, but instead nothing happened. Well, the one thing that did happen was that it rained non-stop.
Sitting under the brolly while drinking my coffee I was watching the water for signs of carp. Out of the blue my receiver came alive. Finally I was back in action and soon a yellow coloured mirror slid over the net cord. With a weight just under the 30lb mark I was more than pleased. After returning my fifth carp I decided it was time to pack up. I always find it difficult to pick which rod to wind in first, especially in those circumstance where you’ll never know if there’s going to be a last-minute take.
The decision was made, my last producing rod stayed on the P1 Euro rod pod. Believe it or not when I was ready to reel the rod in, the Titanium indicator smacked against the rod blank. In poker terms they call it ‘River Luck’.
When lifting the rod I felt immediately that it was a good fish and a slow, heavy fight followed. As the carp turned for the first time on the surface I caught a glimpse of my opponent. A massive common was on the other end. Shaking her head for the last time she was ready for the net. Carrying her to the unhooking mat I had a smile from ear to ear. It was one of the few originals. A carp called Inez and with a weight of 42lb+ I was over the moon. She is one of the reasons anglers join this lake, and here she was on my first trip of the year.
Looking back it was again an exceptional overnighter which rarely occurs on this water and one that I’ll remember for a long, long time.