Messingham Sands - Island Pond

On the way to Messingham, myself and my travelling buddy Bri Peck @ Fishing Republic Hull, were chatting about what peg we would want to draw today. I said I would be more than happy to draw peg 17, as this is where I had caught my personnel best weight a few weeks earlier, being 201lb, 13oz. On arrival at the venue, the banter started immediately regarding what peg I was going to choose today; anyone would think I’d been drawing well lately!

At The Draw

It was draw time and you guessed it I pulled out peg 17; this is when the banter really started. On arrival at my

peg, and with the smile still on my face I was faced with flat calm water, plus there were plenty of fish milling about on the surface. This peg gives you plenty of options; there is an island to left, which starts around 15 meters away from the bank and is around 40 meters long. There is also a bed of lily pads around 15 meters along the island. In front of me there is a good area of open water and to my right I have another island, which is a 40 meter cast. Down the sides I have overhanging trees and some reeds.

My Approach

My approach was going to be similar to my last visit; I am going to go with a three pronged attack. I plan to fish the Bomb to the right hand island and target the open water near to the lilies with the pellet waggler. For later in the session I plan to target the margins with a pole approach.

 

Bait

This is going to be as last time very simple, fishery 11mm pellets are going to be the main bait, as I am going to use these for both the bomb and the waggler. I am also going to mix up some ground bait; which I will feed loose through a pole pot down the edge to my left. I also have some corn for use on the hook for the margin line.

Rigs:

The Bomb

• Rod – Browning 10ft Force Bomb
• Reel – Browning Backfire
• Main line – 0.18 Browning Cenex Feeder Line
• Hook Length – 0.18 Browning Hybrid Power
• Hook – Guru QM1 size 14, tied with a knotless knot with a hair rigged band
• Bomb – 14 gram square lead which is free running
• I have set 2 of these rods up and both have identical set up.

The Pellet Waggler #1

• Rod – Browning 11ft Power Pellet Waggler
• Reel – Browning Xitan HM
• Mainline – 0.18 Browning Cenex Match Line
• Hooklength – 0.16 Browning Hybrid Power
• Hook – Size 14 Kamasan B911 extra strong, tied with a knotless knot with a hair rigged micro band
• Float – 3.5 gram Drennan Crystal Waggler attached via a waggler adapter

Pellet Waggler #2

•  Rod – Browning Medium Pellet Waggler
• Reel – Browning Xitan HM Reel
• Mainline – 0.18 Browning Cenex Match Line
• Hooklength – 0.16 Browning Hybrid Power
• Hook – Size 14 Kamasan B91, extra strong tied with a knotless knot and a hair rigged band
• Float – 3.0 gram Drennan Crystal Waggler, attached via a waggler adapter

The Margin Rig

• Pole – Browning Xtreme Margin Pole
• Elastic – solid 22
• Mainline/ Hooklength – 0.16 straight through
• Hook – Size 14 Kamasan B911
• Float – Shep special Edge Diamond @ http://www.carlshepherdsonstittletackle.com
• Shotting – A bulk of no8 Stotz

The Session

On the all in I cast the bomb to the right hand island, and started feeding both the bomb and pellet waggler line with 11mm pellets. The reason for starting on the bomb was that I learned from the last match on this peg that the pellet wag line needed plenty of time to settle before trying it. My first bite came after 5 minutes and after a healthy battle, a Common Carp around the 4lb mark was safely netted.

I recast the bomb and continued my feeding regime, this time nothing for 5 minutes, so I reeled in and recast. This is something I like to do in the summer as recasting regularly can sometimes trigger the fish into taking the bait much quicker. After 4 recasts I hook into another fish and after another proper battle a Carp around the 6lb mark is safely netted.

I decide to give the pellet waggler line a try as I have started having signs of feeding fish whilst feeding the pellets. This is to no avail, which is extremely frustrating as I know fish are there. I give it 20 minutes, recasting every 30 seconds or so trying to trigger a fish into taking my hook bait; but unfortunately nothing happens, so I decide to pot in some groundbait down the left hand edge with a few grains of corn; I then retry the bomb whilst the pole line settles. Again nothing comes of it, so I decide to try the pole line.

I bait up with a single grain of corn and lower the rig over the baited up area; the float hardly has time to settle before it is gently pulled under, producing a decent sized skimmer. The next put in again produces another, then I am plagued with small roach. I change to double corn in a bid to deter the roach and this has the desired effect, as the next put in produces a Carp of around 3 lb. I re bait the margin line with a full pot of ground bait and switch to the pellet waggler.

We are now 3 hours into the match and I am really struggling, fingers crossed the pellet waggler line will start producing. I have kept feeding regularly on both the wag and bomb lines. The switch to the waggler line produces an instant bite and a much bigger fish is hooked. The fish tries it s hardest to get into the lily bed, but fortunately I manage to drag it away and into the net. This Mirror Carp is around 9lb, and is just what I needed! The next 3 cast all produce carp, which I mange to land; I then lose 3 on the bounce, which all drag me into the lilies.

The rest of the session is spent on the pellet waggler as the swim has really come alive. I manage to land plenty more carp and also lose plenty in the lily pads.

The whistle sounds for the end of the match, and after a number of weighs I total 114 lb 4oz, giving me enough for 2^nd behind a very happy Gary Chadwick, who had won from the golden peg with a 117lb. Well done Gar!