I was really looking forward to visiting Island
Pond, as I had not been for such a long time. It is renowned for its hard
fighting Carp, but one of the great things about this lake is, even if the Carp
are not in the feeding mood, there are huge bags of silver fish to be had out
of every peg.
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As I was doing the draw I would take the final peg
left in the bag. Fortunately for me it was a pretty good peg with plenty of
features - "peg 6". It is a peg that I have drawn before in the past
but not for a long long time. It offers and island situated about 30 yards
away, just slightly offset to the right. There is also a large lilly bed
situated just beyond the island. To my right in peg 7 is another large lilly
bed. The rest of the peg offers plenty of open water. For today's match I decided to leave my pole in the bag and target the Carp good and proper, 2
Pellet Waggler Rods and 2 Bomb Rods were the order of the day and only if I was
really struggling would I venture into my bag for the pole.
The Plan
I planned to start match on the bomb then switch to
the pellet waggler once I saw signs of fish up in the water. The target areas
would be just to the left of the island and the lilly bed to my right in peg 7
(as this peg was empty)
Bait
It really doesn't get any simpler, 8 mm and 11 mm
fishery pellets..... Simple's!
Rigs
Bomb Rod 1
- Rod - Browning Force Bomb 10 ft
- Reel - Browning Xitan MF Reel
- Main line - 0.20 (7.5 lb) Cenex Feeda Line
- Hook length - 0.18 (8.5 lb) Browning Hybrid Power
- Hook - Size 14 Guru QM1 tied with a knotless knot with a hair
rigged band
- Bomb - 14 gram Browning Hybrid Distance Bomb
Bomb Rod 2
- Rod - Browning Force Bomb 10 ft
- Reel - Browning Backfire
- Main line - 0.20 (7.5 lb) Cenex Feeda Line
- Hook length - 0.18 (8.5 lb) Browning Hybrid Power
- Hook - Size 14 Guru QM1 tied with a knotless knot with a hair
rigged band
- Bomb - 14 gram Browning Hybrid Distance Bomb
Pellet Waggler Rod 1
- Rod - Browning Commercial King 11 ft medium Pellet Waggler
- Reel - Browning Black Magic Burner
- Main Line - 0.18 (6.10 lb) Cenex Line
- Hook length - 0.18 (8.5 lb) Browning Hybrid Power
- Hook - Size 14 Kamasan B911 XS tied with a knot less knot with a
hair rigged band
- Waggler - 3.0 gram Drennan Crystal
Pellet Waggler Rod 2
- Rod - Browning Commercial King 11 ft Power Pellet Waggler
- Reel - Browning Xitan HM
- Main line - 0.20 (7.5 lb) Cenex Line
- Hook length - 0.18 (8.5 lb) Browning Hybrid Power
- Hook - Size 14 Kamasan B911 XS tied with a knot less knot with a
hair rigged band
- Waggler - 3.0 gram Drennan Crystal
The Session
I started the session on the bomb casting slightly
to the left of the island. The idea of casting slightly away from the island
was that if I could get the fish feeding here, it would be less likely that
when I hooked a fish it would try and run me round the back of the island and
snag me or snap the line.
Feeding wise I started by firing 2 x 11 mm pellets
every 20 seconds on this line and for the line close to the lillies in peg 7 I
started by feeding 5 x 8 mm pellets every minute or so.
It wasn't long before the tip twitched, then
steadily pulled round. On lifting the rod the fish made a bid for freedom but
by keeping the rod low and applying plenty of pressure I soon managed to get
the fish coming towards me, pretty soon the fish was safely in the net, a
stocky Mirror Carp was the result.
On the next cast I hardly got time to put the rod
on the rest and I was in again. This was the start I was hoping for. the fish
was soon safely netted. Before recasting again I catapulted a couple of batches
of pellets onto each line. I noticed signs on both lines that the fish were up
in the water, but I thought I would give them time to settle and stay on the
bomb and it wasn't long before I was in again, another hard fighting Carp was
soon netted.
Temptation had got the better of me and I soon
reached for the Pellet Wag rod; even though the fish
were taking the feed
pellets as they landed, they would not take mine. I decided to up the amount of
pellets I was feeding and try and cause more commotion, so when I cast out the
pellet wag, they would be less particular. It worked a treat as the rod was
nearly pulled from my hand a second after the pellet landed. This was much bigger than the
previous 3 fish and on netting the fish it was a good 8 lb. It was at
this point that the heavens decided to open and by heck did it come down. Thank goodness for Gortex clothing :-) Fortunately
it didn't last too long, and it didn't affect the fish feeding.
I decided to give the Island line a rest, so I
changed to an 8 mm pellet as I like to fish on the hook what I am feeding . I
flicked the waggler towards the lilly pads, the rod was again wrenched form my
hands and the fish made a mad dash for the safety of the pads, this time
the fish won and I came back hook length less.
The remainder of the match was spent switching
between the island line and the lilly line on the pellet waggler. I will admit
I got my backside kicked a good few times as some of the fish were massive and
almost unstoppable. At the end of the match I had arm ache, which is always a
good sign. I managed to weigh in 151 lb which was enough for second place. Mark
Henderson managed to win the match with a touch over 180 lb caught mainly on
the pellet wag.
I am definitely looking forward to returning
:-)
As with most my fishing I like to keep things pretty simple and it doesn't come much simpler than some 8 mm hard pellets for the Waggler and Bomb and some 6 mm hard pellets and a bowl of green paste for the paste line. I have found that green paste seems too out perform any other colour paste on all the lakes here at Lambwath. 
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On arriving home I took a spool from its packet and stripped some line form it. I gave the line a good stretch, hoping that it would not end up like a pigs tail when I let go. It was a relief when the line just stayed perfectly straight. After a few more goes at stretching and releasing and the same result every time, I was happy to start making some rigs. 
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