I RAN OUT OF BAIT!
John Payne had to call on a little help from his friends when the Monks Pit carp quickly demolished his bait supplies!
With the bites coming thick and fast, John soon got through his 15kg of bait, so had to borrow some from a fellow DNA team member, but it was good job he did, as he would go on to land his third forty of the season and seventh overall in the form of Bailey at 42lb 8oz, backed up by many others to low thirties.
“I arrived on Thursday afternoon and whilst chatting to a couple of DNA anglers was informed where the fish had been showing earlier in the day,” said John.
“I chose a swim that has yet to do me a bite, but the fish were clearly there, so I got busy setting up and giving them a bucket of bait. We had arranged a bit of a social for later on, so after getting the rods on the spot, I headed up the bank for a feast. The evening was a great laugh, with plenty of good food, a few beers and an eclectic conversation putting the world to rights.
“Unfortunately, I had a good night’s sleep and awoke to motionless bobbins. Scanning the water to look for any signs of carp, I could see a few head-and-shouldering in an area I was more familiar with. There was an angler already covering that area, but I knew he was due to leave later in the morning. With no signs of life in front of me, the decision was made to wind in and walk round to bucket the swim. Whilst I was packing down, I could see he was bent into a fish, so thought that was a good sign.
“I barrowed my gear round and waited down the bank for him to vacate the swim. I had to wait a while, but it turned out he had caught another fish with the rods on the deck, so I was champing at the bit to get the rods out!
“Once in there, three solid bags were deployed to the areas fish had been seen whilst the camp was set up again. Yet another barbeque was arranged for the late afternoon/evening and yet another DNA angler would be in attendance.
“A few hours passed with no action, so I decided to get a bucket of bait deposited on the spot early and rest the swim whilst I went for provisions and attended the planned social. One of the chaps was running low on bait and had another two nights to go, and because I live locally, I offered to drop off home and get some for him. Five kilos of Bug was delivered to his swim, which turned out to be a schoolboy error, as will become apparent shortly!
“I met the other DNA angler at the social and it turned out he was fishing two swims down from me. We all got on great and a real good time was had by all. Soon it was time to get back to the swim, so off I trundled with a big fat belly of food to get the rods out for the evening. All three went out with minimal fuss and I sat back tying rigs whilst the sun went down, not expecting any action till first light, as I had put 10kg of bait on the spot.
“So, I was taken by surprise when at 9.30pm the middle rod was away! Unfortunately, this managed to slip the hook when it was almost ready for netting. I did see that it was only just hooked before the hook-pull, so decided to lengthen the hooklink by three inches. This proved to be a good tactical decision, as I had a very sleepless night, landing seven fish to 42lb 8oz, a mirror known as Bailey.
“Now, this is where my schoolboy error comes into play! After each fish I was topping up the spot with 4-6 large Spombs of bait, knowing how quickly these big fish can wipe you out, but I soon found myself looking down at the bottom of an empty bucket! Why didn’t I pick up bait for myself whilst at home?
“Billy, the DNA angler next to me, had been doing the photos for me and he kindly offered whatever I wanted if I needed it. By 7am I had to take him up on his offer! By this point the spot must have had at least 15kg of bait and the bites kept coming.
“Whilst all this had been going on, the Secret Garden Party was being held nearby. The laser show and music went on till 4am, so I was tapping my toes on the end of the platform playing fish through the night watching the light show. It was quite a surreal night!
“Bailey turned out to be my third forty of the year and my seventh overall, so I’m well chuffed with that. This is the first year I have finally managed to string some sessions together since joining the syndicate, having only fished a few nights a season some years due to work commitments.
“A big thank you to fellow DNA users, Dave Gostelow, Andy Sargent and Billy Wells, for making this weekend what it was.
“Bait-wise, I was fishing with the dark Crayfish wafters that I trimmed down and added a sliver of PB wafter as a sight topper. I then added a bag of Crayfish pellets that I had soaked in BetaStim before casting out.
“My carpet fed comprised a mixture of 12mm, 15mm and 18mm Bug shelf-life boilies that I had soaked in BetaStim and Salmon Oil and then covered in Insect Meal, combined with Crayfish Maxi Mix pellets.”
