THE AUTUMN FEED-UP IS ON!

Our own brand manager, Paul Monkman, was very keen to dispel any notion the autumn feed-up is a thing of the past when he returned to his East Yorkshire syndicate for the first time in eight months.

Boilies and lots of them have accounted for many fish for Paul on Embryo’s South Ings syndicate in years gone by, so he saw little need to deviate from that plan when he fished two separate overnighters on Friday and Sunday evenings.

The first night yielded a stunning penny-scale mirror of 19lb 2oz, giving Paul motivation to return for another night on the Sunday. Adopting the same tactics, only this time in a different swim, Paul would go on to receive a double take around midnight from a 15lb common, swiftly followed by his main target fish from the water, the Box Common at 30lb 12oz.

Paul said: “After really enjoying my time on South Ings back in February, my fishing was cut short for reasons beyond my control and I hadn’t returned since. I absolutely love autumn fishing, though, as in my experience it’s the time of year when the carp are well up for a feed and bites often come in the night, which is ideal for an overnight angler like myself.

“Rocking up on the Friday after work, I opted for a swim that had been kind to me in autumns gone by and set about my usual approach of fishing three rods at staggered depths and baiting over the top with a load of Bug boilies with the aid of a throwing stick. It’s very easy to become sidetracked by the depths in South Ings, but I got out of that habit a few years ago and now just let the bait do the work!

“The next morning, I was rewarded with a lovely upper-double mirror before having to pack up and head on home to take football training!”

Knowing the fish were up for a feed, Paul was keen to return for another go, so after finishing off his Sunday roast, it was back down the lake for a second overnighter of the weekend.

He continued: “Of course, it was raining on my return, so I got a bit of a drenching whilst getting the rods out and spreading around three kilos of Bug 15-millers over the top of them. It was dark by the time I’d got the last of the bait out, but I was confident something would happen later that night, so set to work preparing bags of Crayfish Mini Mix pellets in case I was right.

“The liners started at around 11pm. Then at approximately 11.30pm, the bobbin on the right-hand rod pulled up tight, then fell slack. My immediate suspicion was I’d been done, so I picked up the rod, wound in and skimmed in the rig along the surface of the water, the lead having clearly been dropped on the take! I quickly attached another bag, pumped it with a load of Bug Amino Smoke, and buzzed it back out there.

“Little more than 20 minutes later, the middle rod was away, yielding one of the lake’s grow-on commons of around 15lb. With the fish secured in the net, I returned to the bivvy to put on my waders, when the right-hand rod ripped off! Scurrying back down to the water’s edge, I bent into something that immediately felt considerably heavier. Rather than trying to make cover in the marginal reeds like its predecessor had, this one just held deep. I convinced myself I just had to land this fish, as I knew it was big and didn’t want to end up having to tell the story of a lost big ’un!

“Standing out in the rain playing a good fish is such a magical feeling and something I had really missed, but I couldn’t allow myself to enjoy the moment too much, as I wanted to see this one in the bottom of the net, where it eventually ended up around 20 minutes later! What a relief it was, too. It was a big common and absolutely dwarfed the grown-on fish sitting alongside it, raising my suspicions that it might be a fish I’d hoped to catch at some point, knowing if I did it would probably be a new PB common.

“I got the two rods back out in an effort to compose myself, before the weighing and photographs. There are a few 30lb-plus commons in South Ings, but the Box Common was always one that stuck out for me when I saw the pictures, as it had such a thick-set frame and big old gob! Well, as luck would have it, the Box Common was indeed the culprit, and weighing in at 30lb 12oz, it was that new PB common I had hoped for.

“I’ve seen a lot of talk in recent autumns from some anglers suggesting the ‘autumn feed-up’ is no longer a thing, but I’ve found that to be quite the contrary. They are active and expending energy, so they are going to need a nutritional meal like good-quality boilies, so that’s exactly what I’ll be giving them this autumn.”

All Paul’s fish succumbed to dumbbell Bug Corker wafters fished in conjunction with bags of Crayfish Mini Mix pellets that he pumped with Bug Amino Smoke. His rigs were scattered amongst a big spread of out-the-bag Bug freebies.