As we are fast approaching Dec 09, ending another year, I normally take some time out & reflect back on any events that I think might have made an impact on my fishing throughout the year, for good or bad.

27lbs 12oz Surface Caught Lake Record

The early spring fishing after some rather large & elusive carp on a 35 acre Lee Valley Regional Park water was without question a bit of a struggle, partly due to the cold & unseasonable conditions that we had at the time,  but more  probably, due to my lack of lack of carp fishing prowess ,, although I was able to brush the cobwebs off the camera & pose with a few nice fish, including a nice common of 34lb.

One of the Sonubaits consultants was fishing the same water at that time & invited me to try some of their new tinned Super Scent Natural Hempseed. Well I have to say that after seeing the way the carp responded to a little margin spot that I had baited with it,, I wont be bothering with boiling up my own hempseed ever again. I don’t know what  goes into that tinned hemp, but every time I have used  it since, my catch rates have improved. It would be a huge mistake now if I didn’t carry a couple of tins in the car.
  
All to quickly the weather had improved & within a short space of time, the water temperature rose to a point where the fish decided that the opposite sex was more desirable than eating my boilies !! 
It was a very rewarding experience watching some very large fish up to 40lb, spawn & enjoy their once or twice a year pleasure, but for someone who aint getting any,, it was too much to bear, & time to move on & leave them to it !!
Wondering where I should go & angle now was my next objective. I had joined another 17 acre club water in the Lee Valley the previous year, so that was an option.

One of my 1st line of attacks on a new water is normally to try & catch them off the top. Its been a favourite method of mine for over 25yrs. Its certainly not a lazy mans approach, & as the years tick on with this stalking approach, the old bones do creak a bit  !!

 Around the end of May, I was chatting to a good buddy of mine Lee Robbins, who by the way,, is also a Sonubaits consultant. He was in very high spirits at the time, having caught a few nice carp off the surface from another nearby water. He was raving about the virtues of this particular hooklink he had been using to fool these fish, & something about “Oily Floaters “. Well,, my ears pricked up, what on earth were these Oily floaters & ,, in his words,,  this devastatingly good hooklink,  I did what most would have done with the mono hooklink material on  checking it out. Gave it a pull here & a stretch there, I quite liked the fact it was a clear mono & also very supple & supposedly very strong. I needed to try some ,, so used my effervescent charm on him,, & while under my spell,, he passed over 2 spools for me to try, one of 0.21 dia. & another of 0.19 dia. The 0.21 is rated around 9lb b/s & the 0.19 about 7.5 b/s.  He said it was called Power Line.  Oh , & while under that same spell,, I managed to get half dozen bags of Oily Floaters !!
 
The following day conditions were spot on for a bit of surface fishing, so I was armed with my Power Line  hooklink & Oily Floaters & heading for the 17 acre club lake to do battle on a lake where they don’t get caught off the top !!.
I wont bore you with all the details, but just to say that the hooklink performed better than I could have imagined. It’s a very weedy lake, as are most in the Lee Valley & a fair amount of pressure is needed to keep the carp clear of the many weed beds & snags. I used the 0.21 line because of the weed but it certainly didn’t deter any of the carp when I found them, &  got them feeding on the floaters,, from hoovering up the hook baits. I think I had 3 carp that morning , up to a surface caught lake record of 27.12 !! ( don’t you just love it when they say you cant catch em off the top here mate ! )  In the space of a few weeks while the weather was ripe for a surface sucker, I managed to equal the lake record again with a different, heavily scaled fish,, well spawned out,, that was one of the lakes bigger fish having been out the previous year at 38+,, but had an empty tummy &  weighed 27.12. The 0.21 line & floaters were obviously doing their bit because a couple of days earlier the line was put to a severe test when I hauled out  a 29.6 common from a very dense weed bed knowing full well that my old floater hooklink I used to use would never had stood up to the strain. So on reflection one of the years more memorable moments was when Lee was extolling the virtues of Sonubaits &  getting to see the effectiveness of Power Line on my floater fishing .  Don’t ignore the fact that it will bring you a massive edge. Maybe another time I will relate my experiences with Oily Floaters & Power Line & their use with zig rigs !!

29lbs 6oz Weedbed Common