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The
tale of a fantastic trip to Millstone Pool in France
in mid-May 2006 for Hinders Employee and Consultant
Jock Downes.
When
I visited Millstone Pool 2 years ago with my regular
fishing buddies Richard Prince and Phil Lewendon, we
were fortunate enough to take a massive catch of over
100 big carp to 50lb, yet at the time we could not
have foreseen that 2 years later we would be back to
take an even more impressive catch of huge Millstone
carp.
The
week’s fishing started quite slowly for Phil
and me with only a couple of fish each in the first 2
days of fishing. Phil’s fish
were lumps of over 40lb while mine were doubles and
twenties. Richard in the meanwhile was
off to a flier as usual, catching numerous fish up to
50lb 8oz on his favourite Method tactics, using his
own scalded method mix and Millstone pellets.
It
was Sunday before I began to work out how the
carp’s habits and feeding patterns had changed
in the 2 years since we had last been
here. They were showing in big numbers in
the deep water where Richard and I were fishing, but
were unwilling to feed confidently on our bait
here. Yet 2 years ago Phil
had bagged up big time in the deep water all along
the dam wall. On Sunday
afternoon I stalked a massive 49lb mirror in shallow
water, casting a light lead and plastic corn to a mud
cloud in the water about 1.5 rod lengths from the
bank. A fantastic fish to be
sure, but with the huge number of big fish in the
lake I still felt as though I was
struggling.
Phil
was still getting runs at night, while Richard was
catching plenty of fish but not getting consistent
action off any particular hotspot.
It was obvious that if I wanted to catch numbers of
big fish, stalking and the mobile approach was the
answer.
The
next day was Monday and after a fruitless morning
fishing the deep water spots, I headed for the
exciting back bay. Two years
previously I’d caught good numbers of fish to
44lb here, but it was often very difficult to see
anything in there, despite the water being only 2-3ft
deep.
There was
a fish muddying up the water under the overhanging
trees of the island, so I flicked a plastic corn hook
bait under the branches, and lobbed another rod
method style with Hinders Blitz Multi
Mix and Blitz
Boilie hook bait out to another muddy spot about
20 yards out. The fish were obviously very
cautious, as there was no more sign of movement after
casting. I had laid the rods in the grass with
the bait runner switched on, and was peering through
the bushes a few yards from the rods, when the
plastic corn rod fizzed off. The fish fought
hard in the shallow water, but soon enough I had it
in the net. The line was tangled round a nearby
bush, so I unshipped the landing net arms from the
handle and heaved the fish out onto the massive
Gardner X-mat.
As I
weighed the fish at 39lb, the Blitz method rod was
away! In a panic, I dumped the 39lb
in the net and dropped it in the margins, while
screaming to Phil and Richard for
help. 100 yards away,
drinking cold beer in the 80° heat, Phil &
Rich sat there trying to decide whether the ranting
they could here was me calling for help, or some
French loony escaped from the local metal
hospital! In the meantime I
had played the next fish to exhaustion in front of
me, when they finally turned up. Cursing
and shouting at them, we finally managed to get both
fish to the mat and took a couple of quick
photos.
The
second fish was a pristine mirror weighing 42lb, and
I now felt that I was getting to understand the
carps’ mood slightly better.
Get your bait to them in shallow water where they
could easily find it and you could get
runs. Fish in the deeper water in
amongst the abundant bloodworm and
‘chod’, and you would
struggle.
Back
at the bivvy, I made up my mind that I would bait up
a couple of margin spots heavily the next morning
with the ‘Sludge’
Spod Mix that Shaun at Hinders had made up for
me, and use these spots to try and attract fish from
the neighbouring deep water. The graphical echo
sounder on Phil’s bait boat had shown that
there were lots of fish in mid-water not far off the
dam wall. I knew from my UK fishing
at Dinton Pastures, that the only way to catch
mid-water or surface carp with bottom baits was to
present a bait in the margins at the same depth below
the surface the fish are patrolling.
Fishing on the bottom in 12ft of water is
pointless, when the fish are patrolling 4ft under the
surface. But fishing in the margins at
4ft deep as close as possible to where the fish are
patrolling, means that sometimes a fish 4ft down that
comes close to the margins has your bait right in
front of its nose.
The
spots I baited up were in front of swim 12, and
further along the bank (I shan’t divulge
exactly where!), and the bait mix was
5
kilos dry weight Nutz Sludge
Mix
2
handfuls crushed Blitz
Boilies
2
tins Sweetcorn
100ml Nutz
Concentrate
250ml CSL
liquid
250ml Pineapple
Slime
250ml Tiger
Slime
1
tin Coconut Milk
Both
of these spots were close enough to the bank that I
could chuck the bait in by hand, great dollops of
sludge clouding the water, and a steady slow-sinking
stream of sweetcorn bits, crushed boilies and liquid
attraction. I left the
spots for a few hours and wandered off round the lake
looking for feeding fish to cast to but by lunchtime
with little action I decided to give the baited spots
a go. Grabbing a handful of
baguette with duck pate and a couple of cold beers
from the fridge (we don’t go hungry you know),
I dropped in to swim 12 to fish the spot I’d
baited heavily that morning. Within
20 minutes one rod was off and a fat, pristine mirror
of 33lb 8oz was on the mat. This
was looking more promising.
With the bait starting to work for me, maybe I could
get onto the lumps big
time.
After
landing and photographing the 33lb 8oz, Richard
suggested I try the other spot I had
baited. This spot was only a
few feet from the bank, but I was confident that it
had virtually never been fished
before. Dropping the first
rod onto the spot, I rested the rod against the
marginal vegetation. Swinging out
the 2nd rod, I felt the lead
‘donk’ onto the bottom.
I could picture the plastic corn hook bait sitting in
amongst all that lovely sweet smelling sludge, in a
cloud of liquid carp food. As I
bent to lay the rod down, the bait runner fizzed off
in my hand! Striking into the
fish, I quickly realised it was a good ‘un, and
shouted for Richard, who was
nearby. Giggling stupidly, I
told him how the rod had gone off in my hand, and
then we both gasped as the fish rolled in front of
the net. It was
huge! On the scales it went 47lb
4oz, a huge lump with a massive
tail. That was enough for
me. I was
moving!
By
bivvying up around the corner from the dam wall, I
could walk down and flick the hook baits out quite
easily, and I could continue to bait up by hand with
the sludge from the dam wall.
Another 5 kilos of sludge mix went into the swim late
afternoon, and then around 7pm I had a beautiful 44lb
12oz mirror. It was now
Tuesday evening, and I felt as though I could catch a
good number of fish in the 4 days and nights left to
me. The bait was pulling in
the better quality fish in the lake from the adjacent
deep water, the bottom in the new swim wasn’t
too ‘choddy’, and the rigs were working
well.
That
night at 3am I had a blistering take that resulted in
a 50lb 4oz mirror that fought like a demon all the
way to the net. It was
a very satisfying moment. I had
worked hard to stalk a few good fish, I had already
caught from 5 swims on the lake, and it now looked as
though I had quite a few good fish in front of me and
on the bait.
The
next morning, Symon and Tony, the lake’s owners
turned up, and as we were talking, I had fish of 40lb
and 46lb 8oz, followed by a 32lb
common. This was turning out
to be a bonanza! After
taking a fifty, 3 forties and a couple of thirties
and smaller fish, I thought it was time to give the
swim a rest, so I piled in another bucket of sludge,
wound in the rods, grabbed some lunch and headed off
to do some stalking.
One
of my favourite swims on the lake is swim
4. There are some great spots at 40-50
yards, you can fish the channel between the islands,
and casting onto the sandy gravel against the island
can often be productive. By now the
cloudy skies and showers of the first couple of days
had given way to sultry 80° heat and strong
sunshine. The fish were moving
around the lake in numbers now, mostly on the top or
just under the surface. Symon and
Tony were working round the lake, clearing the debris
on the stream inlet after the heavy rain of a few
days previously. Tony stopped for a
chat, and as we discussed the fishing, the rod I had
cast against the island margins took
off. An astounding battle
commenced as the fish spent 5 minutes trying to
plough into the island. The
pressure the fish was applying was tremendous, and it
was all I could do to hang
on. My dodgy back was now
very painful, and after just five minutes with this
brute I was desperate to put the rod down and go and
lie down somewhere quiet. But the fish
was having none of it. A good 25 minutes
after hooking it another monster mirror rolled into
the net. Symon, Tony and I weighed
it at 48lb, and with a massive tail it was clear to
see the fish was built for
fighting! I didn’t
realise it at the time but it was the same fish as
the one I had taken the previous day at 47lb
4oz! I can’t explain the
weight difference other than to say that 2 different
people looking at the same set of scales would
probably give a slightly different
weight. Me, I couldn’t have
cared less how much it weighed. My
back was so painful now that all I wanted to do was
rest up for a
while.
Every
evening the three of us get together for a barbecue
and cold beers. With
the sweltering weather and the great fishing there
were a few more beers than usual, and with some good
steaks, sausages and stir-fry inside me, I nodded off
to sleep. Less than 45 minutes
later, a screaming run resulted in a massive 49lb 8oz
barn door of a mirror. It was a
huge plate shaped thing, almost a
leather. With the
remote control on my digital camera, I snapped off a
couple of photos. Still
exhausted but with my back a little less painful, I
climbed back into bed. As I
drifted off again, I could see the stars from my
bedchair. ‘That’s
funny’ I thought, ‘it seems to be
raining, but I can still see the
stars’. The rain
got a little harder. ‘I
can still see the
stars!’ An
ominous rumbling in the distance signified stormy
weather to come.
30 minutes later, all hell broke loose and a massive
thunderstorm arrived. For
hours it poured and thundered, and when that finished
the sky still flashed with lightning for hours
afterwards.
Eventually
peace reigned until at 8.15am another screaming take
roused me from bed. This
turned out to be another cracker, this time weighing
43lb. In a
little over 36 hours, I had now taken a stunning
collection of big fish – 33lb 8oz, 47lb 4oz,
44lb 12oz, 50lb 4oz, 32lb, 46lb 8oz, 40lb, 31lb 8oz,
48lb 4oz, 49lb 8oz and 43lb 8oz. The big
change had come when I had started feeding in the
Hinders sludge mix with all the additives-the fish
had just gone mad for
it! Every time I put
the stuff in, I could see this huge milky cloud
drifting around for a couple of hours
afterwards. The current
seemed to be dragging the cloud into the deeper water
10-15 yards out, and this was undoubtedly pulling
fish into the margin I was fishing.
For
much of that day I rested, but still managed a good
run of 7 smaller fish up to 35lb over the next 24
hours. By now it was
Friday, and I thought the swim must be dying after
such a run of fish. But the
lake had a few more surprises – fish of 45lb
14oz, 47lb and 42lb arrived before we had to depart
on the Saturday
morning. The 42lb was
the 12th forty of the week for
me. The weather was now
better than ever – mild, wet and
windy. If we’d been able to
fish on I’m sure we would have caught more big
carp.
It
had been a fantastic weeks fishing.
Between the three of us, we had landed 73 fish,
including 2 fifties, 22 forties and a good number of
thirties, plus 15-20 smaller fish. It far
surpassed the 105 fish we had taken 2 years
previously in terms of fish weights. We
all had to work very hard to catch – these are
not stupid fish – and we had caught from almost
every swim on the lake. It
was clear that they were only willing to feed on the
best bait, and would only feed where they wanted to
– you couldn’t persuade them to feed in
the deep water ‘choddy’ swims, even when
they crashed there all day.
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