Tirley Lakes Day Session

10th December 2009

Off to a bad start! First trip out in December to my favourite all year round venue Tirley Lakes and things couldn’t have started off any worse the first problem came about before the session had even started in the way of a long deep flooded road, being pitch black with the road no where to be seen we had two choices number one , try and get though or number two turn round, To try and get to the other side would be crazy but not knowing any other way round we slowing edged our way though lucky as we where we got though with no problems!

Thinking the worse was behind us and no more problems would occur we carried on, getting to the lake just before the gates opened at seven. Just as we got out of the car the sky’s opened and it started to rain! So the waterproofs where much needed, just as we where about to check the car I had that horrible thought we had left some thing behind!!! And what do you know the bag containing all our waterproofs, food, kettle for hot drinks and the gloves, was still at home on the kitchen side!

So with all that had happened before I could even get I rod out it was all ready in the head to just pack up and head home, but having travelled a good hour we decided to stay for at least a few hours to see if we could manage to sneak a couple out.

Every think looked just right so putting aside all that had gone wrong we got both rods out and to my surprise both rods went bang on the money on the first cast, a better start, after about ten minutes we had our first take resulting in a nice mirror of about 14lbs,and the action pretty much came all to the one rod down the margin on the far side , where a nice strong cross wind was blowing into a corner all day!

The tactics as always where dead simple using Mini Combo in Pva Bags pre-soaked in a new concentrate which will be out to next year and imitation corn and pellet wrapped in a matching new paste!(small hooks and small hook baits a must in winter conditions) We went on to have 14 takes losing only one, with my dad landing a new pb of 17lb! he was over the moon as you would be and I myself landing a 19lb 8oz common which was the biggest I have had from this lake to present time!

So all in all two pbs for the lake, 13 fish landed most being again over double figure, It in the end turned out to be a really good session! So even when everything has gone against you some times it pays to stick it out as you never know how a session will end.

14th November 2009

With a weather warning of strong winds heavy rain and floods the safest place to be would be at home, but having sorted out the kit and geared up for the day a little wind and rain wasn't going to stop me from fishing.  I turned up just before seven in the morning to find the lake empty which gave me a problem as I had far too much water to fish.

After a bit of roaming around I spotted a large group of fish down against the far island so all 3 Rods were cast out to that spot.  As a rule I would have fished into the wind but with no protection on that side of the wind it would have been a crazy thing to do. So using my car as a windshield I set up my 60" Brolly to escape from the elements.  Casting was a huge problem due to the wind so every cast had to be on the spot otherwise I was wasting my time!!!

The action was steady pretty much all through the day as I had 25 takes, landing 23 with 20 being at least double figures (10lb+) which considering it was mid November was a good day.  Tactics wise I used PVA Bags fishing Artificial Corn in Paste Wraps and Mini Combo Pellets soaked in a new Fruity Concentrate (available from Feb 2010).  These tactics have helped me catch over 100 carp in the last four sessions on Tirley Lakes.

Steve recently spent a day session on Tirley Lakes near Gloucester.  The fishing started off slowly with no action for the first two hours but with a change in the wind, the carp came down to our corner of the lake and we knew we were in the right swim.

So with the conditions looking good the lads made a few end tackle changes dropping down a hook size to a Fox Size 10 SSBP and changed to PVA Bags rather than funnel web bags.  We were straight into the action and after a couple of minutes a couple of doubles were in the net.  The action was really hotting up with a couple more carp coming soon after.  Adam and James were fishing two different swims using two rods each and over the space of ten hours they had 47 takes landing two new pb carp James with a 16lb 8oz and Adam a 17lb 10oz.

Adam was using Salamiz Paste Wraps for hookbaits, and Mini Combo Pellets in PVA Bags pre soaked in Salamiz Concentrate.  Adam has used the Salamiz Range all year which has accounted for over five pbs for him and just over a hundred carp on the bank.  Obviously Salamiz is his number one bait this year!!

James was using the new Hinders Fruit Range a range that I have used for the last 6 months or so to great success.  We used the flavoured pellets in PVA Bags soaked with the matching concentrate and paste wraps for the hookbait. James managed to land 25 fish during the session with two pbs commons of 16lb 6oz and 16lb 8oz with a new nice mid double mirror carp as a back up.  This smashed his previous best session with only four carp in a day with the best being 14lb.

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