Crucian It…

The Opportunity

A couple of weeks ago I fished my club lake for carp with a little success, but I wasn’t setting the world alight like the guy in the next swim. I was getting cleared out before the carp moved in. Around 4kg later and I’d managed a scraper 20 and a 5lb tench. This gave me lots of time to watch the water and one thing I did notice was fish moving close in. These were not carp; these were tench and or possibly crucians. I spent many an hour with a coffee pondering what I would have done with the right gear.

Being Prepared (not)

So with that thought niggling away in my mind all week I set up a couple of small method feeders. The next weekend I picked up as little gear as possible and headed back over to the lake. This was a joke really as I seem to have simply picked up my carp gear with a smaller net and lightweight rods. It also meant I needed my barrow; crazy I looked like I should have been doing the weekend. So I clearly wasn’t that organised! But I did have my brew kit and a couple of porridge pots, so was ready for the harshest of conditions the weather could throw at me. You guessed it; it was super-hot and felt like it was up in the 20s. All I needed was a T-shirt and sun cream! Thankfully I had them with me along with the kitchen sink.

The Plan Gone Wrong

Arriving later than hoped around 9:30am, the lake is rammed with carp anglers. A walk round the area I wanted to fish and there were only two swims free. I would have to fish a little further down the bank than planned, but the swim I chose has done well in the past. You never know. Question is, just how far out to fish? It’s now 10:30am and all I’ve done is put three spods of hemp and corn out. Not quite how I had planned it.

The Method

I’m using a Marukyu Luxus sweet fishmeal method mix, with a good sprinkling of 2mm Krill pellets, a splash of hemp oil and a special sweet liquid I’ve been playing around with. The plan was to spod hemp and corn straight out and cast one rod either side of the baited area. One with two bits of soft corn and one with an 8mm hard pellet. These were hair-rigged to about 4.5” of very supple braid on a size 12 curved hook. Keeping a little bait going in either with the Method feeders or the spod was the goal.

The Results

It must have been about 90 minutes and apart from two aborted takes, nothing. I’ve had a few people message saying good luck, but I think this was out of sarcasm as no one expected me to catch!

I took five minutes out with a coffee to chat to a new member in the little cut-through between the two swims. It’s his first session and he tells me he lost a carp last night, but had two good tench. That’s good news for me, even if it’s not what he wanted.

At this point my left-hand rod went into meltdown! ‘Tench’ I thought, but nope a 2.04lb crucian. Who ever said crucian carp are shy biters never met these bad boys. I mentioned to the guy next-door as he took pictures for me that this was all I needed from my trip and I was content.

I must have spoken too soon as 20 minutes later the right rod rips off and this time it’s a 3.04lb crucian! Couple more pictures and I think I mentioned this had just made my year! Little did I know what was coming. I continued to spod out a little hemp and corn and changed both rods over to an 8mm hard pellet.

I managed eight crucians before a tench came to play. Throughout the afternoon I had long quiet spells. This was followed by a group of fish moving into feed before quickly moving off. I simply made sure I had plenty of bait there when they did.

The day went from awesome to Red Letter in a little over five hours. I ended with a tally I could only have dream about. My reward was 12 crucians with the smallest being 2.04lb, along with a 2.13lb, 2.14lb, 2.15lb, with three at over 3lb, including a 3.03, and two at 3.04. Now add one at a massive 3.08lbs, which equaled my personal best, and you can see why I’m still buzzing about that session!

The 3.08lb came as a double take with a 3lb fish, and what a picture that made. A day I will not forget soon and adds to what can only be described as the best two months fishing I’ve ever had.

With another French trip planned in October, could my lucky run continue? Let’s see!