21 October 2012, Richardson's Lake (Marsh Farm)

Peg 14 on Richardson's today - a pretty decent area, and in probably the most prolific section.

Straight lead rig components

I started across to the far side with a 2/3 ounce Guru square bomb and a 12" hooklength of 0.19 Reflo Power into a size 14 Guru QM1 hook - mounted on the hair was an 8mm white pop-up boilie, pinned down with 2 number 8 stotz an inch from the hook.

Method feeder rig components

No indications after 20 minutes so I switched to the method (a small 30g Preston model) loaded with some softened 2mm Fin Perfect pellets and some Stiki Pellet binder - hookbait was a hard 6mm pellet on 10cm of 0.19 Reflo Power into a size 16 QM1.

This led to a few iffy line bites so I switched to the normally more positive pellet feeder (small 30g Preston again) - but at the end of the first hour I was still fishless.

Next up was the pole at 14.5m with a 4x14 KC Carpa Chimp and tiny piece of worm over some chopped worm and caster - again no proper bites so after 2 hours I was still without anything in the net and I was starting to get really twitchy!!!

The Mo Brown Slim'o - a wonderfully handmade pole float



Luckily a switch to a top kit plus 4 line slightly to the left with a 0.1g Mo Brown Slim'o and a 4mm Fin Perfect expander over some softened 2mm pellets led to some proper bites and 2 crucians in short order.

The Slim'o rig

These 2 very welcome fish were followed by 2 more crucians and a skimmer over the next hour.

Scaling down made a difference

Despite opening a new line at an angle to the right the fourth hour was fishless so it was back on the pellet feeder. Again some funny line bites, but after tying-up a hooklength consisting of 10m of 0.15 Reflo Power and a size 18 Drennan Eyed Barbless Carp Feeder hook and attaching a single dead white maggot the tip wanged straight 'round and a small tench found itself in my keepnet!

This was to be a false down however and it proved to be a one off! I rotated my pole lines again, but at 1400 I packed the pole away and committed myself to the tip for the final 90 minutes (we were fishing 1000 - 1530) - this tactic has paid-off before but with hindsight I should've stuck with the top kit plus 4 line as I never had another bite!

In the end my 6 fish weighed 6-13-0, only good enough for a disappointing 6th out of 8 in section.