Double Take

Still nothing to blog about but the mild spell we've had has seen a few Carp on the bank which is a very good sign, the end of February has always been good for me and hearing of these catches has got me working on making a few boilies ready for a Carp session at Ryton.

I've been having a good look through the old red boilie recipe book and I've altered my old 'Ryton 3' base mix slightly to accommodate a couple of new ingredients, I won't know whether this tweak will work or not till I see fish on the bank, only time will tell.

A mix of colours and textures.

Plus a few extras.

Ready to use.

It does look good and smells quite nice! The baits will be rolled fresh the day before fishing.

Typically, there's a cold front moving in for the weekend, the fishing at Ryton might switch off again for the next few days which would be just my luck!

Whilst having my usual cup of caffeine this morning I was flicking through one of my magazines, I nearly choked on my coffee when I saw a picture of a lovely girl with some familiar looking curves staring back at me, "is that?" I thought, it certainly looked like her so I had to reach for the photo album and have a good look. The shape was right but after a quick scale check I could see a few clear scale pattern variations.

(Magazine picture at the bottom)

Top picture - Me and Mel

When I first saw this picture I thought the tales of fish thefts in the area were true and that Ryton's 'Melissa' had been a victim.

I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she's probably still in the pool but did wander whether both these fish were from the same strain of Carp but delivered to various fisheries whilst they were young, they certainly are the same shape.

Duck Diversions

So much for the start to the fishing this year, I have nothing new to blog about which means this entry is a bit of a rattle about random stuff. My total catches so far still only stands at one fish, only one, no more and we are one and a bit months in. I've been out several times and in all weathers but the catch rate has remained at one lucky Bream. On a plus note, it means that unless Barry catches on our next outing the Duck's still remain his, blanking has never been so good!

The old boilie recipe book.

 

The bait shack (currently 'The Hooch Hut') will soon be in action, I've looked high and low for my old boilie recipe book which I was beginning to convince myself that I'd lost when we moved house a couple of years back, I found it last week, tucked away in the corner of a box I'd looked in several times. Having flicked through the ingredient stained pages, I've started gathering the necessary bits and pieces to make my first batch of boilies in three years, let's hope it's not that long before I catch any fish on them.

 

An old hobby, not dabbled with since my student years, has kept me from freezing my brass bits off this winter whilst fishing for duck's, brewing beer. It's been a welcome diversion away from fishing and even though I no longer drink the way I used to it's been enjoyable to make and then sample the stuff and it also means I no longer have to buy booze from the supermarket.

 

I've come across a few ingredients used in home brewing that are going to make their way into my boilie recipes but this doesn't mean I'm going to be tempting the carp with fermented boozy boilies! (Now there's an idea!)

 

Bottled Brews

The brews I've knocked up so far have of coarse been given names that relate to angling, there's 'Carpers Pit' and 'Pikers Bite' which are both flavoured 'Turbo' Ciders, 'Wobbly Barrow' is a proper old style ale which is bottle conditioning as I write this, the tasting at bottling stage was very promising. Looking forward to brewing Nettle Beer and Elderflower Champagne, when the spring arrives.