freeline-107 - Flipbook - Page 176
BARRY OCONNOR
high. In contrast, the July visit coincided with very high
temperatures and bright sunshine that had been with us
for weeks – not the sort of weather you want for carp
fishing. The water level was slightly down, but because of
the dyke system that surrounds the lakes at Cottington, the
w a t e r l e v e l c a n b e c o n t r o l l e d . A n y w a y, e v e n i f w e d i d n ’ t
catch anything, we’d all end up with a nice tan.
Both Ben and I went back in to the same swims we were in
during the May session, whereas Mango and Scott changed
their choice of swims. Mango went to the left of me and
fished into a corner and to an island. Scott went to the
right of Ben and also fished into a corner and to an island.
As always, Ben and I used the ever-reliable and very
s h a r p D e c e p t i o n s i z e 6 D -X C u r v e d h o o k s . T h e h o o k s w e r e
m a tc h e d w i t h a t h re e - o u n c e l e a d , a f ive - i n c h Tra n z l u s i o n
Fluoro hooklink and Deception Safety Clips on our setups.
Because we’d had so many carp on our last visit, none
of us could see any reason to change what we did… that
was until we could see a few carp cruising around on the
s u r f a c e w h i l e w e w e r e s e t t i n g u p . Wo u l d z i g s w o r k ? We l l ,
I was certainly going to try them on one of my rods. I’m
sure the others might have had the same thought. The
water depth in front of me was around four feet, so I set
the zig at three feet. A tiny piece of black foam the size
of a pea was used as the hook bait. This was dunked in A2
Tutti Frutti glug before casting. The setup Ben and I use
allows for the lead to come off very easily when the carp
takes the bait. It’s almost instantly dropped. The biggest
problem with playing a carp on a zig is the lead weight. If
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