freeline-97 - Flipbook - Page 210
WAYNE IZZATT
t h at had just vacated on my way t hro u gh t h e ga te , wh i c h wa s
i n complete contrast to th e l uc k I h a d b e e n ex p er i en c i n g . T h e
swim had a large island fe at u re at 5 0 ya rd s ’ ra n g e an d a s ma l l
s e ction of open water, but i t wa s t h e c a lm e d dy o f wa te r o n
t h e back of the islan d create d by t h e w i n d f u n n e l i n g d ow n th e
s i des that screamed out to m e .
Upon leading around, th e d e c k fe lt c le an o u t t h e re exc e p t
fo r eel grass tight to the i sl a n d, wh i c h I s u sp e c t h ad n o t s e e n
a great deal of bait or it wo u ld n’ t ex i s t . S o th a t wa s a t t ra c t ive
fo r me. We all like to get a h a rd , c le a n d ro p wh e n l o o k i n g fo r
s p ots, but how many ti me s h ave t ho se s p o t s b e en f i sh e d to
b e come that hard? That is th e q ue s ti o n I a lways a s k mys e l f .
A nd if the spot has done a fe w f i sh , i t i s l i ke ly t h e c a rp m ay
avoid it like the plague, es p e c i al ly o n p re ss u re d wa te rs s u ch
a s this on e? So I decided i t wa s wo r t h t he ga m b l e o f r i s k y
p resentation in the eel gra ss we ed ra th e r t h a n f i s hi n g th e h a rd
d rops. Although I usually p re fe r a b o t to m b a i t wh e re I c an g e t
away with it , I felt a pop-u p wa s es s e n ti a l fo r f i sh i n g ove r t h e
e e l grass to hopefully ensu re th e h o o k wo u ld s e t t l e p ro u d a n d
u p right and not be fouled u p o n th e s te ms o f t h e we e d .
Regarding the baiting ap p ro a c h, I d e c i d ed a s ma l l ite m b a i t
m i x was the best choice, so i t wo u ld h o p e f u l ly s et tl e gen t ly
a n d visibly over the grass to draw t he f i s h d ow n to fe e d. T h e
m i x was made up of hemp , co r n , 4 m m p e ll e t , g ro u n d b a i t a n d
c r umbed and chopped Com p lex-T b o i li e , wi th a wh i t t le d -d ow n
m atching pop-up to resemb le a c h o p a s t h e h o o kb a i t . I wa s n o t
i n tent on “filling it in”, as t he re we re a fe w a n gl e r s o n t h e p i t
w i th a lot of bait goi ng ou t , to o m u ch fo r t h e s to c k re a l ly i n
my opinion, so I was fishi n g fo r o n e b i te a t a t i m e , w i t h h a l f
a dozen small Spombs ove r ea c h s p o t b e i n g p l e n t y. Th e b a i t
FREELINE 98
