Good Evening.

It is a very late post from Gigantica. I am now sat by my rods in the dark and hoping for a take at some point! Although it is dark, and late, there are still plenty of carp in the tree line snags, as they keep making themselves heard! I have three rods out, all fishing tight to the edge of the overhanging bushes. My baitrunners are off, I am fishing locked up, the rods are securely held in place with my Osprey rod savers, and it will be hit, hold, apply side strain, and fingers crossed any hooked carp will kite away on a tight line into open water. This is what I have been waiting for since I arrived at Gigantica, and as you might have gathered; I am very excited!!

I was actually very lucky to get the swim. Three new English anglers turned up through the gates at 1pm. They had a couple of walks round the lake, and really took their time, observing all they could. They all seemed to be quite switched on, and plenty of questions were asked about swims, and tactics etc.. When it came to do the draw, I opted out of it, as I am not a paying customer and a guest at Gigantica. This week, with such a small number of anglers, it would have been unfair, so Danny and I let them choose their first choice of swim each. Stuart took Co’s Point, Neil went for the Big Southerly, and Richard eventually chose The Alamo. That meant the Tree Line swim was free for the taking and that is where I went. By the time all of this decision making was done it was past 4pm. There was lots to do and the rods were sorted out first. They were the priority!

I had a couple of walks around the lake this morning and also during the early afternoon, and I spotted lots of carp basking in the usual places; there were so many fish in the Tree Line area, as there always seems to be during the daytime. The reason I really want to fish this swim is exactly because of the above; I know there are nearly always carp there, and I just love this style of close range fishing to features.

As a result my baiting tactics are going to be fairly similar to how I normally fish, with very light baiting. I don’t need to lump in the bait as I know the fish are there already. Tonight in fact I am fishing a single large bright pop up on one rod, three corked tiger nuts fished with a small PVA bag on rod two, and my final rod is a snowman, fished with a three bait stringer. If the tigers work well, then they will get used on all my rods.

The Tree Line swim really is snag fishing at its best. You can not leave your rods for a second, and you must pounce on them very quickly if you get a take. Lines must be tight and backleads are not an option, otherwise there will be too much slack line for the fish to move off with, before you get any indication. Tomorrow I will show you the rigs I am using, including my special shockleader material, and also show you pictures of exactly where I am fishing too! There are some really obvious holes in the tree line and bushes, but I have deliberately avoided these, as I know everyone always casts to the same spots week in week out. Hopefully this way I can catch the carp off guard!

There are loads of carp jumping tonight all over the lake, but I can still hear plenty of fish in the Tree Line, so I know they have not all moved out into open water. I am going to sit up for a few hours and listen. When I do got to bed, my bivvy is positioned right next to my rods so I can jump out of bed in a flash!

The weather has also taken a turn for the better. It has been much milder today, only 27 degrees in fact, and the forecast for the week, is for some showers and overcast skies and a few days of westerly winds; bring it on!

See you tomorrow.

Jake Langley-Hobbs & two Doberman dogs!

This entry was posted on July 5, 2009 at 12:10 am and is filed under Gigantica. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.