Before I begin I`d better explain that Ruby country is an area of Devonshire famed for its beef...
Anyway... recently as much as I adore carp fishing sometimes it's just nice to pursue another piscatorial avenue, in this case, the avenue being in the form of a friend of mine who just happens to have some small lakes in his back garden - his home literally next door to the carp pool!
And so a quick text message to the friend secured a day's traditional fishing on his other well stocked mixed species pool, I asked my son if he`d like to come too...
To continue the traditional ethos we both used our Mitchell reels; mine are older than me, they're 3.0.0 version four or five, not to be confused by a 300, and my son's is a 440a match reel from the seventies, which has been totally rebuilt by the famous Mitchell maestro `Metal Micky.'
Our quarry for this trip being for me Crucians and for my son a nice stripy was in order.
I decided to use a special handmade float given to me by another friend of mine, a real cane and pin advocate, plus the bait being `torn Lidl prawns in brine` which were to be dipped in Liquid Robin Red (LRR) before casting in. I`ve mentioned beforehand how much I love using the LRR in the cooler months - it`s a real edge; in fact, I'd feel a little underdressed if I didn`t have some with me when I fish.
It wasn`t long before the planned trip came around. In the morning, the day ahead looked a tad bleak and
uninviting but - not to be deterred - my son and I loaded up the small four by four and off we went a fishing...
When we arrived, we had a brief chat with the owner and then made towards our respective swims.
The first thing I did after plumbing the depth and setting up my float rod was to feed small amounts via my bait dropper of Haith's hemp seed and Haith's groats. My plan being after every fish or fifth recast I was to add some more of the aforementioned loose feed. I guess I was fishing in around five feet of water on a marginal shelf which was reed lined... I flicked the float complete with `torn prawn` dipped in that glorious and aforementioned Liquid Robin Red up the marginal and I let it settle, and began the wait...
A few small pinpricks rose around the baited area and I even had the odd very gentle dip or movement on this handmade float... Then... just as I was contemplating a recast... the float dipped and the rod gently struck and a fish was on! Sure enough - after a short tussle - laying in my net was small perch. I was happy with this, though,
and hoped the Crucians hadn`t yet switched off as it had been cooler the last day or so... Anyway, I re-baited after depositing another small amount of bait dropped free offerings, and again began the wait...
I thought I heard a shouting - indeed, it was my son Mike letting me know he`d had some sort of result. So I reeled in and found a happy chappy complete with smile proudly showing me a nice stripy in his net - not the biggest, but hey! By now, if you've read my Haith's blogs before, you'll know that for me it's about the day and having an adventure.
Finding myself recasting in my swim soon saw me playing something going round in circles. When it was finally netted, however, it was a lovely looking Crucian carp. It was my turn to be the happy chappy! 'Mission accomplished,' I said to myself as I refrained from doing the north coast carpers' famed victory call as I didn`t want to be banned from the pools.
Carrying on in the same manner as the above, I had around ten lovely Devonian Crucians, some Perch and some silver fish. In the past, I've had Roach to two-pound-plus and a three is more than possible...!
My son also had a good result, and he was well pleased with the internal refurb of his skip found Mitchell 440a....although a variety of baits were tried and used that day it was (and both my son and I agreed) using the Liquid Robin Red (LRR) that made all the difference -especially the nice big red cloud as the bait drops through the murky water... What more could an angler want?
Now, to a lot of people, traditional angling means cane, pin and tweed clothing [I happen to have friends who do this] but - to me - it's all about embracing traditional methods and adopting the mindset of simplicity.
Enjoy your fishing and the countryside... and don't forget the great winter edge in its many uses is Liquid Robin Red or LRR as I like to call it.
Written by Adam Roots
