Trip #85 - Bubbling Brooks and Cruising Carp.

This weekend was going to be spent the other side of the bridge after my wife and I decided (rather last minutely) to go home and visit our parents. This also meant that a fishing double was on the cards. My Dad is a keen river angler but like me will target anything that swims, so persuading him to get on the river should be a fairly easy job, and if those fish weren't playing ball I knew a venue which always produces on the fly this time of year, come rain, wind or shine.

Part 1 - River Taff

It wasn't an overly early start in comparison to some other fishing trips I have I had with my Dad but we were up and out of the house just after 8 which meant plenty of time for a McDonalds breakfast...WIN!

Trip #84 - Avalon Fishery - Moore Lake

I was quite excited today to be trying out a new fishery, and this week it came in the shape of Avalon fishery based right in the middle of Shapwick nature reserve. It was quite easy to find although negotiating the parked tractor on the lane to the venues entrance did almost leave me in a trench. I was also pleased to find out the there was a small tackle store on site which meant I could restock my pellet supplies as well as purchasing a new pellet bander after losing my last one. I had looked at the website and had seen the layout out of the lakes, the pictures however had not prepared me for the efficient layout of the venue which I saw on arrival. I've fished a few pegged commercial venues previously but this was something else.

Trip #83 - Mangerton Take 2 - The Proof is in the Paste

I was very keen today to get out and try some of the Skretting Pellet Paste I had made the previous evening. I was under no illusion that today was going to be aimed solely at Carp. Normally I start off on the silver fish and then work my way up to Carp unless my bait gets intercepted along the way. Normally it's purely from a "what species does this lake have in it?" perspective, but having visited Mangerton very recently, and knowing full well that the place was absolutely stuffed to the brim with Carp I decided on an all out Carp attack. I had made my rigs the previous evening and after arriving early (this time with the correct money for the honesty box) I made my way to a peg on the right hand bank, and before I had even stopped my trolley I could hear Carp slurping away on the surface.

I'd gone for a fairly hefty approach with only 2 topkits set up: 

• 14 and 16 Elastics - Pre-weighted Paste float on 6lb Middy Lo Viz Crystal to a Preston PR478 size 12 Hook. You could pretty much land a Whale on this gear.