Linear Lumps

Week 4

Now for a fifteen days of fishing night sessions I hadn't amounted to any real significant captures. In order to up my catches I decided to target the runs water Brasenose 1 to try and get some bites. When I turned up on the Sunday there hadn't been any fish out all weekend and so me and Mike began to worry. Mike had spent the majority of his time on Hardwick and Smiths Pool where he caught 4 stockie fish up to mid doubles. Mike's PB at the time was 16lb 12oz and despite 3 weeks of fishing with loads of twenties he hadn't caught one so we decided to go on Brasenose 1 one to change it.

The 1st and 2nd morning we woke up to this poor sight

26lb 2oz well pleased

As is common knowledge on the Linear complex the fish in B1 are shoal fish and love a big bed of bait, with this info Mike and I decided to bait a patch at range inbetween our 2 swims and work on getting it going throughout the week. I clipped a lead on my spod rod and found a nice clear area at 89 yards, this provided me with practice of fishing at range over bait. So with that the spomb was hooked up a 10 litre bucket of bait was put straight out in the lake. I will put details of the mix on bottom of the post. the rigs were then clipped up to the same distance and a solid bag and a 5 1/2ft Zig rig were put out there. The first night produced no fish but with the weather set to improve the baited patch would start to work for us. The second night was still cold however the fish had appeared to be more active with them crashing out. The windchill was high and therefore the expectation for a bite wasn't. At 2.00 the zig rig rod rattled off the fish kited to the right unfortunately catching up on Mike's lines  (Sorry mate). The hook hold did stay firm and the fish kissed the spreader block. At 26lb 2oz it was most welcome and despite another 5 spombs the fish didn't decide to take a bait again. The morning came around all too quickly but just before work another 5 kilos of bait was put out there to keep them interested. After a relatively easy day of work Mike and I were raring to go. The warm wind was now pushing towards us. Once all the traps were set Mike and I watched fish after fish crashed out over the spot sending a rather large oil slick notifying us of their presence. By 10 o'clock I wondered why neither of us had produced a bite, so I sent 3 spombs right over the spot. As the third spomb was being retrieved the zig rod signalled a take. The fight was slow and ponderous and to my surprise a small fish of 13lb 2oz. That night I caught a further 6 fish and lost one to mid doubles. I went to work happy but tired in the morning not before putting out another bucket of bait for them to chow down on in our absence.  So as I said before Mike hadn't beaten his PB for the whole 4 weeks and with it being the last night things weren't exactly looking up. Mike was yet to get off the mark with a fish from our combined spot. Part of the problem I thought was the fact that the he hadn't been casting from my swim so the distance he was clipped up to was falling short in his swim. With that I prompted him to cast from my swim he got it perfect straight away and the lead hit the bottom with a satisfying donk. Everything was set to be as good as the night before so we ordered a nice curry and i spombed 2 spombs every hour to keep it all topped up. By this point we were yet to catch on anything other than zig rigs over what was a large bed of bait, baffling. In the middle of our curry, Mike had as bite he played it in like a pro and a thick set mirror was duly netted. I am sure you all remember your first 20's and this fish bought the biggest smile out in the big guy. We weighed her at 20lb 4oz and took loads of photos to make sure we got some gooduns. With that fish sorted I had a bite a small double made it to the net and another 5 spods went out. So by this point it was around 11.30 and all we caught on over a large bed of bait was zig rigs. Due to exhaustion a further 2 fish followed to my rods before 12 o'clock and then I retired to bed to sleep before my journey back home the following afternoon. Well I enjoyed every minute and it has ultimately inspired me to start up this blog so see you next time.

Well done mate 20lb 4oz

Details as follows:
The Spomb mix
Vitalin
Mixed particles
Mainline Cell Boilies

13lb 2oz mirror on the zigs

Berkeley Gulp Boilies
Carp Company icelandic red boilies
Skretting pellets in 4 mm
Good Hemp Oil from tesco
Squid sauce from Tesco
2 pints of maggots

Zig rig components
Gardner Zig foam in black and white
Size 10 Korda Kurv
12lb Drennan double strength
3.5oz Korda zipp lead
Korda weedy green Lead Clip
Korda IQ2 Fluorocarbon leader


KIC Max

Linear Lumps

Week 2 & 3



I have merged these two weeks as they were both spent on the complexes big fish water Manor farm, with the weather so inconsistent, Dan and I spent the first week scratching our heads. With no sightings to go on it looked bleak and the result was a blank week for both of us. Week 3 saw an improvement in the weather, my departure on the Friday of week 2 prompted a flurry of fish to be caught, however these were mostly at the weekend that I was away. On my return on the Sunday evening the fish were coming out only to zig rig tactics With all the popular swims taken I opted for a swim near the 'hot zone' and kept disturbance to a minimum two 6ft zig rigs with black foam hookbaits were dispatched inbetween two prominent gravel humps at 64 yards range. The first bite was a complete surprise with two beeps and an inch rise indicated the bite the battle was however shortlived  with the fish shaking the size 10 korda kurv, 1 minute into the fight. I was rather gutted given that this was the first bite in more than a week. The second occurred much like the first bite with just two beeps signalling a pickup. The fish instantly weeded me up but with steady pressure it slowly made its way to the net with the fish safely in the net and the scales zeroed I cast the rig back out and weighed the fish. The scale perfect common weighed ounces over 20lb and was very welcome after more than a week without a fish. I don't have any fish pictures to show you but all the rig shots will follow. Due to an emergency I then had to leave Manor for one night and started work in the morning with a view to setting up that evening. I managed to get into a swim known as the brown swim, which is popular with many of manor regulars due to the large level of water it commands. At 89 yards I found a gravel spot no bigger than a kitchen table and promptly laid a few spombs onto it containing some boilies, pellets, 2 pints of maggots and some mixed particles this allowed for me to at least establish a baited spot should the fish want to feed. The second rod was more of a roving rod where I put out a zig rig due to its success at the start of the week. Unfortunately all my effort didn't quantify a reward and I returned home on the Friday fishless however I had learnt alot about fishing at range which will help me in the long run.

Varying colours of foam

All the riggy bits as follows
Size 10 Korda Kurv hooks
Hair tight to the hook
Gardner Zig rig foam in black was the winner however mixtures can be used.


KIC Max

Linear lumps

Hi Everyone

Welcome to the first keep it Carpy blog post. In order to start the blog in a blockbuster fashion I decided to form it following a 4 week stint on the popular Linear fisheries complex in Oxford. My course dictates I carry out a 4-week work placement in the fisheries industry so with that 3 friends and I arranged a bit of fishing with some work thrown in. Although the weather wasn't perfect, time was on our side and as the weather became more constant the catch rates increased. The most successful tactics were zig rigs and solid bag fishing and with bites few and far between a small amount of well placed bait proved to be the most successful. 

Week One

The first week began on Hardwick and Smiths pool where the stock fish had appeared to wake up from their winter slumber the earliest. On the first night I put 4 kilo of mixed particle, trout pellets, maggots and a mixed size boilies in a silty gulley at the bottom of the gravel shelf at 47 yards range. The next rod was more of a roving rod and a chance to try them out properly at range with that in mind a solid pva bag of pellets and ground bait with a small pop-up was dispatched to a range of 100 yards plus where I saw alot of fish head and shouldering. With it being the first night on Hardwick I didn't foresee action forthcoming however after 2 hours of darkness the long range rod rattled off with a nice low double common. With the long range rod whacked back out it was then the turn for the baited rod to come up trumps, a nice low double scaled mirror found the arms of my landing net at around 2 o'clock in the morning. The solid bag fished at range then rattled off again with a nice mirror of 18lb 12oz this made it three in one night and a successful start. 

With a 6.30 wake-up the spod rod came out and to keep the fish interested during the day a further 5 kilos of bait was introduced. As soon as work finished the spot was baited with a further 6 spombs to top up the area and the rigs followed. The rigs were both solid bags as I feel the presentation can't be beaten. The baited spot once again produced another fish of low doubles therefore bringing the tally to four fish. With the weather being colder a thick fog overcoming the lake it made it impossible to cast and bait up accurately this therefore put paid to the catches and the fish moved off the area. The poor weather allowed a regroup and I promptly packed up on the Friday to visit my girlfriend and the shower. 

A nice dark mirror of 18lb 12oz

Instead of going mad with all the specifics in the text I thought best to put it at the bottom. 

Hookbaits CCmoore Northern specials 12mm red

Korda Solidz PVA Bags

Sonubaits micropellets

Old Ghost Snail carp groundbait

Korda Kurv size 10's tied KD style 

Korda supernatural supple braid

Avid carp bag leads 2.5 oz

KIC Max