Spring 2016 crucian fishing

As much as I enjoy my autumn and winter angling the spring and summer are equally as exciting with the transition of colours with every thing coming back to life as the days are longer and warmer and of course With it the lilly pads which means to a lot of us.. Sitting back eagerly watching a float hoping for it to disappear with a hopefully a bar of gold on the end! Yup spring and summer mean crucians to me! I try and mix up my angling and challenge myself by targeting different species keeping my angling exciting and keeping me on my toes! My first crucian session fell on the end of April, with the warm days firmly set in and the pads slowly on the rise it was time to target the crucians. I arrived at my chosen venue to find the water tap clear.. Which didn't bode well for the fishing as the crucians in this venue are finicky as it is! So fishing the float will cause the crucians to spoke off of the vertical lines. I had a small walk around the venue and decided to drop in a swim where i saw some crucians rolling out in the middle of the channel. I decided to set up two feeder rods. A method which has helped me to land lots and lots of crucians to 4.1lb

My set up consists of two Drennan 1.25 test curve Avon rods, two Drennan 25gram flat inline feeders, two 3" 7lb Drennan supper Specailist micro braid hook links with two size 16 super Specailist wide gape hooks. On the hair I like to fish white buoyant imatation casters as the rig is critically balanced improving bites and putting more fish in the bank. I mixed up my ever faithful mix which consisted of a sticky baits krill ground bait mixed with sticky baits krill micro pellets. With the fish being finicky feeders the only bait which i introduced to the swim was the feeders so I was just fishing a bite at a time. Also a method that proves very effective and which usually helps me avoid the numerous tench in the lake. I fished one rod in the centre of the channel where I saw the crucians rolling and I cast the other tight to the island which also has produced crucians in the past. With both rods out it was time to sit back and wait! 

It didn't take long for the bobbin on the left rod to crack the blank of the rod and I was into my first fish of the session! After a spirited fight a golden crucian rolled on the surface and it wasn't long before it was in the back of my net! No matter the size of crucians I just love angling for the species! There such a beautiful species! I didn't even have time to get the crucian out of the water to unhook it and the second rod was away, again to another crucian! It wasn't long and I was looking at two lovely crucians in the net! 

After a few shots the two beautiful crucians were slipped back to there gin clear home. 

I recast the rods to the same positions which the previous two bites came from. It took a while for the next bite to surface but eventually the left rod was away again. And another crucian was in the net! Another lovely specimen to! I re cast the rod back to the spot which was obviously a spot the crucians favoured and it wasn't long before the bobbin again was cracking the blank of the rod! 

This fish felt had some weight behind it and fort a lot harder than the previous three crucians landed so I didn't want to loose this fish so I played it very gingerly.. The crucian rolled on the surface and looked bigger than the previous crucians! Eventually the crucian was in the net! And what a big framed crucian it was to!

After carefully weighing the specimen a few shots were taken and I released the crucian back. I was very happy with how the session was going! 

Sadly no more bites materialised that session! But I was still happy with the four crucians landed! It was mid May before I had returned to the venue but the pads were well and truly established so I was hoping to catch a few on the float this session. With nothing to go by from my walk I droped in a swim I've had luck from in the past. I set up my Drennan 14ft match pro float rod coupled with my Bob James centre pin loaded with 4.1 Drennan float fish line. I fished a .8 gram delicate pole float with a size 18 Drennan super specialist wide gape hook. I like to fish dead bottom but if the crucians prove to be finicky I use the lift method. I plummeted a spot close to some pads. 

When fishing the float method I like to bait with small amounts of bait which consists of my usual ground bait mix. I like to introduce small golf ball sized balls of ground bait. I start off with one and go from there. As you can over feed the swim and attract the tench. I always fish a sleeper rod which is my ever faithful feeder method. I fished this rod out in open water. Fishing this rod as a sleeper allows me to concentrate on the float. Also if one of the method produces more than the other I'll switch both rods to the same tactics. 

It was very very slow going on the float but it didn't take long for the feeder rod to rip off and a crucian being the culprit. 

Bites were non existent on the float so i put out a second feeder rod. Frustrating as it is as there's nothing I love more than to catch the crucians on the float if there not having it close there's no point blanking. I cast this feeder tight to the island where I saw some crucians roll. Again it didn't take long and my left rod was away and a lovely crucian laid in my net. 

The crucians are really loving the middle of the lake at the moment with the clarity being gin clear I guess where the middle is the deepest it's where they feel safer. I positioned both rods out into the middle of the channel and kept just the bait on the feeders are they were feeding finicky I just wanted to fish for a bite at a time. Fishing the feeder method isn't at all traditional but it makes a finicky feeding fish easy to catch. And using the feeder method certainly puts more fish on the bank! My session was drawing to a close but one more 2lb+ crucian made an appearnce making it a enjoyable mornings fishing with a few crucians landed. 

I'm unsure as of when I'll return to fish for the crucians as I've got tench firmly in my mind so I'll try and target them for a few more weeks for sure! I hope you've enjoyed my latest blog entry. Thank you for reading, be lucky out there.