In search of summer gold

Summer is one of my favourite times of year to fish, as long as it's not to hot I'm in my element sat out In a pair of shorts and t shirt loving life, there's a few species I like to target in the summer months and crucians are one of them. My first summer crucian session was due to take place at the end of June just before my ticket run out on club lake I was going to target. Marked in the calander in bold writing so I could count down the days to my session! It wasn't long before I was finishing up at work and I was sorting my kit for the session. Having previously fished the water a few times before hand a had plan in my head on which tactics to use, swim choice would be dependant on the wind and availability. I was up early to arrive at the venue at first light. I wondered the banks and found an area on the end of the wind and it didn't take me long to see some crucians rolling amongst tench and Rudd to. I set up base camp and started to prepare my spomb mix. 

My spomb mix is a pretty simple one. It consists of a F1 groundbait mixed with sticky baits krill active mix, hemp, caster and maggot. I like to put small feed items in the mix to keep the fish rooting around the baited area which in turn also holds the fish in the swim for longer. I'm not bothered about the smaller fish which will be attracted by the maggot, caster and hemp I want the swim to be active attracting all sorts of species as I found this method works really well for me on this particular venue! Once the mix was mixed I began to have a lead about as this time of year the venue can be very weedy. I was suprised by the amount of weed this year, it took me quite a long time to find a spot I was confident on fishing on. But I'd rather take my time to find a fish able spot with good line lay then waste a session fishing a bad spot. With the spot noted down, I clipped up my spomb to mark and introduced several spombs to get the spot rocking whilst I fiddled around with the rods. My standard set up for this style of crucian angling consists of two 12ft 1.25TV Drennan series 7 specialist Avon rods, coupled with two small reels loaded with 6lb Drennan method and feeder mono. You want something to take the strain of the cast and something strong to withstand the strain from big fish also. The Buisness end consists of two Drennan 35g inline flat method feeders, short 3" 6lb Drennan micro braid hooklinks with size 16 Drennan super specialist wide gape hooks. For the hook bait I want something which withstand the nusance fish and will always be fishing after aborted takes maximising your chances for take. So I opt to use a single buoyant caster. With the rods all set up I clipped them up to the same mark and mixed up my ground bait mix to be moulded around the feeder. This is the same mix as the spomb mix just with no free offerings so they home in on your hook bait. 

Both rods went out smoothly and it didn't take me long to receive the first bite resulting in a tench! 

The tench were relentless at the start! I was getting double takes at times but I knew it wouldn't be long for the crucians to turn up so I persisted with the constant tench! It really is relentless angling but it has to be done, constantly recasting the feeders and topping the swim up with spombs to hold the fish in your swim. It's a full on approach but it works. After wading through the tench the bites stopped so I left the feeders out knowing that the crucians could be feeding next, the bobbin pulled up slower and I was into my first crucian of the session. After a short spirited fight under the rod tip the lovely crucian was in the net. And I didn't have time to unhook it as the other rod was away also! Another crucian, with both fish safely in the net my friend fishing next door did the honours and took the photos for me. Photo quality is paramount to me so I'm always careful on who I chose to take my photos for me on my camera as I always want the best out of my shots and my mate Alex is very handy behind the lens and did all the photos of that session more than justice so thanks Alex mate! After a few snaps the bars of gold were slipped back to there home. 

Knowing the crucians were in the area I topped the swim back up with a few more spombs to hold the fish in the area. Like I said its active fishing! Tight baiting and accuracy is my key to my specimen angling and it certainly works. The bites kept coming, by this time it was just after 1pm and I'd landed five crucians all over the 3lb mark! 

I was buzzing how the session was going! The fish just kept feeding with tench and Rudd being behind Many of the bites but the crucians moved in when the other fish had there fill! I had another savage take which I was dead certain it had to be a tench! But it was a crucian, this fish was holding deep and was fighting a lot harder than the previous crucians caught from this session! I was playing this one with my heart in my mouth knowing the potential the lake holds! I eased the crucian in the net and she looked big! The scales swung round to a couple of ounces short of the magical 4lb Mark! Overwhelmed with this magnifecent specimen! 

I didn't even have time to do the shots before the other rod was away and I was into another hard fighting crucian! This session was turning out to be a blinder!

Again my friend took some lovely photos for me and the pair of specimens were returned to there home! I carried on topping the swim up regularly with the odd spomb and continued to re cast my feeders every so often, again very accurate to the spot! Probably a rod length apart from each other. The tench moved in once again causing mayhem! Double takes the lot! One particular tench gave a really good account for itself weeding me up a few times and really putting a bend in the 1.25test curve rods! The fight seemed like it lasted forever and eventually the tench was in the net! And what a beauty she was to! 

 

It was my biggest tench from the venue so I was happy with that! I went on to catch more crucians and more tench that day before getting my head down to get up at first light and start fishing again! It was time for some well deserved rest! 

I awoke just before first light, I made some fresh spomb mix up to re introduce to the swim and rested the area before fishing again. 

It was a beautiful morning! After some breakfast and a few cups of tea to get some caffeine into my system it was time to get the rods back out onto the spot. Again it didn't take me long to getting bites! This time for soap bar sized tench, these were relentless for the first hour but it didn't take long for the crucians to turn up! I landed a further three crucians all weighing over 3lb! 

It brought my tally to twelve crucians landed ten being over 3lb to 3.14lb and two being over 2lb, and over forty tench landed. I decided to call it a day and I left the venue with a smile on my face! I'm still undecided whether to renew my ticket to the club lake, I expect I will as its to much fun angling there, and these magnifecent bars of gold won't be around forever. The venue always pulls some negative comments but to me personally true crucians are hard on the ground to find these days and I didn't want to miss out on the opptunity of sharing there time In this life with us! I'm grateful I've been lucky enough to hold some of these special specimens! I hope you've enjoyed reading my latest blog entry, thanks again for taking the time to read it. Be lucky out there...