Common Approach - Ron Buss
Last winter in a supreme effort to catch my first ever English Thirty Pound Common, I planned to spend as many nights as possible on Langmans Lake owned by Woking and District Angling Association (WDAA) where I have been Head Bailiff for over 20 years. Langmans currently holds definitely three Thirty Pound plus Commons and due to its size being only 6 acres I though it gave me the best chance to achieve my goal. My session started on the 6th of January terminating on the 31st March, 78 nights in total were spent during this period, but alas no 30lb Common came my way. However my first Forty Pound Mirror did, and at 41lbs 14 oz it was a Club Record, a further 8 Twenties and 1 Double figure Carp concluded my effort for this period.
When you spend this amount of time, on a water you really do get an insight into what is happening on the water, further more where it happens and during particular conditions – During time of Angler activity the fish would not show, but during the times when I was alone or maybe one other Angler on the water, conditions being right you would hear fish crashing out during the hours of darkness and although very rarely – also during the day. When this happened, notes were taken, times plus areas plus conditions. These TAC’s as I referred to were subsequently studied to see if there was a pattern emerging, however, the main factor over all to fish movement was that on the days and nights of multiple fish movement coincided with Angler absence. Obviously when the disturbance level was nil it installed a higher confidence level in the fish to act normally. Bank side disturbance around a shallow Lake like Langmans with an average depth of four and a half feet must have a greater impact on the fish than in a Pit of say twice that depth.
Armed with my tac’s this Winter I returned to Langmans, but not for seventy eight nights, due to moving house, etc, etc, I could not get back to have a go until March and I planned to fish the whole month, with just a four day break between 17-20 for the Five Lake Carp Show.
The first nine nights were spent camping and although I did hear one or two fish no bites were forthcoming. So I packed up and left to prepare for the show. Carp Society put on a great show at Five Lakes and certainly rates as one of the best shows I have attended and believe me I’ve done some over the years. Returning to Langmans on the 21st I was amazed to see fish crashing all over the Lake – they had woken up and were having it, there had been 5 fish caught over the weekend period, one of the lads had fished the Swim I had vacated the Thursday before and although he had not caught – he had seen fish. I opted to fish this Swim, just perhaps the fish were occupied on the Bait I had put in previously, and with this in mind I opted to fish using Single Baits incorporated with a small PVA Bag using a 50/50 mix of 2m Richworth Halibut Pellets and Banksides minni Grubbers, cast to the three spots I had recently fished, one under the Willow, one in the Gully off the Old Pads and one at a clear mark just off the Gravel at 60yds.
By 11.00 am I was set up and fishing, the Willow and Gully rod tops were twanging as the liners started, indicating fish in the area, but were they feeding, only time would tell, the rod tops kept twanging and for a couple of hours I sat on my hands. Then the Willow rod pulled round and I pounced, the 3.5 lb Test Curve of my Free Spirit XSE took up its full curve as a heavy fish tried in vain to make good its escape – all to no avail, and within five minutes it was safely in the confines of my Landing Net, and I was ecstatic for there – I was certain was my First English Thirty Pound Common. Big Wayne came round to do the Honours, weighing and Photographing and finally the Release of this remarkable fish, the actual weight of the fish did not sink in for a while – that is until I was looking at the Club Card later, contained therein is the Clubs Record Fish List, on reading this the Common Record for the Lakes read – Common Carp 34lb J. Pagulatos, Langmans 1997.
The Common I had just caught weighed 34lb 14 oz – My first English Thirty Pound Common was also a Club Record – fate or what.
I managed a further 3 fish from the Swim, all Mirrors, 19lb 12oz, 27lb and 20lb 8oz. At this juncture and purely for those Rig Buffs amongst you I suppose it only fair that I should include a brief word or two about the Rig used, having had a modicum of success in France and Oxford using the Drop Shot on the Hair in conjunction with Small Hooks and Pop ups, I decided to carry on along those lines. However, due to the fact that some of the lads had been experiencing hook pulls on small hooks 8s & 10s I decided to go the other way, larger hooks – upping hook size to a size 6 Mugga, I find this hook seems large for its rating and in comparison to some it almost equates to a size 4. Wanting to achieve an Anti Eject Rig, using 15lb Gardner Camo Skin – a four turn knotless knot was tied, over the tag end was place a 3ml Rig Ring, the tag end was then passed through the eye of the hook, trimmed and blobbed with a lighter. The Hair was formed using Dental Floss, the length determined by the 18ml bait clearing the bend of the hook by 2ml.
Once the hair was tied the bait was removed and 15ml piece of Silicone Tubing was slid over the hair, when the bait was re-introduced the Silicone Tube sat tight to the bottom of the bait and tight to the Rig Ring, giving the bait a swing out effect over the small D Rig. The tackle I was using are 13’ Free Spirit XSE’s Shimano Big Pits, 12lb GT80, Camo Skin Hook Links 15lb, Size 6 Gardner Mugga Hooks, 2oz Korda Pears semi fixed in Korda Clips. Bait – Richworth UltraPlex 18ml, small bags of Mixed Richworth 2ml Halibut Pellets and Bankside Tackle Minni Grubbers. Now to encourage the hook to drop at point - eight turns of fine lead wire was wound onto the hook starting at 3ml up from the Barb Point and finishing just short of the bend, this I felt was sufficient to create the Drop Down effect. When using Pop Ups, a short section of thicker gauge lead wire was inserted into the Hair Tube prior to putting on the Pop Up, and was sufficient to critically balance the bait.
It was interesting to see that those fish caught using the Critical Pop Up were hooked low in the bottom lip, but what did surprise me was the fish caught using just a straight forward Bottom Bait with no lead insert were hooked well back in the side of the mouth. So there you have it, now back to the fishing. Moving to the End Dugout, not on a whim, but on fish I had spotted. This choice of swim in the Winter enables you to cover a lot of water, from the Island back down to the High Feeder and a whole host of Open Water and for Marginal Marks, Gravel Spots, Sand Spots and Worm Beds and the Old Lily Pads, well my first bite came at 03.45 am from the Old Lily in the shape of a 32lb 6oz Mirror Carp, and blow me if I didn’t catch the same fish at 0845am, the following morning from a Sand spot 70 yds from the Lily – same weight.
Well not bad so far, 3 Thirties and 2 Twenties, Bless Em. Its funny when you’re on a roll and when the following evening I saw a good fish move over the Sand spot. I was feeling a bit confident, sitting chatting to Bob Baker about the effects of Gout, and such when the Sand spot bursts into life, I’m down the bank and on the rod and once again the rod is wrapped over, the ensuing fight was a bit hairy in the respect that the fish had picked up a small branch which gave me all sorts of probs, but at last the fish was almost mine and as it wallowed just short of the Landing Net I knew that there possibly could be my Second English Thirty Pound Common, just a few more feet, it took seconds but seemed like hours and then finally it was in the net – safe and sound, and there it was. On the scales it went 33lb on the button, it’s strange how you can go all those years without catching a Big Common then, like Busses, they come along in twos, was I pleased or what. The UltraPlex was catching and 6 days into the session with 4 Thirties, 2 Twenties and a Double of 19lb 12 – I was more than pleased.
The following evening in the presence of Steve Carpenter the Fisheries Manager I had yet another bite, once again from the Sand, this fish was a real scrapper Luv it, and just did not want to make my acquaintance but patience and perseverance prevailed and at last the fish was in the net, and turned the scales at 36lb 8oz. The largest fish in the Lake, and one that I had not caught since it was a mere 20lb +. Well my session came to an end on the 31st March when the water closes until June 16th.
Once again I had experienced some of the Great Fishing that Langmans can provide and yet another First as NO ONE has ever put 5 Thirties on the bank in 7 days in the summer let alone the winter. Blowing my own Trumpet for once, yea why not, makes a change.
Well it’s off to Richworth Linear Fisheries for me for a while, who knows perhaps I’ll see you there.
