Pretty Crucians On A Sneaky Lifter

John Derbyshire has been promising to take me on one of his local pits for a bit of Crucian Carp fishing for some time now. So we organised to meet on Bank Holiday Monday.

When I arose from my pit in the morning I gave John a call but . . . . . . no answer !!!!!!!!!!
I didn't panic . . . . .as his phone went straight to voice mail so I new his phone had ran out of juice.

My phone started  to buzz about a mile from our rendezvous point I pulled the car over and grabbed my phone. . . . . It was John.

" I'm so sorry mate. My phone has ran out of juice so I over slept. I can be there
 in 20 minutes " !!!!!!!

" Hahaha . . . . No worries John.
Me and my old man will wait for you "

True to his word 20 minutes later Johns van comes around the corner.

" Alright boys came a jovial greeting from John"
A quick visit to the tackle shop and we were on our way to the pit.

John had

" Bigged Up "

these small pits and couldn't wait to get us on his favourite one so there was a lot of expectation in the air.
 As we approached the end of the path John stopped in his tracks !!!!!!!

"I have fished here for years and never seen a sole on it " . . . . .

" I DON'T BELIEVE IT " !!!!!!!!

" There is a bivvi on it " !!!!!!!

Sure enough a large green bivvi came into view as we reached the end of the lane.

BUGGER !!!!!

John had a chat to the lads who where fishing about the other pits form, wished them good luck and we turned to head back to the cars.

" I really wanted to take you and Pete on there Mike " said John, a little dejected !!!

" There is another, even smaller pit not to far away. I haven't fished it for a few years. We may have to fight our way to it but it used to be quite good "

" Sounds good " I replied with a smile trying to hide my disappointment. 😔

Ten minutes later we arrived at the other pit.

All I could see in front of me was a large bush and a field behind it !!!!!

" Through their John " ?
 I asked, a little concerned about how my dad was going to navigate the thicket.

" No mate, there is a slightly worn trail on the other side " which he proceed to push through and lead the way.
After a few minutes fighting with the nettles and hawthorn bushes we came to a fence which John slipped under as did I. Salford Pete decided to go over at a different section and nearly took a tumble !!!!!!  😲

Both John and I giggled as we could see what was happening but were helpless to assist my dad at the time.
Salford Pete found a large hole  . . .  by accident, dropped half a foot, and started to wobble.
We just watched with our harts in our mouth as my dad wobbled about a little unsteady on his feet . . . but he steady himself , recovered and made his way to where
John had traversed the offending fence earlier.......

" I nearly went then lads " . . .

" No shit " I said and we all burst out laughing

😆😆😆

The pit was just in front of use behind some trees and was small . . . . .

It was VERY small.

There were only two pegs on it , one could be a double peg at a pinch. My dad and I had that peg and John had the other. I usually fish the rod now, as does my dad and John was on the pole.
John was fishing within minutes but it took my dad and I a considerable of time longer to get fishing as we were both fishing with new floats.

My peg for the day. 😊

Salford Pete tackling up in the drizzle.

0

We had a little bet at the beginning.

It would be pole against rods.

So Pops and myself against John.

Total weight deciding the winner.

John hit the ground running and had two roach a Rudd and a nice little tench before we even started !!!!!!!

I had plumbed the swim and introduced some lose feed and a tiny bit of brown crumb with a little special in it. 😉

My float for the day was a 

" Sneaky Lifter " 

It was a little long for my swim as we were supposed to be fishing the bigger, deeper pit but it would have to do.

First cast saw me catch a lovely little Rudd, another then, another, then another !!!!!!!!

A quick bait change from pinkie to caster saw my bait at least touch the bottom . . . . .  Lol

A few nice caster caught roach were then landed in quick succession. 

Salford Pete then joined in the action netting four Rudd one after another

John . . . . aka 

"The Ginger Assassin "

Had streaked into the lead with a trio of Crucians . . .  The lucky bugger !!!!!

All about 4 - 6 oz . . . may be a little bigger.

Lovely little fish.

"That's how ya do it 

Peanut " !!!!!!

I knew the grief would start if he caught a Crucian first  lol !!!!!!

Johns Crucians

I started trickling a little hemp in with a few casters and within a few minutes I had them queueing up.

A dozen plus Roach fell to the 

Sneaky Lifters charms

....... 😉

The next fish felt a little different . . . . .

Little juddering thumps and a deep golden flash gave it away as the target species . . . . . . 

A Crucian Carp !!!!!!!!!

Only a little one but the first of the year . . .

I was well chuffed.

  😊

Myself and Salford Pete were catching steadily but Johns peg was drying up a little . . . .

What a shame !!!!!!!!!

LMAO

We were catching Roach and Rudd when I hooked into something with a little more meat on its bones and after a short tussle in the lily pads a small tench popped up. 

Lovely jubbly !!!!!

Crucians and tench have got to be y favourite still water species.

John had had a few more Crucians and a tench but nowhere near the volume of silvers my dad and I had. I thought we were just in the lead.

There were a lot of bubbles in our peg but I could not turn them into bites. A few little changes to my rig and a bait switch to treble pinkie saw an immediate change in my fortunes. I had my first cast on treble pinkie,  my float settled and then started to slowly sink as the strung out no 8's registered on the float. 

Within two seconds the float rose up in the water one centimetre exposing the green band on the float. 

I struck immediately and was in again . . .

To my surprise it was a small bream. 😉

This was followed by 3 more and Salford Pete caught his first tench of the year to. 

RESULT

😊😊😊😊😊😊

I knew we had done

 " The  Assassin " 

by this stage. 

And it was time to pack up.

RIGHT . . . . . 

Lets get weighing in John.

Our combined weight was 5lb 2oz

Not bad for a few hours on a tiny wild pit.

I wadded through the tall wet grass over to Johns peg as he readied his catch for weighing.

" Is that it Ginger One "

I crowed knowing we had won the day !!!

" I spent half the session biteless pal. It happens on this pit sometimes !!!!

" Were have all my tench gone " he spouts as he rummages through his net.

" I must have a hole in it "

We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

" Not that old chestnut  " 

I squeaked through tear ridden eyes !!!!

He had some lovely fish though.

Here are the days catches

Mine and my dads modest catch for the morning

Johns morning catch, less weight but better quality.

Another great day with John. I enjoy his company and he helped me get my dad back on the bank to.

Cheers matey. 😉

Until the next time . . . . .

TTFN

Peanut

If you would like to look at my handcrafted floats just hit the link.

http://purplepeanut007.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/handcrafted-floats-2017.html?m=1

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