Detailed articles on
various
waters
Robbie’s pool, Border complex
For this instalment of roving reports I decided to make a
trip to Robbie’s; which is part of border fisheries.
My thoughts/approach:
Robbie’s pool is a very nice and
accessible
venue; it is approximately 5-6 foot in places although I decided to
fish in the margins due to the weather and due to the fact that you
don’t need to fish out as far as you can to catch fish.
It was not the perfect fishing day
to say the
least, the wind was howling, it rained for the majority of the day, and
it was forecast for thunderstorms; fisherman’s nightmare. But still I
had high hopes for the day ahead.
I
fished with 3 sections of the pole to my right and left margins; my
rig-length was only 2ft long made up of a 6lb mainline to a 4lb hook
length fished with a size 14 hook with a single grain of corn. I was
using approximately ½ kilo of bait tech voodoo groundbait,
of
which I added ¼ of a tin of chilli flavoured hempseed
(bought
from the border shop) 1/3 of a tin of corn, a small handful of fishery
micro pellets, and a few pieces of chopped luncheon meat (left over
from another session). I mixed this up on the bank when I first arrived
at my peg to allow the groundbait to soak up all the water. The way I
put the groundbait into my swim was with a pole pot (don’t forget that
you cannot hand in groundbait at border *see membership book*). As I
set up my pole I put in a few pieces of corn and ¼ a pole
pot of
my groundbait into the margins either side. One good thing with fishing
in the margins is that most of the time you can see the fish eating
your bait so you know when the fish are there. I started off by fishing
on the bottom with a single piece of corn, about 10-15mins passed
without a bite when suddenly my float shot under; I struck
immediately and landed a 3lb F1 carp, not too bad for the first fish.
Immediately after returning this fish to the water I repeated my method
of putting a few grains of corn and ¼ of a pole pot of
groundbait into the swim I just caught the F1 from. After this I 
fished
the margin to my left, this resulted in a mirror carp knocking 5lb. I
repeated this method throughout the session each catch getting slightly
bigger. After about 2 hours of fishing I was catching fish that were
averaging 10lb each! Which as you can probably guess made me a happy
fisherman. I carried on catching fish like this until I had to leave as
the lightning made me feel a tad bit uneasy. I kept note of the weight
of nearly every fish I caught so then I could later add it up.
The total weight of all the fish I
caught was
157lb, for a 6-7 hour session I was very pleased, a very enjoyable
fishing experience I strongly recommend it!
Best Baits:
Although nearly all baits work here
it totally depends on how much you are willing to spend (consider bait
bans)
For example:
(Cheaper baits)
-
-Corn
-
-Hempseed (If used in moderation)
-
-Luncheon meat
-
-Fishery Pellet
-
-breadcrumb (good way to bulk up your groundbait)
-
-bulk groundbait, you can buy it in large tubs from most
tackle
shops for about £10
(for 10 kilos).
-
-worms (free if dig if out of the garden)
-
-Maggots (very good but you will get a lot of roach as
well)
(More expensive but effective)
-
-flavoured luncheon meat (comes in flavours like
strawberry, available in most tackle shops)
-
-hooker pellets (prices vary depending on brand)
-
-voodoo groundbait (comes in 2 kilo bags £5.99
but very
effective, good if bulked up with crumb or a cheaper groundbait to make
it last longer).
-
Don’t forget you don’t need expensive baits to catch fish!
Methods:
As
this venue is regularly fished by many different anglers the fish are
happy to be caught using most methods, You can catch by using a waggler
fished with double corn near the surface, using a ledger/feeder and
fishing off the bottom, basically use whatever method you feel
comfortable with; but be prepared to change if you are catching
nothing. If the carp aren’t biting, then fish with a small float and
worm/maggots in the margins for perch, etc.
Fishing hotspots:
The first half of the lake is where
the best
sport is to be had, all along the NE-SE bank is where most of the
larger catches have been caught, and consider where the sun will be
setting! Either fish a peg where the sun won’t reflect into your eyes
or wear sunglasses, A headache can ruin a days fishing!
Other Anglers:
The most successful angler I saw
fishing at the
time was fishing about 5M out on a pole with a surface rig (with a
poly-ball) and was fishing on pellet. The fish were coming up quite
readily for his fishery bought hookers, a method I will try in the
future.
Overall:
Overall This is a very good all
round venue,
great for disabled, young, pleasure, and match angler alike. It is
easily accessible and is good in all weathers; although dress
sensibility as it’s quite open and can get quite chilly on cold days,
and very hot on hot days.
A very enjoyable session, will be
returning soon.
Robbies Pool, Border