Road trip aug

THE ROAD TRIP | ALAN BLAIR

ALAN BLAIR | THE ROAD TRIP

With floater fishing in mind, ALAN BLAIR takes to a variety of waters with Nash team members. He even wangled a night on the river on the prestigious June 16th.

ALAN BLAIR

believer that you can have your best floater fishing sessions early in the morning.

It was a lovely day and it was due to be an absolute scorcher. The lads had booked a few swims in advance, namely 41, 42, 43 and 44, to try and hit the open-water area and side of the island. The lake looked really mature and the willow fluff on the

surface shone in the early morning sun. You could already see fish on the surface out in the distance.

The boys wasted no time and whipped up a mix that consisted of Riser Pellets and Slicker Floaters with a generous splash of Crustacean Oil and stick mix to make it super-attractive and proceeded to start spodding.

The sound of the dinner bell on Thorpe Lea brought more bites.

Boosting my floater hook baits with Scopex Squid Stick Mix and the matching bait soak produced quicker takes.

AGE: 32 UK PB: 55lb 4oz OCCUPATION: Operations director SPONSORS: Nash Tackle & Bait INSTAGRAM: @urbanbanx FACEBOOK: Urban Banx with Alan Blair

W

e are well into summer now with the Road Trip series and this month I had the pleasure of coinciding this event with the superb planned floater fishing smash-up with my work colleagues and good friends Mike Wilson, Oli Davies, Tom Forman and members of the Nash media team.

Our aim was simple. We were to visit four venues around the country and catch carp from all of them while shooting a video for the NashTV YouTube channel.

Most that we have done have been typical clichĂŠd floater fishing videos. I wanted to make it a little different and part of that was by bringing a few people on board.

Added to this, I wanted multiple venues and for them all to be open access.

So, it was the night before the adventure was about to commence and Carl Smith and I were still chatting in the early hours. It was 2.30am when we finally got to bed.

Before I knew it, it was 3.30am and Dan Yeomans and Tom Forman were waking us up. The rest of the boys convened at our office and we headed on to Thorpe Lea for the first leg.

I have never fished Thorpe Lea but the lads always tell me how much fun they have when they take an annual trip there to smash them up on floaters. I was buzzing to get there.

We arrived at the gate at around 7am. It was a little later than I would have liked because I am a firm 026 TOTAL CAR P

I decided to be a little different for the first hour or so and got zigs set up and ready while I set about making a spod cloud mix. I knocked up some Gyro Bug Mix, Riser Pellets, floaters and Key Cray meal. I set about spodding at 85 yards. The fish got on the munch but soon drifted well out of range to the 130-yard mark as they followed the Riser Pellets out there.

Another one nears the net!

Loading up a mountain of gear for this month’s floater-fishingthemed Road Trip.

We let them feed out there until we were able to feed close in again and fish effectively with the Bolt Machines.

Once in front of us, the chaos began and 20 fish later we were more than satisfied with the start to our video. We finished at Thorpe Lea at exactly midday and got on the road to the next venue.

Originally, we were going to go to Bluebell but instead we took the 90-minute drive to Horseshoe in Lechlade arriving early afternoon.

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THE ROAD TRIP | ALAN BLAIR

A mega group shot of a productive morning’s fishing at Thorpe Lea.

It was only a week or so previously that we had fished Horseshoe for its annual Junior Carp Camp and we had caught a good amount of fish off the surface. The cold winds and rain had slowed the fishing down on that day. However, the conditions were a lot warmer and stiller so we really fancied our chances.

After countless laps of Bluebell I finally located a group of fish and a well-earned sit down was had.

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The afternoon progressed slowly to be honest. The Summer Bay area, which is the best place to target fish, was royally stitched up and we had little in the way of areas to move into should the fish move.

We decided to split up in the hope of tracking down a group of fish. I started off on fixed zig rigs but, due

As it was getting dark this superb common succumbed to my freelined Slicker Floater hook bait.

to the disturbance of casting and the fact that we had to be mobile, it was proving more hassle than it was worth. I decided to stick with the Bolt Machine approach instead because I could cover a lot more ground. Mike found fish in one corner, as did Oli, so I doubled up with Mike and Tom did with Oli. By the end of the afternoon we all had a fish each for our efforts. The big hits from Horseshoe we were expecting didn’t really materialise like I had hoped.

Just on dusk we found some fish on the Lawns area of Summer Bay and I managed to hook one.

Between Carl and I we managed to finally extract this fish from the many weed beds in the swim and get it ashore. It was a really pukka common and a great way to end the piece at Horseshoe.

By now we were all shattered.

There was only one thing to do, drink coffee and order food. So we sat in a big circle and chatted until we flaked out in bed for some wellearned rest.

The phone alarm chimed and I was up with the lads to get on the road to our next venue, the awesome Bluebell Lakes.

With several lakes and carp to

At Horseshoe a single mixer among the weed proved to be a winner!

astonishingly big weights of midfifties, it was our chance to bag a real whacker for the video. The fish are stunning too.

We got there and talked to the owner, Tony, before we went on the hunt for carp. The wind was increasing in speed somewhat but the hot weather kept the fish right on the surface as they basked in all its glory.

We did a lap of most of the lakes and found fish. Mike and I went to Sandmartin and Oli and Tom went to Bluebell. We soon found them and were interested in gauging how the fish would react to a mixer.

They looked uninterested at the start but after a couple of casts at cruising fish I intercepted one perfectly with the Bolt Machine.

THE ROAD TRIP | ALAN BLAIR

ALAN BLAIR | THE ROAD TRIP My first leather carp. Apparently a leather is denoted by the number of vanes on its anal fin.

The fish nailed it straightaway. I ended up to my waist in water as the battle got under way. It was a lovely mirror but that all but put paid to any more action on Sandmartin, so I decided to have a look on the windward bank to see if the fish had followed the mixers down there on the wind.

It didn’t take long before I found three fish, albeit very spooky, feeding lightly on the mixers. I made a couple of casts but unfortunately they weren’t interested. There was one fish that kept coming back, though, so I squeezed the air from a soft hookable floater to make it sink slowly and flicked it in front of the fish’s mouth. It turned round and engulfed the hook bait, only for me to strike it clean out its mouth.

I got in touch with the lads on Bluebell and, to my elation, Oli had caught a stonking 29lb common. Tom had caught one too, so it was shaping up to be a good segment of the film.

Full of confidence, I wandered to Mallard Lake to see if I could catch one. I found fish in a few areas but other anglers occupied them, so out of respect I decided to leave it and continue my lap of the lake. I got out into the lake and found a few fish in the shallow water. They were happy taking naturals off the sandy lake bed.

I ended up going to see the lads on Bluebell. Despite trying, they hadn’t landed anything else. We caught some lovely fish and decided to make a move towards home.

At 23lb it was one of the most successful starts to the river season I have ever had.

Oli Davies with the biggest of the trip at a hefty 29lb.

STEP-BY-STEP

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an absolute one-toner. The battle was incredible. I played the fish entirely from the top of a bridge. It was a heart-wrenching watch as it twisted and turned in the clear water. It also gave the fish multiple opportunities to get under the bridge. This would have been fine but because there were huge iron pillars the fish did its best to knit itself on them. It was going mad.

Luckily we managed to net it, with Max having to get onto one of the stanchions to do so. We both let out a scream of elation when this one hit the net. The resulting common went 23lb, although it was more the buzz of catching one on the opening day of the river season, a moment that I will remember fondly, I am sure. I will definitely get a little campaign on the river for the autumn.

I can’t wait to get out on the next Road Trip, they are proving to be the highlight of my month.

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A real river warrior ready to be hoisted up for the camera.

Begin by taking of a long length of suitable hook-link material. The NXT ZigFlo is perfect and around five feet is used.

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sort of floating bait. Then we bid Chigboro’ farewell.

Any normal human beings would go back to their families but we wanted to catch a few more. Dan

wanted to chance my arm. A quick phone call to Max Hendry, who I know is a night owl, and I was soon scheduling a little river social down the Chelmer.

I arrived at 11pm and readied the rods for midnight. Max arrived at midnight and got his rods out for around 2am. It was simple fishing.

I got a rod with braided main line and a light lead and felt for any clear areas among the extensive weed and cabbages.

Before long I had three good spots. I presented a simple Ronnie rig with a Scopex Squid pop-up and baited with 10 freebies and some hemp on one of the areas. The other I baited with pellets, Tiger Nut Slush and whole tiger nuts.

At 5am I woke to

Alan’s Surface Fishing Hook Link

As you hold the hair loop in position, begin by whipping the hook link up the hook until you reach the point.

Tucked away in the bushes for a night.

Chigboro’ was to be our final venue. There had been a weed boat on the lake for the week and it looked to have made the fishing harder. The result was that the fish weren’t taking mixers like they normally do. My only fish came as the result of a well-placed single mixer intercepting the patrol route of some fish. I would say it was luck but I am sure that these fish were particularly receptive to my treated hook bait; the Scopex Squid flavour and stick mix proving deadly on any

Yeomans had been out on the bank filming with us for the last two days without so much as wetting a line, so we got on the road to Birketts Hall in a bid to catch him a few carp.

We arrived and spread mixers all over the area before getting the rods out. The fish were ravenous and we soon had them going mental and it didn’t take long for us to have a string of carp, including my first leather. Carl Smith, in his infinite carp wisdom, tells me that true leathers have four vanes on the anal fin as opposed to the five in a normal carp. An interesting fact for sure.

We headed home buzzing about how the event had gone.

Home wasn’t exactly what happened. After getting to the office and working for a few hours I realised that it was June 15th and the next day was very special indeed. Although I hadn’t done any pre-work for the new river season, I

Begin the hook link by tying a small Line the loop up at the end of the hook overhand loop knot to form the traditional bend. You don’t want too much separation hair for attaching your hook bait. here.

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Carefully pull the loop off the bend of the hook ensuring you don’t let go of the whippings you have already made.

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Continue to whip up the hook shank behind the hair loop throwing the loop away, similar to that of a KD rig.

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Thread the hook link back through the eye The finished product should now look Before attaching the hook bait, a small after whipping down the entire hook to something like this. Neat and tidy but with length of Zig Aligna Tube is added. This secure it in place, knotless knot style. an out-turned loop. stretchy silicone helps to open the gape.

Releasing the River Chelmer stunner at first light.

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