Article 1... Martin Finan - Essential Baits

So how was your year?
By Martin Finan
It only seems like two minutes ago that that I was dying for the cold weather and harsh winter to end so that I
could get back out angling and here we are again in December with freezing temperatures and frozen lakes!
Where has the year gone? Was that Icelandic volcanic ash cloud really this year? Was it this summer that Franks
"goal" really was over the line? The year has flown by yet it all seems such a long time ago!
So how was your angling this year? Did you enjoy it? Did you catch your target fish? What was the highlight?
What did you learn this year? The great thing about carp fishing is that it can be all things to all people. What I
mean by that, is that some people just like to go fishing to escape from the normal routine of daily life, some like
the social, some just enjoy being there and some are driven to catch. If I was to categorise myself I would say it is
all of the above but there has to be an end product and I'm always focused on how to improve things and learning
from my mistakes. I don't mind making mistakes in my angling ... as long as I don't make the same ones twice! So
the end of any year is always as good a time as any to review how things have gone and to reflect on what we
can change going forward.
As far as my own angling went here are three things that I have tried to focus on during 2010 .....
Location, location, location.
The pit I'm currently fishing is a low stock, pressured and busy club water where the residents don't give
themselves up easily. Many times I have arrived at first light and still been walking around mid afternoon looking
for an opportunity. Sometimes you have to go on best guess and sometimes you know where they are but can't
get a swim anywhere near them! Sometimes you just get lucky! On one particular morning this year I was on my
third lap around the pit when I stopped for a rest and
sat on my bucket to watch the water and return a few
phone calls.
Whilst sat there a fish silently rose up and rolled as
quiet as you like, if I hadn't been looking straight at the
spot I would have definitely missed it. Ten minutes later
and up comes another one bang on the same spot ..
that will do! I hadn't seen a single fish show anywhere
else on the pit. Later in the afternoon when the activity
stopped I used a light 1oz marker to mark the spot by
lining it up from a couple of swims and soon had a trap
set bang on where they had shown. Early the following
morning that rod was away with a cracking 37lb mirror!
Did I get lucky?
A cracking 37lb linear. Did I get lucky?
99% is not good enough!
Often there is a very fine line between success and failure. On an early spring trip I managed to get the first bite
from the pit after the winter shut down and then proceeded to lose it! Now in a pit that contains so few fish that
was bad news but the really bad news was that it was my fault! In the situation I was fishing I had to lose the lead
on the take. I had gone as far as removing the tail rubber and pva'ing the clip to withstand the cast but even then I
still felt the gape on the clip was a little tight but thought "it will do". When the fish got weeded up and eventually
lost around my other line and I reeled in to find that the lead hadn't discharged, "it will do" came back to haunt me!
That fish could have been my target fish and it would have been job done in March. For the rest of the year I went
on to land every fish hooked by making sure everything was100% but that initial loss still grates! So whether it is
checking the hook point, checking the main line, recasting a cast that just falls short ... just do it!
Understanding why I have caught or not!
When we are lucky enough to have got a bite and caught one then it will have happened for a reason. What was it
that caused that fish to pick up that bait at that moment? If we understand what it was, we can then replicate that
set of circumstances and improve our chances on future visits. What was the weather like? What was the wind
direction? How much bait had I introduced? Had I prebaited the spot? What feature did I fish to? etc etc Hopefully
you get the idea. If it was a pub chuck choddy randomly launched to the horizon then it gives us little to go on.

This can also apply to watching when others are catching (not that you want to just copy what they are doing) but
why were the fish there? Back of the wind? On the end of it? The more you pay attention to these things then
hopefully the quicker the pieces of the jigsaw will fall into place. This recent November thirty was part of brace of
30's in an hour when I fully understood why they were there!
All of the above is of course common sense but not necessarily common practice and it's often the small
percentages that can make all the difference. So what will you reflect on and change for 2011?
Good luck with your year ahead!
One of two November thirties in an hour
One of my favourite rig presentations
© essentialbaits2010
Great stuff Martin and very much appreciated. Remember if you want to see more of Martin’s impressive
captures you can view his gallery or check back here from time to time for future articles.......MW.