Stewart Bloor

Field Tester

0

Perch are my favourite species and this month I have caught the bug more than usual, and so consequently they have taken up an incredible amount of my fishing time. And as I've been spinning for them, it's one of the every few times that I go fishing without any association with SBS on the bait front.

I did manage a few sessions for carp though - after all, variety is the spice of life, as they say. I love doing overnighters and there's something special about watching the sun set. On many venues I fish, the main time for carp is dusk through dawn. You have to be prepared to spend time on the bank during dark to catch. Mind you, not much of a hardship is it?

I didn't catch any carp on my overnighters though (tough venues), but tench saved the day. Fishing for carp it is inevitable that species such as tench and bream will put in an appearance. I have been fishing with SBS strawberry jam boilies this summer for the first time and have been really impressed. In addition, cranberry boilies have also been effective.

While both are considered warm-weather baits, and I will continue with them in 2015, I'm also fishing with them as the year moves on. I do find myself coming back to my old favourites M1 and M2, though. They were the very first SBS boilies I fished with and I guess my confidence in them is very high. And rightly so, as they have produced some great fish for me.

Heading to a lake I often fish in the winter, and although now into autumn, it was more like the height of summer. Fishing M2 on one rod over loose boilies, I opted for a 16mm black squid pop-up on the other. Both spots were baited with SBS Flumino groundbait F code and pro-active multimix pellets. The black squid boilie was a stand-alone bait though, no other boilies around it.

Well, you can see how the baits and the approach works out by watching the video below. Regarding the Flumino groundbait, by the way, it's the first time I've used the F code and it really is good stuff. It's such great value as well. If it were twice the price I wouldn't be arguing about the cost. Try some for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Anyway, after my overnight struggles, the day session proved very fruitful, with 13 carp on the bank. Not massive fish, but ultimately you can only catch what's in there. I think we need to get away from just weight and learn to appreciate all fish for what they are. Finally, I'll be back next month where I'll be telling you my barbel bait approach for the season. See you then.