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Viewing entries tagged with 'winter'

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Spring is in the air - everywhere I look around

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Yes, spring is in the air, everywhere I look around, but winter doesn’t seem to want to let go just yet. I took some days off over Easter, my birthday fell on the eve of Good Friday, so, beings as I try and catch myself a birthday present on my birthday I ventured to my favourite venue, hopefully for ‘a special one’. I caught but failed to catch on my actual birthday. Some of you may want to take note that April 6th is usually a day that the carp really can be stubborn. In all the years I have tried to catch a birthday carp, I only remember twice having a ‘special catch’. One of those was last year which I put down to my father watching over and ‘having a word’ for me. He had passed away just two days before.

November 2022 Diary Catch Up

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October 2022 moved into November and my first weekend of the month I only had the one night to fish as work party duties were calling. I attend a lot of work parties because I’m a member of quite a few waters, some of which it is compulsory to do them, others it is voluntary, but I try and do them whenever possible. Sadly, as always though, it is usually the same old faces and rarely those who do the most moaning about what should or should not be done ever turn up to do their bit.

Anyway, that single night was kind to me with a couple of carp slipping up to my methods which I start tweaking a little more as the water cools and the visibility becomes clearer, but more of which later.

Winter bait rambling 2022/23

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A question I am asked every year is what bait will I be using this winter?

Although still rather mild out there, I thought I would tap these words out to hopefully get you thinking as well as potentially saving a few more from asking.

Frogs = Carp

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Once again, nature and in particular the frogs, gave me a clue as to where to go and angle.

Posted by Shaun Harrison on 11 March 2020 | Comments Tags: , , , Read the full post

Tell me more about Magnum White

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I received a message last night asking why Magnum White has been such a great cold water catcher. So here is my answer...

Changing Seasons

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The seasons are well and truly changing and as we move into March, here is a late catch up from my angling over these past 3 months.

Best wishes
Shaun Harrison

My start to 2016

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Well with 2015 passing us by I can’t help but reflect on what an incredible angling year it had been for me and no doubt largely due to the fact that for the first time since starting Quest Baits I’d not spent most of the year wasting rod hours whilst tweaking and playing around with new baits.

Finally for once I was able to fish the whole season with baits that I had already perfected in previous years, I was so happy with the range that I really couldn’t see the point in bringing another bait out for the sake of it and my catches showed that.

I even made a facebook post at the end of the year of 52 of what I considered to be my best fish of the year to represent each week of the year. I don’t think I could have done that in many other years, not without totally scraping the barrel for mediocre sized fish.

So the year ended and joined this one with big fish from 4 different waters falling to my rods within a  three week period and multiple captures from 2 of those. One has a real poor track record of producing many winter fish so I was particularly proud of a catch of fish there. The old Magnum Whites with a handful of Fruity Trifle to add some bright colour to the swim encouraged the fish to drop down and have a bit of a feed as they always do. It still amazes me anglers still stick with baits that are going to be an issue for the carp to digest in colder water which then messes the fishing up for everyone else. 

Posted by Shaun Harrison on 25 February 2016 | Comments Tags: , , , Read the full post

Which Boilie for winter?

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It often surprises me the bait choice made by some for the winter months. A lot of baits that are highly effective during the warm water periods of spring, summer and autumn simply do not ooze the same attraction in cold conditions. Cold water affects a lot of baits, sealing in attractors and stimulants that flow freely during the summer. It is little wonder so many seem to struggle to catch winter carp.

Posted by Shaun Harrison on 19 November 2015 | Comments Tags: , , , Read the full post

Snow Carp and consistent festive action

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Well, it was a rather mixed period for me whilst away from the office for the annual festive break. I started off fishing for the barbel in the mild conditions leading to Christmas day and was fortunate enough to net myself a couple of nice fish but these faded into insignificance by Ron Key’s 14.06 as reported in the last of the 2014 reports. It truly was a pleasure to see and photograph this fish, which fell to the Questrami.

Winter carping – keep ringing the changes.

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Jimmy Greaves famously said “Football is a funny old game” and those words could so well have been pointed towards carp angling.  Winter carping in particular can be a prime example for throwing up unpredictable outcomes during those long dark winter months.

I love my winter angling, always have. I have tried to analyse this on many an occasion when I am sat there with painfully cold toes and fingers that don’t want to set about packing the frosty gear away. Over the years I have justified my winter angling by telling people I love the fact that it is just me against the fish a lot of the time rather than me trying to slot into a decent area amongst lots of other anglers as can be the case during the summer months.