13 April, 2023 | Carp | Angler Blogs | Articles

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Ian Russell’s Diary March 2023

Ian reflects on another jam-packed month which included another incredible Big One Show followed by some fishing at filming down at Oxford’s Linear Fisheries. Here’s how Ian’s March unfolded…

Ian says…

How lovely it was to at last attend a carp show and what a show it was!

The Farnborough Big One was all it promised to be and then some. Simply Amazing. I do enjoy the show season as you get to see all the faces that you only usually see on Instagram, including with one of my absolute favourites and good friend  – Adam Penning.

As well as speaking to literally hundreds of fellow anglers, I also met Zenia and her lovely family for the first time. She is most certainly a lady with the energy of a Duracell Battery!

During the two days I bumbled my way through 2 x rig talks and we showcased our new Okuma Obsidian Reels which are true works of art. All in all it was a fantastic weekend spent with my Dynamite family.

 

As for the fishing in March, my first work commitment was my monthly Trouble Shooter trip with Total Carp. I chose Linear’s Hunt’s Corner for this one and was made up that the stand-in Editor was a great true friend of mine in Dan Murrel, who to be fair before moving on was previously an Editor for Total Carp.

Anyway, we met up with our client Phil and after booking on with the Catch App, which covers Hunts Corner, we set Phil up in peg 3 with my good self in peg 2.

Phil wanted specifically to cover the use of a Deeper and the use of zigs for the duration of our stay. We covered most of the lake with the Deeper on my Spod rod as we were the only ones on the lake at the time so we didn’t disturb anyone’s angling.

Small pockets of carp were found in most areas we checked which was great for Phil to see.

We then sat and talked zigs and all things carpy as well as discussing at length Phil’s job at McLaren and setting up those amazing cars. It was a proper wow moment! Globe trotting with McLaren must be truly something else. After our trip he was off to Dubai for a couple of weeks with work!

Back to the fishing…So the rods were set to fishing mode and we relaxed. I’d found a small bumpy area and applied some Frenzied Hempseed and XL Corn alongside a few 15mm boilies from the new Big Fish Hot Crab & Krill range. Plastic hookbaits to counteract the Crayfish were soon deployed into the area and the traps were set!

As dark arrived I had a small mirror and then a tench but nothing could have prepared me for the action that was to occur throughout the following hours… As per, you will have to check out Total Carp to see how we got on but suffice to say, I was one very tired little man by first light! Not a bad first outing for the new baits at all.

Next up for me was a 24-hour trip on Linear’s Brasenose 2 with young Steve Coe to film the New Obsidian Reels in action. I do look forward to work trips with Steve because as well as getting the work done, we always have a damn good laugh.

So with the reels filled with 13lb Carp Spirit Velocity Mono,  I soon found a firm patch of lakebed at 25 wraps and again deposited my trusty mix of Frenzied Hemp, XL sweetcorn and Hot Crab & Krill boilies to the spot.

10 minutes later my rod was away and with the Obsidian Spool spinning, a lovely and very lively 27lb B2 mirror flopped into the net. What a great feeling it was with the cameras rolling away again!

The swim was then quiet for a while before a bigger one at 31lb was also scooped up on camera.

A hearty meal of Meat Feast Pizza was then delivered to our swim and quickly consumed just before a 32lber visited us.

By now it was getting rather cold and with a strong Easterly wind straight into us it was time to retire. Just one more take occurred at 1am and a 29lb 12oz mirror was slid back to its home.

Daylight came and everything was covered in horrid sleet so a rather horrid pack down was endured, but the work we were set had been completed as per usual. I made the long old drive up to Dynamite Baits HQ a few days later to work on a very exciting project for 2024 with Mark Baker and Phil, but more of that later in the year…

With the weather so up and down and my fishing being dominated with work stuff I never really had any time for personal fishing. Because of my Hernia operation all work had to be pushed back whilst I was in recovery, so for the foreseeable future all my fishing is work work work.

Not a complaint but I would have loved to finished the RK ticket year on W1 , but there is always next time eh?

Well that’s my March catch up with you guys all done. Tight lines and be safe out there!

– Ian Russell