A Record-Breaking Catch With Crystal Dibbers

Joe Carass has broken the venue record on his first ever visit to Lower Park Fishery! Here’s how the angling journalist and talented Drennan Barnsley Blacks ace did it. 

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Just part of Joe Carass’ record-breaking haul!

I recently got wind of a new venue that anglers have been raving about. That venue is Lower Park Fishery in Redditch, just off the M42 at Junction 2. It’s a great place with nine lakes, and while the venue is in its infancy, it has immense potential.

The match I chose to fish was a Saturday open held on Highland and Pebble pools. Both are open water style lakes with a decent depth of about six feet. The main species are F1s but there are also plenty of ide, barbel and carp to keep things interesting.

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Joe loves the tangle-proof design of the In-Line Crystal Dibber.

Having drawn on Highland, Peg 5 to be precise, I set about planning my match. I had been told that fishing shallow was the way to go so I prepared five shallow rigs all featuring Drennan’s superb In-Line Crystal Dibbers. The 0.2g is my preferred size and I actually put just one shot down the line and the rest of the shot directly under the float. I love these floats, as they are so difficult to tangle!

Joe-Carass-Inline-Dibber-RigThe reason for so many rigs? I find that you have to chase the fish up and down in the water as the fish move about often. I also find it imperative to have just three inches of line between the pole tip and float, so rather than have a longer rig and moving the float up and down, I set several rigs up at different depths to importantly keep that short line.

Joe favours a lasso for fishing with hard pellets.
Joe favours a lasso for hard pellets.

On the day I set up rigs between 10 inches deep and three feet. These rigs were on 0.17mm main line to a 0.10mm Drennan Fluorocarbon hooklength. I find the thicker main line helps stop tangles. The hooklength was just three inches long and featured a size 16 Kamasan B911 and a lasso just big enough to fit a 4mm hard pellet.

As the match began I decided to start short and work my way out. I also started on a top four on the bottom to allow me 20 minutes to feed and build up my main shallow line. While I only caught two fish on the bottom, I felt it was time well spent, as the fish had a bit longer to settle on the shallow swim.

Slop was the key to keeping the fish up in the water.
Slop was the key to keeping the fish up in the water.

My feed for the shallow line was a slop mix that had lots of 4mm pellets mixed within. The mix wasn’t too wet but could be thrown easily and still explode on the surface. I also loose fed some 4mms.

By the time I went shallow at eight metres, the swim was solid but interestingly the best depth was two feet rather than the shallower rigs that I expected to be best.

The day followed a simple path. Keep the slop feed accurate and as soon as bites slow, add a section and start again. The F1s were a real mix of sizes and they ranged from 5oz right up to 3lb. This was nice as many new venues seem to be stuffed with just small F1s, which can become a little boring! By the all-out the action had been relentless. I spent the last hour at 13 metres as the fish had backed off progressively through the day.

Joe's peg at Lower Park Fishery.
Joe’s peg at Lower Park Fishery.

When the scales came, Mark Malin had weighed 139lb – a new venue record that lasted for about three minutes! Kurtis Trantor then broke the record again with 166lb. When the scales got to me I was doubting I had anything like that, but several weighs later and my 174lb was enough to win the match and set a new record for the venue! A result I was over the moon with and I now can’t wait to get back to try and better it!