# Pine Hill Lakes Weekend Carp Report (4/15-4/16)



## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

As many of you may know, I often start fishing late in the season and this year was no exception. I had only been out for a couple short sessions prior to this last weekend. Those trips, along with a couple others without rods, were mainly for baiting purposes. This weekend, however, I decided to go full out and put some real time in.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to test some new bait, and Pine Hill Lakes is the perfect for a baiting campaign due to its small and finite number of carp. I have been rather skeptical about the use of boilies in the past, especially at Pine Hill, but I never really gave them a fair shake. Thanks to Frank of Red Demon Bait I was able to finally give boilies a real try.

The baiting campaign started on March 30th. I chummed 2 pounds of boilies and 5 gallons of cooked maize and birdseed. I returned two days later with 2 more pounds of boilies and another 5 gallons of maize and birdseed. I made two other trips on April 4th and April 8th to chum a pound and a half boilies each time. The reason for the particles (maize/birdseed) on those first two trips was to help establish an association to the boilies as a food source by incorporating them with a known food source, the particles. At this point I felt that the unusually warm weather was to nice not to fish.

I returned Saturday, April 15th, to give Pine Hill my first real go of the season. I arrived at 8:40a to clear skies, a light breeze and temps rising through the 60's. I was psyched knowing that GMR_Guy (aka Ohio Carper) had success a couple days prior. I set out to fish one of my favorite swims in the upper end of the lake that I call the Canopy Swim due to the overhanging trees. I started out by fishing hair rigged sweet corn on one rod and an 18mm pineapple birdseed boilie, from Red Demon Baits, on the other rod. Both rods were setup with method feeders and I was using a mixture of cooked maize and birdseed with chicken layers mash as a binder. I also baited the area with some of the sweet corn, boilies, and method mix throughout the day. I waited in a frustrated state of anticipation as I watched volcanoes of bubbles rising to the surface in my baited area. In fact, a few times the fish showed themselves by surfacing, but only to taunt me. I began to wonder if the method feeders were spooking the fish, so I switch the sweet corn rod over to a semi fixed rig setup with a small 3/4oz sinker. That ended up not making a difference, as the fish had won the day as I headed for home with bright red skin after the eight plus hour defeat at 5p.

At home I sat frustrated, wondering what could have been wrong. I wondered if the boilies had some kind of repulsion effect like that of kryptonite with Superman. I muddled over these thoughts while watching, the David Cross classic, "Run Ronnie Run." By the end of this heartwarming flick, I was determined to return to Pine Hill and taste victory the next day.

Easter Sunday I awoke rejuvenated for the battle ahead. I arrived at 8:30a and decided to continue with the same setup as the day before. The results started that same, and for hours I contemplated my next move. Somewhere around noon, I decided to change my tactics with the boilie rod, since the corn setup had treated me well in the past year of fishing at Pine Hill. I decided to use a smaller boilie. This switch was from an 18mm yellow pineapple birdseed to a 14mm pink pineapple birdseed. I hoped that the smaller size might produce more interest from the cautious fish. I dipped the bait into a thick pineapple glug that I had used off and on throughout the previous day, packed the feeder with less method, and recast to an area just outside of my baiting zone.

It wasn't 15 minutes later that my boilie rod took off with great ferocity to some snags peeling off drag as I grabbed the rod. I had to palm the pulsating spool of my reel in order to slow the fish without pulling the hook. I quickly regained control and the adrenaline was flowing. After netting the fish I began to shake from the chemical high and I quickly remembered why I would spend so many hours sitting on the bank, just waiting. The fish, while not my biggest or best fight, did throw me a curve by heading for the submerged tree and allowed me to start off the season with a respectable 21 pound, 30 inch by 22.5 inch, common.

The Rig:









A close-up of the 14mm boilie:









The fish, the whole fish, and nothing but the fish:









It took quite a while to regain my composure and recast the same boilie setup back into the water. As I sat down to fill out my fishing log, I quickly got the second run of the day on the boilie rod. It probably took 15 minutes of drag pulling excitement to even get the fish near the net, but I was happily rewarded with my first mirror of the season. This beautiful fish, as it turns out, was a mirror that GMR_Guy (aka Ohio Carper) had first captured on the 12th and named Bucky. Bucky measured at only 28 inches long but a massive 25.5 inches in girth and tipped the scales at 17 pounds. I was lucky enough have others around to take a picture this time and record the first mirror ever caught on a Red Demon boilie.

The plump beauty:









And the infamous ID shots:









After realizing the pineapple theme of the day, I reeled in my corn rod to dip it into the pineapple glug. Sure enough, an hour later I had another brutal run that went 30 yards to the right of me, and then arced all the way to my left before I could even begin to wear the fish down. All while this was going on the speculation began, by the other anglers in the area, to the fish&#8217;s size. This fish was by far the hardest fighting fish of the day but I knew it wasn&#8217;t the biggest. After netting the fish I placed it on my freshly dried mat to marvel, only briefly, at the 14 pound common. As I went to lower the fish back into the water everyone wanted a glimpse of the fish that they were all astonished by its small. Being a carp angler I know that a 14 pound fish is nice, but not enormous. Never the less they all seemed very intrigued.

After that last fish, I was just about out of bait. I stayed long enough to let my gear dry out before heading home for Easter dinner. I hope the other anglers learned something about the power of the fish that many of us choose to target and hold close to our hearts. Before leaving I made sure to leave some CAG flyers at the kiosk in the park, and I hope that at least one person finds the information useful. Now that the skunk is off, I am anxious to return to this tough, but rewarding, small water.


----------



## The Kernel (Jul 11, 2005)

Tim

Excellent angling, write up and photo's! Thanks for that. We are starting a little campaign on an unexplored water up here...Our hope is for some of the success you are having. Nice one!


----------



## Guest (Apr 18, 2006)

It sounds like you are pretty passoniate about fishing here, I think thats great.


----------



## PAYARA (Apr 7, 2004)

Very Nice Tim!Those mirrors are crazy!Definately a
unique place!


----------



## HairyBass (Mar 22, 2005)

Looks like it's time for Hairy Bass to get his pass!!!!!!!


----------



## liquidsoap (Oct 22, 2005)

I enjoyed reading that Tim, congrats on the first mirror of the season!


----------

