We had to wait until early April for our first session of the year, so we set off full of excitement to dust off the gear that had been resting since the autumn.
Because we booked late, we could only choose from a few of the less popular swims. After a bit of research and talking it over together, we finally settled on swim 12.
The weather forecast promised cold, biting days, which proved entirely accurate during the 72-hour trip. During the day we recorded temperatures of 12–15 °C, but at night the air cooled to 3–5 °C. The water temperature was only 10 °C, so we tried to adapt our bait choice to that as well.
For boilies, I put my faith in the tried-and-tested M1 and C3, in 16 and 20 mm sizes. Looking back, bringing these boilies was clearly a great decision. In the same flavours, PVA Bag Mix and the matching hookbaits and pop-ups also found a place in my kit.
My baiting strategy was simple: I introduced only a small amount of bait, concentrated around the rigs. In the cold water, I felt this would be the most effective approach.
Over the three days I managed to catch eight carp in total, with an average weight of almost 14 kilograms.
Despite the harsh weather, I think we can look back on a truly successful season opener. May all our “bad” starts be like this one!
And the quality SBS Tactical Baits boilies proved once again that you can rely on them even in tougher conditions.
