Crucian fishing-teaches me a 'Marsh' lesson

Being an all round angler has it's benefits and it's downsides. I could never be a single species angler, fair play to those that are but I love going to new places (as well as familiar ones), catching different species using different methods and the whole anticipation throughout the week for the next session.
My problem is I try to vary it too much and whilst I feel I enjoy more than my fair share of success sometimes I feel a bit out of my depth.
The key is to learn from that and improve for next time. This weekends attempt at catching a monster Crucian was just that, a massive learning curve. They are a fish that I have largely ignored so far but intend to put that right. I will tell you what I did wrong this time and how I feel I could put it right. Any advice is welcome.
I made the long journey to a mecca of Crucian Carp fishing, Marsh Farm in Surrey. A good place to start in that it is a proven big Crucian venue but I thought I could just turn up, cast in a float, catch a big 'un and be home for tea. I was wrong.
I came here last year and fished maggots on one rod and got mullered by Roach and tiddlers all day. On the other rod I fluked a Tench and a Crucian using a mini bolt rig with pellet as bait. I felt that his year all I had to do was float fish pellet and I would catch Crucian all day. I still put out the sleeper rod as a back up.
The sleeper rod caught me a couple of Tench and I also had one other run that failed to hook up.
The float rod was fished with an insert waggler, size 16 hook, 6mm soft hooker pellet cast to the right of the above picture next to the reeds. I regularly fed the pellets all day to keep the bites coming and keep coming they did. There was just one problem. Could I hit them, could I buggery! Nearly every strike was met by nothing. I did catch: Tench close to 7lb, great fights on 3lb line on a float rod but they did mess up the swim for a bit.

This old warrior deserved to be photographed 

I also had Roach as well plus a couple of fish bumped off but no Crucian. I am convinced I had bites from the golden beauties though.
Let me tell you what I think I did wrong: An insert waggler was too heavy, 3lb line should have a 2lb-ish hooklink, a number 8 shot near the hook is fatal and fishing two inches over depth is a schoolboy error.

What I think I got right: bait placement in the margins and the bait itself, I did get plenty of bites! I used too crude tackle to convert them.

So in summary next visit I will still use pellet as bait but with a size 16 hook, 2.2lb hooklink, 3lb mainline, a pole float (pinprick showing) and the bait at exact depth. (Method feeder on the sleeper.)

Any more suggestions gratefully received!

Crucian Pb, Marsh Farm

This weekend I made the long arduous journey down to Surrey thinking I would nail a three, possibly four pound Crucian and be home in time for tea. Fish never read the script, do they? It turned out to be a  difficult day but I did manage one example of the species, a 1lb 7oz stunner that took a Strawberry pellet about mid morning. As I have never weighed a Crucian before it was more a case of setting a best rather than beating a previous one. I have only landed two previously and this example was definitely the biggest.

I tried every bait and everything possible to land more but they were playing hardball. However I did manage to land a small Tench, a few Rudd and several Roach, up to a pound, so there was action during the day. I missed quite a lot of bites too.

I fished with what I thought was sensitive float gear but looking back it may have been a little heavy for these shy biters, next time I can make it a lot more Crucian friendly.