With my family away for the weekend and a job canceled, I was out for three nights.  I originally planned on arriving about 7pm, but as luck would have it, I arrived just after 9 am!  With 2 of the swims already taken, I headed for the 3 spots where I felt was our best option were.  Ian was joining me again for a social, I messaged him with where I had picked and he was happy.  It was going to be a hot one and probably pretty hard going with only takes at night.

We were all both sorted and back in the same swim as the week before.  This time, we had swapped sides and found four perfect spots.  These were baited with 12mm Smokey and Catalyst, hemp and tiger’s and a mixture of pop ups wafters and bottom baits.

The first take happened just before midnight to my right hand rod, which unfortunately dropped off after a few minutes.  This was pretty frustrating, but that’s fishing for you.

What a night!  2 lost fish, one of them to a hook pull in the weed and the next under the overhanging trees to my right – this could well have been a Tench.  After all that, I slept until just before 7am.  This wasn’t really my plan, I was planning on rebaiting about 6am if I hadn’t caught anything.  However, with 10 minutes of getting the rods back out, the right-hand rod ripped off and the fight was on to get the carp out of the weed bed it had just dived into.  Once out, it promptly headed for the next one, but eventually, it was in open water and in front of me (and under control).  I could breathe a sigh of relief after the night’s activities.  I happily played the carp out and gently slipped it into the Nsr.

29lb 9oz Common

I flicked the rod back out and got the kettle on for the first brew of the day.  It was forecast to be another hot one, but there was a good deal of wind around again today which will be nice in the midday sun.

The day passed with no action – to be honest, it wasn’t a surprise as the temperature hit 27 degrees.  As the evening drew ever closer, it was time to re-bait the rods in the hope of a late evening take.

As the second night got ever closer and the sun disappeared behind the trees, the lake started to wake up with lots of carp, bream, etc.  This was a real boost to the coming night.  Ian started to get a few lines and surely it was only a matter of time; as I sit writing this as 0750 watching the odd fish top, I am still thinking the same thing.  With the heat of the day just around the corner, I’m starting to feel very optimistic about that thought and the joy of another day sitting under the trees avoiding the sun.

It’s just after 3pm now and boy o boy it’s hot.  I had chucked a couple of zigs out at just after 10 am in the hope of picking up a carp.  With no success on that front, I changed one over to a PPS and flicked it by some pads (you just never know).  The wind changed and was blowing from the South with a good blow on the water.  I didn’t have any proper floater kit with me, being fair skinned and it being 28 degrees, I was staying put under the trees.

Just before 5 pm, I gave up on the other zig rod and changed it back to my spot.  I topped the swim up with a couple of small spomb fulls of bait and would move the other rod off the pads just before 9pm, fingers crossed for a carp tonight.

As luck would have it, the weather front which was due overnight, arrived early evening.  The temperature dropped and the wind changed to the west, which was blowing into this bank.  Let’s hope the change in weather brings the carp on the feed.

After a hard few days in the heat, my second take finally arrived just before 3 am Sunday morning and with not much of a to do, a low twenty mirror was in the net.

20lb Mirror

With the rod back on the spot, it was time to get some sleep.

Morning arrived and the wind was from the west with plenty of cloud cover and the chance to do another night.  I just had to give it a go, after the hard few days we just had and with the first-night success.  Clearly, the heat put them completely off for the next 36hrs.  After the change in weather conditions, which may have helped in landing me that 20 lber, I just had to put that bit of extra effort in.  In all honesty, I was pretty close to going home, but a fish in the early hours of this morning and seeing signs for the first time this morning changed my mind and my mind was made up.

The day was a mixture of cloudy and sunny weather and a really good blow on the lake from the South.  I had baited up with 5 small spombs again just before noon and also made the decision to move the right-hand rod to the left spot.  The silt weed was getting a lot more a prolific and not so easy to find a clear spot.  We had heard carp top through the night but further out into open water, it was worth moving the left-hand rod more in to open water.  After about 30 minutes, I was happy with a nice clear spot and I had looked closely at the Lakebook and was looking for the 9ft area.

Which I found and then managed to find a clear area.  Not wishing to over bait, I spomded out 5 small loads, but I was certainly wishing to get some attention into that area.  We shall have to see when tonight arrives.  Once Ian packed up, I moved my pod into the center of the swim and we headed off for a walk around half the lake.  It felt good to stretch the legs, as I had not really done much over the past few days.

As the last night drew in, the carp woke up a lot more than before.  I was so confident, I stayed up until gone 11pm and drifted off to sleep sometime after that.  Sometime in the hours of darkness, I had a few bleeps and heard fish out there.  I struggled to get back off to sleep in the anticipation of one of my rods going off, but it simply never happened.  This was a shock, I reeled in and checked my hooks baits – all was well.  Maybe one had a bit too much silkweed, but I don’t think so.  The carp just must have been preoccupied with natural food, or just in the mood for jumping.

A great 4 nights were had, with a good laugh and a few glasses of wine, maybe a bit too hot at times.

Until next time

Richard

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