After a fabulous week camping in Wales with the family – we had not seen for just under a year. It was great to catch up with him and also some fabulous friends on the camp site.

The prospects of the carp spawning very soon are very high, my campaign needs to get going again. After the recent setback with the volume of anglers fishing, I really need to get back out on the Roach Pit. I’d decided the best plan of attack, was to arrive after 3. 30 pm and hopefully the weekend anglers will have packed up and gone home. This is just a temporary option as when things start to get back to normal, my wife won’t be working from home and a big rethink will be needed.

When I arrived, it was pretty quiet and after a walkabout, I settled for peg 5. I’d been out in the boat looking for a spot, but the lake was not crystal clear yet and pretty much impossible to see the bottom. A couple of anglers were on either end of the lake, so somewhere in the middle felt the best option. Also, as I had been away and lost touch with the water (as you do), I was still looking at fishing different areas, this area just felt perfect.

After finding a clear-ish area with my Deeper and checking out the lake bed with the marker rod, I decided that with the lack of time available, to find 3 spots and bait up with the boat or face a very noisy spombing session in this narrow part of the lake. I decided that I would stagger 3 rods over different wraps would cover this area nicely and if necessary I could find another spot to put a rod on tomorrow afternoon.

I baited up with 3 kilos of chopped Classic Corn Boilies and a bag of Nutty particle mix, spread over this area (which is not much more than the size of a bivvy). I fished 3 bags with Classic Corn wafter and a 12mm PPS pop up. I then set about sorting the mess out and getting the overwrap on – I still like to fish with one as it actually keeps the bivvy cooler.

With any luck, one of these 3 will rattle off tonight with a carp.

The next 24 hour’s passed by with no action; other than 3 bleeps about an hour ago. I was hoping would materialize into something,  I’d made the decision that I would leave the baits as they were, I have great confidence they will be perfectly fine and the positioning was spot on, so there was no real point in any unnecessary disturbance to the area. There was sufficient bait out there and this tactic may just catch me a carp.

The baby geese had been feeding on the grass bank behind me all day and keeping me amused when they were jumping up and down the steps.

With a lovely bright summer’s morning, I was up early and hoping for a first light bite. The carp were crashing out nearby, but I couldn’t 100% locate them. I felt I was definitely in the right area, this part of the lake is the narrowest part. I was hopeful that my baited area would attract them in and trick them into some feeding.

With only a few hours before pack up time and the heat of the day picking up quickly as the was a lack of cloud cover, I didn’t think there’s any reason to stick around for any extra time today. I’m hopeful of another trip before they start to spawn and the lake is closed for a couple of weeks.

We shall see where I end up next trip!

Until next time

Richard