I was struggling to get myself motivated to go fishing this week, but once I had seen the weather forecast, it was clear I needed to put it on the bank.
I was able to move a few jobs about and work a bit longer on Monday and Tuesday, it was enough to be down the lake, by mid-afternoon on Tuesday. I’m unable to fish Thursday night, as the wife has a company function and I was now very keen to do two nights with these weather conditions. I could’ve done Wednesday and Friday, but I really wanted to do consecutive nights.
I wanted to be in the teeth of the wind, but after last week’s quick night and only catching a small one, plus the carp I saw wasn’t that big, I was a bit unsure where to go. The island was still overgrown and the other island was heading that way, plus that horrendous tree in the water, I wasn’t really convinced this was the right area.
When traveling to the lake, I put a lot of thought into my best options and thought it would be worth checking the back of the wind first. I pulled through the gate, parked up, and checked how the access was to the island and if any of the swims where I had been thinking of were free. Before I headed off to the Tower car park, which was completely empty, I had to have a walk down and check it out. It certainly looked good and with the wind pushing across the swim, my mind was made up.
I was soon on my way with the barrow and the kit, I chose to put the Titan T2 up first, as the rain was about, before I put the bait out, which would be my second job.
I was going to be fishing at close range with one rod, so I used my baiting spoon to get particles and 12mm boilies out there, as it was so much easier.
The perfect tool and very quick, the other rod was going to be out a lot further – to split my options up. I baited this up with a mixture of 12mm Smokey Jack and Catalyst boilies, using my Dot spomb which is another great bit of kit unless you are using very particles and then it can be problematic. But I’ve found away around it.
I set about getting the rigs and hook baits ready. I would fish an 18mm Catalyst cork wafter at range and then a Classic Corn 18mm Wafter on the close-in rod. Once that was all done, I tidied up the swim, got the weighting kit out, etc.
It was getting close to tea time, the Weber was dug out of its bag and my favorite – Lasagne, was on the go, with a good helping of salad.
It was soon time to watch the sun go down and hope the Canadian Geese would go over the other side of the lake, before nightfall.
0115 the left-hand rod was screaming off and heading out into the darkness. I slipped my shoes on and grabbed the rod. It just wasn’t stopping! I slowly turned the fish, it was now kite-ing to my right. I started walking backward and across to the left side of the swim. This was to make sure it didn’t pick up the right-hand rod. A couple of times it went solid on me, those weed beds are getting thicker and further out into the lake. I was having to pump the carp quite a lot, as I was worried it might pick up the boulder to my right and the overhanging tree branches. My right rod gave a single bleep. I lowered the tip, hoping that the Carp had gone under the line, and applied more pressure as those obstacles were not far away. It headed back out into open water, with no more bleeps to the other rod. I had clearly avoided that. My tip was up in the air again and slowly guiding the fish towards the bank, it found another weed bed. I simply held my ground and within a few moments, the carp was free. It took some time before it broke the surface and I knew it was no 10lber. I had to proceed with caution until it was eventually wallowing on the surface. I guided it quickly into the net. Wow!
28lb 8oz of stunning Common. I was over the moon, as I’d been stuck catching the smaller carp, and I really wanted some larger fish.
I wrapped up my rod, got a fresh bait on, sharpened the hook, and blasted it back out there.
I don’t think I’d drifted back off to sleep when the same rod was away again. This fish was very focused on my left-hand margins, and I had to get the tip under the water as soon as I’d walked along to the end of the swim, to avoid those overhanging trees. This place is just full of obstacles. Once under the rod tip, it was pretty well-behaved, and it wasn’t long before it slipped over the cord.
20lb on the nose. I am glad I have digital scales and you can zero them. I’m never happy when it settles on those sorts of numbers, but you have to accept what they say.
It was now 0330, dawn was approaching, and I definitely needed some sleep.
It started out a sunny morning, but by 1030, it was grey and overcast. I hoped I would be in with a chance of a carp or two in daylight hours. I’m due to get the odd shower between 1100 and 1600 hours today, which could be a bit problematic for baiting up this afternoon. I don’t wish to do it too early or too late in the day, I’m just going to hope I can fit it in around these showers.
I waited until 1400 hours before I baited up, I was really hoping for a daylight hours fish. I would continue fishing the margin spot, despite not getting any action on that rod. I was 100% convinced it would produce something worth catching, even if I end up coming back on Friday night. I’m not sure if I will, but if I did and this swim was free, I would certainly think about going on here. Depending on tonight’s results, of course. The conditions today have been awesome and I really thought at least 1 of my rods would have rattled off.
I was woken up by a pigeon in the tree above me, just before six am. I am totally perplexed that I hadn’t had a carp overnight. At one point I was getting liners and I was very confident that it would go off very soon, but that clearly wasn’t the case. A band of rain was heading my way and I need to be in the car, by no later than 0930, which gave me a couple of hours for a morning bite.
It was soon packing up time, the carp gods had been favorable the first night, but they were not going to be on the second night.
Back to the car I go, still not 100% sure if I world return tomorrow night, but the conditions are pretty awesome.
Until next time
Richard
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