With the holiday almost over, I headed out for a quick overnighter on Sunday.  The forecast had put paid to my gardening plans, which I’ve now moved to Wednesday when it will be a lot drier, so I can do a few lawns and hedges before heading out for a couple of nights.  This is before the wife is away working for 5 days in Corsica of all places!  Lucky for some.

I arrived at my allotted time, you have to book on and off in advance, as the number of anglers is restricted.  This is brilliant, as you know what to expect when you arrive down at the lake.  I knew that there would be only one other angler fishing over the time I was there.  I always plan to arrive about 30 minutes past the arrival time, allowing them to pick a swim first, and giving me the option to fish as far away as possible. This increases mine and their chances of catching. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like this, which is why I give them the first choice. However, it’s nearly 16:30, and there are no signs of anyone yet.

I have my right rod out in front of the swim next door.  I know it’s a bit cheeky, but the chances of someone setting up in there are slim, they would have to be pretty dumb, but it’s happened to me before.  Perhaps I should write a blog about things like that one day?

My middle rod is more of a roving rod until the other person turns up, and then I will commit to a spot for the night. The left rod is along the margins to my left, very close in as there’s a tiny bay that cuts back.  It is nicely nestled under some rhododendron bushes. Both these spots have had 4 pouchfuls of bait over them. I’m fishing various Spotted Fin Popups on all rods, and hopefully, I will pick something up over the next 24 hours.

The evening was perfect and fell flat calm. I moved my middle rod again and put a small PVA bag on to some showing carp, but before that, I’d found a perfect spot out in front of my swim and put about 6 pouchfuls of bait and had planned to move my rod there. At about 21:30, some 3 hours after putting that bag out and a few carp topping, it was time to put my rod on that spot. I needed to be mindful of the following morning when another angler was due to fish.

At 01:30, the left-hand rod was away and attached to something that felt good. I haven’t caught for a couple of weeks, plus this being a relatively new water to me, you can never predict that well.  At first, it was fighting like a demon, it took me through the pads and out again a couple of times and back under the tree it came from. I was hugging the bottom under my rod tip, and now I was sure it was something nice. This went on for a good few minutes, and I was keeping my fingers crossed all the time. I had one failed attempt at the net, but the next time it slipped in nicely with its tail flapping over the cord. I didn’t want to distress the carp, to have a look; it had now sunk to the bottom of the net in the murky waters.

I sorted out the camera, weighing equipment, and the unhooking mat was just between my rods to make life easier when I lifted the net straight out of the water and onto the mat. And now I knew it was definitely a beast for this lake. With the snaps done, I zeroed the sling and lifted it up onto the scales; they settled at 29lb 2oz. Now, that will certainly do me.

The rod was soon back out on the spot. The wind was picking up nicely and rattling through the trees; it was now 02:20.  Somehow, I needed to get back to sleep, which would be fun, as my mind was well and truly on that carp.

I finally fell asleep at some point.  Not really sure when; the geese were a bit of a nightmare at one point, but they must have decided to go to sleep.  I was dozing on and off in the half-light of dawn when the right rod ripped off. I may have actually been asleep, you know the feeling, along with being knackered, you just can’t tell. I stumbled out, unclipped the butt grip, and pulled into an unhappy carp, diving between the pads. I held my ground, as I had no real option. The fish turned and rolled away from the pads into open water and passed me under my middle rod, obviously heading towards the right margins, which wasn’t going to happen. I applied some pressure, it turned back out into open water, and it was then just a case of playing the carp out under the rod tip. I’d discovered that it was a nice-looking mirror; it was soon in the net, and photos were underway, just as the rain started. I opted to not weigh the fish and estimated it at about 16lb.

I managed to get the rod out in a dry patch and settled down to a very wet and windy morning, with a hailstorm at one point. It’s just gone 11:00, and I’m about to start packing up slowly to get home at about 13:30.

That was a fantastic first trip out since the Easter holidays, plus a stunning Common from this lake.

Unfortunately, there are no more fish, which isn’t an issue after last night.

Until next time,

Richard

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