I’m back out on the bank, thanks to my family being happy-ish—to let me go, and to Ian and Steve for being my carers (which is what they’re calling themselves). Thanks also to my visitors today for popping around to wish me well and take the mickey. Bless you all.

Now, onto the fishing. Lake choice was tricky; I didn’t fancy putting myself under too much stress or strain. The Airfield Lake was out, and I didn’t want to fish a swim that would require a lot of effort to land a carp. Ideally, it would be best to fish a swim with as much open water as possible but have my ‘carers’ close by. A plan was formulated that Canada Point would be the best option to check out, and we could move on from there if the lake was busy.

I arrived first, at about 07:30, because I couldn’t sleep – excitement, probably.

As luck would have it, the point was free. I was given the choice of swim because I needed to be happy with where I set up After a lot of walking up and down the point, mulling over which of the five swims was best for me—considering my heart attack was only four weeks ago—I eventually picked the stump swim. The bivvy was set up first, and the kit was placed inside. Then the marker rod was cast, not too far, as I was looking for a certain point that I had located on my Deeper Map, which led off the side of the island into open water and out into the silty areas.

I was fishing one rod on the edge between the silt and hard area, and the other rod was more into the smoother silt. The area was baited with 3 kilos of Classic Corn Boilies, a mixture of 12mm to 20mm. I was also using a 20mm Classic Corn glued special that I made up with extra liquid and powders; I’ve recently done a short video about this.

The conditions this afternoon and evening are absolutely perfect. We sat in my swim for a few hours and then settled down for the night. It looks perfect for a bite.

At 04:20, the left-hand rod gave a few bleeps, and the bobbin pulled up to the buzzer. Boots on, and out we go. I picked up the rod and slowly pumped the carp back to the bank. It didn’t put up much of a fight until it reached the margins. However, all things considered, I was happy about that being my first take and landing a carp, as you never know how things will go. I had some concerns, but I’m over that now.

22lb 14oz

A perfect start, I would say, and I’m over the moon.

The rod was redone and cast back out, and it was now getting light.

I tried to go back to sleep, but with the geese, it was pretty pointless. We were due for some rain today, and that would be a good time to get my head down for a nap later on. It was nice just watching and enjoying my surroundings this morning.

It had been raining all day but at 15.45, it was starting to show signs of easing off. Plus, I needed to visit the Tardis, but I wanted to hang on until at least 30 minutes after the rain had stopped.

At 16:10, the left rod was away, and the carp came in similar to the one last night, which was great news until I started filming while landing the carp. I thought all was going well and was determined to get the other camera on. As I turned away to push the button, with the carp under control, it must have spotted me, lol, and powered off. It was taking line, but not quite enough. The rod tip was being pulled down, and just as I touched the drag, the hook pinged off. I can’t get frustrated because it was simply me being an idiot.

I reeled in the other rod, did the walk to the Tardis, and got the rods back out on the spot—all by 17:00 hrs.

The rain was back now, so the timing was perfect. The spot was working, so I should take some satisfaction.

At 23:11, that left rod was away again, and I hooked into a nice Meadow Lake carp. They are certainly behaving themselves by coming straight into the bank, and then I only have to deal with the pads, which this one absolutely loved, but was soon in the net after a couple of close calls.

18lb 9oz Common

Perfect, that will do me after the last fail. The rod was back out, and my mind was made up: if nothing came on the other rod, I would move it tomorrow at some point.

08:12 Friday morning—unfortunately, no more carp in the night. Today’s weather is a complete change in wind direction, and there’s no rain but plenty of sunshine to dry the kit out. I’m hoping the blow on the water will keep them active over the next 24 hours.

Today was absolutely fabulous weather. It was nice to feel the warmth of the sunshine after yesterday’s rain. It’s not particularly carpy conditions, but after recent weeks, just being back on the bank is exactly what I needed.

Unfortunately, the buzzers were quiet for myself and Ian last night, which was a surprise. The conditions in the morning were absolutely perfect, but no one told the carp.

Until next time,

Richard

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