I’ve managed to fit a two-nighter in before Christmas. The weather conditions over these two days are absolutely superb, although it is set to turn colder by Christmas Day. The pressure is currently 1005mb and rising steadily to 1016mb by the time I head home, with a significant jump forecast on Christmas Day up to 1029mb. There’s a small amount of rain pushing through tonight—hopefully not too much, as we’ve already had far more than enough recently. My only real concern is the NE, E, and SE winds that are forecast to blow through the session.

On arrival, I walked around the lake twice and only spotted a single carp show, that was in the next swim along from a day angler who was already set up—sometimes that’s just the way it goes. I headed back to the car, unloaded the Fox barrow, and set off again around the lake. I planned to stop along the north bank, see how I felt, and continue watching the water. Luckily, a couple of carp topped down there, and my mind was made up.

First job was to get the Frontier up before the rain got any heavier, then get the rest of my kit inside and safely out of the damp.

I was in a swim I’d fished before and felt very confident about where I needed to place my baits. I decided to stick with small PVA mesh bags paired with either a pop-up or a small wafter. Over the 48 hours, I planned to rotate these to see which one—or two—the carp were favouring. My setup consisted of a size 4 hook, Ronnie rig style, with a hinged hooklink around eight inches long to cope with the silty lakebed, combined with a 3oz flat distance lead. I may switch to a 2oz lead, but I do generally prefer a heavier lead these days, having had too many issues with lighter leads where carp seem able to shake the hook far too easily.

I was in two minds about getting the chuck-and-dump bait boat out or sticking purely to the bags. After last week’s trip—where the boat didn’t produce a single bite—I decided to stay with the bags, plus one single spomb of Jurassic Particles and Buckwheat, until at least tomorrow morning and see how things developed.

At 15:55hrs, just as I’d finished my food, the middle rod rattled away. I was soon into a lovely 17lb 5oz mirror—more than welcome given the struggles I’d had over my previous two trips.

The rod was quickly back out, armed with another Pink Pepper pop-up and a freshly glugged mesh bag dipped in Big Fish Mix Activator.

As early evening drew in, a couple of large carp finally showed themselves. One was at the opposite end of the lake, in an area that looked completely void of carp earlier in the day, despite the cold wind pushing down there—very interesting, and certainly something to think about. The other carp showed in a corner to my right, exactly where they were last week when my mate tried his hardest but only managed a small one.

I was up bright and early, but there had been no action overnight. I was keen to try and catch something in daylight hours, although these fish just haven’t really been playing ball during the day recently, so it felt like it could be a tricky one.

As soon as there was enough light, I was straight outside refreshing all the bags and re-glugging them, just trying to pull a carp into picking up one of my hookbaits.

By 09:30hrs, after seeing four more carp topping down at the south end of the lake, it became clear that I had to move swims. For some reason, I just can’t sit still on this lake. Interestingly, though, I always seem to end up on the south end. Perhaps starting there more often might save me having to move—something to consider for future sessions.

I was fully sorted by 11:30hrs and felt confident I had all three rods on good spots. I’d seen a carp show, which was already an improvement on where I’d been before. I stuck with the bags-only approach for now, although I was tempted to put a kilo of bait out on one rod out of interest, as the fish seemed quite active. I had a few hours to contemplate that option.

As darkness closed in, I decided to leave everything as it was. There were no clear signs of carp, and disturbing the swim so late in the day would likely have been pointless.

At 17:50hrs, the middle rod bobbin gave a couple of bleeps before pulling up tight. I was out of the bivvy like a whippet and instantly connected with a proper lump. It did its best to find the nearest set of dead lilies, moving slowly from one patch to the next, before finally ending up under my rod tip. With other lines out and trees protruding into the lake at water level around six feet out, I had to take my time—but eventually, it was safely in the net.

Wow—that looked nice

24lb 0oz on the nose. No arguments with digital scales

As I re-did the rod, carp were still crashing out in front of me, which gave me confidence that I might well get another bite overnight.

The conditions felt almost perfect through the night, but by morning the carp were topping on the east bank, away from the cold north-easterly wind that had picked up overnight. I was still convinced there were a few fish in front of me, but I’d hoped for some sunshine to help things along. Unfortunately, the cloud cover put paid to that. I decided to give it until around 09:30hrs before starting a slow pack-up. As usual with winter fishing, everything would have to be dried out again at home.

I wasn’t holding my breath for another bite, but you never know. The carp were still active, and that’s always a positive sign.

It wasn’t to be for another one. I’m hoping to get out one more time before the end of the year, although the weather isn’t looking particularly favourable at the moment. We shall have to see.

Until next time,
Richard

Happy New Year

Get 10% off Deeper with Code – RICHARD10