Heatwave Gamble Finally Pays Off!

I very nearly didn’t go fishing this week.

After cancelling my gardening jobs, yet again. I was at home wondering whether I was making the right decision. It’s not ideal turning work away, but these days I have to be sensible and know my limits. The combination of heat and a heart that’s already had one complaint in the past means I can’t just push through like I did years ago.

To make matters worse, sleep has been almost non-existent. After another restless night, I was seriously considering putting the bedchair back out in the garden. There was a lovely cool breeze blowing through Hampshire, very similar to the one we’d enjoyed the previous week, and that had made a huge difference. Last week I’d managed two nights on the bank by arriving at 5am and fishing through the cooler parts of the day.

This time, though, I decided on a different approach.

With daylight stretching beyond 10pm, I could arrive around 7pm, take my time setting up, and hopefully manage three nights on Airfield Lake before heading home early on the final morning. The forecast looked as good as it was going to get, and if I was going to catch a carp, this felt like my best opportunity.

A Swim Chosen for Shade

The north-easterly wind immediately pointed me towards the bottom end of the complex. More importantly, that area contained two swims with something that was far more valuable than extra water coverage in these conditions — shade.

When I arrived, there wasn’t another angler in sight. Perfect. I wandered down with a minimal amount of gear and spent a good half hour watching the water before making my choice.

I eventually settled on the last point swim, which gave me a small sheltered bay to the left and open water leading towards a line of snags. Carp were already showing across the area, so confidence was instantly much higher than it had been on recent trips.

I introduced a sensible spread of bait over two spots:

• Jurassic Particles hemp and buckwheat
• Nutrabaits EnerGize boilies
• A scattering of pellets

Both rods were cast with Godman Angling PVA mesh bags filled with small pellets soaked in hemp oil and Himalayan Pink Salt.

For hookbaits I kept things simple: a White Blank Saver on one rod and an EnerGize Corkie Wafter on the other.

The Tench Take Over

At 5:15am the following morning the right-hand rod signalled its first take. I was hoping for a carp, but the culprit was a Tench — and it quickly became obvious they absolutely loved the EnerGize Corkie Wafter.

Over the next few hours I landed another six or seven Tench, lost a couple more, and generally spent more time dealing with green torpedoes than I did drinking tea! Thinking the carp might be holding slightly further out, I pushed one rod back to around 15 wraps.

The result? Another Tench.

I briefly considered moving, but every other swim I looked at involved sacrificing the shade, and that simply wasn’t a sensible option. Carp had been showing in front of me, so I kept telling myself to stay patient.

At around 1:30pm I went for a walk to reassess the situation. I looked at several swims and very nearly moved into the famous Gravel Swim. The problem was obvious: by seven the next morning it would be in full sun, and unless I planned to pack up immediately after first light, I’d be roasting.

As I walked back, I saw carp moving along the tree line to my left and heard fish crash in the small bay beside my swim. That was enough to convince me to stay put. Sometimes you have to ignore the nuisance fish and trust what the lake is telling you.

Refining the Trap

By mid-afternoon I decided to reposition both rods onto a new area closer to where I’d seen several carp show. Using the Fox catapult, I introduced four pouchfuls of bait and recast both rods.

Within an hour, the Tench had found the spot. One was landed, another came off halfway in, and I had several dropped takes where the fish simply couldn’t get the 18mm hookbait fully into their mouths. It was becoming almost comical.

Then, at 8:26pm, everything changed.

The Rod That Wouldn’t Stop

The right-hand alarm suddenly rattled into life. My first thought was, “Here we go, another Tench.”

For the first few seconds it felt exactly like one too, but then the fish powered off and started kiting hard towards the bay on my left. This was no Tench.

The next ten minutes felt much longer. The fish hugged the margins, tried to find every weedbed and snag it could, and I spent most of the fight muttering, “Please don’t come off.”

Eventually a broad bronze flank rolled over the net cord, and I finally relaxed.

22lb 12oz Common

What a relief. After several weeks of blanking, that fish meant far more than the weight suggested. It was the reward for sticking with the swim and resisting the urge to chase showing fish around the lake.

I’d barely finished sorting the photos when, at 9:55pm, the left-hand rod tore off. This one was clearly another carp, but after a few powerful lunges the line suddenly went slack. Hook pull.

Under normal circumstances I’d have been gutted, but I was still buzzing from the Common, so the disappointment disappeared surprisingly quickly.

The Final Gamble

The following morning felt strangely quiet. The Tench had vanished and I began wondering whether they’d completely cleaned out the baited area. Seagulls were making it almost impossible to catapult bait accurately, and the carp activity seemed to be centred further along the bank in front of a grassy swim with zero shade.

At 8:10am I wound both rods in, attached fresh hookbaits with small PVA bags of crushed EnerGize boilies, and flicked them back out. Ten minutes later another Tench was in the net. They really didn’t hang about.

By 10:30am I made a decision that is very unlike me — I moved swims.

It was only the next swim along, but it was completely exposed apart from one tiny patch of shade, which is exactly where the bivvy ended up. By midday most of the gear was sorted, and I spent the hottest part of the day hiding under nearby trees trying to cool down.

The lake looked fantastic, but by 10pm it had gone eerily quiet. No shows, no fizzing, no rolling fish — nothing. I started to wonder whether I’d wasted the third night.

Unfortunately, that feeling turned out to be correct.

Was It Worth It?

Not a single bleep came from the alarms during the next 24 hours. I genuinely couldn’t believe how lifeless the lake became.

In the end, the move wasn’t worth it, but I don’t regret making it. Sometimes you just feel the urge to try something different, especially on the final night of a session.

What mattered most was that the blanks were finally over. One beautiful 22lb 12oz Airfield Lake Common was enough to put a smile back on my face and restore some much-needed confidence.

The trip also reinforced an important lesson: in extreme heat, shade and comfort are every bit as important as being on the fish. Had I moved earlier and spent the whole session sitting in full sunshine, I doubt I’d have lasted very long at all.

So, while the final night was quiet, the session as a whole was still a success. A cool breeze, a few peaceful days away from the pressures of work, a ridiculous number of Tench, and one very welcome carp made the heatwave gamble worthwhile after all.

Until next time,

Richard Handel

Get 10% off Deeper with Code – RICHARD10