Shade, Boulders and Redemption

I’m back out on my usual Wednesday session, although it’s unfortunately the hottest day of the week. Looking ahead at the forecast over the next few nights, though, it felt like the effort would be worthwhile.

The plan was simple: get here for 1300 hrs, settle into one of the shady swims, avoid the busiest period before other anglers arrived, and hopefully miss the worst of the heat around tea time. There’s a good south-westerly wind pushing through, which is helping to keep the temperature a little more bearable.

As always, on the drive to the lake, I mulled over my options. I’d checked the weather forecast that morning and was focused on either the swim I fished last Saturday or the second island, which, with the wind, would have been my first choice. After negotiating the bridge—not too well, I must say—I checked both swims but felt the first was the obvious choice. It also generally discourages anyone else from fishing that area, despite there being three swims available.

The heat had made me cut back on the bait, simply because it was hard work spombing in those conditions. A couple of Spombs filled with hemp and buckwheat would do, and I’d then catapult out the boilies. I found a bag of 24mm Cream Cajouser Shelf Life boilies and immediately thought they’d help keep the tench away. After rummaging through my hookbait fridge, I found some 20mm Trigga Ice Hardened Hookers, along with some Cream Cajouser hookbaits.

Now it was just a waiting game. The traps were set, so fingers crossed the carp had other ideas than simply hiding away from the heat.

04:55 hrs

The right-hand rod was away, resulting in my first carp of the trip. Nothing big, but I’d avoided the blank, and confidence and consistency always help.

12lb Common

Once the rod was back out, I climbed back into my sleeping bag. At only 15°C, it felt like absolute luxury compared to the previous few weeks.

I must have drifted off because I had a single bleep on the left-hand rod, which I’d moved after seeing carp show earlier. It’s now 08:30 hrs, and I’m still waiting for it to develop into a run. I can’t quite believe it hasn’t happened yet. In the meantime, the right-hand rod produced a tench.

Over the course of the day, I landed two tench and a roach. I also spent a lot of time switching between spots after seeing carp show, something that other members seem to find productive. It didn’t quite work during today’s experiment, and I feel it needs a bit more fine-tuning, but I do believe there are carp to be caught using that approach.

I’m off tomorrow morning as I’ve got an appointment to get to. Looking ahead at next week’s forecast, it’s finally looking a lot cooler.

Around 20:00 hrs, I repositioned the left-hand rod onto what I felt was a better spot. I catapulted a few 24mm Cream Cajouser boilies over the area, switched to a 20mm Trigga Ice Hardened Hooker, and within 20 minutes that rod absolutely ripped off.

After a long, hard battle over and around the boulders, the carp made a determined attempt to reach the bay on my left. Eventually, I had it in the margins, and it was simply a case of playing it out under the rod tip. It had certainly woken up once it reached the edge, and now it felt like a much better fish. It broke the surface a couple of times, and just as I was about to slip the net underneath it, the hook pinged out right in front of me.

I couldn’t believe it after all that effort.

It looked like a lovely common, but that’s fishing. There’s no point dwelling on it or launching the rod across the lake—it won’t change anything. A quiet grumble and a mumble will do me these days.

I checked the hook. It was absolutely needle-sharp. Fresh hookbait on, and back out it went.

22:22 hrs

The left-hand rod was away again. I managed to stop it from going too far left, but it still found another boulder. I’d experienced this one before, so I simply placed the rod on the rests, slackened off the line, and sat back in the bivvy waiting. Sure enough, a few moments later it was moving again.

No dramas this time. After playing it out in the moonlight—which was helpful, as the mozzies were an absolute nightmare—it was safely in the net.

18lb 2oz Common

It wasn’t as big as the one I’d lost, but a bit of redemption certainly helps restore your faith. The rod was soon back on the spot.

After losing the previous carp on the boulders and having the earlier takes give me similar problems, I decided to move away from that area. I’ll have to take a different approach there in future. It may well fish better when the water level is higher.

It’s coming up to 08:00 hrs, and it’s time to pack the kit away and head home for the weekend. It’s been an eventful trip all round, with tench, a roach, a carp lost at the net, plenty of fun with the Airfield Lake boulders, and, in the end, a successful session.

Until next time,

Richard

Get 10% off Deeper with Code – RICHARD10