The Hunt for the Big Ones Continues

It’s Wednesday again, and my gardening jobs are done. I was home, packing the fishing gear into the car and heading off down the lake. The conditions were looking awesome, with another strong south-westerly wind pushing across the lake. Leaving me with the choice of either heading back to where I’d fished last week or dropping into Ian’s swim. I’d given this a lot of thought on the journey down to the lake and over the past few days, as well. In my hunt to capture one of the big lumps of two that we see in here from time to time, I’ve focused on a couple of areas over the years during the last two months of the season, and although I’ve had some great results, they haven’t been the carp I’m hunting for. So, this year, I think I’m going to stick it out as much as possible in the Daisy Field swim. It’s named after all the Oxeye Daisies that grow here and, as well as hopefully producing some good carp, it gives you some superb capture shots.

My baiting approach was going to be exactly the same as last week, simply because it had worked so well; why change it? Setting up was going well until the unforecast rain arrived, making Spombing a mixture of Nutrabaits boilies and then trying to catapult 24mm Nutrabaits EnerGize boilies out there pretty hard going, especially while getting absolutely soaked. Still, the rods were eventually sorted, the bait was where I wanted it, and I was ready to see what the night would bring.

1950 hrs — The right-hand rod was away, and unfortunately it resulted in a hook pull. Thanks to a boulder or two, I knew I’d gone a little too far right, but I needed to test my theory out. 

2315 hrs — The left-hand rod was away, and that ended up with exactly the same result as my first take. I could feel it happening, donk, donk, slack line, and away it was gone. Last week it happened twice, but not in a row, so I may have to be more mindful of when I walk down to the water to start the netting process, because they may be further out or more to the right than I think. That’s the trouble with night-time bites, but at least I’m getting them, I suppose.

0435 hrs — The left-hand rod was away again, and being mindful of the last two takes, I took it steady, but not too steady, and my first carp was soon into the net. 24lb 0oz Common. Happy days! 

0600 hrs — The left-hand rod was away again, with another hard-fighting Airfield Lake common, this one going 21lb 5oz. Things were certainly starting to look interesting.

0847 hrs — I was drifting off to sleep, trying to catch up on some sleep from the night before, when the rod was away again with a common that I recognised from previous captures, weighing 16lb 2oz. 

0923 hrs — I’d only just put the rod back out from the last carp and was chatting to Ian when this one ripped off, with a proper torpedo of a carp attached to the other end. It eventually found its way into the net at 18lb 2oz.

1111 hrs — This was the start of a crazy couple of hours. They do like their lunchtime munch! Another common went 18lb 13oz. 

1156 hrs — The rod hadn’t been out that long before it was away again. They really do love these fresh baits that I’ve spiced up, and another common of 18lb 3oz was soon resting in the net.

1245 hrs — I lost a nice one to a hookpull at the net. It’s not great, and it’s possibly my error in giving it a bit too much pressure at the end. The fight had started with it bumping over a few boulders, which must have played its part as well. It’s one of those things that you go over in your head afterwards, wondering what you could have done differently, but unfortunately you can’t change it once the fish has gone.

1300 hrs — I did want to wait a little longer before baiting up, but the moment felt right. The strong winds had eased off a lot, and I had to take the opportunity or risk some inaccurate baiting, which isn’t good in shallow water. I had a good doze on the bedchair today, as I was feeling pretty worn out after work and being up half the night. I’ve pinged a few 24mm EnerGize boilies out there this afternoon on top of the mixed boilies in the Spomb, and hopefully the action will kick back in this evening. I’m interested to know where all the 20s have vanished to, and hopefully something nice will grace my net soon.

There’s a bit of drizzle due tomorrow morning, then it’s going to dry up around lunchtime, so I reckon I’ll stay until the lunchtime feed is over and then head home. That was the plan anyway, but as usual with fishing, things don’t always go to plan.

0241 hrs — I’d been awake for nearly an hour, wondering what had changed. I even nearly put fresh baits on, but with the very strong winds, plus the bait positioning this afternoon being spot on, it would have been silly to disturb things. Then the right-hand rod rattled off, with a nice lump attached to the end, slowly plodding to my left, as 90% of the bites have been this week, unlike last week. Something to ponder on.

I took my time after losing one this afternoon, and after a very damp ten minutes or so, I slipped this lovely one into the net. 29lb 11oz Common. That’ll make up for losing one earlier! It was a proper lump, and getting so close to that magical thirty was a welcome result after the earlier hook pulls.

0330 hrs — I’d just put my feet back in the sleeping bag after sorting everything out when the rod gave a single bleep. I put my boots back on, and it ripped off again! The very same rod, with another hard-fighting carp plodding towards me again. I couldn’t quite believe it when it finally went into the net. 29lb 15oz Common. You can’t help it when the digital scales read 15oz; that’s life! Two carp within 5oz of thirty in the same night is pretty special, and it certainly made up for some of the earlier frustration.

0636 hrs — I was up a bit later than expected, so I catapulted a load of 24mm EnerGize out there and redid the left-hand rod, as no action had happened overnight. 

0741 hrs — My first morning bite came after topping up the swim with freebies, producing another good common of 22lb 12oz.

0925 hrs — The heavy rain had been and gone, the wind was now slowly shifting towards the west, and things were brightening up when the left-hand rod was away. It rolled out into open water, and I spotted that it was a mirror. It’s not that rare to see them, other than on the bank, so I was conscious that it would be great to get this one into the net. It had other ideas, though, and gave me the right runaround around the swim. I breathed a sigh of relief as it finally slipped into the net, weighing 19lb 6oz. Happy days, a mirror carp!

1215 hrs — The left-hand rod was away again, but unfortunately it ended in another hookpull. I’m definitely getting a lot of these this week’s trip, but it’s part of the joy of Airfield Lake. You can do everything right and still lose one, although I’ll continue pondering over whether there’s something I can change to reduce them.

1400 hrs — I made the decision to stay another night, based on the weather this week and next, plus the possibility that anglers may well start fishing this swim at some point. Along with catching those two 29s last night and getting so close to the thirty mark, I’m also hoping that big monster of a carp isn’t too far away. Sometimes you just get that feeling that you should stay, and this was one of those occasions.

1530 hrs — I rebaited the morning take rod and switched over to a 2oz lead. I’ll do the same around 1700 hrs to the other one, hopefully lessening the disturbance, along with hopefully helping with the hook-pull problem, which I’m still pondering. With the shallow water and all the boulders, I need to get the balance right between enough pressure to control the fish and not putting too much pressure on them at the business end.

1716 hrs — I knew I was tempting fate by having my tea around this time, but I was hungry. Sure enough, the left-hand rod ripped off with, would you believe it, another mirror! 18lb 3oz Mirror. Two mirrors in a row, just wow. They certainly don’t seem to be as common as the commons in here, so getting two on consecutive takes was a real bonus.

1929 hrs — I was sitting on my bucket outside the bivvy taking photos of the sunset when the left-hand rod suddenly screamed off like a banshee. The carp was on its way out to sea, and it took me a lot of effort to guide it back and away from the gravel bars, but I successfully managed it in the end. After a few tense moments, another common was safely in the net at 22lb 5oz.

0700 hrs — I was up having my first brew of the day and doing a bit of tidying up, all set for a 0900 hrs reel-in. The night had been flat calm and completely bleep-free, so I could only hope for the morning feeding spell. Sometimes after a busy session, a quiet night is exactly what you need, although you’re always hoping that one last fish might come along before you pack away.

The Results

Lost — 4 Carp

Landed — 12 Carp

Not bad going again, I would say, and only 1oz off a 30-pounder. Those bigger carp will find their way into my net again soon, I’m sure of it. The session had certainly been a busy one, with twelve carp landed, four lost, and a couple of proper lumps making an appearance. The two 29s in the early hours were obviously the highlights, but the two mirrors were a real bonus as well.

The hunt for that big Airfield Lake monster continues, and I’m sure it can’t be too far away now.

Until next time,

Richard

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