I arrived at the lake just after 11 am, took a long drive around and poked my head into a few swims. I wasn’t really sure where to go with the wind direction as it was, the better area was occupied. However, there was a bay area which we hadn’t fished before but Ian and I quite fancied and after spotting a couple of fish thought it was worth a go.
I had done some mapping with the Deeper before, so we knew the spots we fancied. I flicked the market rod out to see how the bottom felt and was very happy.
As I had to pop home and collect the kids, I just set up my bivvy rod etc, baited up where I was going to fish and then popped home. I started helping with the homework until the wife arrived and headed off back down the lake, as I had clipped up it was very easy to get the rods on the spots.
Fingers crossed for tonight.
The night and morning passed by with no action for either of us. The morning was a misty start and the prospects of sunshine during the morning, we would have to wait for a bite later on.
The bright sunshine was blocked out by the clouds just after lunchtime. We were feeling more positive that our luck would change this afternoon and a carp or two would grace our nets.
We had a nice glass of wine to celebrity Ian’s 65 Birthday, that his work had kindly got him.
Happy Birthday
It was certainly not the case and after a chat with a few other members on the lake, we were certainly not the only ones in the same boat. It was clear that the carp had, had a good paste-ing over the past week and I believe they had. They were just not on the bait this weekend and keeping well out of angler’s way and it may well be worth a visit in the week during the day for a few hours.
This is a great time of year to look out for those hidden features that you may not have found yet (as the water level drops on some lakes). The birds will start to roost or rest upon these areas, even if they are just under water.
I like to take photo’s from the swim and also log the skyline marks in a book. With modern phones, you can even edit the photo, which is a great help for the modern angler.
and if you get the chance, stick a lead out and mark the distance down.
Even if you are not fishing the lake, it’s always worth a few photos’s for the future.
I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to fish a midweek night and I was soon down the lake, armed with a few ideas from some Deeper mapping on my last trip. Unfortunately, the wind was pushing nicely into this area and sure enough, the only other anglers on the lake where in that spot. It did look good and I surely don’t mind that, it will be interesting if they have any joy.
With the way the wind was pushing, I looked in a couple of nice swims but somehow ended up where I fished at the weekend! It was once a bogey swim for me, which had changed over the past months this year and it defiantly worth another shot.
The wind direction swung round in the night, it could well pay off. I baited one of the spots where each of us had fished at the weekend, with a good load of catalyst and Smokey Jack boilies. I fished both rods on Miracle berry Wafters, Ronnie Rig style and we shall see how the night goes.
Much to my surprise, the swim next door produced 2 X 35+ common carp and I blanked! Just goes to show, if you’re not in the right spot, you can easily blank.
I am out for a social with my friend Ian this weekend and we have decided to give the Airfield lake a break (it’s been fished particularly hard over the past few months).
Ian arrived first and had a look round, he then gave me a call about the choice of the swim. It sounded perfect and as I was just heading out the door, I would be there within the hours and by the time I arrived he had got his kit in the swim and bivvy up.
I got the Deeper out to show him the areas of interested in the swim. This covered a good area and we could double up very easily.
Once we were both happy, I got to work with the spomb rod and put just over the 3 kg of a mixture of Catalyst and Smokey Jack boilies out in my swim. I was fishing a 15mm wafter on a PVA bag filled with pellet and broken boilies.
At around 2330, Ian had the first take of the trip. It was a hard fighting 25lb 4oz Common which behaved very politely and only tried a couple of times to get in the snags! This was handy due to the time of night.
And within minutes of returning the fish to the water, I had the second take of the trip. Unfortunately, my fish was a bream, this was quickly returned and both rods were back on the spots.
The rest of the night passed peacefully until a swan gave me a run at 0630. Always nice to have an early morning alarm call, much better when it’s a carp.
As the morning passed by, we did a bit more on the mapping front with the Deeper and found some very interesting areas to fish in Winter.
As the afternoon progressed we discussed that the takes were at night only. Thi was until 5pm when my left-hand rod was off with a nice carp (I had changed this rod over to a miracle berry Wafters just after noon) after a short hard fight, a nice mirror was in the net.
With the pictures and video done, the fish was returned and I flicked another miracle berry Wafters out. Within the hour it was off again, with a nice low double figures mirror.
We sat back for the evening and ate homemade curry (thanks to Ian) and had a few glasses of wine. At more or less the same time as last night, Ian’s rod was off. After a very hard fight and a near miss with the overhanging trees. He had a new PB common in the net, he was (and probably still is) over the moon.
He recast his rod out and we set chatting about the capture for some time, it’s nice to be a witness to another person’s fishing achievement. The joy floods out and it overspills into you. The joy of fishing is truly amazing and we were both amazed at our weekend results and with still over 10 hrs to go, you just never know.
Just after 1am, my right-hand rod ripped off and I pulled into a nice fish, only to have it bump off – joy but can’t complain. I put the rod out, got my head down and awake to a lovely morning.
We both have to be off just before noon, so that was it for the weekend – not bad going I would say.
