I put this together over lockdown 2020

As there isn’t a lot to write about at the moment and I don’t feel like posting future plans (as we just don’t really know when we are going to be released from lockdown at the moment).  After posting lots of photographs on Instagram and Facebook, I thought it would be nice to break them down into 10 parts and add a few words to explain my adventures over the past 39 years of fishing.  In doing this, I have discovered that unfortunately, I have lost or misplaced a large proportion of my carp captures.

In The Begining

This was my very first landed carp.  I had hooked a few before but was ill-equipped to land them; between myself and the tackle!  Back then, I was happy to catch anything that came along, if memory serves me correctly I had had a nice pike on that day as well.  I had been fishing the river which was close by and riding there on my pushbike, I then progressed to doing nights on the lakes and have never stopped since 1981.

Then I moved on to Weybread Middle Pit for a year or two.

Then back to Barham Pits for a year, until they, unfortunately, had a fish kill over the closed season and that was it.

It was then I ended up on Weybread again and stuck there until I moved down south in 1996.

I did fish the odd place in between for a short period of time but it never gave me the searching for the ‘unknown’ feeling, I’d become accustomed to.

                                                 Bexford Lake

                                   Thorpeness Mere

Brightlingsea

My old setups and how far we have moved on since the 80’s.

This was in the 90’s on Weybread Bottle Pit with a wave lock brolly and a nash overwrap.  It also had a full-on double burner and grill, wooden bivvy table (not a modern invention!), the bedchair was one of the first comfortable adjustable Fox ones and the small screen in the middle is my TV.  Even back then I would pass the time away by watching stuff and reading books

KJB rod pod and Shimano bait runners, optonics and Fox Swingers, which had made so they would light upon a take (again, not a modern invention).

Winter fishing was fun.  Wave lock brolly, Nash canvas bivvy, which was an awesome bit of kit.  If you are wondering where the rods are, they are down the bottom as per the photo above and you had to tun for your rods – well walk.  If you fished any swims along the high bank opposite (unless it was the two with a walkway out into the lake), you bivvy up at the top and needed 20m extension leads for your sounder box.

Way back in the beginning – 1984 Weybread Pits, before I couldn’t afford much, I would sleep on the floor in a sail bag and a sheet over, the plastic held down by whatever I could find I used.  Luckily no photographs of them.  I never used a brolly unless it rained and you had to put a bin bag over the end, to stop yourself getting wet.  You will note the non matching rods, which was the norm for the first few years.

Getting a bit more modern, matching rods, buzzer, and reels camped out for a week on Barham D pit – somethings never change.  I even did week seasons; once I had a carp and I was Tench fishing!  I’ve come to the conclusion that I love being outside as much as possible.

And my up to date set up Aqua M3 Compact, Fox flatline Bedcahire, and a 5 season sleeping bag, out in all weather over the Winter months.  I must say, I have noticed that there are less times where the lakes freeze up.  We have certainly moved on and for the better, I personally feel.

Then I moved down to the Southampton area and first started on Nutsey lake and then moved on to lots of other over the coming years.

These are a few carp captures from the first lake I fished when I moved down South.

Nutsey

Embley

                                                              Awbridge

                                  Broadlands

               Hatchets Pond

                                                       Butlocks

                                                            Peewit

                                              Rookesbury

This was back in 1997 when DSLR ‘s where not available to me and would have clearly cost too much.  It was always excellent to take the film into Boots and wait a few days before you could look at them.  Hopefully, they turned out good but not always as I was still learning, practice makes perfect and in the end, I got there.

Peewit Lake

I fished this lake twice over the years – with a large gap in between.  I’ve no photos of the first time around, but the lake was absolutely stunning. It still was when I arrived back the second time – until the big cut back, which was quite dramatic and put a lot of anglers off.  But not me!  This was quite fortunate as the carp didn’t know any different, it was great fishing there.  You could walk around, place your bait on the perfect spot and walk back to your rods.

T

The vegetation started to grow back and the anglers returned.  I moved on to Kingham next door.  Unfortunately, it got a bit silly with one angler arrive early and stick their bucket and chairs in swim to reserve swims for his mate’s, who would arrive 3 or 4 hrs later. This was the time that I headed off to fish a lovely syndicate on the Hampshire Avon for 6 years, where I hardly ever came across another angler.

The Ressy

I first joined here about 1999 and stayed a member until last year.  I only ever fished it properly over a winter in between the interim syndicate starting and the full-on syndicate where I’m currently a member of.  I only ever fished there as a place to get away from the crowds.  It was situated up a 1/2 mile path through a wood, which could get very muddy, this put anglers off.  It was very easy in the beginning but unfortunately, it had a fish kill and the restocked carp behaved completely differently.

I

It was full of lilly pads and a large reed bed at one end with a dam wall and was just so peaceful and tranquil fishing there.

Petersfield Heath Lake

This lake is situated on the edge of the town and is also a boating lake.  It’s 4 ft deep most of the way out, in the middle on the depths of winter and as the levels drop, you have to stick your rod tips down and into the slit to completely avoid the boats and the swimmers, ducks, etc picking up your line as they go by.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a single photograph of any carp that I had, I’ve lost them.

As you can see, the water level could drop right down, and instead of bivvying up on the bank, you could set up in the margins.  There where plenty of deeper channels about and I had 5 20s from where the furthest duck was in the below photo.

When I  fished here, there was a good head of carp to the upper 30’s and plenty of bream to keep occupied.  You could sit on the park benches and watch the world go by, get yourself an ice cream from the shop.  Unfortunately, there was a fish kill some years ago, but I believe it’s getting back to its former glory.

Sinah Warren

This lake is situated by the seaside and separates a golf course from the seashore.  At night you can fall asleep listening to the waves crashing on the shore.

It became very hard going each Summer, the water level drops and numerous bars start to pop out the water.  Range fishing becomes impossible.  The Winter’s where rock hard, so this only left you a small opportunity to bag yourself a lump.  It was open over the old closed season which drew anglers to the lake.  It became extremely busy in this period, but I enjoyed my time a lot.

Westhampnet Lake

I had to wait a fair few years to get on this syndicate, the wait was good for me as I was fishing another lake whilst waiting.  However, the years waiting was not good for the old syndicate as it was closed down when RMC took the lake back.

It was a odd lake to fish, it’s situated next to the A27.  It has a long supporting wall, which had a few swims that were just about big enough for a brolly and your rods.

In the last few years I’ve been on a wonderful syndicate been Ringwood, with only 100 members and 3 carp lakes and 8 miles of the Hampshire Avon to fish.

So I thought I would nice to share some pictures of a few lumps I’ve caught over the past 5 years on these waters, and there are a few repeats captures.  I don’t worry about these, these days, as I just love being on the bank and catching carp regardless.  I’ve gone back to the reason why I started fishing, just to catch, have fun and be on the bank in the fresh air, which is very potent at the moment.  At the back end of 2019, I started to fish the original club I joined back in 1997 and one of their lakes is about 10 mins away from my house and it’s brilliant fun over the Winter months.  I’m looking forward to going after some carp with a float rod and a worm, just dropping off the pads.

I feel I’ve come full circle now and am a lot happier in my fishing.  There was a period of time where I only fished a section of the River Avon on a private syndicate for 7 years.  This was because anglers were just not thoughtful towards each other anymore, but I can safely say that I was very lucky in finding my current water and will be there for as long as possible.

Until Next Time

Richard

Firstly, I would like to point out that I am a great lover of wildlife.  This is one of the reasons I love fishing as much I do.  You can also get to see so much that the rest of the world will never see.

Good –

When it was nearly impossible to see an otter in the wild, it was a treat to see the odd one or two (this small number of otters kept river in balance –  killed diseased fish in the river and stopped a slow death for the local wildlife).  A natural gamekeeper if you would.

Bad –

There are 2 real issues here.

Firstly; The unofficial releasing of otters (which has been done in great numbers), what are the otters supposed to eat when they run out of fish?  The not so public knowledge, is that they eat!  They will eat anything – eggs, chicks, even fully grown birds, they even been known to kill of all the bird’s on a lake that had no fish, because they had eaten them already!  On my friend’s lake, every year they killed the signets and one year even the cob (swan)!  This stopped, once they put an otter fence round the lake.  This however, has pushed the otters into taking fish from local ornimental ponds within people’s gardens.

The Second issue, are the areas of the county the unofficial releases are happening.  Now, we all know that mostly otters live in rivers, not great big deep reservoir and over populated areas.  A dog otter and his family covers an area of some 5 miles.  If you keep introducing otter after otter into the same area, they will just move on and fill up another areas – nobody likes a conflict with their neighbour!  However, the people who are doing the releases think that someone or something has killed them, so they just keep releasing more and more until that area is over populated – again and then they move on again.  And once there is no more fish or any wildlife left. These otters too will move on. If no action is taken soon, it will become the hard truth.Links-

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/27441

http://www.fishingmagic.com/news_events/news/16626-otters-the-bbc-and-the-angling-trust.html

http://www.anglingtrust.net/core/core_picker/download.asp?id=1022&filetitle=Fighting+for+the+Future+of+Your+Fishing

http://www.otterstop.co.uk/otters-now-responsible-for-deaths-of-rarebirds/

Please stop intrducing more otters, otherwise, there will be no more fish or bird and starving otters

Richard

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My love for carp started way back. I started fishing early on in my younger days when I was about 8 years old or I could have been slightly younger. The real change was when I started fishing my local river, I used to cycle there daily during the school holidays. One year, I took my kit with me on a holiday to Wales. My parents dropped me off at Lldindord Wells Park Lake and unbeknown to them was pretty famous for its carp. As I sat there with my float rod and ledger rod, a monster crashed out and cruised about with big bow waves. These memories are still with me today. I came over so close to landing a carp on my ledger rod after a carp picked up my bait and gave me the run around for what felt like a lifetime. My small panned net was clearly too small and I desperately tried to guide that carp into the entrance of my keepnet, but the hook pulled out and I suppose knowing what I know now, if I’d carried on, it may well have ended up in my net, but at that age, I was lacking in knowledge. My next encounter was on a small farm pond out at Framingham, which was close to where I lived in about 1981. I was more mobile and could travel a lot further, my kit was still not the best but my net was and a lot bigger. However, the carp I had hooked, just charged in and out of the reed bed each time I got it out until the line gave way. I later discovered that this was its party trick every time it got hooked and not many people had landed it. Apparently, it was about 14lbs. This sparked my memories of the Welsh trip, I started looking for bigger waters and a bigger club with more options. I found Barham Pits which was run by G.A.P.S (Gipping Angling Preservation Society) and started fishing on there. From the off, I was doing nights after the tench and trying to learn as much as possible about fishing. I was unaware of any magazines at this point in time but just started picking things up from other anglers.

I had a dabble at making my own bait at this point, but not with great success as I didn’t have the knowledge yet. However, I did manage to lose two carp, this time to my hooks snapping. This only fuelled my quest and I finally managed to capture my first carp. I was still just dabbling about with tench, pike, and anything that came along. On this historic day, I was fishing with a friend with a ledger rod on to the far margins with bread flake, the tip pulled around so fast and I missed the bite. I quickly got it back out there as this was clearly not a tench bite and within a few minutes, it happens again. This time I was connected to another carp, after a long battle and some guidance from a carp angler (and his net) who was pitched up, on a small point, some distance away. I finally had a carp in the net!

I continued to fish for all other species until one night. One of the carp anglers that I knew from pike fishing over the winter months (which was something we had in common), spent a good couple of hours talking about carp fishing. He said that I would also be catching more tench and if I was lucky the carp would come along in time as well. This started my carp journey. I’m not 100% sure which year it was but working other things back in my mind, it must’ve been 1982 June or July. The next year I was full-on carp fishing and by 1984 I had moved on to Weybread Pits with all most all the kit I need, forgetting the fact that it didn’t all match yet.

Finally, I ended up with matching kit, a pair of rods and reels, a KJB pod and Optonics, Wavelock brolly, but still using a chair from Argos! I just could afford a Fox one. Bait and end tackle has always been more important to me and still is these days, but you can’t always tell that.

I will have been carp fishing properly (in my book) for 40 years next year and how things have changed within fishing in general. Not just the carp side of the industry, I think it’s all for the better I must say. I’m not planning on hanging my rods up yet. As long as I can find the right place to fish, which is getting harder, but there are plenty of like-minded people out there, and still, I’m sure plenty of hidden gems to be discovered and fished. Until then Richard

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They say effort equals reward – let’s hope so after the nightmare set up!

After spending nearly an hour to get here due to a couple of accidents on the main road, meaning I had to take the scenic route across the New Forest. Luck was on my side, no one was in one of the swims I fancied fishing after studying my fish deeper page this afternoon. I really needed to be in the Southwest corner I felt. I’d spoken to another member in the week and the fish had vanished (as they do)! The weather on Wednesday was turning windy (from the southwest) and rainy, one of these spots had to be the one.

This was what I’m looking for and with the swim sorted, I spombed my bucket of bait out and then started to set up the bivvy, probably not concentrating enough, snap went one of the poles. $#!+

I tried to work out how to fix it, but the inevitable journey home was coming and I’m glad I’m a bit of a hoarder where fishing tackle is concerned.

The Fox reflex is dead 😦 long live the Jrc bivvy 🙂

I’m sure I will manage to fix it somehow, don’t think Fox will have any spares after all this time.

After an hour and a bit of drive, I was back in the swim and setting up another bivvy and getting the rods out just before dusk.

I could’ve come back in the morning, but why waste a night’s fishing? You never know wants going to happen, the rods are finally on the spot and the bivvy is up. It was definitely time for a drink.

Just before 2 am, the right-hand rod burst into life and I got the waders on. I like to do this first these days, the older I get, the more wobbly I am on my feet and add in a hard fighting Airfield carp trying to kite into the nearest snag (you get the picture!). Don’t laugh, but once trying to put my waders on after I’d picked up the rod, I fell over and the carp got away. I’ve not done it that way around ever since.

I grabbed the rod and pulled into thin air, the joy of fishing here. I got the rod out and tried to sleep, but it took me until about 4 am, and slept until about 8 am.

I was hoping for an early morning bite, but that wasn’t the case. The conditions are quite favorable today and a morning fish is still on the cards. Finally, at about noontime, the left-hand rod burst into life, grabbed my waders, and slipped them on. I grabbed the rod and pulled into my first carp of the session. It was a pretty straightforward fight and soon a lovely Common was sitting in my Nsr50.

I’m happy now, after that start, anything will do this session, now time to move on to the bigger carp.

My second night passed by with no action for me, this isn’t good, but there’s still a chance of midday take on the cards, now that the wind is picking up again. However, the sun is going to be out all day, I can only hope that the rain forecast for tonight is still correct later today and actually happens, giving me a good chance tonight.

About 1 pm the right-hand rod rattled off, over 24 hours of being on the spot, and a scrappy Common, finally picks my bait up. Unfortunately, you can’t get to choose which fish picks your bait up. I’m quite happy that something is moving down this end, I was getting quite concerned and had thought about moving swim. However, the heat of the midday sun put me off and I’m glad it did, there’s a bit of rain coming my way tonight, I’m hoping this peps them up and bring me more carp.

This will also mean, I need to get my overwrap on as this bivvy, as it’s 18 years old, it’s started to leak a bit at the sides.

Small but perfect and will grow into something special one day.

The bait is back out and it’s nearly being 2 pm. I really need to work out whether to put any more bait out or change the distance I was fishing to. I tend to bait an area in here and the fish around it hoping to pick the bigger carp off from the outside. I know it’s not quite working I hear you say, but its a good way to fish and does work a lot of the time.

I decided to stick to my original wraps, as any further out could result in a carp kiting far too much right and I could lose it in the snags, and this is not my sort of fishing – at all costs method.

The wildlife life has been active today and the geese have some young, I even spotted a little grebe, moorhen with chicks.

I was awake listening to the rolling thunder in the distance and the heavy rain on the bivvy roof when the left-hand rod belted off. I quickly got my waders on, I tried to grab my coat which had moved by itself (as they do), forget that, and out into the rain to do battle with a very hard fighting Airfield lake carp, in the pouring rain. This was made even more fun with the headtorch pointing at the rod tip checking which way the carp was heading; all the time hoping it would go left, as this was the better direction in this swim, away from any possible contact with the fallen tree to my right. It was going left and into more open water. The only danger was a hump two feet under the water that they liked going around and dumping the hook on you. If you miss that, there’s always the bay and the small island to my right. If you can get out there with you waders on and up to your belly, you can guide them around the hump, avoid them getting into the entrance of the bay and slowly walk back to the shore, to pick up your floating Nsr50 net and the simply play the fish out under the rod tip.

This fish was pretty good until the under the rod tip part when it kept powering off on the surface numerous times. It felt like a much better fish. I was determined that it wouldn’t gain enough ground and find that hump. I’m sure it was close a couple of times but I stood my ground and it abandoned that plan. Time to try another plan, this time trying for the small channel between me and the island, with a lovely collection of underwater obstructions. I had to walk towards these to put myself between them and the fish, thus forcing the fish back out into open water and ever closer to the net. Amazingly, it rolled on the surface and slipped into the net the first time. It was as if it had in an instant given up, quite straight forward after all that commotion.

I was pretty wet at this point and lightning was flashing away in the distance, I needed to get the photos done in the pooring rain. This is something I’ve not had the pleasure of for a few years!

That will do me. Time to dry out, write my blog, get a brew on and warm up.

The thunderstorms were out at sea, I could hear the rumbling in the distance and the flashes of lightning, it was gone four in the morning when I settled down to hopefully grab a few more hours’ sleep.

I was hoping for more carp, I had heard a few in the night crashing about, but alas that was it.  I checked the weather forecast around eight am and find out, much to my surprise, that it was going to be raining all day.  If I was quick I could get home in this lull in the rain, that was my mind made up.  After I packed up and was 5 minutes up the road from the lake when the rain arrived.  It didn’t stop until after 4 pm. I had a lucky escape. 

Until next time

Richard

 

 

 

 

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