Location – Airfield Lake
Hours Fished – 67 hours
With the last summer bank holiday of 2020 this weekend, I moved things around and arrived Tuesday afternoon after storm Francis had moved through, well the rainy part of it, the wind was still forecast to blowing over 45mph for the next 10 hrs then fade away. Fishing the back of the wind would have been nice, however, that bank is out of bounds, and the other swims that I fancied the wind would have been right in my face.
After spotting a few carp showing in the blast of the wind, I popped onto one of the islands. The wind was more across the swim and this area was sheltered by the trees. It was quite pleasant on the bank, the lake was still taking the force of the wind and another fish stuck its head out.
That will do me. I got the kit from the car and spombed out some bait. As I’d arrived later than normal and needed to get the noisy part over first. This was very interesting in a huge crosswind, but I got there in the end. Then came the fun of casting on to my spot – heavy leads where definitely the way forward.
The bivvy was all tidy and time for my first brew, relax and watch the lake for a few hours.
The first take happened a lot quicker than I expected – just after 1900. The left rod screamed off and I was into a carp who was heading out into the lake and kiting right. It was soon had under control and was coming in nicely. I flicked the rod over the top of the other one, just as the carp headed right again, it again was soon back under control and heading left towards a shallow area. I’m sure it was looking for those boulders. At this point, it became apparent that I’d hooked up the other line, I tried passing the rod over the other rod, but I must have got it wrong and it was nicely wrapped around the line. The only option was to pay line out and play the carp out under the rod tip and then sort the mess out.
15lb 2oz Common
That will do!
After sorting out the mess and just before the rain, both rods were back out.
My second take happened nearly 12 hrs later and I was starting to wonder if I’d got my swim choice wrong.
It was around the 10 lb mark, you can’t choose what picks your bait up, but it was a welcome fish.
As ever, once the bait was back out, a brew was in my hand.
My next take happened right in the middle of me trying to film some Deeper tips. By the time I had land and taken my photos of another lovely looking Airfield Lake Common, my Chrip had drifted around the corner of a small island and caused me some issues.
12lb 7oz Common
The tail on that fish certainly gave it plenty of power and it was well on its way towards getting under the snaggy margins.
I was laying on my bedchair thinking when it would be best to top up the swim with some bait and how much when the right rod belted off towards the island and kiting right. I’m so glad I’ve been putting my waders on each time, as I needed to walk to the left and get the tip underwater to avoid the overhanging tree to my left. Once the fish was under the rod tip, it was well behaved and just needed to be played out and slipped into the Nsr50.
20lb 10oz Common
I now had the perfect timing to get more bait out.
I didn’t get a single bleep through the second night. Perhaps as the wind had gone completely and the lake was flat calm since yesterday afternoon. By 1100, it was all due to change again.
Another weather front was coming. This would stir them up again and bring on another feeding spell. So, I’m staying put in this swim and will stick out some more particles, I think more boilies would be a silly idea.
As it got closer, I’ve put fresh Classic Corn wafter on both rods and we will see how the next 24 hours pan out.
The change in weather has got them feeding again. Only 30 minutes after the rain arrived, the left rod belted off with a very unhappy carp. It was chasing out into the middle of the lake and off to my left, it was doing its best to nip around the corner of a small island. I held on, turned the fish, and gained ground steadily until I slipped it into the Nsr.
14lb 12oz Common
Again, you can see from the tail, where these carp get all their power from. After I quickly got the bait back out there, I carried on sorting out lunch.
The next take was about quarter past 2 and was also on the left-hand rod, this kited off to the right and I had to wade out to avoid a tree in the water. I turned the carp and it belted back towards me, right in front of the swim, and picked up the other line. There wasn’t time to put the rod over the other one, this fish had in its mind that it needed to get around the small island and into the bay behind me. I was wading off down the left margins to keep the fish under control. It finally succumbed to my persuasion and was finally under the rod tip. There was absolutely no way of getting the other line separated, I just had to slowly play the carp out and gain line. Once it was in the Nsr50, I cut the line, zipped the net into a floating retainer, and set about sorting the rods out. The last thing I needed was another take, which isn’t too out of the ordinary on this lake.
15lb 5oz Common
I was very happy with that one. Now, it was time to strip a load off the line and redo both rods. I also warmed up in the bivvy as it was now monsoon season here, what a difference a few hours can make.
The storm arrived and past, it was certainly a bit rough out here this afternoon, but by 1900, the sunshine was back out and there was a gentle breeze from the S/W. Hopefully, there was a chance of a couple more carp before I pack up tomorrow morning.
Look at this weather! Isn’t it amazing how thing’s can change? I had a funny take just after 6pm and it was a carp who must have gotten the line under one of those boulders. It didn’t belt off like they normally do, just pulled the bobbin up and down and when I picked the rod up it was stuck fast.
The weather is looking for tonight.
My next take was my first in the night and behaved pretty well until the head touch shone on it for a split second. The carp bolted under the overhanging tree and I sunk the tip and held on. The only 2 outcomes from this are either a hook pull or away from the snags, the carp just powered away under and unfortunately resulted in a hook pull.
With a new bait on and the rig checked, I flicked it back out onto the spot.
What a perfect last morning, I’ve got a few hour’s left to go, before the next lot of rain arrives.
I’m planning on having a lovely bank holiday weekend with the family and will be down again next week for a few more nights. The kids are going back to school soon and we will see how this pans out over the next 3 weeks. By then I’m sure the wife will be moving out of her front room office and back into the real one, things may return as much as possible to normal. This may mean a few nights less fishing for me, but that will not be a bad thing as Winter will be knocking on the door and the Airfield Lake will close for the season and I will be back on Meadow Lake over the Winter months. Not sure how that will pan out, we’ve got a few new members and they will be as keen as mustard (as we all were at the beginning) until they come to terms with how hard fishing is on there in the Winter.
Until next time
Richard
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