UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

Location – Airfield Lake

Hours Fished –  71 Hours

I still have the chance to get out early doors on a Thursday.  I arrived at the lake just before 9 am, this was quite handy as most of the anglers were having a chat before they headed off to work.  This gave me the opportunity to have a chat and watching the lake in the area I was thinking of going.  A nice new fresh wind was blowing across the lake, the down side was, it was from the north east, but it just felt right.  When the wind blew on my past few sessions, I had great success.

Ian arrived after having a drive around and was happy with my swim selection.  We set about getting some bait out into the lake and getting our pitches sorted.

My first take happened just after 1630 and was probably a heavy liner, this certainly meant that fish were in the area.  The second take happened just before 2 in the morning on the right hand rod, it was quite well behaved and slipped into the Nsr perfectly.

15lb 9oz Common

Lovely start to the trip.  With the rod back on the spot it was time to get my head down.

I was up pretty early and watched the sun coming up over the forest for another sunny day.  The north east had been blowing most of the night and I’m hopeful for another bite before bait time is over.  The pressure is due to drop over the next 24 hours and I’m hoping that the carp come on the feed a bit more.

I had to wait until just after 9 pm before my next take.  These carp are certainly like the darker hours at the moment.  It was nice to have another fish put up a straight forward battle, with no real issues – other than playing it out in the margins.

21lb 15oz Common

What a peach of a fish!

My next take happened just after dawn and charged off out into the lake, I managed to get it under control and halfway back – the hook pulled. DOH!

The morning passed by with no action.  I re-did my hook baits mid afternoon, got some soup on the go and settled down to an afternoon watching the water.

My next take happened just after 3 pm and shoot across the lake out into the middle of the lake.  I slowly guided the fish back to the waiting Nsr50.

14lb 15oz Common

Middle of the day take, absolutely brilliant, you just never can tell.

I quickly sorted out the rod, got the bait back out onto the spot, and sat and had a brew with Ian.

The night passed with not a single bleep for me, which was odd as the action had picked up nicely yesterday but that’s fishing and its early pack up for me.

Until next time

Richard

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Baiting pole is amazing bits of kit.  I have found my one incredibly useful and it’s certainly has helped me catch fish.

Now, before you rush out and buy one, there are a few things to consider.

1. Cost – you will probably think that a 12m pole will be just perfect for you.  Not the case – as it’s not even 4-rod lengths from the bank.  This means you will need a few extension sections.

2. Carrying it – I have 1 x 12m pole + 11m extension section.  I carry it in an old brolly bag, which was lucky, as you can’t buy anything to carry them in

3. Practicality – they are not that easy to use in small swims or slopping swims as you need to lay the pieces out.

4. Being able to use it – this is not about the operator, it’s about the condition of the lake.  A crosswind or a strong wind will affect the pole and can easily cause the pole to break.

5. Advise

A. Never use on strong winds.

B. Don’t lift, always push or pull.

D. After 12m add extra floats every 10m.

E. When maneuvering the pole in the water, take your time.  As to many side, strains will snap the pole.

F. Dry the pole and keep the joints free of gravel.

G. Treat it with respect.

Hope this helps and doesn’t put you off buying one.  They are a great bit of kit and used correctly will help you bank carp.

R

Hope This Helps

Richard

Location – Airfield Lake

Hours Fished –  43 hours

What can I say?  The kids go back to school and within days, I get my normal virus, I generally get twice a year and it was looking like no fishing for me.  However, I rested and took care of myself and by Friday am, I was feeling that the worst was over.  My energy levels were up and I could manage to do things around the house without needing to sit on the sofa for half a hour to recover!

I was off down the lake Friday morning with a clear plan in mind.  Which was, easy fishing, so I could but a 100% effort in with out making myself worse.  I needed to be able to effectively fish, without to much effort.  This reduced the number of swims available to me and I ended up waiting for one to become available.  I was completely OK with this as I was sure in the long run, I would better off down the lake rather than at home.  Simply because I would start tinkering about doing stuff, which would not be resting myself, down the lake, once my pitch is up and all sorted, it’s a waiting game.

Ian had given me the information on the location of the other anglers fishing.  Being near my car was a must and I was only using my brolly, as I needed less kit, just in case I needed to head home.  I picked a swim just down from the old control tower.

The car park and loo was just behind the building, it was perfect.  It was a swim I’d fished in the past and Ian fishes it quite regularly.  There was a gentle westerly blowing, so after some advice and studying the Deeper lakebook page, I was pretty confident in catching a few carp.

This was an ideal opportunity I was planning on trying out (in preparation for October).  I finally got everything sorted just after 4 pm.  I’d spent a few hours with my rods in another swim, on the middle lake with no luck; just flicking out single hook baits, but now I had camp all set up.

The night passed by with not action and that was indeed what I thought would happen.  I’d changed over to much bigger bait, as I didn’t fancy any action from the smaller Airfield Lake’s residents.  I had also opted to change over to a darker bait amongst the maize that I was putting out, this was in the hope of targeting the larger carp.  Also, my spot where the hook baits were being cast to was off the main baited area.  They where working well in producing takes but the size of the carp where not the lumps we where hoping for.

I had rescued the throwing stick from storage and was also topping up the swim with a small number of 20 mm baits to get the carp hunting area for the larger offerings and hopefully my hook baits!

The first take was on my right had rod, the bobbin smashed up to the top and then instantly fell to the floor.  I ran out and grabbed the rod, I ran back hoping to pick up the slack line, this never happened – the line must have found a boulder and I just got cut off on the take.  Thankfully, I’d grabbed some 20 lb Asso line on the way out the door yesterday.

It was certainly time to change over, lost carp on these boulders was getting ridiculous.  To be honest I don’t like littering the lakes and putting the carp/wildlife in harms way.  I need to address this situation sooner rather than later.

I baited up at just after lunch and then pop over Ian’s swim with a bottle of red.  We got lost in fishing talk and before I knew it, it was 5 pm!  Time to get the rods back out and hopefully a carp (or two) this evening/overnight.

My second take happened at just before 4 am, it was nice and steady, slower one than normal.  It wasn’t one of those lower doubles that cause all the issues!  It felt like I guided the fish all the way into the net.  At one point the line got tangled up with the vegetation as I was negotiating my way through it to the waters edge and into the landing net.  I quickly sorted this out, the carp had just stopped and sunk to the bottom of the lake to rest, it hadn’t bolted off!  I’ve never experienced this before, it was as if the fish was unaware of being captured!  I quickly did the photos and a quick video, as I was a bit concerned, it was pretty active on the bank and was soon safely back in it home.

20lb 10oz Common

Very happy with that and quickly got the rod back out on the spot.

That was the only action of the night and I couldn’t be to disappointed because at the beginning of the week I didn’t think I would  be out at all.

Until next time

Richard

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