Location – Airfield Lake

Hours Fished – 67 hours

With another opportunity to do another 3 nights on the bank and the weather conditions are looking favorable – I had to grab the chance.  I’m sure the hot weather isn’t far away and I would be roasting again soon.

The wind was due to swing around to the northwest and if I’m lucky, it may push the carp out of the sanctuary area.  You have to try, you can’t sit on your laurels on the same old spots each week.

Ian arrived first and gave me a call, we discussed the options; I’d been looking at the weather and thinking that there were a couple of areas that looked interesting.  He  informed me that he’d spotted a few fish showing when he arrived and it looked pretty good.  The decision was made and as long as the swim was free when I arrived.  Perhaps my luck was changing as it was!

My plan was to pile in 4 kilos of 12mm Catalyst boilies straight away and about 10 spombs of hemp, this was going on a deeper area of the lake which was a bit silty.  I’d discovered on the Deeper lakebook.  Both rods would be fished in the area with a snowman set up on a Ronnie rig, a 15mm Catalyst wafter and a 12mm Catalyst pink pop up.

As the afternoon progressed the conditions got even better; there was a good blow on the lake with light drizzle.  I was feeling quite confident.  Realistically, I was not expecting a bite the first night, but hopefully during daylight hours tomorrow.

The morning arrived and the wind had swung round to the N/W, despite seeing carp showing (and hearing them) overnight, we both failed to get a take on the first night.  This is becoming the norm here.

I put on new PVA bags just after noontime – this is a method I’d previously done very well on here and I was interested to see if it was still a good method. I will be putting out a few spombs of hemp later on this evening, but I was planning on keeping things peaceful as possible.

My first take arrived just after 0315 on the second morning – only a small fish that didn’t cause me any issues, which is always a stroke of luck.

Airfield Lake infamous 10 pounders!

I was also blessed with a stunning sunrise to watch as I was making up another bag.

With the bait back out there and watching the sunrise, I wrote up my blog – it’s truly humbling to watch.  The nightjars buzz away as they do on the heath above the lake, you forget about all the problems in the world.

Not sure if I dropped off fully, but just before 6 am, the same rod was off again.  This time it was a harder fight and at one point it was off down the left-hand margin, but once I gained control it was simply playing the carp out under the rod tip until it was ready for the net.

19lb 5oz Common

With the mist blowing gently across the lake, it was perfect.

An idyllic place to spend a few nights fishing.

With another bag on the spot and the sun blasting down on the bivvy, it was brew and blog time.

The other rod ripped off just before 8 am and after quite a long fight (and a good few rods lengths off the bank), the hook pulled.  You just have to expect as part of fishing on the Airfield Lake and move on.  It was brew time once the rod was back on its spot.  There was a steady breeze from the North onto my face and the sun was blasting down.  I’m not sure if I will get anymore takes until later this afternoon, this is when its due to cloud over (or even tomorrow morning); we shall see if the luck changes.

With no further action, by noon it was extremely hot and felt like the best time to bait up for the last night.  I simply topped up the swim with the rest of the hemp and about a kilo of boilies, I chucked a couple of fresh bags out on to the baited area – clearly no need to charge anything tonight.

Much to my shock I had no takes overnight, despite being quite close to where Ian managed a couple – including this lovely mirror.

It does go to show that you can be close to the fish, but sometimes that’s not going to produce a take.

It was certainly going to be a hot one and with the mist rolling over the water, I enjoyed the last few hours watching the water and having a couple of brews.   8 am arrived and it was pack up time, all the kit had dried out nicely, which is a help.

Until next time

Richard

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If anyone tells you they have mastered lake of fishing; they’re lying.  It can change in the blink of an eye!

I personally think the biggest mistake anglers make, is once they perceive they’re at the top of their game and have cracked their chosen venue, they sit back on their hands and fail to keep the momentum going.  Then blame other factors for the inability to catch fish.  You have to work hard at fishing and keep one step ahead of the carp.  Never compare yourself to other anglers, as you will burn out.

Carp are living creatures and are more connected with nature than we will ever be.  This has been clearly proven lately by all the rubbish etc left on the beaches/parks after lockdown finished.  The human race is definitely the biggest problem this planet has.

Lakes evolve with the coming and going of each season and also global warming.  Nature has a way of adapting, it may take a few years, but it will recover.

Fish have learnt to move with these changes.  If as an angler you carry on fishing the same old spots each week, don’t you think they will wise up, there isn’t a big sign out there telling the carp where to feed, they do as they wish.

Fish are more connected with their body’s than we are and certainly know what’s good for them.  I’m sure some learn that if they eat boilies they will get caught and they will be returned to the water, so they just carry on.  However, there will be an equal number that doesn’t like the experience, will learn to be very wary and keep will away.  This is why it’s always worth fishing the swim, that exists on most lakes, called no carp something, that would always be my first port of call on a new lake.

There is always the hot swim, but is it because they are fished the most frequently and the law of averages dictates that more fish will come from that swim?  This doesn’t make it the best swim on the lake.  The best swim could easily be the overgrown one in the corner that’s not seen a fisherman’s bait for decades.  They are also one of my first ports of call on a new water.

There are so many factors which can influence carp; from weather with high pressure to low pressure constantly changing or long periods of the same.  This is something I personally feel is overlooked.  A constant high or low is perhaps something the carp can acclimatise to, just like we do.  If you move to a hot or cold country it’s horrible for a period of time, but you get used to it and it becomes enjoyable.  Well, perhaps carp can adjust quickly and relax.  Whereas ups and downs in the pressure could completely throw them off track.

Angler pressure, unless you are on the bank 24/7, you don’t really have any idea of what had been going on since your last trip – where people have fished, how much bait has been put out and the number of takes they have had.  This is more important than the number of fish landed, as it gives you a better indication of what is really going on in the swim. I understand it’s all about catching, but if they have landed 2 carp and also lost 4, the swim is producing takes, if you are only aware of the fish landed, that would be just 2 and influence your discussion making.

Water temperature can also play a key factor in fish most certainly and I believe it affected the lake I fish quite dramatically.  A couple of years back, there was a couple of big long heatwaves and I’m not convinced that the carp on the shallower part of the lake which is about 30 acres and on average 3ft deep, didn’t deal with the higher water temperatures.  They hid under all the margins where the overhanging trees are.  I don’t believe they fully recovered from this until this winter just gone.  Deeper waters are a completely different ball game and I’m sure at beyond a certain depth the variations in the temperature are less dramatic.  The carp may prefer this constant temperature rather than the dramatic changes.

Their food source and I’m not talking about bait the anglers put in!  I’m more interested in the natural side of the equation, you can never really tell how much anglers have put in.  Unless you watch and see them doing it, so it’s best to stick to the natural side of their food source e.g. blood worm beds.  How much natural food there is in the weed bed, crayfish, etc?  This is a very tricky one unless you can get out there and investigate or glean some information from other sources, you are realistically guessing.

Sanctuary area’s, are brilliant for the wellbeing of the carp and it gives them somewhere to hide.  They can easily be over created and give the carp the ability to feed and stay safely out of the angler way for years.  Making the exit points the primary swim, doesn’t help the situation as the carp will just stay there and not come out.  Wouldn’t you?.

Water levels will certainly change the dynamics of the carp’s behaviour and create more save havens as the levers drop extremely low or even the opposite when water levels are high.  This gives them more access to snaggy areas under overhanging tree or even swampy area’s.  You would be surprised how little water they need some times, just look at the depth of a 30 lber and add an inch or two on and it won’t be much deeper than your knee.

I hope I’ve not added to your issues about catching carp but helped you get more fish on the bank.

The many points of this article are to generate food for thought and not sit back a just keep going with the same old routine.  Adapt, tweak things, but never too much at the same time and keep going forward with your fishing.  Don’t look back and say it was much better than now, things have changed.  There is a bucket load of possibilities to take onto consideration and I’ve only touched on some of them.  You could go into way more detail.  Never forget to enjoy your fishing and why you got into it.  It’s not all about catching and especially under the current situation going on in the world, enjoy it, relax, unwind, be grateful and go catch your next PB.

Until next time

Richard

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