UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

Trip 46 Carp Fishing – 2020

Posted on September 3, 2020 by richardhandel

Location – Airfield Lake

Hours Fished – 71 hours

Ian and I are back down the Airfield Lake for another 3 nights. We are in the hope of finding better and bigger fish. We’ve moved area and are fishing into different lakes, but our bivvies nearly back onto each other.

I’m feeling quite lucky as I’m fishing across to a point where I can simply get the bait out with a spoon and then cast over there! I’m not using bags this week as when the wind picks up, I’ll have no chance of getting them out there.

The storm arrived just after 0300 and boy did it shake! I needed a couple of pegs redoing and I managed to get some sleep in (I think).

I patiently waited all night for the morning take, which happened just after 0730. The carp headed out and towards the shallow plateau, it found a couple of boulders and managed to bump the hook out.

Not good.

With a new bait on and checking the hook (which was perfect), they just know where to go to avoid capture.

During the mid-morning, I decided that if I was going to get any sleep (which is vital in my book for successful fish), I needed to move out of direct contact with the wind. So, with this in mind, I had a look at another swim down from Ian which was just perfect. However, I didn’t fancy moving in on Ian’s water, he’d already had 4 takes! He only landed 2 carp. I also felt very confident with my choice of swim and still felt that I needed to stay in the area. After looking 30 feet to my right and making a new path through the vegetation to get my rods on the water. I just couldn’t stand to be too far away from them, this area felt the better and more confident solution. I was completely out of the wind, the funny thing is, I nearly pitched up here yesterday. The wind was supposed to swing West, this was not the case as it stayed Southwest all the time, with gusts up to 50mph, not much fun.

I then set about topping up the swim and get fresh hook baits on. I needed to step up the lead size as it was like fishing the sea – let’s hope this afternoon and tonight bring more success.

My second take happened just after midnight the second night and was a lot less aggro than the first. I, unfortunately, picked up the line from the right-hand rod, that will teach me to lower my rod tips down.

16lb 11oz Mirror

I managed to get both rods back out in the wind and they were looking ok, which was a surprise as the wind was pushing hard into my face. It was hard to make out the tree-line as it was a very dark night and there is no light pollution about.

My third take happened at 0630 with a couple of bleeps. I ran to the rod and it was as though nothing had happened, had I dreamed the bleeps? It then dropped back, I grabbed the rod and pulled into a small carp, at the same moment the other rod ripped off. After my cast out last night, there was a slim possibility that I was fishing very close to my other rod. Had it been picked up? I took the chance to get the smaller one in as the other one just stopped, maybe that’s what had happened. Once that one was safely in the net, I picked the other rod up, and would you believe it? There was another carp on there, that was a pretty straight forward fight to the net.

The results of take 3 & 4. You can’t choose what picks up your bait and this place, unfortunately, has some very small carp in it still. They’ve tried netting them to a degree of success, however, they just escape capture.

With everything sorted, it was 0700 and time to watch the lake for carpy signs with a coffee in my hand.

My fifth take happened after 0930 and completely out of the blue. It started heading out towards the plateau, this time, I held the rod tip as high as possible to try and avoid any contact with those boulders. It worked well this time but I managed to pick up the other line again, this was soon sorted out – thanks to Ian. I was now in control of the carp in the margins and slowly played the carp out until it slipped into the Nsr50.

20lb 9oz Common

Both rods were sorted and back out, so I settled down for another brew.

At noontime, I topped up the swim for the final night and redid both rods with fresh bait. I took a walk for an hour to rest the swim before getting the rods back on the spot, for the afternoon and night. I’m very confident for another bite or two, just as long as I can avoid those boulders, I’ve got a good chance.

The night was completely void of bleeps, fishing crashing – very strange indeed. It could be down to the volume of anglers fishing the middle lake. I know 3 isn’t a lot but it’s two more than normal.

It’s been a productive few nights and I’m looking forward to the next.

Until then

Richard

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Conditions Looking Good

Posted on September 3, 2020 by richardhandel

Looking forward to the next few night’s on the bank.
Richard

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After The Unknown

Posted on September 2, 2020 by richardhandel

The syndicate where I’ve fished for the past 5 years, I have been hunting the unknown carp. This is what I enjoy the most and get the most reward from. It is a 64-acre gravel pit, which was in fact 3 lakes once and now has channels connecting them.

It has its own particular challenges, it has a lot of history as it was once an airfield and still has it’s original control tower! Albeit a bit run down.

It even featured in a propaganda film starring David Niven. It was then dug out for its gravel, filled with blitz rubble and then dug for yet more gravel and then sort of landscaped into 3 separate lakes. A water company then joined them all together with a channel. It was finally run as a fish farm, until the overpopulation of carp destroyed nearly all the natural food sources, at this point they removed most of the stock but left a few lumps in there. It then had a restocking program from an adjacent water. I bet you can agree that it has had an interesting past and no one has any real idea what’s in there!

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There is no maintenance on there, it’s just left to run wild and the anglers fit in around the wildness of the lake. Which is how I like it. I’m not a fan of manicured waters, where you feel you are fishing someone’s back garden.

There are a few issues to contend with, but this adds to the adventure of searching for these unknown carp. Firstly, it’s only open 6 and a half months each year from mid-March to the end of September. Secondly, the carp spawn extremely early, sometimes around the 1st of May. This year it was just before, this is due to them being partly an Austria strain of carp and a high proportion of the lake is only just over 3ft deep. So the lake soon warms up in those warm Spring days.

Prior to the carp spawning, it’s pretty easy to track down the larger residents. In reality, you only get the April to catch them, once they start spawning – which can last on and off for all of May (which is pretty frustrating). Then the small carp appear and just take over the place, you catch the odd one beforehand, but they just go crazy. It then becomes a battle of wills to keep on going through this carp, until you bag a lump.

There are also considerable amounts of out of bounds areas – mostly the West Bank. It is also pretty much unusable by casting, so there is a 2-acre area that you can’t get a bite into.

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All this adds up to an incredibly challenging water, which I’m utterly obsessed with. It contains some huge carp, yet to be captured and my adventure will continue for a few more years I’m sure. Normally, I’m only on a water for about 5 years before it’s time to move on as I have caught what I was after. I also get bored of the view and need a change in scenery. I can’t see this happening for some time as the six months on-off routine keeps the enthusiasm going and some years I’ve not even fished a particular area or lake, as I have broken them down to their original 3 lake structure. Even though they are just one giant lake, joined by channels which contain 7 islands, 2 of which you can fish off.

Oddly there is no real angler pressure; mostly due to the other lake, which comes with the ticket. It’s a lot smaller and stocked with a greater number of larger carp and none of the 10 pounders that plague you for most of the season.

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I can’t get enough of this place and can’t wait for another season to kick in this year and maybe one of the monsters that I’ve spotted a few time way out by the island that is completely uncastable even for the boys that can blast them out, one day it will grave my net and it could well be this year.

Until next time

Richard

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Trip 45 Carp Fishing – 2020

Posted on August 31, 2020 by richardhandel

Location – Airfield Lake

Hours Fished – 70 hours

After a fantastic week away camping with the family in Wales, I’m back at it again.

Hopefully, after the ridiculous hot weather over the few days, the thunderstorms we’ve had this afternoon will wake the carp up.

With the water temperature is showing 27.5 degrees on my Deeper Chirp. I was looking for deeper water this trip and after being away for 3 weekends, I wasn’t sure where the fish where going to be. I’d message a couple of fellow members of the syndicate and they’d given me a good bit of information. With this information and my intuition, I was heading for one of the islands you can fish off. Ian (my friend) was joining me this weekend, it had also been sometime since he had fished and was of the same opinion as me.

We couldn’t double up on here, but could fish one swim apart. We could bait up a large deep area of the lake, which hopefully would hold a few carp and also could be their favoured area to feed in. As there had been thunderstorms forecast, but this was had been like that for the past few days and we were still waiting. But if we were lucky, it would hopefully bring on the carp’s feeding spell, there was a drop in temperature forecast for Friday, fingers crossed.

The swim I picked was an overgrown one, it clearly hadn’t been fished this year. It was the first swim that I ever fished when I joined 5 year’s ago. It was one up from the swim I fished on my last session here. I also needed to map this part of the lake, as there is a chunk missing from my Lakebook page. This would give me greater insight into the lake and this particular area.

I got the bivvy up first as for once (this week), the weather man may be right! Sure enough, as I was using my Deeper, the first rattle off thunder was heard in the distance. I wasn’t going to get to excited as the same thing happened last night at home and that was all. However, soon after, the rain started. It was lovely and cooling. I carried on, baited up with 12mm Catalyst boilies and Maize. My bivvy was a tip, as I had just stuffed the the rest off the kit in there. As the rain got heavier, I tucked myself inside and sorted it out. I popped over to Ian’s swim and had a glass or two of Guinness, after the thunder went away, I went back and got the rods out.

I was using the same tactics as the last time; solid pva bags with Catalyst pellets soaked in the food dip and a Classic Corn wafter on one rod, a 15mm Catalyst wafter with a 12mm PPS pop up on the other. Both cast no more than 20 foot apart, into the bait area.

Morning arrived, it was so much cooler after the rain in the night. I only had 1 bleep, so I was surprised how badly I slept – it must have been excitement for being back on the bank and the anticipation of a bite!

I will spend a bit more time today with the Deeper, as I didn’t fancy it yesterday. There where clearly fish about, I believe Ian had something last night as I heard him casting back out at around 3 am. The fellow down from me was playing a carp at first light this morning, which is all good news that I’m not to far away, just need to fine tune my spots.

Just before 10 am, the left hand rod was away and I was into my first carp of the session and wading out into the open water to convince the carp not to head to far down the left hand margin and make contact with the overhanging trees. It all went well and the carp was soon in the net and I was very pleased.

15lb 8oz Common

The perfect start, it was getting closer to 11 am and this was the time I had decided that I would get the Deeper out and investigate more. I left the other rod out and would recast the other one after I had played about – no point in disturbing carp if they’re out there feeding.

I reeled both rods in just after 11.30 and got the Deeper out. I spent 30 minutes checking about and filling in some gaps on my Lakebook page.

There was no real point in changing the rods from the spots they’re in.

I’ve pretty much covered this area.

The swim was then topped up with more 12mm Catalyst boilies and particles. It was then back to Ian’s swim for a chat and a brew. After an hour, I headed back to chuck out a couple of bags. Just before 1830, the right hand rod rattled off with a very upset carp off towards the island. I tried to slow it down but nope, it was still going. I felt the line grating on a boulder and tried my best to get the rod up higher, as I was in the water by now, I just had to hold on. The fish boiled on the surface and the line came free, it was now heading right and towards me. I needed to reel quickly and gain line, it was clearly off to my right and making for any escape possible. I was pumping hard to avoid them, my rod tip was well under the water and the tips of the trees where bouncing about. I held on and I gained ground, finally the fish was in my margins. It was certainly not over, it made a couple of belting runs for the trees, eventually it was in the Nsr50 and I could breathe again.

16lb 1oz Common

You wouldn’t think these fish could fight so hard, but they certainly do give an absolutely brilliant fight.

With another bag out on the spot, I felt it was time for a brew.

Have had a bit of a disaster today. I had a belter of a take at 0015 and pulled into thin air. And just now (which is 0450), I had a mega drop back that ran towards the trees to my left, by the time I got the line tight, it lunged and snapped my line or clipped the tree and cut me off. I hadn’t even had the chance to get into the water. This could’ve helped – you never know.

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With a new rig and bag sorted, I was soon back on the spot. Dawn was arriving and the Nightjars on the heath by the lake were starting up.

My next take (and finally another carp on the bank), happened just after 0700 and just because it was light, it was all very straight forward.

10 lb – Common

It’s always a relief to get one in the net after having things go wrong (size doesn’t matter so much). With another bag out there, it was time for the first brew of the day.

Just after 1400, I rebaited and did the rods for the night. I was hoping for an early evening bite, but it didn’t happen, so I’m now hoping for better results tonight.

I had to wait a long time before the next take. It finally happened just before 0200 Sunday morning. I’m glad I’ve had a few takes and I’m starting to understand their patterns of where they like to run towards certainly snaggy areas.

13lb 9oz Common

Not 100% sure how I would get on with a bigger carp in this particular swim, but hopefully I will discover this sooner rather than later! I’m glad of the practice and have got the ability to understand more about the swim before I catch a lump.

Another bag was put out and it was time to get my head down.

There was no more action to be had overnight, which was quite a surprise. The carp were very active. However, as noise travels at night more (and it was pitch black), i’m not 100% sure where the carp were. They could easily have been off the island, we will never know.

The rods are there

It was getting closer to pack-up time, but there is always a chance and we never gave up or stop hoping.

I’m very pleased with my success and being my first trip back on the lake, this could so easily have been a blank. As the carp are pretty nomadic and just have so much water to get away from the anglers, those lumps will have to wait another week.

Until next time

Richard

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Hemp oil is a bait bag essential!

Posted on August 28, 2020 by richardhandel

Hemp oil is a bait bag essential!
We have two versions, including our chilli hemp oil which is made with our own blend of chillis, added whilst the oil is gently heated. Once cooled, it is glass bottled with dried whole chillies and left for a month where it is regularly turned and kept in the dark to protect the oil before decanting ready for use.

We then micro-sieve the oil into our own jars and include a fresh dried birds eye chilli in every 250ml jar and more for the larger measures.