UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

I am back out again and hopefully Spring is on it’s way and we have turned a corner and the warmer weather is here to stay.  I am back on my favourite resevour in my quest to catch a big common carp.  I arrived at 1740, to find only one person on the lake, in the reeds swim.  As I did not fancy the dam end, I opted to fish the middle of the lake which also gave me a good view to spot any carpy signs.

                                      My Swim

Rod -1 was placed just off the boards were I had been baiting on and off over the past months.

                            Right under your feet

Rod -2 was cast out 20 yards to a nice silt patch.  There was no change in the rig set up, just sharpen the hook’s as normal.

                                  Jag Hook Sharpers

I use JAG hook sharpers as you get two for the price of one.  A fine grade one and a harder one.

Oh well, with another blank night its off to work we go.

Richard

Out fishing with my friend for a quick social night on the reservoir,  no real swim selection just set up next door and cast to the far margin down the lake

good night out unfortunately no fish

Richard

My good friend Rob Nunn had invited me to come and fish Holbrook mill pond again, which was great news as I loved this place and wished I had fished it more when I lived here.

                                     MY SWIM

Rob gave me the choice of the swim as I was the guest, which was very nice of him and I opted for the big bay swim as before.

Rod-1 was placed to the right of a fallen tree, in the right hand side of the bay where we had seen fish moving up and down.  My set up is a 1oz pear lead, (as the fish are not happy about leads landing in the water) helicopter style placed in a small PVA bag with some pellet/ground-bait and broken boilies with a single 16mm Gulp Baits Tuna and spice boilie hook bait  This was all placed in Rob’s bait boat with some Chilly hemp/pellet and a mix of 12/16mm T&S boilies.

Rod-2 was placed in the middle, amongst the new growth of the Lilly pads, I must stress that I was using 16lb line and a lead setup that would drop the lead on the take so no harm would come to the carp.  The Lilly growth was not that great and I would not advocate fishing in Lilly pads all year round. This was also sent out in the bait boat with a good mix of the hemp & pellet mix with added boilies.

Rod-3 was put on the edge of the bay with an over hanging tree, in a nice deep hole.  This was also a light lead set up.  As I may need to recast in the night without the aid of the boat, as I did not wish to wake Rob up all the time.  This was all sent out in the boat with the same mix as before.

Once all done, I took note of the horizon markers, placed some tape on the line, all set for the night.

                                VIEW OF THE LAKE

First Day And Night

With the wind still blowing from the east and rain in the night, it was not looking good. I did see a large fish top near one of my rods at first light and later on in the day, but as evening got closer and with that easterly wind still going strong, we still had not had any fish yet.

I re-baited all three rod’s on the same spots, as there was no reason to change them.  The only thing I did different was to grind up all the boilies and pellet/hemp with a Korda bait crusher, that I had found in Rob’s bivvy, great bit of kit, that I will be getting next time I am in a tackle shop.

Second Day and Night

I awoke to the sound of my bite alarm at around 02.00 and I pulled into the fish to feel a small knock and it was gone (at last feeding carp!).  I re-cast the rod, as best as I could, as the take had come from an overhanging bush.  Back to bed, then I woke to a single beep at around 07.00 (time to put the kettle on) and at 07.45, the middle rod bust into life and after a quick battle, the fish was safely in the net, a nice 16lb common.

                                               A NICE COMMON
The morning pasted with no sign of Mr Carp, it was not until 15.30 when I got my next take from the right side of the big over hanging willow tree.

This turned out to be a nice 15lb10oz ghost carp.  Things were starting to look good especially as the wind has change to the south.

Third night and day
The night past with not a take between us, which was very odd.  With no joy by 10.00, I re-baited all rod’s and as I was putting the second rod out, a couple of fish topped behind the tree.  Hopefully this was a good sign. At 16.30, I finally got a take of the right hand side of the tree, only to have a hook pull half way across the lake (great one).

Forth and last night
At 20.00 I had a small common of the right hand side of the tree.  And again at 22.30 I had a 15ib.10oz ghost carp (looked a bit familiar to me!), from under the tree stump on the far margin.  Unfortunately, as I am unable to cast that back out to that spot, due to not wanting to wake Rob up.  I had been baiting another area, it was along the margin by the gap as a back up spot,  which it where I will put this rod out now.

                                             A NICE GHOST CARP
I had set the alarm clock for 06.00 to make the most of the last morning, before it was time to pack up at 09.00 as I had a 4 hour drive back home.  I wanted to spend some time with the family before it was back to work tomorrow.  I was up before the alarm, as I was getting liners on the right and left rods by the tree.  Let’s hope there is time for another fish, that would be nice.

Well it,s 10.00 and with no more fish it’s time to head home to see the family.

that’s all for now

Richard

I have been back out again, and it’s still not  warming up.  The wind has changed to the north and it feels warmer or I’m getting used to it!
I arrived back at the car park, in time to see the two anglers, that were here the other night just leaving after a 2 night blank.  I did not wish to fish over their baits, as the reed swim was taken it was back to the same swim again.  Which had been empty since the night I fished, and as I had put a handful of bait over each spot before I went home and may have a change of a fish.
I set up as before as there was no reason to change anything.

I was woken by yet more bream in the night, and when I woke up in the morning, there was nothing but blue sky and sunshine, no wind and cat ice in the corner of the lake.

It was time to go and with no joy yet again.  I do hope the weather changes soon.  The water temperature had dropped to 3c in the night, not very good for this time of the year and not good for Mr Carp.

Till next time
Richard