After nearly not getting a swim for an afternoon session last week and ending with a 7.5 pound carp I thought I thought that was good enough reason to devote a whole day to the club pond at Boulthurst Farm.
I arrived about 7am accompanied by a light rain. The forecast was for rain all day so I put my waterproof trousers and fleesce on. I carried my tackle through the undergrowth to my swim. I was glad I had got changed as my legs were covered in water!
On the way to the swim and I could see fish moving all over the pond including several good ones near the bank where I was walking and planning to fish. I had the feeling today was going to be a good day.
I set up in the usual way, the only difference being that the pond was a couple on inches deeper thanks to the recent rains. Out went a single piece of corn and I sat back and waited for the action to begin. Here is my swim:
No immediate action, not even any signs of life around the swim. Very strange. I kept up my normal feeding pattern but to no avail. By now the early morning rain had disappated and the sun had broken through. The carp continued to cruise on the top all over the pond.
About 8:30 a father and his 7 year son turned up and set up in the swim next to mine. They had all the modern carp gear including rod pod and buzzers. By the sound of thier conversation the young lad had the left hand rod and the dad the right. They were casting to the far side of the pond, I could tell because the height of the bank meant that I could clearly see where their lines entered the water.
After 30 minutes or so off went one of their buzzers and in came a carp of around 3lb. The father came round for a chat and told me what his tactics were, tutti fruitti boile on 10lb main line fished as close to the far bank as possible. The far bank is inaccessible to anglers. He asked me what the largest fish in the pond was and I told him about 15 pounds.
The rest of the morning session followed the same pattern. I was getting absolutely nothing and for them the buzzer went off every 30 minutes or so although to be fair not all were landed. Around lunchtime the young lad came round to see if I had caught anything yet - I replied no and he said "not to worry" as he had had 3 so far - all good uns!.
I decided to have my lunch around 1pm - feeling confident that by now that it wasn't my day and that the float wouldn't go under while I was eating! After lunch I decided to feed the swim under the tree, as that is where the previous week I'd had some success.
I gave it half an hour before dropping the float in - as I did the young lad and his dad came round again for a chat. As they were standing next to the tree I really didn't expect much action but in mid sentence the dad jumped back as the float went and I struck. After a few minutes into the net came a nice cap of around 2 pound. Off the mark at last - not a blank!
I thought a change of tactics might be in order so I switched to the feeder rod and sent the feeder out for a couple of hours. Nothing, not a sniff of a bite. Yes it was definitely one of those days.
All the time I was using the feeder I kept feeding the swim under the tree. Eventually I took the feeder off and feelined meat under the tree. One carp almost immediately was in the net. I fed bread as well as meat and corn. Some of it floated around the tree. I kept seeing the same carp come to the surface and eat the stuff. I put on a large flake and flicked it out. After a few minutes the tip went round, I struck and in came a 4 ounce roach!
4 o'clock came and my 2 new fishing buddies decided to called it a day - I reckon they must have had 10 carp between them - I was struggling on 2 plus a roach.
Over the next 2 hours I managed to extract one more carp from the bush swim (see below). By now the confidence was low and I started to think about packing up. In went a large handful of meat and some corn. I waited and waited and then the tip flew round and we were off again. A few minutes later, with the fish well and truly beaten I went for the net. The fish took this as a sign to leave so it did but gave me my hook back first!
That was it for me - I called it a day right there and then!
Tight lines.
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