It was one of those really humid August mornings as I set off for Boulthurst for hopefully a good carping session on the best swim (if I could get it).
Luck was on my side this day as when I arrived the car park was empty so off I trotted down to the end swim.
The swim has an incoming stream to the left, followed by some bushes and then the dreaded sunken tree. This is followed by a bed of lily pads. My plan was to fish 10 yards or so to the right of the tree so that when(if) I got a take I had some time to stop it before it made the snags.
My setup up today would be my Shimano 2.5lb tc carp rod, Shimano Exige reel with 6lb line, a small 1/4 ounce leger and size 14 hair rig on 5lb line.
The bait was 10ml seafood boillies.
I didn't have to wait very long for the first take - I cast in at 7:15 and by 7:45 the first common of the day was on the bank - a nice 2lb'er.
At 8am I had another take, this was a bigger fish however I lost the battle to keep it out of the snag and lost it when the hooklength broke.
Half an hour later a second 2lb common was in the net - shaping up for a good day me thinks!
I'd been feeding a spot under a tree/bush on the other side of the swim with tutti fruitti boillies with the plan that I woudl swop swims every fish. This paid off at 8:40 when I land a 1.5lb common.
Having caught one on Tutti Fruitti I changed back to seafood and re-cast to my oiginal spot. Straight away the rod tip went round but this time the fish got away, having spat the hook out.
At 9:30 the biggest fish of the day so far (a 4lb common) fell to a tutti fruitti boillie.
Just before 10 the tree came to the rescue of another one. You do need quick reactions to stop them getting there - it's a fine balance on 6lb line to decide how much strain to initially put on the fish.
10 minutes later a seafood boillie accounted for a 3lb common.
At 10:30 I decided to up the hook size to a size 12 and almost immediately landed a 2lb common.
Because the boillies I use are small the roach in the pond like them and so it proved when I caught one on a tutti fruitti!
As is always nearly the case the morning session at Boulthurst is not that great and so the swims went into a 90 minute rest period - It may just be my limited talent though.
After I ate my lunch the action resumed first with a 4lb mirror and then with a 1.5lb mirror in quick sucession.
The lunchtime period ended with a 3lb common on tutti fruitti.
Another 90 minutes of inactivity was broken by a 2lb common with a liking for a seafood boillie. So far neither swim appeared to be the hot one of the day.
15:15 brought another small common and a torrential downpour that lasted until 16:30. Luckily I was able to get the umbrella up and the waterproofs on before any serious soaking was had.
At 4pm I lost my second fish in 6 hours, not bad considering the swim I was fishing.
Five minutes later and I had put that right when I landed a 4lb common.
The rain must have have woken them up somewhat as next cast I had a 3lb mirror.
The rain finally stopped but the feeding fish didn't as in the next hour I had a 2.5lb common, a 3lb common and a 4lb common.
The run of carp was interruputed by a good size roach with a liking for seafood boillies!
Just before 6 I caught my last fish of the day - a small common of about a pound.
I packed up at that point having had a good day in what is a very good but challenging swim.
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