At the crack or dawn the dog decided to get up and play and so, as the fishery opens at 7am, after loading up the car I found I had enough time to watch an episode of Coronation Street before I left.
Even though I drove as slowly as possible I still managed to get to the fishery 10 minutes early. Luckily for me I was let straight in and so I made my way to the car park directly below Swallow Lake.
As no one else was about I took the opportunity to have a good look at the pond before selecting my swim as I'd only ever fished it once before. With the swim selected, I returned to the car for my gear. I didn't need the trolley today as the car park is very close to the water.
Having had a glance at my report from the last time I was here, I discovered that the pond contained a lot of small carp, from 2 ounces to maybe a pound and a half. With this knowledge in mind my set up remained light and unchanged. That is to say, match rod and 4lb main line to a size 18 hook.
I fed the swim with the usual mix of ground bait with a good helping of my proposed hook baits for the day, maggots, corn and meat. I also added about half a pint of hemp. I had some maggots left over from my previous outing which although I had kept them in the fridge had turned to castors. I added some of these as well.
The castors turned out to be floaters but the effect on the swim was obvious as fish after fish came to the surface for a free meal. Buoyed by the sight of this I finished setting up and made my first cast about 7:35. At this stage the weather was chilly with a bright blue sky.
I started on single maggot and straight away I was into a small carp. Although small they do make the rod bend. I fed 3 or 4 maggots every cast. Eight carp and two gudgeon came in the first hour.
For the next hour I switched to corn to see if anything bigger would take an interest. Although I did get one about a 1lb the rest were all in the range stated above. No gudgeon this hour though but I did get 17 carp.
Back on the maggot for the third hour saw a reduction in the number caught but an increase in the number of species. Eight carp, 2 gudgeon and 1 roach. I began to think that I may reach the magic ton of fish (100 I mean not the weight!).
The last hour before lunch saw me switch back to corn, the result 11 more carp. It was about now that I was hit with the first rain shower. Nothing to worry about at this stage though.
The re-introduction of the maggot sparked the gudgeon into life and for a while it was carp then gudgeon however by the end of the hour I had 12 carp and 8 gudgeon.
After lunch I was back on the corn which if nothing else it gave the gudgeon a rest. Ten more carp came into the virtual net.
The showers had now increased in intensity to the point where I had to put the umbrella up. It didn't seem to put the fish off though as 13 carp and 2 gudgeon with a liking for maggot came in.
This carp was my best of the day and came in about 2:15.
It was now that the rain started to come down so hard I couldn't see the far bank. I packed as much stuff away as I could but still lost all my remaining maggots as they managed to crawl out of the bait box. Each time I got up I had to tip accumulated water off my chair before sitting down again. Even the umbrella took flight at one stage forcing me to put it away and sit in just my waterproof jacket and trousers.
My notebook was soaked so I had to resort to keeping count in my head. Also my mobile stopped due to the wet conditions so I had no idea what the time was. I was also fishing into a strong wind which gave me several problems involving tangled line!
Eventually even I had to say enough was enough. The white flag was shown and I decided to pack up. When I got back to the car I discovered it was 5:15. By the time I got home and had a shower I managed to catch the second half of the cup final.
With the 17 carp I caught in the afternoon added to the total in my notebook I had caught 113 fish. My first +100 fish of the season!
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