As this venue tends to be more popular than Nursery Fields, I decided to rise out of my pit at 5 am instead of the usual 5:45. This earlier start meant that I arrived at the fishery at 6:30. My plan worked, I was first there.
I wasn't alone long though, within five minutes another angler arrived. I had a brief pleasant chat with the other member before setting off to my peg.
Last visit I fished the top of the lake, today I was going to do the opposite and fish my favorite peg at the very bottom. I loaded up the trolley and headed off past the new pond (no fishing!) and down to the dam end.
The peg looks fantastic, from the left there is a reed bed that runs across the entire bottom bank. Just the place you would think the carp would live. There is open water in front and to the right. I intended to waggler fish towards the reeds and feeder fish in the open water.
I made my first casts at 7:30. On the waggler rod I started with a single maggot. The action was not instantaneous, the first hour yielded one small roach and a skimmer bream.
I wasn't here for the small ones so for the next hour I switched to corn. Two more bream made the net.
I was still on the corn for the next hour and was rewarded with 2 bream, one of which was 2.5lb. I also had my first carp of the day which went 5lb 15ozs.
By 11:30 the swim had gone quiet producing only one skimmer bream.
Just before lunch I lost a carp of around 6 lb or so when it spate the hook as I was about to net it. My disappointment didn't last long though as a few minutes later the feeder rod's buzzer went off and I was into a good fish. This one belted off up the lake however with the confidence of having 6 lb line on the reel I was able to pressurize it and make it tun back towards me. It didn't come in easy though. It kept going back and forth, trying my patience. I held my nerve and eventually got it in the net. It was by my standards a whopper. I quickly photographed and weighed it and found it was 11 lb 4 ozs. A season's best for me.
By 13:30 after a hearty lunch of cocktail sausages and mini Cornish pasties two more skimmers made the net.
I was still on the corn. My feeding pattern during the day had been 2 big balls of ground bait containing brown crumb, corn. pellets and hemp initially and then one big ball every hour. This tactic paid dividends when the float dipped and all hell broke loose. The fish shot off up the lake, taking yards of my 5 lb line off the reel. With just a 2.5 lb hook length I knew I couldn't bully it. Eventually it stopped and I was able to retrieve some line. It was had work, for every two yards of line retrieved it seemed to take one. I was sweating with a combination of nerves and tiredness. The situation was made worse when I the float re-appeared and I saw the monster. I kept telling myself not to panic as it went back and forth in front of me. I was winning though and after what seemed like an age I finally had it in the net.
I couldn't believe how big it was in the net! I quickly unhooked it and took a photo before I put it in the weighing sling. The scales put it at 14 lb 13 ozs after allowing for the sling. A personal best for me!
I put the carp back into the landing net and then into the water to recover while I went up the bank to find someone who would take a photo of me holding the fish. As you see from the photo below I found someone. A big thank you to them.
Another hour and another carp on the waggler was in the net. This one was a small in comparison, 4 lb 2 ozs.
By 15:30 I'd only added another 2 bream to the total. I was confident however that the day's action was not over.
The last 90 minutes of the day yielded four more fish, 2 bream and 2 carp. The carp weighed 2 lb 13 ozs and 4 lb 4 ozs respectively.
So what a day, a personal best carp of nearly 15 lbs and what was for an hour or so a season's best carp of 11 lb. I can't wait to have another crack at that swim!
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