Swallow Lake is the fishery's small carp lake. The majority range from 2 ounces to about a pound however I have been told that there are a few larger ones in there. I armed myself with a variety of baits including maggots, corn, meat and for the first time small hook able halibut pellets.
I arrived at the fishery a tad before 7 am to find the barrier up which is most unusual. Someone must already be there I thought. Anyway I made my way to the top car park and found the other angler, he was on Admiral after it's massive carp.
I had a quick look round the lake and selected my swim for the day. I intended to fish at the edge of the reed bed about midway between the bank and the island.
I was set up and ready by 7:45. I'd fed the swim with 2 large balls of ground bait consisting of brown crumb, corn, hemp, maggots, meat and some halibut pellets. As hook bait I started off with a single red maggot.
I didn't have to wait long for the first bite. As expected it was a small carp. I fed some more corn and re-cast. Down the float went again and in came another small carp. The pattern was repeated again and again for the first hour. I took 5 carp and 4 gudgeon.
At the end of each hour I fed the swim with another large ball of ground bait.
I changed hook bait to corn for the next hour having decided that I could be plagued by gudgeon if I stayed on maggot. Eight carp were taken in that 60 minute period.
The next hour went exactly as the previous one except that I got one more carp. That one extra carp proved to be the best of the day. It was maybe 2.5 lb.
Over the next sixty minutes another 9 greedy carp making the virtual net.
I was still feeding 3 or 4 pieces of corn per cast and this seemed to be working well. As the afternoon started the sun was directly above my head and I began to lose the protection of the shade given by the nearby trees. I was expecting a hot afternoon.
For the first hour of the lunch period I changed bait to hook able halibut pellets. I'd never used them before so this was something of a confidence booster. It seemed to work as I caught a further 8 carp.
For the second hour of the lunch period I alternated between the pellets and some small cubes of meat. Again this proved a success as I netted another 10 carp.
For the next hour I alternated between all four hook baits. The fish kept coming, 8 carp and 2 gudgeon.
I kept alternating the hook bait and kept catching fish. By 15:45 I'd added another 7 carp and 2 gudgeon to the total.
Up to this point my running total was 71 fish. Could I do the magic ton in the 2 hours and 15 minutes I had left before my planned finishing time of 6 pm?
I decided to go all out and use just meat as the bait. I also shallowed the rig up. With this change of method I caught fish after fish. I did lose a few but the total kept rising.
By 6 pm I was 5 short of my target. There was no way I was going to pack up so close to the ton. I had by now run out of meat so for the final moments I went back to the corn.
The change paid off as at 18.08 I landed my 100th fish.
I packed away my gear a happy and contented man. I know the fish weren't massive but I had kept them there all day. The only downside was that I hadn't tempted one of the bigger ones out. Maybe next time.
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