More of the same please

April 13th

So days of work had past allowing me to prepare more hemp and get ready for another repeat performance in my chosen swim (hopefully). Work finished and I was changed and on my way to the lake at speed, hoping no-one had dropped in my swim since my lunchtime recon trip.

On arrival the swim was free and it didn't look like anyone had been there the night before, so hopefully the swim would have benefitted from a nights rest! As there is a large open area behind the swim I was able to walk all my rods out to the range markers to ensure I was dropping back on the same spots with my chosen Chod rigs. 15 spods or should I say Spomb's of hemp and boilie to each spot and I was ready to set up the Brolly and wait for the action.

Unlike Monday night I had to wait quite a while longer for my Delkim to sound, but at 21:30hrs I had the unmistakable 'bream bite' with my bobbin flying up and down, whilst the fish was unable to take line from the baitrunner. Not an ideal start to the session, but at around 7lb not a bad bream either.

The next time I was running for my rods was at 22:50hrs the middle rod over my baited patch had given me the beloved single tone run, however the fish wasn't putting up much of a fight - until it got in close, I think it must have shaken some silk weed off its head because he started to strip a lot of line from my clutch, and the fish had me thinking I was hooked into one of the larger residents of the lake. Eventually the marginal charges got weaker and I netted a beautiful long common weighing 19lb 7oz. The tactic was working and after a quick smoke I was drifting back to sleep well chuffed with how the week's fishing was developing.

02:05hrs and I'm squatting on the end of the platform, rod in hand with a fish that is kiting fast to my left into an area of thicker Canadian type weed. There was nothing I could do to stop it and I soon had that sinking feeling of solid resistance in weed. I kept the pressure steady for a few minutes but I couldn't feel any tell tale kicks on the line. I decided to pull a bit harder and gradually the weed was moving towards me. I edged the mass towards my platform and in the light of my head torch it seemed I was towing in an entire weed bed. Somehow I managed to get my net under it all! Once I'd dropped my rod the search began, but sadly in the mass all I could find was my dis-guarded hook and bait.

The rod was recast and just as I was getting back into my bag the other rod on my open water spot screamed off. This time it felt like a good fish from the start, staying deep and taking long steady runs from my clutch. Thankfully its attempts kites into the heavy weed failed and I was photographing my first 20lb carp if the year at 21lb 4oz, this common had me smiling from ear to ear. Sadly the self take photos were not amazing; I won't forget that carp in a while. I retired to my bag feeling victorious; I was one step closer to my season’s aims.

I would have happily slept through to my work alarm and worked all day with a big smile on my face, but the carp had other plans. 03:50hrs and I'm on the end of the platform in my socks playing another fish hard trying to keep it out of the many weed beds. It's still pitch black, but as I slide the net under the fish I realise I'd landed a mirror at last, and it looked bigger than the previous fish! At 22lb 12oz it was my biggest carp of my new campaign, and a very pretty sparsely scaled fish too.

Needless to say my next day at work was pretty painful and involved lots of Redbull, but after banking two 20's and a 19 in one night I really couldn't complain!

It may be shallow, but its still hard work

The first few sessions I had in late February and early March on my new ticket were largely unsuccessful, in the previous year the weed had grown to the surface across most of the lake, and although you couldn't see it anymore after a very harsh winter - it was still there, and there didn’t really seem to be too many noticeable holes or gravelly areas to target.

In all honesty I really didn't fish to the best of my abilities in the time I spent there, and I think I applied far too much bait, which in turn attracted the bream - in fact it became a running joke with a friend that I was a bream fisherman!

The fish that were coming out at this time were very few and far between and were coming to lightly boilie baited areas with single pop-ups, quite often flouro's. In retrospect my particle approach really wasn't the way; especially as it was not something I had tried and tested the previous year.

The other thing that the people braving the conditions seemed to be using was the 'Chod rig' this was really something new to me - although I was aware of helicopter rigs, 'Choddies' didn't exist to my knowledge the last time I was into carp fishing. In my mind I didn't like the thought of not being directly attached to a fish, and the angle that the rig/lead creates was an issue to me.

One thing that I was doing properly in my mind was putting in the time. I think I managed to get at least 10-15 nights on that pit before the end of March, and I had an idea of where the fish were coming out, what times of day were best for a bite, and what the few regulars that were brave enough to fish in the cold were doing. I even managed to catch a Pike at the end of one blank session!

Another thing that was working to my benefit was a side effect of my particle approach and 'bream fishing' I would often return to my old swims and find that the areas I'd been fishing were now hard or silty bottoms, but more importantly weed free! This would turn out to be an important discovery and combined with another revelation and some better weather would play a part in kick starting my season.