anti carp angling rules the carp has introduced

August sunshine still shone down on the lake with not a breath of wind. The majority of the lakes population of carp hung about sunbathing, their backs glistening in the sunlight, teasing me as they pushed their shoulders out now and again. The obvious thing to do was try to get them to take off the top but having spoken to the only guy present about his fruitless efforts to do just that throughout the day I was not hopeful. So, to hedge the bets, I baited up the margin spot from where I had taken the 30lb common a couple of weeks before. From an adjacent real swim I started to thrash the water to a foam with my efforts to put a mixer in the path of the carp floating around on top. After an hour or two of this I wound in and walked up to a small bay that was very weedy. The easterly breeze over the previous few days had deposited a wide margin of surface scum against the weed and there, just visible below it, was the wide back of a mirror carp. I quickly climbed a tree above the area and sure enough there on the carps back was the telltale dropscale, it was my target carp.Ever so gently I climbed back down the tree and quietly dropped a couple of handfulls of trout pellets and broken boilies onto a gravel shelf only five yards from the carp. Creeping away on all fours I scampered off round the lake to get my gear. Back at the main swim next to the bay I sorted myself out so I was ready and crept back to the gap above the gravel shelf. As I peered in, a mirror carp scooted across the gravel back into the weed. She had got the idea nicely so without another thought I lowered a baited rig onto the gravel and led the line back through the bankside vegetation ands set the rod up on a buzzer well back. Over the next couple of hours my target mirror fed in brief spells over the gravel, sometimes so close to the bank I could have pushed the landing net in and scooped her out, a very tempting idea. On one brief moment of excitement the buzzer gave a single bleep as the carp’s tail flicked the limp line leading straight down in to the water leading to the three feet of leadcore lying flat on the gravel, she must have been feeding right over the rig. As the sun went behind the trees she was still there, not all the time, but she would take long sweeping swims round the bay and out into the lake before once again approaching the gravel from the protection of a large snaggy overhanging tree. As darkness fell, I moved the rod round into the main swim and flicked the rig to the front of the overhanging tree – to land a carp from the tiny gap at night would have been impossible with the close proximity of the weed and snags. The deeper water in front of the tree was a better place for night anyway. The other rod I flicked out to a gravel patch right next to a large set of pads and heavy pondweed. As the last bit of daylight disappeared, bubbles rose over the baited area in front of the tree, the buzzer gave two bleeps and the rod tip, just still visible, nudged round and fell back. Was that my chance, was that all the indication I was going to get as she picked up the bait, shook her head and spat it out? The answer it seemed was ‘yes’, as the night passed cool and autumnal with a clear sky and heavy dew. Dawn revealed the turning, twisting columns of mist rising from the lake’s surface. The easterly sky turned pink then red, like the ghosts of carp anglers past, as frustrated as I felt. As the light became clearer I looked on to the gravel, all the bait had gone, she had cleared me out, I waited longer than I should have before reluctantly winding in, the rig was fine, the boilie still smelling sweet, another round won by my obsession. Slowly I packed away and drove out the gate, September would be here the next day, surely she would fall during that most fantastic of carp fishing months. This is my last year on the lake and I am actively looking for waters to move onto next. I try to join just one water at a time to stop me being sidetracked away from complete and utter concentration on one water at a time. I do though divide the season into spring, summer/autumn and winter. This often means three different waters. I have found a water for spring next year, it is a difficult water but it has just produced an uncaught 32lb plus mirror and, walking round it, I have seen some lovely looking mid 20lb heavily scaled mirrors and fully scaled mirrors, so that looks good. To make things better itís within ten minutes drive from work so my midweek overnighters will be ideal. Summer fishing on there though is difficult and unpractical, so on 16th June Iíll be off to another water. This too has just produced an uncaught 30lb mirror, a lovely deep dark fish. There are also two uncaught 30lb commons in there that I was feeding mixers to, earlier in August. It is an extremely weedy water so chest waters and a sneaky boat will be essential to land hooked carp. The whole fishing will in fact have to be a bit sneaky to avoid the silly rules – anti carp angling rules the carp has introduced – but I have some aces up my sleeve so I look forward to it. Winter however, I still have to think about. Winter on the first water is not on, no winter carp have ever been hooked in anyoneís memory and the second water requires a long walk from the car, so it is not practical for winter and the short sessions I do. That though, is winter 2001/02 so I have a while to think about it. In the meantime I have seven months on the current water to land my obsession and say farewell to a great little water.

Have fun!