A carp or two did move near but I did not see any feeding

When I turned up I was pleased to see a much quieter affair, hopefully the early season pressure was dying down and I could get into some real fishing, the fact that England were playing some silly football game that night probably helped. After a quick look round the lake I found a few carp in the shallows milling round. I tossed out a few mixers into the snaggy corner and not surprisingly a few were taken, albeit cautiously. I moved a few yards up to the nearest swim and repeated the action into more open water, not a single one was taken, no surprises there then. Further round the lake, after putting in a bit of bait in some likely spots, I found some carp milling around the islands so I dropped some bait and some gear in the nearest swim. After another hour walking around I still had found nothing better so returned to that swim. I lowered a bait onto a gravel shelf through a gap in some bushes and set the rod well back and settled back for the evening. The plan was to fish there until dusk and then move to the proper swim for the night. A carp or two did move near but I did not see any feeding. In the early evening I heard the gate bang open and shut, another car entering. I quickly wound in and went to the proper swim to set up there. I wanted to keep this little gap under wraps for a while yet; it was too good to share.I cast a PVA bag full of trout pellets and crushed boilies out to a gap between the islands just beyond a small set of pads and the other rod I lobbed up a small channel to my right. Just as this rod was cast the other angler turned up. Despite his plea of ignorance I knew he was a good angler and needed no help from me (despite his thousands of questions!) so I gave him a few bum steers and off he went. The evening passed pleasant enough, the sun shone and lying on the bedchair next to the rods I fell asleep around dusk, there was no need for a brolly or bivvy tonight. A nearly full moon shone brightly but around 11pm cloud cover arrived making the night very muggy. Just after midnight a screaming buzzer woke me as a carp tried to escape with the bait chucked up the channel. I hung on tight as the carp powered away near to danger but I soon had it in the margins. The weed was bad and a couple of times I had to haul it out of the thick margin weed before I finally netted a big carp and a ton of weed. I was unsure the carp was in fact still on when I netted it, as the weed around it had stopped it fighting a couple of minutes before. However, as I sunk my hand through the weed I felt that lovely smooth skin of a mirror. Quickly sorting the mess out I swung the carp on to the mat, a big fat mirror. On the scales it was smaller than I thought but at 25lb 5oz, I was not complaining. A few self-timer flash photos and it was soon powering off out into the lake. After I had recast and settled back I realised that it was the first carp I had caught at night in summer for nearly two years, such was the amount of daytime stalking I do these days. That made the capture extra special. The rest of the night was quiet except for the other anglersí buzzer sounding some time before dawn resulting in a nice leather for him. Light comes far too early in June and I was hiding under the blankets trying to get a bit more sleep before I had to leave for work when at 5am the rod cast to the islands tore off. I was on it in a second and a nice swirl showed by the pads, I hung on as the rod thudded away. The carp quickly saw my side of the argument and was fighting hard out in front of me. It was easier in daylight to see the weed and I guided it from one patch to another. The carp was only small and before long a double figure common rolled into the net. It was in fact the well known smallest carp in the lake, a fit long nice looking common of 13lb. I quickly returned it, wound in the other rod and made tracks, well pleased with a brace of carp, better than watching England play football that was for sure! A couple of days later I was back, pleased to hear from an angler just leaving that nothing had been caught the night before. I walked round three or four times and found several carp in the little gap again and some carp moving around the entrance of a bay. One of these carp was showing interest in a little gravel patch at the bottom of the extreme margin shelf. As it swam under a set of pads I threw out some trout pellets however just as they were an inch from the water the carp swam back out of the pads and the pellets landed right on its head, bye bye carp. I then made an error of judgement, I presumed all the carp would be spooked by this and did not climb the tree to have a look. Instead I went back up to the gap again. The carp were again not feeding right on the gravel but were further out. The gravel itself was covered by floating weed which hid the shelf and carp from prying eyes so I decided not to disturb it but to cast adjacent to the spot from the next swim up. So without delay I was round there, and a PVA bag was soon on the spot. I also used the same tactic fishing out to the spot I had the small common from last session. Before long, another angler I knew turned up and went round the lake climbing every tree possible. I knew what was going to happen. As he climbed the tree over the spot at the entrance to the channel. I saw him climb down and quickly go and get his gear. He said he had seen half a dozen carp deep down near the pads. I cursed to myself and knew what was coming next, in fact it took just an hour before I was photographing a nice 24lb 3oz mirror for him. The rest of the evening was quiet, though carp kept showing near to both my rods as the warm wind continued to blow. It was not until 2am that I was woken by a screamer from the rod by the islands. I leapt off the bedchair and bent into the carp. Fortunately the carp, that felt quite big, just thudded around and avoided every weed bed. This time, I kept the pressure on close in, to avoid it getting its head in the weed and soon I netted a big fish. On the mat I was presented with a large expanse of common scales and as I ran up hand over its back, I found the set of irregular scales. I gave out a shriek of delight; one of my three remaining target fish I had yet to catch from the lake was there in front of me! I quickly got it on the scales and read 27lb 4oz, a result or what. As dawn was only a couple of hours away I sacked the carp up in a deep swim and sorted myself out.Before long I was kneeling down holding a big beautiful common carp up for the camera, as I watched it swim away I wondered when it would be caught gain, once a season? That was its average. As I packed everything away in the car a grin from ear to ear spread across my face, an ambition achieved, yeeeesssss!

Have fun!