Carp were in evidence as soon as I turned up

Carp were in evidence as soon as I turned up. A stockie mirror leapt out of the water just as I arrived. I wasted no time getting the baits back out to the two same spots and as evening drew on I was very confident. The bait near the island was in an especially good spot and I knew this rod would produce as it got dark. I was not disappointed; a short take resulted in a nice fish being hooked. It did not feel too big so I presumed it was a small carp but instead it was a tench weighing just over 6lb – a little disappointed I quickly recast a stringer in to the channel between the islands.The rest of the evening was quiet and the skies cleared to show a myriad of stars. I was awoken from a shallow sleep just after 1am when the channel rod was off again. Definitely a carp this time! I steered it away from the various snags and after a good fight under the rod tip I netted a nice half linear mirror carp of just over 11lb. These mirrors were the first batch of stock fish that were put in and are much faster growing than the commons that were put in a year later, the commons in fact are a bit of a nuisance.I managed to get the bait back in position easily using the marker and line clip on the reel. I had only just dropped off again when the rod was off again, just a few bleeps but I struck to find the fish had come back towards me. It kited to the right and I had to gain line quickly to avoid the fish getting in the branches of a tree. Twice it found weed beds and all went solid, the next time it went solid it was near to my bank but I could not feel where. As I increased pressure the hook pulled and the rig flew in to the reeds to my left. A bow wave pushed out across the water in front of me.Cursing a bit of bad luck I again got the rig in the right place. This time it was an eel of around 3lb that turned up at dawn, followed by a small male tench an hour later. Then I had to pack up, my chance of a good carp had gone this time.Three days later I was back and the wind had changed causing great rafts of floating duckweed and blanket weed to move out from the shallows to my left across in front of the swim. It took me an hour to clear it using a spod on a spare rod; even then I had to spasmodically clear loose bits during the evening. During my absence someone else had fished the swim, had cast into the tree on the island and had pulled for a break, causing line to trail from the tree across the channel. This meant I could not get a bait close in to the island over the gravel spot so had to cast further out. Blanket weed also had gathered on the loose line that drifted across the channel occasionally. I should have changed swim then but I felt confident.Again the evening looked good for a chance but just on dusk I had a take on both rods, both turned out to be 5lb bream, again the magic hour had been spoilt. Just after midnight then the rod in a clear area in the weed tore off and after a good fight I netted one of the stockie common carp of 9lb 8oz. A nice looking fish but one of the lakes big commons would have been better.Getting this bait back in position was not easy, nor was getting the channel rod back out, the common had unfortunately gone over it. Another 6lb tench turned up at dawn but unfortunately no more carp. The dawn was misty and golden in the rising sun as I packed away and made the long walk back to the car. I had a look in the catch book and found that the angler who had fished the swim the night before had caught a 7lb tench and a stockie common. It was time for a change of swim again, especially as the weather forecast was for a return to hot sunny weather.With August just around the corner the summer is moving on and I feel I am not getting my fair share of the bigger carp in the lake, this will have to change!

Have fun!