It was the second session of the week

It was the second session of the week. The first session I had got a result landing a 21lb 12oz common on a single hookbait. If you recall on the next session I fished from the other side of the lake but still put a bait on the spot from where the common had fallen. I dispensed with the single hookbait and went back to the PVA bags full of trout pellets and crushed boilies. The bait landed with a thud on the firm bottom so that one was sorted. The other rod went out to another clear area amongst the weed that I knew from old. Okay that was where I left you last week, except I think I said I left after a clear night with no action, for some reason I forgot the following. Sometime in the early hours a carp rolled heavily in the pads to my right, half hour later another one cleared the water to the right of the pads nearer the bank and in front of a tree. I sat up on the bedchair and considered the situation. I was in two minds what to do, moments later, splosh the carp leapt again, decision made I wound in the rod I had put out amongst the weed. The cast was merely a lob, single hookbait to avoid too much disturbance, it landed perfectly on the spot the carp had shown. Resetting the buzzer I climbed back on to the bedchair and sat looking out across the lake. 20 minutes later the recently recast rod tore off as the carp I had recast to found the fishmeal boilie too much to resist. The fight was hard and spectacular as it charged around trying to get under the tree or in the pads. There was no doubt this was a double figure scamp and sure enough a nice little mirror rolled into the net a few minutes later. On the scales it was a fraction over 15lb, small but extremely welcome. From then on I can safely say the night was clear and quiet. Right now I have amended that little lack of precise detail I can recall last weeks occurrences. The first thing that was different was the weather again, two nights of non-stop rain. The first night was the wettest but the more likely to produce a carp. I settled for the same swim that I had the 15lb mirror from and got the rods out quickly in the falling rain and failing daylight. PVA bags out to the common spot and this time out to the gap between tree and pads. Again the night started quiet but after midnight I was given a display of aerial acrobatics by the carp and they leapt time and time again up my end of the lake. The rain was still battering the top of the Hutchie Oval Shelter when at around the same time as last, a carp once more leapt out over my bait in the little channel between pads and trees. This time it was only five minutes later when the rod powered off again. This carp had a lot more power in it, no double this time. It shot off beyond the tree and in the rain splattered surface I saw it roll the other side of the pads. Fortunately I could see a few strands of weed on the taught line moving off to the left and the carp kited away into open water. Letting it go out into a more sensible position I moved my position further to my left to ensure any new lease of life the carp found did not take it into the pads again. However the best laid plans never work and the carp went to ground out in front of me in the thick Canadian Pondweed. Steady pressure after a few minutes got it moving again and before long it was on the surface just the other side of a close-in bar, only ten yards out. Then for no particular reason that I can see, the hook pulled out! The retrieved rig was minus its lead that was a feature of this rig that I had designed, if a carp snagged in the weed the lead would break away leaving the carp free of the weed and still on the hook. This part had obviously worked when the carp snagged in the weed in front. The pressure though perhaps had been too much for the hookhold and I had lost it at the last surge. Oh well, some I win, a tiny few I lose. Two days later the rain was still hammering it down. I had considered going on a session to St Patricks Stream, a tributary of the Thames at Twyford that Geoff had arranged with RMC Angling who run the stretch. However knowing that the Thames was in flood at Maidenhead near Twyford and my dodgy relationship with RMC Angling, and given I had just had three takes in three sessions at the lake, guess where I was on the next session? I went for the same swim again and the baits went back out to the same spots. The rain was not quite so heavy this night and the wind was stronger blowing across the lake from behind me. All looked good but no carp crashed out at all until at 4:30 am a big carp cleared the water at the mouth to a bay in the far corner of the lake. I had considered this spot several times knowing the carp get in there as winter approaches but they rarely stay around there in the dead of night. Usually it’s good just on dusk and just before dawn. Given my reduced hours of fishing these days it did not seem to be a optimum choice. Perhaps I will have to think again though. So a blank session, perhaps chasing a barbel might have been a better ploy after all? Maybe!

Have fun!