Oh well, time to get the thermals out again. Have fun!

After a walk round, climbing a few small trees on the way, I saw nothing to inspire me so I plumped for the area of open water again. The days are much longer now so it is a luxury to be able to take my time getting the casts spot on before darkness descends. After finding a clear spot by casting a rig out and waiting for the thud through the rod as the lead hits bottom, I clipped up the line. The PVA bag was filled with pellets and crushed boilies and, after a quick change of mind to put a bottom bait on rather than a pop-up, the cast was made. Again the thud was felt and moments later a burst of bubbles showed on the surface as the PVA bag dissolved on the bottom spreading its contents out for the carp to find. A couple of catapult pouchfulls of pellets were fired out before the bubbles disappeared and one rod was set. I repeated this with the other rod cast only 20 yards to the left of the first. Geoff turned up on his daily walk just as I was leading around with the second rod; he was off down the river Itchen the next day after grayling. We remarked that the conditions looked good for carp and grayling. After he left I cast the rod out, put the rod in the rest and was firing out the pellets when I had a short run on the first rod. The line was slack again when I looked at it but as I watched it began to tighten, just like a pike run. Without another thought I swept the rod back and connected with a solid weight. Certainly a carp this time, not a tench as in the last session, so I took my time as it thudded around in the deeper water. As usual in this swim it was a case of judging where the carp was to bring it up over the steep side of the close in bar. I mis-judged it a bit and momentarily the carp got stuck on the far side. With no sign of the leadcore leader showing above water I briefly worried about the line being cut on the sharp gravel. However soon the carp was over the bar in the weedy margins and I saw my first glimpse of a yellow belly as it twisted around trying to rid itself of the hook. It was not going anywhere though and soon a fat black mirror rolled into the net. Dusk was approaching so I quickly took the hook out that was well embedded in its bottom lip. The carps fins were covered in blood sucking creatures, it even had some in its mouth and also a couple attached to its eyes. I took them all off and put it on the scales, 26lb 5oz of fantastic winter carp, what a touch. It behaved perfectly for the camera before I admired it and then put it back, watching it waddle off. I managed to recast before it got too dark and set up for the night. The sky cleared and it got quite cold but things still looked good. Twice during the evening I had bouts of line bites with the line lifting and falling in the water as fish of some sort moved back and forth along the close-in bar. I struck at one vicious liner but not surprisingly I connected with nothing. Cloud spread across in the middle of the night and the temperatures recovered, it even rained for a while. Sometime in the early hours a carp rolled heavily three times over the baits. The first definite carp I had seen roll since November, it was beginning to go off, the carp were waking up. Despite this I had no further action and the skies cleared again to reveal a cold clear dawn as I packed up, a broad smile on my face looking forward to some mushrooms for breakfast, it had been a while since the last ones. I have a feeling though there will be more before the season ends. However this being England the weather could not keep it up for long and that was the last bit of mild weather of the week. The following day temperatures had fallen several degrees with a cold northerly feel to the wind. On a short session the lake was dead again, the result was predictable….zilch! On my return home the weather forecast did not cheer me up much. Snow in the north and dry cold weather in the south. The builder working on my house would at least be able to carry on working without moaning about the rain but overnight frosts forecast for the weekend and first part of the week could well mean a return to the water going stiff. I hate winter!I went to the February committee meeting of Walton Angling Society and it was a shock to be discussing the AGM and tasks for the close season work parties, time flies, it will soon be summer again! The carp at Painshill have really grown in the last couple of years, one of the chaps showed me some photos of his seasons captures, many of which were the right side of 27lb, including a couple of commons. I recognised several of the fish as carp I had caught at high doubles or low 20s only 3 or 4 years ago. The stockies too have grown in just two years from 4lb to 12lb in some cases. The lake is going to contain several 30s very soon without a doubt.As a gesture for the Millennium the club are dropping the joining fee for new members this year which in effect halves the price of joining to £70. That included the cost of keys so it’s just £55 for future seasons. If you live in the area and fancy getting into an up and coming big carp water then now is the time to do it. All the carp are in perfect condition and are really nice looking fish, there are even bream and tench to 7lb and even 20lb plus pike in the lake as a bonus. The club also has a smaller carp water near Woking, a lake stocked with tench/crucians/roach/rudd etc for general fishing and also a mile and a half of the river Mole, what more could you want. If you fancy the idea then drop the website an Email and Geoff will forward it on to me and I will send you details.

Oh well, time to get the thermals out again. Have fun!