With the winter as it was I had completely pushed aside the carping and decided I would wait until I thought there was a realistic chance of actually getting a bite. It really didn’t seem like that time was ever going to arrive and come the 4th of April I decided that I would get the gear together and get out regardless.
With the car loaded I headed off to the lake with full intentions of getting the rods out and just watching for a few nights to see if I could pick up on any signs of life that may be stirring. I only managed to walk about 100 yds from the car before bumping into a familiar face and stopping for a chat. As we sat drinking tea a cutting North Easterly wind hacked across the lake and snow came down hard. With similar conditions forecast for the rest of the weekend I was once again postponing the start of my “spring” campaign.
We had to wait another two weeks until the wind finally took a turn in direction and with its now southerly origin, it brought the temperature increase we had all been longing for.
At the beginning of the trip the steady warm push of the Southwest wind leant itself nicely to an area of the lake on the back of it fishing long out towards the central area again. With the fish only just beginning to stir I felt this was almost certainly the area they would still be held up in. After a couple of eventless nights the sun put in its first real appearance of the year.
Only an hour or so after first light the carp could be seen at range taking full advantage of this drastic change. There was not a breath of wind in the air and the glistening backs could be made out snaking their way slowly around the centre.
The water infront of me was deep but to my right was a shallow bay that the carp absolutely love to get in when its warm. From there behaviour it looked like there was a very good chance of a few making their way over by the afternoon so I set about finding a couple of likely looking spots close in while there was none about. I wound in the long rangers and dropped two rigs, both baited with Northern Specials, on the close in marks.
I then scattered a couple of handfuls of XXX over each to finish the traps off. Its always nice when a plan goes how you want it to and as the hours went by a couple of fish could be seen in the shallow area to the right. By mid day there must have been 20 or so fish in the area and it was looking like I might be in with a chance. At 3pm one of the rods was away and I was finally doing battle with an angry carp.
A short scrap later I was holding a very clean looking 30 pounder up for the camera. With fish still evident I quickly got the rod back on the spot and gingerly flicked a few more XXX back onto the spot and settled down again. Only an hour later and I was slipping the net under another carp, this time slightly smaller at 28. The area had already produced better than I had expected but with a few hours of daylight left and fish still about I got the rod back out and re-baited. Like busses, an hour later again and the rod was flying!
Another spirited fight followed but this time it did feel a little more slow and weighty. As I guided the mirror in I could tell it was a good fish and soon I was looking down at one of the lakes gems. It was a fish known as flower, because of the cluster of scales on her back, and settled the needle on a weight of 39.8. That was the last of the action for the day and with the weather change the following day the last of the trip also.
The next session the weather was forecast to be fairly similar. I got down to the lake to find the busy so set about a wander round. I stood on the south bank for a short while before it became apparent that a good number of fish were present. Being sunny, this area on the back of the wind was lovely and warm and it was obvious why they were there. Being generally deeper water this area of the lake was seeing the least attention from the anglers also, so it was nice and easy to drop onto them. I chose to take the swim with the shallowest water on offer hoping that this would put me in with the best chance of getting them to feed.
It was quite funny watching all the anglers pushing and shoving to get in on the other banks while I sat back quietly watching and laughing. Because of the extra bit of depth I figured that the best chance of a bite would be in the early hours of the morning when it was a little cooler. For that reason I didn’t bother disturbing the swim at all during the day and just left the carp to feel comfortable where they were. I had a fairly good idea where I was going to be fishing anyway. The evening came round and the rods were done. Same as before, with the Northern Specials fished over a decent spread of XXX put out with the spomb just before dark. I settled back for the evening quietly confident.
When first light came round uneventful I was a touch surprised. The weather had turned in the night, still sunny but the wind had completely swung and was now blowing a strong northerly in my face. As I was beginning to think the fish had vacated the right hander melted away, the culprit a nice little 25lb mirror. After recasting one of the other rods was away with another 25 pounder, a common this time. I couldn’t believe it, they were quite obviously still in the area.
Whilst I sat giving a mate an account of the last hours events the other rod on the bait took off and another fish was on. This time staying deep the fish felt different straight away. Every so often tuning on rod flattening runs I knew there was something special on the end. An arm wrenching battle later I slipped the net under one of my favourite carp of all time. It’s one of the lakes real biguns having topped out at 49lb a couple of years previous and spun my scales round to a satisfying 45.8! made up would be an understatement.
Obviously the captures didn’t go unnoticed the previously quiet area soon became a bombardment of leads and spods, so unsurprisingly the fish moved off and the action dried up. The next few nights passed uneventfully but I managed to get a move in for my last night and get back into a central area where the fish had been showing.
The way the fish responded to the bait before I decided that even though I only had I night I would still go in heavy with it and see if I could encourage a similar result. I mixed maybe 3 kilo of XXX with some hemp and Belachan stick mix and put the lot on one spot with the three rods on it at 150 yds range. Northern Specials again accompanying my trusty pop up rigs.
At first light I received a funny bream like drop back that I was dreading. I wound the slack down and leant in to what I was expecting to be the pathetic nodding of a snotty but instead I awoke I beast that began stripping braid off a tight clutch. When the fish finally tired and I began to regain control I had a feeling I may be attached to another decent fish. As it came over the net cord I saw the healing mark of a lifted scale behind its gill plate and immediately recognised her as Big Scale, another one of the lakes top prizes!
The scales spun round to a healthy 45.6 making it my second 45 pounder of the session, and another one of the targets in the bag!
