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Well were do I start? This season for me has been the best I've had in fifteen years of carp fishing! To be honest, if I’d known I’d be writing this piece earlier in the year I’d have kept a more detailed account of my sessions, but as it stands I only have basic info and the rest is all from memory, so please bare with me if I go off track at times! It'll be easier for me if I recall the year session by session, so here goes…
Me and the two guys I fish with (Sean and Martyn) were put onto Scott's bait (www.saebaitdevelopments.co.uk) by a friend of a friend right at the start of the year, Sean had some good results during winter on the Crab & Oyster so we decide that was the bait for our coming season and Sean and I also decided that we would take it over to France with us. On the 17th of April this year we were bound for Dover. I could write a whole piece on France alone so I’ll keep it simple, I was two fish short of being top rod for the week catching 24 carp from 19lb all the way up to a stonking great common of 37lb and ounces. Included in this haul were numerous catfish, one of which weighed in at 72lb+. All this on a water totally dominated by mainline baits!
As for my English fishing this year I have rejoined a club that I dropped out of a few years ago for various reasons that I won't go into. They have a mere in Cheshire that has always had a bit of a hold on me despite the water never being very kind to me in the way of captures. In the past I have fished numerous times and only landed one fish from there so this year I decided to set my stall out and really put some effort into catching some of those elusive carp!
14/06/2009: Armed with a healthy supply of Crab & Oyster I was off for my first session. After waking up from my Saturday night shift I spent most of the day in two minds as to whether or not to do a quick overnighter; first I was going, and then I wasn’t! Then it was me an the missus going, and then we weren’t, and the whole day went pretty much like that. Late evening and that little thought was still there, I just knew for some strange reason I had to get on the bank!! So after seeing an awful weather forecast I jumped up and said "that's it love! I’m going." I loaded the car at 21:20pm and off I went. On pulling into the car park the heavens opened and a weeks worth of rain must have fell in minutes, but nothing could shift that thought, I HAD to get the rods out!!
I got absolutely soaked setting up but the rods were sorted and out in the drink by 23:00pm. I dried myself off got in the bag and drifted off; only being disturbed by a couple of liners through the night. I woke in the morning wondering had it all been worth it? Whilst reeling in the right hand rod for a recast there was a slight twitch on the middle rod then the line pinged from the clip and the spool went into meltdown I wound down and felt solid resistance - it had been worth it after all as the mere has never been very kind to me in the way of captures! After a slow dogged fight I scooped the net around the biggest English mirror I’ve landed for some time. At 27lb exactly I couldn’t have been happier Scotty’s baits doing the biz again cheers m8!!
A random stranger took some half decent shots too, so I was well happy. I was later told by the bailiff it was a fish known as Wrinkles. All in all, well worth the effort. As far as bait and tactics go, it was all done in the way I like to fish most of the time. I stick to the ‘keep it simple’ rule and it has always served me well. Tactics included a long chuck of 110yds into an area where no bankside fishing is allowed but a bait cast over there from the closest swims is always a good bet! A mixture of about 50 x 14 and 18mm baits were then scattered around the area to get the fish grubbing about.
I was still chomping at the bit to get back on the mere the following week just to see if my luck would hold out, so a two night session was planned with Martyn (I was on a 6am till 2pm shift that week which is the only chance I get do a two nighter unless I book holidays). We arrived at the lake Friday evening on the 21/06/2009 the swim I’d caught from the previous week was empty so I was straight in there despatching one bait to the productive spot from the previous week, one right up along side it and the other to an overhanging bush on the corner of the island. I sat back put the kettle on and sat watching the water. Every now and then the back of a carp would break the surface and cruise around over the area but the indicators remained silent. I turned in that night thinking the previous week had just been a stroke of luck and that my drought of fish from this lake was set to continue.
Early the following morning the sun was just breaking over the far tree line and my fears were wiped away in an instant! I’d just put the kettle on for the first brew of the day when my indicator almost smashed the rod and an angry carp tore line from the reel - it had taken off that fast that it must have stripped another twenty yards off the spool before I even got to the rod! The fish seemed crazy during the fight racing round all over the place and I knew then it wasn't a massive fish but it was a fish and maybe the previous week wasn't all luck? On the scales the fish swung the needle round to 14lb and was an immaculate common! Very long and without a mark on it. I was well pleased. A few snaps were taken and back went the fish, the rod was re cast to the spot and I sat back to take it all in… and finally have that brew!
Martin had a screaming run later in the day which proceeded to straighten out his hook, then a little later whilst chatting with Legless Bob (a lovely old chap that rolls around the lake in his wheelchair almost everyday) I had a steady take on the island rod, the swinger pulled up to the rod and just stayed there but my line was moving off to the left were it entered the water, I hit the rod and again felt that heavy resistance that tells you you've hit a good’un the fight was pretty unimpressive until the fish got under the rod tips were it went nuts for about ten minuets! As soon as Martyn slipped the net under the fish and I glanced inside I instantly recognised the fish from the previous week! I’d bagged Wrinkles for the second time in two weeks - only this time I had someone with me that knew what we, as carp anglers, want from our trophy shots! Martyn got me some cracking shots this time round, and so it was one recapture that I didn't mind. I also had another screaming run the following morning that I lost the instant I picked the rod up so who knows what that could have been!
The next session on the mere was another two nighter made possible by the fact that I had attended my uncles funeral on the Friday 03/07/2009. I used to go fishing as kid with my uncle Tommy down the local canal, fishing for anything that would take the bait so no one thought bad of me for leaving the wake to go fishing. I arrived at the lake to find it quite busy, all the pegs in the area of the previous weeks sessions were taken so I had a little mooch about and found loads of fish cruising around in an area of the lake that doesn't get fished that much. I dropped myself in a swim that gave me a good chunk of water to go at and set about getting the rods out. Each of the rods were cast to different groups of showing fish and when I got everything sorted I sat back actually feeling confident of catching for the first time on this lake!
I lost a fish at 9 o'clock that evening and was gutted to lose it due to the hooklink snapping. I then started to panic a little about the other rigs! The test came the following morning when I had a run again at first light which turned out be a 16lb mirror which was christened Tommy for obvious reasons. The self take shots aren't the best but what can you do when you’re on your own. I landed a further three carp that session but they were all small commons that I didn't photograph. What I did do this session that I hadn't done this year was to get the marker rod out when I’d packed up and have a feel about on the bottom, the lake is silty all over with a few clay patches around the islands but what I did notice was that some areas were slightly firmer than others and these seemed to be the productive spots. A mental note was made and off I went home happy again.
The next session was a quick overnighter on the 11/07/2009 me an Martyn arrived in the dark so we didn't have any fish sightings to go off and all the previous productive pegs were taken so we just dropped in pegs nine and ten and chucked the rods out. To be quite honest the session was such a last minute thing that I really don't recall much of what happened other than I landed a 19lb common that looked a little worse for wear due to its spawning exploits.
Another one night session on the 24/07/2009 had me trying something a little different. Up until now I had been fishing boilies only so decided to try putting out some spod mix to see how it affected results, Martyn and Sean joined me for this session and we all put around ten spods out over one of our rods. The day and night passed quietly only being disturbed by the capture of a small roach that was fairly hooked in the middle of the bottom lip on a size 6 hook and an 18mm boilie! The following morning though I had a steady run which turned out to be an old friend in the shape of Tommy at 17lb 4oz so he had definitely been on the feed and I could at last get some decent shots! Martyn also landed an 18lb 8oz mirror, both fish came from the spodded areas so it had worked but obviously hadn't made a big difference so we decided to go back to boilie only.
The following week on the 30/07/2009 and it was rare chance for me to get a three night session and what followed was probably one of my most productive sessions to date....... I arrived at the lake around half past one on a Thursday afternoon to find the lake pretty quiet, Butch and Jeff were in pegs 4 & 5 but the rest of the lake was empty so I had my pick of the swims. I stopped for about an hour and had a brew and a chat with the lads, Jeff had landed 2 fish and Butch had bagged a 26lb mirror so things looked ok as long as I got it right. I had a little look around and after only seeing fish in the out of bounds area I thought about fishing peg 1 and casting as close to them as possible in the hope of a pickup. I headed back to the car park and loaded the barrow just as ‘Big chuck Buckley’ pulled in to the car park and ran in the direction of Peg 1. When I got round, Mr Buckley was stood talking to Jeff and Butch and asked where I was planning on fishing, I told him about the fish I’d seen but that they were beyond my casting range and said that he should drop in there and I would look elsewhere - What a decision that turned out to be! I had a walk round to the end of the lake where I had been putting in most of my time and effort and dropped into a swim that gave me access to plenty of open water. After leading around for an hour I’d found some interesting areas that I felt were good for a bait, Out went the rigs each followed by 50 mixed 14mm and 18mm Crab & Oyster boilies and I sat back to wait and see what unfolded.
The following morning it all kicked off at around 6am, and by 10am I’d landed 4 carp; three mirrors of 18lb 8oz, 21lb 6oz, a stunningly scaled fish at 20lb 14oz, and a common of 12lb (not photographed).The rest of the day passed quietly, as it usually does on this lake. A few more friends turned up on Friday evening and as we sat and chatted conversation turned to the lakes residents, we all said that it would be nice to have the koi in our albums and wondered what weight it would be as none of us had ever seen it on the bank.
18lb 8oz
21lb 6oz
20lb 14oz
We all turned in and by 10 o’clock the following morning I had another 3 fish under my belt, a torpedo shaped 14lb common, a chunky 22lb 2oz mirror and as you probably guessed I banked the koi at 18lb!!!This was turning out to be one of my best ever sessions and I still had a night to go! Another quiet day and night passed and the following morning I had my final carp of the session, a mirror of 22lb exactly, followed by 2 rather large bream. All in all a dream session with a big part of it put down to such quality bait. 8 big carp and 2 bream in three nights!!!!! A fantastic result from this particular lake as there were only 7 other carp landed over the weekend between 11 anglers!
Torpedo Common
22lb 02oz
18lb
22lb
Could things get any better? We shall see in the next part!
Thanks for reading...
Mark Unsworth
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