Choose life. Choose a lake. Choose a swim. Choose a bait. Choose a rig. Choose sleepless nights under the stars. Choose the nocturnal music of branches creaking in the wind, leaves whispering, and the eerie night-calls of owls and wildfowl. Choose bright moons shattered in the rippling surface of lakes, and purple skies at sunset perfectly mirrored. Choose silent mist-shrouded pools at dawn. Choose visions of white-flowering waterlilies turning green-gold in the half-light. Choose the flashing bronze flanks of carp, twisting below the surface, on the edge of visibility. Choose a heightened heart-rate. Choose an emotional rollercoaster. Choose the psychological assault-course of planning, watching, locating, preparing, casting and waiting. Choose the endless hours of strung-out anticipation. Choose the rush of striking, hooking, fighting, and landing (or losing) the fish. Choose to walk the tightrope between desperate failure and the adrenaline-inducing, life-enhancing triumphant high of success. Choose life. Choose obsession. Choose Carp Fishing.
"Greg Freestone, Carpspotting 2011"

Monday 26 March 2012

The clocks go forward

Its that time of the year when the nights get shorter and the days start to get warmer, I was looking forward to my 3 nights fishing and couldn't wait to get back down to the lake to see what life this warm weather had brought.

Forecast was looking good with nice warm days around 16 degrees and mild nights around  6 degrees,
Fish must be on the move i thought.
Upon arrival i checked out the small lake to see if anything was on the move, when a big lump crashed out in the bog swim leaving a big ring of ripples on the water. I should of learnt from what i had seen in this lake but i didn't.

I had a chat with a few guys that had been fishing for a few night's, they said its still been hard fishing but one managed to get a 29lb mirror in the morning and had the white tip common out which normally comes in at 25lb the night before.

I was buzzing with excitement as i walked around the big lake with my stuff, Half way round i sore two fish poke their heads out over the spots i was going to fish (happy days i thought) So straight round to the pads i went (This was a bad move i found out three nights later)
Even though i blanked in this swim the last time i was down i thought i would of had a good chance of getting a bite from this swim.
Due to the warm days i set out to do some zig fishing and only having one rod on the bottom, Ive been dieing to try Nash's new zig bugs but they haven't hit the shops yet so i made my own to try.

All i had in my box to try was Two 10mm black monster squid and a artificial red maggot cut in half  with a hint of yellow at the end


Looks ok to me i thought so i started at around 13 foot about 30 - 40 yards out. No joy with that so i went down to around 10 foot for the night. not a beep. My right hand rod which i had placed in the pads was getting liner's late at night but resulted in nothing.
The next day was the same, i was starting to think that all the fish had moved to the other end of the lake as i wasn't getting any bites at all.
My Bottom bait was placed on a little gravelly spot among the weed, but for some reason it was remaining untouched also.

Alsorts were going through my mind but simply, you cannot make a carp feed where it doesn't want to feed,  regardless of how much bait you put in.
They definitely have their preferred areas and i wasn't on them this time.
I have learnt that they like to feed happily on the large silt gullies that run down the near side of the island and feel safe in the open water in front of the folly, this is were i will be heading on my next trip to try and out smart these carp.

The only fish to come out of the lake was caught by a good mate of mine jimmy who had a new PB at 38lb 9oz

Caught on a chod with a white pop up









Sunday 11 March 2012

Up and downs

Ups and downs would seem to be my theme in this introduction. For example, I've just fished my most unforgettable winter's for many years. This weekend's long nightmare came soon after possibly one of my best winter's ever.

Highs and lows, ups and downs, call them what you like, they are a part of carp fishing.
From the elation as the net is lifted to the gut wrenching feeling as the line goes suddenly slack.
My First visit early march was defiantly a low, 3 nights fishing and resulted in a blank.
I thought to my self "why has it all gone wrong?" Last trip the bait worked, The rig worked, fish showing over my bait. just this trip they didn't want to play ball in my area.
Don't no if it was down to the weather or angling pressure or what.
Perhaps it would be better just to tell my self, "Don't panic, keep doing the basics right, wait and your turn will come. Learn from all your sessions - the ups and downs.
Don't just ask yourself the question "why did i blank" and also "why did i catch" Carp fishing for all of us can be  easy at times but it also can be very hard.
After all, isn't it the bad times that make the successes all the more magic.

On a high note fish did come out of the lake while i was their.
Jason had a 27lb mirror on a short day trip and Mark had a real dark 24lb winter looking common, so good to see the fish were still feeding and moving about.
Even the small lake is starting to wake up, 3 fish out over the weekend - 13lb ghosty on a zig caught by Russ, first ever fish on a zig too so that made his weekend.
Mike did one night bagging a 15lb and a 23lb carp