Adam's (blank) Catch Report

Carper_Adam · Adam's (blank) Catch Report

Bit of a poor start to the season, what with only one carp (mid double)

With cash running out fast, and the pressure on to catch from my new water before i go back to uni, i started to get a bit frustrated with my fishing,

completely lost the buzz on tuesday night, and was considering packing up

about 11 on wednesday fish started showing infront of me, one, then another, then another, then another etc

choddie on them, but alas no take, and no further action until 5 that morning, when the bobbin hit the alarm....one minute later and its pinged out the clip and ripping off

"unfortunately" it was a tench, of about 6lbs...properly nailed by my rig which i was sort of doubting

i say unfortunately, as any carp out of this lake is a right acheivement...not many of them in a ridiculous amount of water...most of it completely out of range and out of bounds....16ft deep on average, lots of naturals etc....a carp's paradise, a carper's nightmare

so on one hand i was happy with it, but i still had that feeling of not wanting to go creeping in.....

went chubbing today tho, and got the buzz back a bit....after catching a few little'uns on trotted maggots, me and sam moved swims to a fast gravel/weedy run on the avon..first trot down and i had a chub of about 1lbs...then a few smaller ones, and sam followed suit with a brownie and a few more trout....proper good fun...starting to get the buzz back for angling in general

Steve Howard

Nice one Adam, keep at it fella... when the tide turns it can often be quite drastic

Carper_Adam

back down the river again today, had 7 small chub between 10 oz and 1lbs...really started to get into my river fishing even after 2 sessions! its top stuff..really tempted to start a barbel campaign but i know in the back of my mind the pit is where i should be, so another 3 nights planned ...hopefully my luck will change and i'll have one out....would be just what i need and make all the money, time, and effort worthwile

bigkipper

nice one adam

a change is as good as a rest mate,

Mac

Big Kipper is right there Adam, if you're getting a little despondant at blanking then there's nothing at all wrong with going to a diff venue for a couple of sessions, whether it be the river or another lake.

The river does however produce it's own problems and you can then get caught up in that trying to bag a barbel or two. It really is brain numbing stuff at time, river or lake

Carper_Adam

havent been out for a few days now

went back to the stalking lake, has cleared up a bit, but not that much, and despite locating about 10 of the 20-25 carp stock sitting on the surface i counted pursaude them to play ball...i think the rain may still be keeping the weed from comming up and clearing the water

anyway, went out today for a bit of float fishing with a mate, catching rudd off the top/on the drop in the upper layers to about 1lbs maybe a bit bigger

good fight on light tackle...those rudd go like mad

Carper_Adam

This is a bit of an epic report!

I unfortunately havent been back to the big pit..i couldnt get a job for the summer. Firstly, i could no longer keep affording night tickets , food and tackle/bait, on top of petrol money, and secondly, i had no rythmn..my plan was to get work and do 3 nights a week..but with no job i found myself not wanting to sit around doing nothing between session,,so i started fishing other lakes and began to lose interest in the big pit

So i moved off of the big pit to a lake that i describe as " my own little redmire"...its hardly ever got more than 2 people on inculding me...ive pretty much had the lake to myself all the time..its got everything, silt, gravel, bars, weed beds , lillies, trees, snags, shallow bays etc..and a lowish stock of under 25 carp between 7 and 20+..all proper english carp, in pristine condition

the lake is usually crystal clear, but the rain had stopped the weed coming up and it was very murky, the fish were not happy....for the first 5 days of baiting , i was using UCN Enzyme ( superb bait), corn, pellet and particles ( hemp/pigeon conditioner)

i knew the carp were feeding on the spots...they were getting polished...the silt pushed back to reveal a gleaming bottom...but not feeding in the day.I didnt fish the weekends as i had other stuff to do ( i live by the coast and surfing is the only thing that challenges my passion for angling, and luckily, some surf came in at the weekends for the next week or two)

the next 5 days i had two oppourtunites...the first i found a carp feeding on my bait..a mirror, of which there are only a few in the lake ( i was lucky enough to get one the year before)...However, this was ruined by some guy coming over to the swim .despite me saying repeatedly " mate theres a fish down there stay away from the edge will ya?" he continuted to shout at me from 5 yards " YEA I PUT ALOT OF BAIT DOWN THERE YESTERDAY MATE !!!" ...:4 ....fish gone...the other chance, i was lowering in my rig, after a big common glided away from the spot...seconds later a tench has hung itself

Not wat i wanted, but very pretty, dark dark green, almost black, with big tanned lips and dark red eyes....got the rig back in and same thing happened again!

I hadent fished for about a week after that, as i had arragements ( friends birthday etc)..finally got back down the lake to see that my spots ( about 15 of them) were all polished still...some of them were getting a bit"obvious" though:m

i fed a few spots with some crumb and chops....about 9:3 0 that night the clutch started ticking, and after a 15 minute fight , a lovely koi/common cross of about 12lbs was in the net...after a few pics..i slipped her back and started packing my gear into nicks car ( he was on the other lake next to it)

DISASTER!..ballifs jump out the bushes and take our books! someone (who shouldnt have been on the water either) "claimed" that someone drove in as he drove out..which was utter rubbish, we had been stitched up!

Granted, we got off the water late, but we had good reason, i had the fish atlast knockings...we werent fishing or intending to fish past hours...and luckily, the commitee saw it that way and returned our books! result!:5

So back down the lake again..to see my spots are still glowing after nearly 3 weeks of no bait...didnt manage a fish that day..but knew they were feeding still

So today i got down and fished the river for a few chub,dace , perch and roach, before i went onto the lake...

after walking around for a while i decided to drop into a spot that i had baited when i had got there...i peered over the edge to see a MASSIVE tench ( 8+?) and a carp feeding..i waited til the carp moved out and then sprinkled some crumb to get the tench out..he moved and in went my rig

after 1/2 hour nothing, so i looked back over the edge and saw 2 carp feeding just to the left of my spot...so i waited it out only for my clutch to start cliciking..but then it stopped!the carp bolted out the swim, stirring up the bottom as they went AHHH.. i had been done...the tubing on the shank of my hook blown back, and the rig moved across the swim...id been done! :!

i moved to another baited spot...got a rig in but the carp didnt return...

it started to get dark and i decided to move to a spot where i had had the koi common from...i lowered in my rig and put about 1/2 a kilo of CARPHUNTER BAITS CORN ( that i won from fatcarp lol):f

now comes the really LAZY/POT NOODLE CARPER act of the day...the swim in question is a little hole in the reed right next to the gravel track that cars use to go down to the river car park...it has a little layby to park in aswell for fishing the lake...i moved my car into this laybay..and sat in my car about 10 ft from my rod listening to the radio!!!

the clutch went again about an hour later..the carp properly bolted off, big powerful runs..it felt heavy..but its head shook like it was small...after 15 mins of deep lunges down the margin and a battle under the tip it was in the net YES!!:z .

I went and got my mat and weighing gear, and lifted it onto the matt. i unwrapped my prize from the folds of my net and unhooked it ( well and truly nailed)...a proper ENGLISH common...very dark front, glistening white belly...one of those dumpy rather than long commons...looked like it could really hold some weight one day...i was chuffed to bits whatever it weighed..but at 19lbs 7 oz i was extatic! all that effort and time spent, things going wrong, only for it to fall right ..:v

Looking back i can see where i was going wrong..i fished it last year and expected it to be the same...last year i was baiting spots and spooking the fish out to get a rig in....this year they are different...i can see now that i need to put bait on the spots ( seeing as im sure my spots are now part of thier patrol routes due to the baiting)...and then sit on it for an hour or two...the carp are coming along and feeding for 10mins or so, before moving to another part of the lake...i was so stuck into my ways from last year that i hadnet seen it til now!

This season has been a right kick in the teeth, with only a few carp caught..but the two from this lake now mean a HELL of a lot to me....i now know that if i put this much effort into fishing for these fish, then next season on the big pit i should, fingers crossed, have a few ..thats the plan anway..

on a side note it turns out that while i hadnt been fishing my spots ( due to being banned lol) some guy who i spoke to had been fishing them and having one out every time he fished!..gutted or what! :]

So ive got until saturday before i go back to Uni...time to catcha few i think

Thanks in advance for any replies, this is one lengthy right up lol!

matgreasley

well done adam, glad your getting amongst them

robvford

great read adam!

it had everything, for highs to lows.

well done on ya catches and lets hope you get a few more

bigkipper

good write up adam

shame about you geting stitched up

have you had any of the realy big tench out yet? 8+er`s

NOSEY WIFE

great write up well done buddy

Carper_Adam

Carper_Adam

another long right up lol

Back down again today. Was genna get up at 5:30ish to get up and ready to be down there for 7 on the dot...well, the best laid plans and all that...got down there about 2 lol

First thing i did was to look around....didnt see any in the snags but found the, all held up in one end of the lake that is practically one giant weed bed.

So considering it was very hot and the fish in the weed wern't really up for a mixer, i went down to another lake with intentions to fish the runs water for a few hours until it cooled down

Pulted out a few mixers which bought all the seagulls raining down on me...so i trundled off down the lake looking for some more fish...found one or two cruising around and got them taking pretty close in...I tell you, these seagulls follow me everywhere, and again they came down...luckily the carp wern't really bothered, and were still taking mixers..until some berk in a swim 3 down from me casts a lead straight on its head....bloody great.thanks mate!

So i decided to get back to the other lake seeing as thats where i really wanted to be any way...i got down and went for a walk around..carp still in the weed..none near the snags, but i was sure that they would be there soon, as the sun was starting to go behind the clouds a bit and the snags are in a shady bay.

As i walk around to the lake, a rabbit stumples out of the nettles and hops away from me...poor thing seemed like it was old or had a dodgy leg..anyway , as i walk towards it, it hops across a bridge above a little concerete via duct type channel to carry excess water from the lake...but then the silly thing falls down the gap between the grill stopping all the crap from the lake entering the channel and the bridge!..luckily theres no more flow and its just a bit muddy at the moment....

So of i go in search of a stick, to try and poke the little thing to make it turn its head around and see that theres enough space for him to get out...he refuses to budge and sticks his head in the corner..so i try to net him out as i dont think he knew wat to do....just as i get him in the net he sees how he can get out and hops off into the undergrowth...my good deed of the day lol

I get back to the fishing and put out a bait in the shady bay..the snags are out 15ft from some marginal reeds, a spot that i knew the fish patrolled, and a spot i had baited every since i started fishing the lake.

It looked spot on for a take..covered with surface scum with the wind blowing into the bay..i knew the fish didnt feed heavily on baited spots, maybe 10 mins before moving off, so i put my bait off the spot in an area of silt just behind it, along with a few crushed baits.

about an hour and a half later i get up to creep to the edge and see if there's anything feeding..i notice that the surface scum is moving, and i recognise it to be the same movement as when a carp is feeding underneath floating debris...bits of leaf and scum whirlpooling around as a big tail fans them about....a few minutes later the spool is spinning and its absolutely flying !!!

I lift into it and it immediately feels like a tench, shaking its head alot, and there didnt feel like much weight...all that was to change as it charged out of the bay and i see a very angry common with a bait hanging out of its mouth....lots of powerful runs back into the bay, kiting, then back out of the bay, then back in, then huging bottom, then going mental on the surface...a proper scrap that lasted a good 15 minutes, and it rolls on the surface...its lips looked huge...it really did look enormous...i knew they didnt get much bigger than 20, but i began to think that prehaps someone had caught one from the lake next to this one and put it in here?...it came in closer, made a few powerful runs towards the reeds before finally i get it in the net....YES!

i looked at her in the net...stunning...i cut the line and got my mat and bits soaked...up she comes and i unwrap her from the folds of the net, pouring water over her as i do..

Fin perfect english common carp, at its best...dark, almost purpley black ontop...pale, golden scales on its belly..eyes so big i honestly thought they were going to pop out...on the scales she went at 18lbs 6 oz, not that the size mattered..i was and still am ,properly chuffed with that fish :}

i then held her up right in the water for 10 mins to recover, before i get a right soaking as it charges off...Good karma for helping that rabbit methinks :;

I then got my kit sorted and went to fish elsewhere...i contemplated the spot i had going next to the track, where i had had 2 from previously...it didnt feel right, seeing as the fish were obviously in the weed, and seeing as i hadnt had a take from the spot in the past 2 nights, i was sure that they were only really leaving their lay-ups spots in the night, well after i was gone

I ended up fishing a hole in the weed that i had baited the night before....not 5 minutes had past when a huge patch of bubbles appeared not 6 foot from the spot, and again, i saw the tell-tale swirling of the surface weed, and i knew that it was a carp..

Every single sound that sounded like ,my clutch, every splash, quack, every mouse and rat moving about, every rabbit mucking about on the gravel track, had me looking down at my reel..an hour passes and a phone call from a mate has me thinking about a social tomorrow night...he hangs up and a few minutes later i hear a click..i look at my rod to see the tip boucning, i get up and a few more feet of line is taken, and then suddenly it rips off like the first

another powerful fight, but this time the weed is in my favour..i get it under control and bring it in slowly, keeping the pressure on ..it feels like it's come off, but just then it makes another run for some weed and plant growth to my right...eventually i bundle it into the net, and heave it out with about 564574lbs of weed aswell.

i make sure to pore more water over her as i fling away bits off weed like wrapping paper from a present...there she is, in the fading light, another perfect english carp, a mirror this time

Dark, and purple-black ontop, with a row of golden scales running along its' back, with a pale cream belly..a few scales dotted near its head on its left...i carefully turn her over and the wrist of the tail is covered with immaculate scale...well chuffed.....on the scale , 16lbs dead...but again, its not like the weight mattered..more for future reference :v..

back she goes, powering off into the sunset..just as the light is fading and the last remenants of a blinding red sky sinks below the horizion...

i tried my luck for one more from the spot, but to no avail...i sat there for another hour watching shooting stars and being entertained by the rats and mice that decided my shoes were a good a place as any to practice climbing!

Back down again tomorrow moring..(if i get up that is :7)

Properly happy with that session..all the time spent baiting, clearing swims, watching the fish etc has finally come together....if only i had put as much effort into the big pit :b..(next year will see lol)

Carper_Adam

Extremely late write up with pictures !

Back to the little lake yesterday ...got up at 7 to see the lake covered in ,mist..not much moving about

i knew if the sun really came up quickly they'd move into the shallow slilty/weedy bay for a feed, and i could get a trap in position

Got my bait in, a hole in the weed, on a spot i had fish taking bait from before...i sat there sipping tea from my flask to keep me awake ( im not a morning person lol, more nocturnal). a saw a few cruising about, and a group of 3 i regularly see together in come across my bait..but nothing dips down to feed...the carp were feeding in the deeper water infront of the bay..the sun wasnt coming up , and it was still fairly misty and cold...

i moved to a swim up facing the open water, and got a bait and a few freebies into a spot where i had seen a few feeding...i put some baits out into the silty spot and a few landed short into the weed...i sat in the swim up where i could get a much better view of the spot and open water..much easier to see what was coming and going through the weed...about 5 fish altogether fed on the spot, but i couldnt get a pick up..a few fish went into the weed to pick out the bait that had landed there, stirring the bottom up as the went.....i think my presentation wasnt quite right in that suituation and by about 1 the sun was up and fish not showing any interest in feeding...i managed to find a few on the top though

i found that by putting in 1 mixer at a time, they didnt spook so much, but they clearly are either spooky of mixers or not used to them, being very cautious....slowly gliding underneath them before silently taking one or two and doing a lap of a near by weed bed....my chance came, but unfortunately when i struck there was no contact and the fish swam off without a care in the world, taking a few more mixers before drifitng out of sight , as if to say " better try harder mate"

anyway i left that lake to fish a social on another down the road.....by the time i had stopped socialising with mates fishing at the time, it was about 7....i knew spots from previously fishing the lake, but really dont like fishing it too much, as its the same old "fish to the gravel", or "spod to the treeline"...there was a bar running about 40-50 yards out that tapered around to the left and right...i opted to fish about 15 yards short in the silt with a light scattering of bait, and the other in the margins....

i was with Colehill Carper, chatting away about carp fishing until the early hours....the swim in question is a point with snags on one side that you're not supposed to fish at night...nevertheless, it didnt stop us chucking in mixers to listen to the carp feeding....1am with the mist making everything pitch black,deathly quiet with the odd rat or fox going about its buisiness, we could hear them slurping until about 5am.....In the end sam had a tench at about 9, and me a bream about 11:3 0

the night passed uneventfully apart from those fish, and sam packed up to move to a "day only" swim...i stayed on for a bit longer to avoid the traffic that was building....sam had gone by about 7, and around 7:1 0 i start recieving a few liners...i pay out some line, as it has tightened slightly and i can see it twitching.

About 5 minutes later, the bobbin rises steadily to the top and the spool is spinning...i lift into the fish only for it to come straight towards me...it comes in like a small bream..then starts to kite towards my right( a tree sticks out on the right forcing you to go in if a fish kites around it)...i guide it into the margins, thinking it could now be a tench, only to see a carp coming in with a my rig in its mouth...

I then instantly knew the events that would unfold....all hell breaks loose as it sees the bank and wakes up, making a beeline for the right to get around the bush....off with my jeans and shoes within seconds, only to realise i havent got my net set up!..i quickly grab it and the pole and dive in up to my boxers....the water is surpisingly warm, not that it mattered how cold it was, as i was more focused on getting my net set up while stopping the carp get anymore of an advantage over me

it comes around and i get it away from the bush, only for it to head left, and try and get into the bush that had been trimmed back..a few sticks and heavty branches remaind tho...i could see its tail swirling near the branches and held on tight as it took my rod to full curve...back out into open water, and i finally had my net up...a tense battle went on for the next 10 minutes, with the carp 10 yards away from me doing its best to get into the bushes on either side of me...i finally had it beaten , or so i thought.. a huge pair of lips break the surface, and a common can be seen...i go to net it , only for it to spook at the net and bolt of again .....5 more times it does this, seeing the net, taking line, and shaking its head infront of me

6th time lucky, and i slip it into the net....Yessssssssss :f

A quick phone call and sam is on his way to do the pics and to lend me a had weigh it...another mate joins him..

I leave the fish in the net for a few minutes to recover after such a good fight...i reel in my other rod to get it onto the spot. The swim in question faces another swim, which happened to have two guys fishing in at the time...

I go to cast and check the line isnt snagged around the tip...just as i begin to swing the rig out, my mate runs up behind me and pulls my boxers down! :] ...im not sure if the guys infront of me were looking this way, but they certainly wern't when i looked back up!

The mat is prepared and soaked, a big bucket of water at hand...i lift her out, checking her fins are lying straight and supporting her belly as i lift the carp out...on the mat and unwrapped from the folds of my net reveals its lovely colours...on the scales at 24lbs 6 oz a new P.B....well happy

We do the pics and it all goes well, with the carp only nailing me in the face with its tail once...apart from that she behaved beautifully...i waded back out and held the fish in the water for a few minutes before it glided out into the open water....

So thats the end of my fishing exploits for a few weeks atleast...back at Uni and in need of a job...other things will come to the front of my mind, with angling put on the backburner...shame really, as the trees are starting to show off their lovely golden red colours, and now is a great time to be fishing for all species...i expect shall be back for a few trips in october atleast....cant wait

(a few pics of the common to follow i hope)

Steve Howard

Stunning common m8, a lovely fish indeed!

That's a lovely write up too, Adam, I'm impressed fella.

Michael

Nice one fella, good write up

bigkipper

good write up and some cracking pics adam

well done mate