richchappy
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My carpin diaryright this is just me going on about my fishing, done a fair few this year so i will post it up for you, and keep you updated, i know i like seeing what other people have caught etc, if you wanna read it feel free :)
starts from earlier this year
some of it you may not understand as its meant just as info for me so i can look back and im just copying and pasting
First fish was a 10lb 8oz common
6th April 2007 – Caudwell
First fish was a 10lb 8oz common caught on a single black crab and fruit 14mm boilie and it was covered in paste, It was cast near the large island and there were a lot of fish showing and not many fish being caught, it was the first carp out that day and it went quiet. My baited spot over the died back lilies didn’t produce a thing. After that some lads caught a little carp about 6lbs from the island the other side and that was all the carp action on the deck, It was warming up and peaked at about 15oC and the carp started sun bathing, I saw a few in the middle to far out to fish for so tried a zig but with no luck. Then saw a few fish cruising by my swim at about 3:30pm and fired a load of mixers at them but they weren’t interested. So I packed everything up and went on a search with a floater rod, net and mat. And just round the corner to the left of the car park, there was probably about 40 carp sun bathing, sorted. After a few minuets a couple started taking the odd mixer and it took a while to get them feeding confidently. After a couple of bad casts into trees and spooking fish, I got one on the money and a little common of about 6lb took the hair rigged popup and the size 10 hook held in the top lip and after a short fight he was in the net. I told dad and he came down, they were still feeding confidently and he manages to get a 12lb mirror off the top, then the fish got a bit spooky and hard to catch, I ended up casting in a tree and losing all my tackle, I didn’t have time to set up again and had to go home.
End result wasn’t too bad, 2 fish and only 5 or 6 carp were caught that day, and first double of the year.
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richchappy
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9th April 2007 – Caudwell
After a quick walk round the lake there were no signs of the fish on top, but the weather seemed quite good, it was fairly cloudy, nice and sunny, warm and very little wind. So I decided to try and get them feeding. I chose a peg where I could fish to the island and lilies and the right side of the lake. After trickling in mixers for about half an hour one carp started slurping a couple down, and soon there was a group feeding. Then to get them within a comfortable range, I kept firing mixers slightly nearer to the bank and the carp soon followed and were in about 2 rod lengths of the bank.
After a quick pic of it on the mat it was soon slipped back to fight another day.
They were confidently slurping down mixers and I soon cast out past the group and drew it back over them, in position and I had my eyes fixed on the hook bait, or what I thought was the hook bait, then a carp came and took what I thought was a freebie and my line tightened and I was in, I was watching the wrong mixer. After a long fight that gathered a small audience, I landed a scale perfect common of 10lbs, after a quick pic of it on the mat it was soon slipped back to fight another day. Then disaster a kid started fishing next to me and that was bad enough but soon after there were two people to my left and two to my right, all surface fishing and leads landing from the other bank soon spooked the fish, I had to move. So after about an hour of looking I settled into the swim I had the 6lber from the last session, I started flicking a few more mixers in and a couple of carp started picking off the odd one. Then it all went dead for a while, and out of the blue a carp came and started wolfing down mixers and he looked very catchable. I was soon cast out and within a couple of minuets, he was hooked, and he fought like a carp 3 times his size. Thankfully the size 10 hook and 10lb hooklink remained intact as I drew him over the net, carp number 2. This was a lot smaller and I didn’t bother with pics or weighing but a conservative estimate would be 6-7lbs. It was a right character though, its dorsal had a big chuck out of it and it had a parrot gob, it must have been caught a few times, so I quickly released him to be caught by someone else, I would certainly recognise him if I caught him again, The rest of the session passed without any more fish and I was unable to get them feeding confidently.
Again not a bad session I started at about 8:30am and finished at 2pm so 5 and a half hours fishing and 2 carp off the top, could of caught a lot more though if my swim didn’t get attacked by kids, oh well, that’s fishing.
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richchappy
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10th April 2007 – Caudwell
I went for a quick afternoon fishing with Adam, it was a fair bit cooler than the days before and not as bright but I still got them feeding in scum corner (left from the car park) they weren’t overly confident but there was about 10 fish taking pretty well. We soon cast out and they seemed to be very finicky as soon as the line was on the water, as soon as you reeled in they would get there confidence back up.
I had one feeding about 10 ft from the bank, it looked a nice little mirror or about 8lbs, I lowered my hookbait next to it and he nudged it with his nose, and then took it half heartedly, anyway I struck and I just saw the float fly over my shoulder in to the tree, gutted. Adam went on to bag a couple of carp in quick succession and I missed another couple of bites, they weren’t the usual confident bites you get, also I am not sure if they were spooking off the new setup as I changed it round a bit and had some Camo controllers as I couldn’t get the normal clear ones, also I had ran out of drennan double strength, so the approach was a bit more blatant.
Anyway I went on to miss another couple of dogey bites, so in the end I called it a blank as the light started to fade.
I think if I had have been on my own and had the same set up as yesterday I would have been able to turn a few finicky bites into backed fish, so next time I will be using either the drennan controller floats or the bubble floats, both clear to reduce spooking the fish, I will also get some more Drennan double strength as that is noticeable thinner and less noticeable and finally I will use the enterprise fake mixers with the shot in to hide the hook above the surface, talking to one guy he said they were good and I had some good results on them last season. Also the feeding seemed more effective flicking out 4 or 5 mixers at a time. So hopefully with a few tweaks to the set-up and a different feeding style I will hopefully be able to bag a few.
14th April 2007 – Caudwell
After a cool misty start, the sun slowly started breaking through, we starting fishing on the bottom me or Paul couldn’t buy a bite, we tried allsorts, and even used the bait boat, by 2 o Clock, things looked bleak so we packed up and went surface fishing. After a while we saw a lot of carp cruising on the top, so we managed to cast to them after a few tackle modifications. Paul had the majority of the carp feeding in his swim; he missed 2 bites before finally hooking and landing one, about 4 or 5lbs. After changing my hookbait to a single mixer on a hair hooked over the hook to make it like a D-rig, I soon had a take and struck out of it, soon after another take resulted in a hooked fish, with Paul shouting abuse at me I soon got the fish to the top and it was only small so I tried to get it in the net quickly and it resulted in a hook pull, B*****R! Paul hooked and lost another and we both missed a couple more half chances.
I want to get the new set up tried out, as I haven’t yet received it I was still using my 2nd choice tackle, so hopefully, ill be able to catch a few, should really of caught that one but that’s what rushing fish does, hopefully the new set-up and the new way of presenting hook baits will prove effective.
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richchappy
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11th May – 13th May 2007 – Brasenose 2
Well first big event of the year, carp-forums junior pairs match, and what an awesome weekend.
On the Friday, we got there early and had a walk round the lake and cast a few rods out, needless to say it soon started raining and we were back setting up out bivvys. The few bivvys on the field looked a bit odd but as the afternoon turned into evening, and more people turned up it soon turned into a bivvy village, well 3 separate ones to be precise.
it soon turned into a bivvy village,
After one hell of a social on the Friday night, Slo woke us up at some stupid time to draw for swims and coaches. There were some quality coaches there, including Lewis Read and Alexi Bygraves. I and Ben were soon packed up and on our way to a pukka looking point swim and with our coach Joe who won it last year with Alexi.
After taking loads of gear to the swim we started talking to Joe about tactics and he quickly came up with the plan of zigs and pop ups with very few freebies. This seemed to be a good idea as everyone else would be spodding out and creating a lot of disturbance. On the Saturday, early on there were no fish out and it started to look very bleak. But it started to look up at about 10 o Clock when some people lost a couple, but at least people were getting runs. Then in quick succession a couple of people landed fish, then it was my go, after a hard fight, and getting weeded up a couple of times we were soon in 3rd place with a nice simmo of 10lbs. Awesome. Also Rob Bell from carpology came and took a few pics. Joe was also more than relived. We were soon telling the story to Alexi and Tom Dove who was fishing another lake on the complex, two amazing anglers, suitably impressed.
After that we had a couple more rums but the came off in the weed. Then in the afternoon I had another run and this ended up with a nice 9lb 4oz simmo on the mat after a very scary fight last about half an hour with him weeding us up solid putting us just a few ounces behind first. Then it was bens turn he had a 7lber that put us into first place before going to bed. Early on I had a screamer waking me up but annoyingly the hook pulled. Then later on in the morning, I had a nice little simmo of 9lb 12oz, this again put us back just ounces behind first place after a few fish were banked over night, one fish was all we needed.
After a few nervous hours our prayers were answered when my left hand rod on the yellow pineapple pop-up ripped off, and straight away I could tell it was a good fish, if I could get it in we would probably win, but that was easier said than done. It weeded us up solid and in the end we had to slacken the line off in the rest like with the 10lber and wait for it to swim out of its on accord. After a few nervous minuets it screamed off again and I was playing it hard so not to let it back in the weed, after another 10 minuets of hard fighting he was soon about 10 yards from the mat on the surface, but then he wouldn’t budge. It had somehow got wrapped round my other line around his dorsal fin. We managed to some how break the line and then promptly got him into the net; to say I was happy was an understatement.
The people that had gathered were debating whether or not it was a PB, it looked around the 16lb mark, after getting the hook out and the tangled like off its dorsal, we applied some kinik to the wound. Then it was time to weigh it, we were all looking in anticipation and the needle spun round to around 16lbs, we settled on 16lbs 1oz, not a PB but still the biggest fish of the match, a stunning looking fish as well, after a few pics we quickly got he back and it was time to re rig the rods, with a comfortable lead.
not a PB but still the biggest fish of the match
Well thankfully, no more fish were landed and me and Ben were the winning pair. We started packing away in the pouring rain. We went back to Slomos ‘bivvy’ for the presentation with Terry Hearn himself. I won the Biggest fish award and 1st place with Ben and we went home with loads of prizes and freebies, also a signed version of Terry’s book.
It was an awesome weekend and I made some new mates, and got to meet people I have only chatted to on the internet. Also won and had some amazing prizes, oh and I forgot to mention I won a long weekend on little horseshoe which I will go with Matt Rob and Ben and maybe the carpology cameras, thinking about going in October half term so that should be amazing.
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richchappy
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18th May – 20th May 2007 – Pirelli Lake
Well after a lot of thinking about having a go, I finally got round to having a proper session on Pirelli. I had my licence sorted, all my kit, and new brolley from the match ready to go, and I couldn’t wait. After a quick chat with Adam we decided to do two nights, the Friday and the Saturday, with him pulling a sickie he got first choice of swims, he got there at about 12 o clock. I arrived at about 4pm to find the catfish had come out at 28lbs, all the roomers had been put to bed. I set up my gear on the 3rd peg on the road bank, I cast a pineapple pop-up just to the right of the scaffold and another rod with a bottom bait black crab and fruit to the right of that. I scattered about a kilo of the black crab boilies around the area and between the two rods.
The weather looked perfect for Adams swim with the wind howling in, it wasn’t long before his rod was being bent round with an amazing looking 22lb mirror on the end, and after some pics he slipped her back. Later that night, we had a little rave going on in the bivvy and the same rod screamed off again with a 15lb common, now I seriously wanted a fish.
Then after we had tried to get our heads down for a bit of kip my left hand rod on the pineapple popup screamed off, I started playing it and almost instantly my right rid started beeping, I thought that the fish had kited over it so I just turned the alarm off and focused on the fish I had on. Got it in the net and it was a nice mirror of about 10lbs, anyway Adam went to sort out the sling etc and I noticed the bait runner clicking on my other rod, struck into it and suddenly realised the fish had not kited over the line, it was another fish on. Soon he was in the margins and me and Adam managed to bundle him into the net with the other fish still in there. We got them onto the mat and they were still very lively, but we got them unhooked, on the scales the first was about 10lbs 8oz and the second one a pound bigger at 11.8 they were so lively I didn’t want to risk picking one up and having the other on the mat old school style, so I just put them both on the mat and got Adam to take a couple of quick pics and slipped them back. After that mad half hour it went quiet. On the second morning nothing had changed it was still two carp each, we both had a couple of bream and Adam some tench but we had no more carp for the rest of the session.
So I just put them both on the mat and got Adam to take a couple of quick pics
It looked like they were getting ready to spawn as they were lying up in the margins and they were up on weight on the bank. We have planned to start baiting up with the black crab and fruit so hopefully we will get them going and have a few out.
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richchappy
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27th May 2007 – Rollestone village pool
Well this wasn’t a planned trip at all, but great fun. Me and Adam went down for a look on our bikes to see if it was worth starting a baiting campaign, Any way we went onto the bridge and I thought I must be seeing things when on the bottom pool I saw a carp cruising and feeding on some floating debris. I called Adam over and we quickly decided on a plan of attack. I sent Adam to co-op to get some bread and I rang up my mum to get a lift home so I could grab some gear.
I arrived back and rigged up the light rod with a controller and fake dog biscuit, but the carp didn’t like it one bit. Adam was keeping him feeding, but the fish kept wandering off for a bit and coming back on his patrol route. I quickly changed my rig to free lined bread flake. I got the flake to sink slowly and it looked pukka. After a couple of missed chances, he went behind a bush and I got him feeding there, and very gently lowered the flake into the area and he came towards it in slow motion. I watched him open his mouth, suck in the bread, his lips closed and BANG, he was on. After a short fight, in front of a gathering audience we soon got him in the net. After unhooking and taking a couple of pics for identification, we put him back in the top pool where he belongs. Me and Adam agreed he was probably about 7lbs.
30th May – 31st May 2007 – Pirelli lake
Second trip down to Pirelli and I was feeling confident, the new baits had come and I decided to keep everything the same as last session, including the swim. So I scattered about half a kilo of the catcher baits Tiger nut and maple boilies around the scaffold and had my main rod there right near it, I also had one rod to my right near the bush. Well everything was ready for the night and I went to bed hoping to be awoken by a screamer. I was not disappointed, the scaffold rod roared off and I ran out with just my socks on and started playing it. It was bloody freezing; the clear skies meant it was a cold night. I played the fish to the net in the light of the almost full moon and got it in the net. I finally woke Adam up and we got it unhooked. There were no batteries in the camera and Adam could be bothered to get some more as he was in a bad mood due to the early wake up call so she was slipped back after we weighed her at 13lbs 4oz, although she was very empty so I think she must have spawned. I managed to get sorted by about 2:30 and was back in bed. Then at around 4am the same rod screamed off again. This time it was slightly bigger at 14lbs 4oz, it was turning into a good night. Again Adam wouldn’t get up so I just took a pic of him on the mat and the scale pattern was stunning.
By morning I had had no more runs, and found out that I was the only one on the lake that caught. The next day Ben was showing us some of his stalking spots and with Adam we were discussing some tactics. I have came to the conclusion that I will be putting in boilies around the scaffold and maybe balls of vitalin etc. and then next to the tree on the right I will keep bait going in there to hopefully get the carp feeding there as nobody fishes the road side margin, We shall have to see how it goes.
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richchappy
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8th – 10th June 2007 – Pirelli Lake
Definitely getting addicted to Pirelli now, went down for a couple of nights and it was absolutely boiling on the first day and the second. When I got down on the Friday after school, there were fish cruising on the surface, no-one was catching and they just weren’t feeding, not even on zigs on the surface. That evening and night 2 fish came out, one from McDonalds end of the lake and one from the swim next to me. The next day it was still warm and in the afternoon I saw a group of 5 carp swim by in the margin, they all swam near to my zig presented a few feet away from the bank, and they slowed down and had look, but then my heart sank when they swam off again, but then one that looked about mid double turned round and nailed the white pop-up, we both were a bit shocked, he was hooked but sat there for a few seconds and I was not sure if he had taken it or not, then suddenly the buzzer started screaming, and I hit it, seconds later when I was trying to stop him getting in the snags the 10lb double strength hooklink snapped, I was gutted.
I re-baited the scaffold with about 100 boilies and went to bed confident, and I was very surprise not to have had a take when I woke up at around 5am, and I was thinking what could have gone wrong, was it the rigs, were the fish spawning, and although it sounds like im making it up, im not, just as I was thinking that, the middle rod screamed off, I managed to nock the left rod off the rest when striking, but the fight was fairly typical, he kited to the right and I just had to increase the pressure to stop him getting to the marginal bush, soon a nice mirror of about 8lbs was on the mat and I quickly took some video of it.
After recasting that rod, it was soon off again, quality, after a very similar fight, in the net was another nice mirror at 14lb 12oz, the biggest I have had from Pirelli so far. Again it was quickly filmed and slipped back. I was packed away by 8am and soon off home.
another nice mirror at 14lb 12oz
What was starting to look like a blank session quickly turned around to be the best session out of everyone on the lake. In the 48 hours I was down 4-5 fish came out, I had 2 of them, and would have had another if it wasn’t for the snapped link.
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richchappy
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22nd-24th June 2007 – Pirelli Lake
Another trip down to the ‘local’ and I decided not to fish the usual peg, I know I can catch from there and they all seem to be fairly small and I didn’t want to become a one trick pony so to speak. So after checking on metcheck to see the wind was going to be blowing from the west into a nice snaggy corner my mind was quickly made up.
I set up with one rod right next to the snags in the corner and one rod next to the overhanging bush on my left. It was looking good for a fish and at around midnight whilst on the phone my rod screamed off, the phone flew over my shoulder with my dad wondering what the big crash was and I was desperately trying to keep the carp out of the snags, I went to pick my phone up and must have let the clutch slip a little bit and the carp got into the snags. After a while of pulling from different angles I was forced to pull for a break, I knew I could go and check the carp wasn’t tethered when it was light as you could get to the back of the snags.
The second day came and Adam decided to fish the night in the swim to my left so we could have a bit of a social. Well my rods were in position and I wasn’t really expecting anything to happen until that night, so I was very surprised when the left rod screamed off in the middle of a rig tying competition (don’t ask).
I quickly got to the rod and struck it to find nothing there, no resistance, and the rig was still perfectly in tact, I was a bit [censored] off as that was the 2nd run that resulted without a fish on the bank.
Anyway, I started to tie up another rig as the hook had been blunted when the right rod screamed off, I got to it and was not going to give it an inch, I help onto the spool for dear life and finally turned the fish and I could feel it charging round strongly, it was all fairly steady and then it decided to head to the snags on my left, luckily the rod was already in and the fish was a bit tiered so it proved fairly easy. With the song, what’s that coming over the hill playing in the background, I then caught a glimpse of it and instantly knew it was a PB, so then I started playing it very carefully. After a couple more minuets he she was in the net, on the mat she pulled the scaled round to 20lbs exactly, a new PB and my first 20, I was over the moon, we took come pictures and a bit of video and slipped her back to fight another day.
A new PB and my first 20.
That night I wouldn’t have cared if I blanked and it looked like I was until I was woken up at about 4am as it was getting light by a screaming alarm, the same rod, the same simple bottom bait tiger nut boilie with a few scattered freebies.
This seemed an even harder fight and when I got it in the net I was surprised at the size, but on the mat it all became clear, in the half light I saw that it was a hard fighting common, on the scales it went to 13lb 4oz. Same routine, a few quick pics and slipped her back.
I was soon packed up and ready to go as I was being picked up at 9am to go to Kingstanding. I had a quick walk around to find me and Adam were the only ones to catch that night.
I wont go into detail about Kingstanding but I had a bit of a mess around on the middle pool and had about 10 runs, I let Chris hit a few and had a few myself, overall 5 commons around 5-7lbs each, nice to end the day with a bit of action.
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richchappy
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1st July 2007 – Pirelli lake
What a gutter of a session, lost 3 fish. I was stalking tight to the margins and watching them feed, just on pellets like Ben was saying, works really well just got to work out how to land em, ill go down at the weekend and try and bag a few,
7th July 2007 – Pirelli Lake
This weekend it was time for another stalking session after my disaster last weekend, so I went with the same tactics and the only alterations were a change from the Nash bullet to dawia sensor in the mainline and fishing the leads drop off style.
I baited the normal spots with some pellets and after a couple of hours there was a group of fish feeding confidently on the carpark end peg. So I spooked them off with some pellets and lowered my rig in, they were soon back and feeding and after a short while there was so much silt in the water I couldn’t see them and suddenly my alarm burst out screaming, quickly giving the fish some major stick I got him out the snags and then it was a short fight and he was in the net.
On the mat I noticed it was a fish known as ‘one pec’ for obvious reasons and she was a bit down on weight at 16lb 12oz but looked amazing.
she was a bit down on weight at 16lb 12oz but looked amazing.
I also lost one that day but I wasn’t that bothered as it was a hook pull and it didn’t snap me, I went the following day but couldn’t see any fish so didn’t catch. I caught one of the 2 fish that came out that weekend and Adam managed to stalk a 20lber so overall a good weekend.
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richchappy
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13th-15th July 2007 – Pirelli Lake
I dint know why but over the past few weeks very few fish have come out of Pirelli, and this 48 hours session was my turn to blank.
The first 24 were very uneventful except an early bream of 8lb 4oz, then me and Joe went to have a look round Fleam pool and put a bit of bait out so hopefully we can have a go there in the summer holidays.
Anyway when I got back to the lake, Ben said he had seen 2 mirrors over 30lbs feeding on the one peg so I was straight onto there, to cut a long story short, I lost a fish in the night and also came close to stalking a decent mirror, that was just unlucky as he was oblivious to the rig and just didn’t take it and didn’t spook, oh well maybe next time. And I think now Pirelli is going to just be a stalking venue as I don’t seem to be getting any more takes overnight than on a short stalking session…. Bring it on.
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richchappy
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26th-28th July 2007 - 200 acre pit
After a couple more blanks stalking at pirelli, where i couldnt get the fish feeding, the fish soon started to go belly up, and after finding over 10 % of the lakes stock dead the EA were still unsure about the cause, so i didnt want to be fishing for dying fish so i moved on to my new venue,
after doing a couple of over nighters there i am falling in love with the place, all i have caught is a couple of little bream but my mate lost a carp, we also seen some small ones on the surface, will have to see how it goes
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Carper_Adam
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keep at it on the big pit mate
effort = reward
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richchappy
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ye, deffo, may get a session in before i go on holiday, bit of fun carping whilst im there and then go at it all guns blazing
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Mac
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Brilliant stuff mate, well done 
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NOSEY WIFE
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nice one buddy well done  
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bigkipper
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nice one rich, top angling mate, keep um comeing
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richchappy
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28th - 31st August 2007
Well i fancied a few runs after the blanks on the 300 acre pit, so i went down to caudwell, a really old 1 acre lake filled with mostly wild carp. I got there at about 10 o clock and the weather was looking perfect for a bit of surface fishing, so i took a strole round and spotted a couple on the surface, so i fired a few mixers out and they took a couple, but not confidently and soon drifted off. So i went round to a swim that you can fish to a small island from and i started pulting out mixers, and soon enough the first carp started to arrive, they are really attracted to the sound of them landing, and i soon had probably 15 fish feeding confidently and a load more cruising further back picking off the odd couple.
Anyway using fairly light tackle, size 10 fox sspb hook and 10lb double strength with a little 5 gram controller, i soon hooked the first fish of the day, and after that they started coming thick and fast, nothing massive, i had 10 carp and the biggest topped the scales at 12lbs.
I had a play with self take, but the carp didnt want to play ball, and the only picture that turned out half decent was the 12lb common.
i had a lot of pics like this
the fish behaves, and i move lol
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richchappy
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i then went to have a look at a new water, with plenty of 30s in it, i fished a couple of day sessions and blanked, but to be honest it was hell, its a public park so there was loads of dog walkers etc, so loads of crap everywhere. also there were bird feeders, chucking bread right onto of my rods so they were constantly bleeping, so overall quite annoying.
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richchappy
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5th August 2007 – Caudwell
Wont bore you with the detail, but went surface fishing again, and had a similar result, I lost count overall but I think I had about 11 or 12 carp, the biggest being around 8-9lbs, I have also decided to target Branston and Oddys on day only sessions and see what I can get, I will leave the 200 acre pit for a while. I will keep doing a few sessions on Caudwell as well just to try and get one of the better ones, hopefully the big 20 plus ghostie known as Casper, it looks an awesome fish, I want him.
it looks an awesome fish, I want him.
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rav
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get back on the big pit. proper carpin!!
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richchappy
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cant get into anything serious before holiday so was just having a bit of fun lol
will get onto one of the 3 pits after hols
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