68 acres pt 2

I had put a few sessions in since the sucessfull opening to my campaign, but i had struggled to get back into the woods due to angler pressure, each session would see me make the long walk around to the area only to find an angler in there already, the problem was there was little way of knowing that prior to the walk. The small pool adjoining had also been occupied on both occasions too, so that was also out. I'd spent the previous two sessions fishing the roadside bank, it had resulted in a few smaller commons of low double and single figures and a whole heap of tench but i was not getting among the bigger fish in the open featureless water.
Finishing work a day early, i was hoping to get on before others and get into the woods, so Thursday morning would see me leaving at 3am to arrive for first light. Turning in from the road i saw bivvies dotted around the high bank and the roadside bank, The place was rammed.
I had little choice but to take the gamble and make the walk. Arriving at the small pool i was at least on a consolation prize of this being free, and i had not yet managed a session in here. I deposited the kit facing the mouth of the gully between the two lakes and went for a quick walk to the woods, to find 2 anglers pitched up together, we said a few hello's and I found out that these were the lads who had been in here last session, and they hadn't left as yet. They had banked a few good fish between them and they were leaving at the weekend so with my options limited it was back to the pool  for me.

After a few casts to either side of the gully I was finding a nice depth of water and I opted for a rod either side, one to the snaggy margin on the left and one to the spit of land that was pretty much an end of an island. Still undecided about the 3rd rod I baited the two spots up with about 80 pellets and got the rigs out among them, in no time at all the tench were coming to the rods.

I had found a nice gravel patch to my right under an overhanging tree a the end of the  pool and this is where i dropped the 3rd rod, with the spot being around 120 yards away the rod was set tight awaiting the drop back bite that would be inevitable. Id opted to fish a tiger nut on this rod as a single hook bait as i didn't want to be plagued with the tench, hoping more for a wily carp to pick it up as it lapped the margins of the small pool.
Over the morning i had multiple sightings of good sized fish coming around the spit in the shallower water just behind the baited spot, after a recast it would be minutes before the alarm would give a series of beeps this turned into chaos as the fish reared out of the water, crashing back down, the alarm screamed, the spool went into meltdown and a bow wave went off to my right hugging the spit of land , applying pressure i turned it off the upper ledge and into the slightly deeper water  where it powered towards me, it was all i could do to pick up the slackening line, thinking id dropped it off i suddenly reconnected with an angry common a few yards off the other lines, picking up the left hand line i knew this was going to be trouble, reaching down i flicked the alarm off and watched as the fish made off with line from the other rod and reel, This was turning into a mess, I had little choice but to go in for this one and getting into the waders i entered the water, passing the rod under the other I was soon untangled from the other line and back in contact with the common, after a few more runs and lunges it turned, gulped air and it was all over. This was a stunner and a fair bit bigger than id appreciated when playing it ! After a few shots she was slipped back no worse for her ordeal.

21lb bar of gold

The day passed pleasantly enough with copious amounts of tench picking up the baits giving me constant liners, and loads banked yet no more carp. With the area being relatively flat here and with no trees to climb i had reduced viewing into the water but still managed to spot quite a few large fish cruising in and out of the small pool, they appeared to enter on the left and leave on the right much of time. I just knew it was only a matter of time before id get another chance. With an hour of light left i re baited heavily on the right side of the gulley and trickled a few in tight to the hook bait on the left hand rod.
Darkness fell and it wasn't long before id have the last brew of the evening and settle in for some sleep, i was covered in tench slime and would not have been smelling good at all ! Id not been asleep more than an hour when the left hand rod went off with a stuttering series of bleeps, swinging out of bed i lifted into a slack line and winding down reality hit,  i had lost whatever was on the end. A quick check of the rig and it the tip was damaged so it was on with a new one, then onto the task of  getting the rod back out as best as i could into the area. With only a small moon it was pretty dark and with the spot being full of snags and sitting at approximately 90 yards away dropping short was the best i could do. Come first light i would be ever so pleased i had dropped that rig short.

Through the night id received a few liners and banked a couple of tench and a small common carp so was having a bit of a lazy lie in, as light had broken through the tench activity had ceased, or i had no bait left out on the spots, the latter being most likely, so it was unusually quiet. Normally id have been up and re baiting but i was whacked from the nights entertainment so it was lazing about, brewing up from bed and just considering getting up for a breakfast when the left hand rod tore away. The fish went out through the gulley and was still going when i lifted into the rod, it buckled over and the fish kept going, i was in trouble here and i knew it. But the carp gods smiled on me and the fish slowed and started to turn, keeping it moving i somehow, and with a lot of luck, managed to steer it back into the pool from the main body of water and soon into the folds of the waiting net. This was a good one for sure !

26lb 10 oz of immaculate mirror carp

With a weight of over 26lbs it was the first mirror carp i had managed to bank in the lake, and what a fish to capture, this lady looked uncaught and was absolutely immaculate in every way.
I was elated yet exhausted, id banked 2 good fish again in this session with a night to go.
I decided against baiting up heavily as i needed to be up and off early in the morning and really couldn't face another night of bait stealing tench, I doubled up the hook bait's so i was fishing 2 x 21mm baits on each rig and again, this was to reduce the chance of tench picking me up and hooking themselves. Come first light and pack up time, id not had a single indication on the alarms all through the dark hours so the ploy certainly helped !