Up in T'Hills the return

With the heat-wave the way it has been and with the fact that the syndicate has been punishing me since I went back on at the beginning of May, with just one fish to show for 16 nights, I had decided a session surface fishing was on the cards and knowing how much those carp in the hills like the sun on their backs and the mixers in there bellies, it was time for a return visit.  I’d last seen the lake in mid April when it had literally only been ice free for a couple of week’s. The fishing throughout winter had been tough with me banking just 3 fish from the end of November through till April.

I dropped the missus off at work for 5.30am, topped up the tank for the journey and made my way south. Arriving to an unexpected scene of lush untouched vegetation around the lake, on the departure from my last visit to the lake, it had felt like id seen it in black and white, but now it was stunning, with long lush grasses and beds of thistles, brambles and willow herb fully in flower and all my previous stalking spots completely overgrown.

By the time id walked around the bay i had had over a dozen sightings of carp and decided to drop the kit on the grassy knoll. Going back for the rest of the kit the excitement and anticipation of hooking a fish off the top was racing around my head. I just knew the first fish was going to be the only easy take. Getting the last of my stuff and plenty of water from the car I returned to the swim and even though the fish were all over the area, I had already decided to set up base camp to give me somewhere to retire too, out of the heat whenever I needed too, the temperature was already starting to rise quickly and it wasn’t yet 8am!

With home built and a couple of kilo of B1 boilies applied to an area covering a good few square meters, it was time to get the kettle on and grab a brew while I got the rods organised and a surface rod set up. A few pouches of dog biscuits were fired in to test the reaction of the fish and within minutes they were all gone and things were looking good. After sharing a cuppa with one of the syndicate lads fishing the other pool it was finally time to wet a line!

I decided to give the pop ups a whirl seeing it was early on in the session , I’ve had a few off the surface out of here doing it but they generally wise up to them being different pretty quickly. Banding one on and firing out half a dozen biscuits to my left hand margin I hid behind the high margin cover and the fish rose up in the water and started to attack the mixers. Immediately, I was into a common, the fish dived and decided to head out into open water but it was soon overpowered and straight into the waiting net, a short but spirited fight. A quick call and I soon had a photographer to do me a snap before returning the fish. Nice start 3 days to go!

After a celebratory cuppa and some breakfast it was time to get back on it, I wandered my way around to the spit of land that splits the lake into two separate zones and spent the first 20 minutes trying to fight and prune my way through the jungle of brambles, willow herb and giant hog-weed. I made a pathway along it and cut a few gaps to enable me to get the surface baits out just beyond the overhanging brambles. Flicking out a few mixers towards the island it was again seconds before the pop up was nailed, this time by a mirror carp that decided it wanted to head around the point of land and fly down into the small bay, I had little option but to drop into the water to get an angle of control and soon the fish was beaten, in the net and I was soaked. This fish I recognised as being the very first I had caught out of here. By mid afternoon id managed 3 more off the top to 13lb 8oz. 3 common carp and the mirror I had banked previously last summer.

The best of the first days fishing

I’d had enough of the sun and having had such success I decided it was time to get the rods in on the bottom over the bait. By late evening I was starting to get liners from the area so I was pretty confident the fish had found the food! The liners continued all through the dark hours but I couldn’t get a pick up even after re casting back to the area, if anything when I had used a bag of crumbed boilies the liners got more frequent. Yet there were few nuisance fish in here to my knowledge.

All was quiet at first light and by 8am I had got itchy feet and with the fish showing on the surface near the island it was time to get out onto the point again. The fish seemed a little wary of the mixers and it took me quite a while to get them to respond unlike the previous day. This was typical of the behaviour of these fish from the previous surface session’s id done last year.

I found if I cast the pop up out and followed it in with no more than 6 dog biscuits the fish would respond a little better and I was soon into a fish, as soon as I hooked it, it felt better than those fish id banked the previous day, instead of super fast long runs this kept deep and the thump of its head was felt through the rod. It charged along the rock wall twisting and turning trying to make a break for freedom but with each passing minute it was slowing and tiring. It was with relief that I saw the lips hit the spreader block and I lifted into a stunning dark common of over 15lbs. A quick mat picture and she was released into the small bay, away from the fish I was still angling for.

Getting sorted and having re-baited the area it wasn’t long before I was getting attention from a recognisable fish known as the long common, it was feeding nervously but still showing interest, I let it slurp away freely slowly reducing the amount of freebies in the area, eventually it approached the Scud and hovered below it for what seemed and absolute age, with a flick of its tail it smashed at the hook-bait and I connected to a very angry fish, it made straight for the island and hurled itself clear of the water, as it crashed back down my line went slack, she had somehow managed to spit the tiny size 12 out. I felt cheated and a bit disheartened at the loss, but after a smoke and a few slurps of water I recast to the spot and started the procedure again, cast and then sprinkle a few mixers around the pop up and let the lot drift off on the gentle breeze. A common appeared out of nowhere, id not seen it approach but it smashed at the hook-bait and it was game on! This fish went crazy and powered off to my right, ever trying to reach the sanctuary of the trees and the rocks in the corner of the lake, it was gaining and I was at a point where I had no choice but to tighten down and lean on it, gradually the fish started to kite out into the open water, then once facing my way again it picked up the pace, passing me and keeping on going to my left, It got to the point where again I was stuck for options as it tried to drag me over the rocky outcrop of land, in I went into the lake up to my knees and I got it to turn back , up and down the margins it went leaving whirlpools everywhere it dashed, eventually it came up and gulped air and was soon being tamed into the waiting net, As it went in I saw the mouth and it looked like a huge mouth with a size 12 nicked to the top lip. Looking into the net I was overjoyed to see one of the big girls after losing the long common. It was the rosebud common. Onto the mat and after a good wetting down she was weighed at a little over 20lb.

This was turning into a fantastic weekends fishing. Totally satisfied with my day already, I decided to have a break from the incessant sun and left the fish with half a kilo of dog biscuits to play with freely as they saw fit without any pressure from my angling. I flicked the rods out onto the baited area and added a bit more, tight to the hook-bait spots and settled down for an afternoon snooze. As the evening drew on I woke to the sound of fish crashing about in the small bay to my right and a quick look showed me there was around 15 fish mooching about, sucking in leaves and any other detritus floating around on the surface, I nipped back to the rods and brought them in, grabbed the surface kit and went down to the corner. Flicking out a few dog biscuits, I got a seriously mixed reaction, one group of fish came to them and panicked leaving the area in sheer terror and at such a speed each fish left a furrow through the waters surface. I guess I must have nailed one of the shoal at some point. It was not long before the other fish were all over the freebies so it was time to introduce a hook-bait, slurp and I was in again! The fish went crazy and in doing so scared the living daylights out of everything else in the area, soon it was just me and this one fish left in the bay and she was soon in the folds of the net. A lovely 14lb mirror was my prize and after a quick snap from a passing stranger she was released to go and find her mates again. I was tired, elated and starving so I called it a day and stood the trusty rod down for the remainder of the day. With the arrival of a couple of fellow members that evening, socialising was on the agenda for the night and a cold cider was the order of the day. Shortly after dusk a much welcome easterly breeze picked up and put a nice chop on the waters surface, everything looked perfect for a fish or two. Soon after dark the liners started!

After a series of these liners had caused the bobbin to smack the rod, I lifted it to re-bait, only to realise the rig arrangement had been moved around 12 foot to my left and on the end of a 14mm B1 tipped with a 10mm Scud was the king of all roach! Nailed on a size 6 wide-gaped hook was around 2lb of pristine, smelly, silver roach. It answered a lot of questions to the liners! in the early hours I was to catch a second of the same calibre, I just know I’m taking a rod up there for these next time I visit.

I woke up early Saturday morning with a rod in my hand and an angry carp dragging me around the small bay area of the lake, it was soon beaten and fish number 8, a lovely low double figure common, was in the bag. With a couple of photographs taken he went back to his watery home and the rod was re positioned and I went back to the bag, only waking to another violent liner at around mid morning. I still felt tired and opted for some lazy time for the remainder of the morning, kicking back with coffee, smokes and a little light music on the i-pod, till the urge to stalk the fish got the better of me again, I cant describe how hunting fish off the surface affects me, its definitely a natural hunter instinct coming out in my nature. The buzz I get from seeing my quarry take the bait from close up is like nothing else I’ve experience, be it a carp or trout the buzz is amazing.

It wasn’t long before I was out in the undergrowth again sneaking the bait into tight little spots in the overhanging brambles, I soon latched into a carp from near to the margin that again managed to shed the hook, leaving me feeling deflated, after 2 days in this sun I was starting to take the knock from tiredness and the heat. I decided to give it a miss and headed back to the shade of the bivvy. Turning the corner into the small bay I sat and chatted to a mate who was stalking one of the other pools, to no avail, he was sat on the wall between the 2 lakes so I joined him in the shade, it wasn’t long before a couple of fish were showing tight into the margins of my lake near the overflow pipe so I dribbled a few biscuits into the area once they had departed and lowered a pop up amongst the freebies, as soon as the fish returned to the spot I was away , into a scrappy low double mirror carp, this fish had some power and used all three marginal banks to great effect trying to make sanctuary under the overhanging vegetation and tree canopies, with me just holding on hoping the hook stayed put, that fish was a lovely dark scaly mirror carp just over double figures and my ninth fish on the bank. Now, enough was enough and with the arrival of a friend to see me, it was undoubtedly an occasion for some down time.

With the kettle puffing away I half heartedly dropped 2 of the bottom bait rods into the areas id been fishing and flicked the 3rd out towards the island on a single hook-bait with a small bag of crumbed B1. We were sitting back catching up with each other when the island rod went into meltdown, the fish went off on long deep runs, up and down constantly shaking its head to try to eject my hook-hold but it was soon in the folds of the landing net and my prize was a 14lb lightly scaled mirror carp.

I lazed the rest of the day away, just enjoying the refreshing easterly wind that had sprung up the previous evening, and the company of some great mates, one of whom had finally managed to nail one off the surface of the other lakes so it was celebrations all round and a great mini BBQ had between us. With the session coming to an end and a long drive home the next day I hit the sack early and slept through the night till I woke to a screaming take on a rod off the baited area, I lifted the rod and felt it part company with the fish, my hook-link had been cut cleanly in half and my thoughts are that it could only have been the mussels that abound in the lake. As I was re- doing the rod one of my mates landed his first ever fish out of the venue and whilst it was in his net his second rod ripped off with one of the lakes larger residents, what a fantastic way for the session to end for him. An unfortunate end to the session for me but I have no complaint’s, I had a fantastic and fun but challenging time against the fish and some great company over the weekend. Many thanks to my friends and guests.