The Old Hall pt 4

In my keenness to be bank side I had managed an earlier dart from home, arriving at the lake at around 1 am, with the predicted weather for sun and high pressure from Friday on-wards, i had the feeling the fish would turn up at the shallower end of the lake to bathe in the sunshine and enjoy the warmer, shallow water. The rods were positioned with ease due to the near full moon, i could make out much of the lake and dropping a rod to the island and 2 out into open water was easy, they all went out on small bags of crumbed Bacteria B1 with a sprinkling of matching pellets in the bags, home was up and the kettle on by 1.30 am. Setting the phone alarm for 5 am i jumped in the bag to catch up on some much needed sleep after the long drive down. My eyes had barely closed when the repetitive beep of the alarm on the right hand rod signalled a bream had attached itself to the rig. The fish was quickly unhooked in the margins and the rod was recast.
At first light the clouds had come in and with the easterly wind due, the lake looked perfect for some fish activity. The rods were re baited and cast accordingly with just one change, that being the left hand rod was now presented in the mouth of the stream, 60 yards along the left hand bank. The day soon passed with no sightings of the fish in the shallower water. I was so sure they were going to show up and waking up Friday morning to a misty lake i was unsure if i had made the right decision and whether the gamble to be in place ahead of the fishes arrival would work. By 8am the sun had broken through and lit the lake up. A quick jaunt up to the high ground behind my swim and i saw my first fish, a really large backed, black fish was sat on the edge of the reed bed in the corner of the bay, once i had got my eye in i started to notice a few more fish slowly ambling along the reed line.

2ft of water, 2 Swans, Canada's and a dozen ancient carp underneath them

Taking a chance of scaring them i decided to get 2 baits into the area, one as best as i could get it, went into the corner, the 2nd rod went back out onto the stream bed, with a 16mm scud popping up an inch off the bottom, both slackened right off, but on a very tight clutch. Back up to the high ground and i was amazed to see the fish were still present and now in greater numbers, By mid morning there were now around 15 fish present, milling around lazily in the sunshine. They were cruising in and out and along the reed lined edges in around 18 inches to 2 foot of water and were so visible in the crystal clear water. It was a fantastic sight. Over on the far margin i could see what i thought was a group of fish moving together, i watched them work their way along the reed line then suddenly the reality hit me that this was not a cluster of fish, but one very long, wide fish. It turned into the reed line before coming passed me and i soon lost sight of it.
Over the course of the day i would see fish using the same area of water time after time, always following a similar route to and from the shallowest water and often cruising over the 2 sandy plateaus i could now see. Waiting for an opportunity whereby there were no fish visible on the far margin, i recast the island rod to the farthermost sandy area near the treeline, slackened off a little line and cranked up the clutch, thankfully nothing spooked out of the area.
 Up to the high ground again, to watch and learn, the moment i could see a fish approaching a baited area i had to dash down onto the rods, eagerly awaiting a take on the rods. I would give it a few minutes then clamber back up to see the fish had ignored the bait. i was starting to feel like a Yo Yo.
By mid afternoon there were less fish showing, a little wander around the area of the stream and i could still see the odd fish creeping about. They were still up here, but now most were sat deep in the reed beds, basking but barely moving.
A friend came down to see me and on his way he had seen a big fish at the other end of the lake, this he believes to be one of  the missing fish. I took a walk and set eyes on the 3rd big lump of the day, a really pale fish, it was sitting under the choppy surface and was a good way down but was still huge to look at.
As evening drew on i moved the rods back to the baited areas, reluctant to fish the rods so close the reeds throughout the dark hours. The rods were quiet through the first few hours of darkness but once the near full moon lit the lake up the bream awoke and went on the feed. I got little sleep that night until dawn was breaking when the liners and bleeps stopped. Id managed to avoid hooking so many by doubling up on the bait size, fishing 2 16mm bottom baits with a slice of scud on top on each rig
The final day came and with it a cold overcast day, a quick check of the weather and it looked like they had changed there minds about the day, the sun wasn't due till late afternoon. I contemplated a move for the remainder of the session and having seen the big pale fish at the other end of the lake the thought of it kept eating away at me. With having had little quality sleep since arriving, it was only the coffee that was keeping me going, i was totally shattered and decided i really didn't have the energy to move so stayed put on the big beds of bait i had put out. At around 2 pm the sun started to make an appearance and within no time so did the fish, not as many as the previous day, but they were here and that's all that mattered. I was back on fish. As the evening drew on there were more carp gathering up in the shallow water, and i fully anticipated a pick up. Again i was up and down the bank watching the spots, seeing carp come right over my rigs, but totally ignoring them, where they just not feeding or was the end tackle blatantly obvious in the shallow water ?Darkness came on and i jumped in the bag early, with a 7am departure the following morning i was going to need some decent sleep. Shortly after 9 the middle rod over the main baited area went into meltdown. There was no time to get into the shoes, instinctively it was out in the socks, lifting the rod into a weighty fish, it went right, powering for the island, but turned at first time of asking, from that point on it did little as i manoeuvred it towards me, once in the very shallow water at the reed margin it seemed to wake up and suddenly became a handful, such an angry fish in shallow water this one. On second attempt i slid the net under it and saw a common carp of bulky proportions, once on the mat the reality of a repeat capture of "stumpy" common was apparent. A quick mat shot and a lift on the scales revealed him to no weigh 19lb 3oz and back he went powerfully.

It had been a tough frustrating session being on the fish so often and so close that this felt like a result. A quick brew and i was back in bed, smiling I'm sure. It wasn't long before a 5lb bream had hung itself on the island rod, managing to get a double 16mm bait into its greedy mouth. Over the night i was woken to bleeps and a few more greedy bream, again as with the previous few nights, up until first light, when they seem to switch off, a quick coffee and it was wrap up and go time.