The Old Hall pt 9

As we entered into august i had to pull off the lake for a social session that i had arranged earlier in the year, a fun time was had but fish were thin on the ground. My thoughts at all times during this session were on the hall, i couldn't find any drive to my fishing that session, i just felt like i was wasting a weekend by not being on the right venue.
The following session came around quite quickly and i would find myself at the gate to the nature reserve. As i pushed the barrow up the pathway i instantly heard fish crash out, still under the cover of darkness. I left the kit and wandered the bank trying to locate the cause of the disturbance, 50 yards up the path and i heard the fish rock out again, far up in the shallows, i turned back to get the kit. As i arrived back at the other end i then proceeded to hear 3 distinct crashes out in open water at the end of the lake i was stood. Dilemma time, i opted for the brambles and proceeded to get 3 rods out into open water on 5 bait stringers.

This done home was built and i spent till daybreak listening to a few more rolls and crashes out in front of me. Soon after first light this stopped completely. In no time at all the lake started to become busy with passersby heading to work and walking there dogs the carp were decisive in their absence for the day, a stroll up to the shallows would reveal a few fish present but nothing of any major size so not worth the move, i much prefer to sit on the baited area and be patient letting the fish come to me as and when they feel like it. As late afternoon came on i decided  to get a good quantity of bait out, and soon had 2 rods clipped up and marked out to an area with a few kg of bait deposited loosely around the area, one cutting through the middle to the far edge of the area, to give me indications that fish are present in the swim, this helps me decide whether to re bait and to what extent the following day. The 2nd rod off to one side of the spot and again the 3rd rod was down to the right hand end of the lake that had produce me a fair few fish of late.
The night passed uneventfully till just as daylight was creeping in the rod to the side of the swim went off, line was pouring under sufferance off a tight spool and an angry fish greeted me as i lifted the rod, once in the margins the fight really woke up and the fish was launching out and tail walking, doing its damnedest to shed the hook, it held.

In the bottom of my net was a mirror carp, once on the mat, i soon started to believe that this fish was the infamous"twinscales", named after a pair of closely set scales the size of small fingernails on one flank. A small stunted male from one of the earliest stockings of carp into the lake, a fish approaching the 50yrs old mark. Stocked at the same time as Single scale and at a similar size, single scale being a female has grown much bigger during her lifetime in the lake. A small fish but a very special fish to have banked and ticked off the wish list !

The next 2 weeks dragged, it felt like i had missed a session but a check of the calender showed that i was wrong it had only been 11 days since i left the lake, the place is now fully under my skin, thoughts rarely stray far from it in my head, i often find myself up there mooching around then realise I'm sat in the living room or in the garden. So yep id say its under my skin in a big way now. The urge to bank these fish, many of which haven't seen the bank for 10 yrs or more is driving me insane in  a good way.

This session started like most of them do, i arrived with an bit of darkness to spare, i fancied giving the middle area of the lake a go, i seem to have spent all of my sessions at either end of the place, in fact it was my first time on in January that i last fished in the middle of the lake. I opted for what i thought was the double pads swim but come daylight i had set up in the adjacent swim in error. As i arrived on the lake i could hear the occasional crash and roll of fish but it was so dark i couldn't set eyes on any ripples or variance in the lake surface. I flicked the rods out with 10 bait stringers attached into open water at varying ranges, 30, 50 and 70yrds, this last one would be in the deeper channel on the opposite bank. An area Ive neglected if I'm honest and somewhere i plan to put some time into fishing very soon. After the long drive up i was tired and opted for a couple of hours in the bag and try to ignore the early rising dog walkers. It felt like my head had barely touched the pillow when the middle rod went ballistic, I fumbled my way to the rods and picked up a bucking rod, the fish was going away from me then started to kite left, gradually i let it swing around and turned it to me, at no time during the fight did it stop banging around frantically and once finally i the net i popped out a very distorted Gardner talon tip.
A 14lb common greeted me and although no big fish, this carp punched so far above its weight, once on the mat i realised the fish wasn't going to calm down so lowered it into a retainer and slid it out into the margins to calm down, daylight was very close and i could deal with it then. The rod went back out and i settled back with a coffee and a big smile. When i came to do the shots, the fish was still being angry and appeared right peed off with being banked.

Throughout the morning i would see the occasional swirl to my right margin so opted for a rod down the edge in 2 and a half foot of water adjacent to some reeds, although fish passed over this a few times nothing other than a couple of bream settled onto the bait. Late afternoon and i decided to fill the main area in, clipping the rods to a marker it didn't take long to get a large area peppered with clusters of bait leading to a heavily baited central zone. Again one rod in the main area and one off towards an edge of the bait. During the darkness that night i would pick up a couple of small skimmer bream. Using 18mm usually deters these pests picking up the baits but occasionally one will hook themselves. The night came and went and i was up at dawn watching and waiting and hoping for a take. It never came. Mid morning and it was time to top up again in readiness for the coming night time, and out went another kg of rolled bait, this time i made the fatal mistake of spodding out 2 1/2 kg of oily soaked pellets, the bobbins didn't stop all night, the 2 rods on the bait patch were permanently beeping, no sleep was had. Having had a dozen or more slimy bait thieves i was covered in filth and there was no way i was transferring that to my sleeping bag ! Daylight came and the session ended too quickly, i wanted more but that was all i could do.