The Old Hall pt 2

I was in luck, i had managed to extend this session into a 3 nighter if i felt like staying for the extra period of darkness, it would mean an up and early departure but it could be worth it. I woke early by nearly an hour and decided not to turn over and get the extra hour, but to get myself sorted and on the road, Leaving the house at 4.30am in torrential rain, the roads were deserted, an uneventful hour and half passed by and i turned into the car park unbelievably the rain came to a sudden stop, i shouldered the first batch of kit and headed towards the lake, as i turned the corner i could hear the stream raging through into the shallows. I was hit with a dilemma, i had mentally planned to fish the far bank, with it being on the north bank it would receive the winter sun and i believe the fish would be present along the reed lined margins, but with this much water going into the lake the dissolved oxygen levels would be exceptionally high and i was confident the fish would be up at this shallow end and around the stream. I opted to give the area 24 hours and then make the move to the northern bank if i had seen little or no activity.

Setting up with 30 or so minutes of  darkness i was in no rush to drop the rods in, the rain was coming back on and with it the south westerly that had been forecast, i wanted to place the rigs with accuracy and minimal disturbance, i didn't want to cast each rod more than the once. As the first light filtered through i could see the areas and it was time to drop the baits in. Obviously the stream would receive a rod at around 20 yards to my right, this would be a finely balanced, but very stiff, corn baited rig to be fished over a mix of pellet and corn. The left rod was flicked out 30 yards towards the island and the middle rod flicked the 90 yards across to the far reed lined margin, both on balanced blow back rigs with 16mm bottom baits and 10mm yellow scuds, the scuds really do compliment a balanced rig like this and having tested it in the silty margins of other waters, i know the rig sits just proud of the bottom. A few pouches of corn and B1 pellet to the stream, a dozen pouches of pellet and 40 bacteria bottom baits out to the left hand rod and 50 baits flicked out along the far margin with the throwing stick. It was time for a brew.

Reaching for the kettle the rod on the stream gave 2 bleeps, peering round the corner of the bivvy i saw the rod bucking in the rests, fish on. A short but spirited fight ensued, the fish managing to make sanctuary int he reeds for a few seconds before constant pressure brought it back into open water, once in the margins it ploughed around on the surface and made some strong dives but was soon under control and in the back of the net. This was a very long mirror. It was carrying a fair amount of mucus build up, so after a few shots on the camera by a well timed syndicate member, the fish was treated and returned non the worse for his ordeal, for such a long fish of around 36 inches he only weighed in at 15lb 3 oz, but the weight of these fish are irrelevant to me, its all about catching these elusive fish. Shortly after the release of the fish and before id had chance to re bait, the left hand rod was nodding in the rests resulting in a bream of around 3 1/2 lb.

cracking start to a session

With the 2 rods replaced into their successful positions it was finally time for that much needed brew. Sitting back i was suddenly aware of what had actually happened, the rigs had been in the water for around 10 minutes and had given me my 3rd carp from the venue on my 3rd visit. I could have wrapped and gone home i was so happy to have succeeded in banking another. Thoughts turned to what may happen during the rest of the session. Lunch time came and went with little sighting of fish, the tufties and coots were making short work of the bait i had applied to the left hand rod, but were leaving the other two areas alone. Ill settle for that, at least 2 spots were nice and quiet. With such an early start and a tiring drive down in the heavy rain, i thought id treat myself to an hour or so on the bed with my feet up, i was happy and content, if i didn't have another fish this session i would still be content with the result. I was persecuted by the wildlife and decided to leave them to clean me out and top the swim up as darkness fell.

I had not long drifted off into a half slumber when i came too to a take on the left hand rod, flying out to hit it, i leaned into a lump, it spent itself trying to reach the sanctuary of the island and with even pressure was soon kiting away from it to my right, this fish was power-full and felt much heavier than the previous fish. The fight was soon over and in the net sat a large mirror with few scales. 21lb and 3 oz of lean but fighting fit mirror carp. A quick call and i soon had a camera man, i found out the fish to be another of the originals having spent around 48 yrs in the lake. I couldn't believe how my luck was running on the new water.

48 year old creature weighing in at  little over 21lb

With the rod positioned back on the feed spot and with a few hours of daylight left i baited up with around 1/2 kg of bacteria pellets along with another 40 baits, i could finally settle back for some much needed rest, laying back i couldn't sleep i was still too overwhelmed by my day. I spent the rest of the day and much of the evening watching the water and after a hearty Balti curry i finally succumbed to sleep.

Unusually for me i slept through the night and woke to the dawn chorus and a finer day than the previous, although there had been a heavy ground frost, the cold wind was still pushing straight at me but the sky's were blue, promising some much needed sunshine. By mid morning, the sun was as high in the sky as it was going to get, yet it had barely lit the bivvy up, the far bank was bathed in glorious sunshine and i was confident the rod over on that margin could produce a fish. The day passed, along with thoughts of the move, i was going nowhere, although id seen little and received no indications of fish present in the area, this day, i couldn't move out of the swim having had it produce two fish for me. The temperatures dropped in the night due to the clear sky's and the third day broke with very similar conditions, a heavy frost and clear blue sky's, as much as it meant it was going to be a nice day again, the low pressure that had produced the fish for me had long passed, leaving high pressure and tougher winter conditions for catching carp. I was unsure whether to see the final night out  but mid afternoon the stream rod went off on a run, leaning into what initially i thought was a big bream, i steered it passed the reeds before realising it was a small mirror, the fight was over in seconds and my 5th fish from the venue was nestled in the folds of the net. How could i even think of leaving when they were obviously still in the area and prepared to feed. The fish was a small one at around 8lb, its is one of the resulting fish from a successful spawn a few years back

With the evening drawing on i put the last of my pellet into the area around the left hand rod and topped up with another 40 baits, i decided to bring the middle rod into open water with a scattering of 20 baits in a wide area around it and flicked out a few more pouches of corn around the stream with that rod positioned to the near edge to avoid the line passing through the swim. The evening passed quickly and i packed the bulk of the kit in readiness for an early departure. I set the phone to ensure i didn't sleep through but there was little chance of that with the start of the dawn chorus at around 6.30, i had the spare time for a cuppa before the rods had to be brought back in, it was now or never for a final fish, it was not to be, but after the session id had, i wasn't overly worried, i left anticipating the next session in a couple of weeks time.

The Old Hall

Towards the end of last season i was shown around a lovely old estate lake and given the opportunity of a ticket on it for this up coming season, i accepted and made mental plans over the last few months of the year, thoughts of the lake drifted in and out of my mind as the year came to a close. The lake is only fished by a select hand full of anglers and i was honoured to have been given the chance to go at some ancient creatures residing in there, many of which are nearing the ripe old age of 50 years. At around 4 acres and around 35 fish this was to be a new challenge with the chance of some stunning old fish.

With the new year being very mild and late January exceptionally warm it was time for a visit and a 2 night session was organised. Arriving with around half an hour of darkness still, i wandered the banks and found a comfy spot halfway along one bank, with high winds forecast to fish the opposite bank would have been foolish,  this spot would give me pretty much a full view of the lake due to the lack of canopy on the trees.
Having got the kit sorted and home built, it was out with the marker rod to find some likely areas to fish this session and to get an overall idea of water depths, silt patches and such like. Finding the marginal shelf quite sandy and containing areas of interest, with a few feet of water above it, a margin rod was established and baited up lightly. The other rods were fished out toward an island and one in open water, both surrounded by a light scattering of bait. Once settled i did a little marker work from the swims adjacent to my area, i could pretty much get a lead to most areas and finished up with a good mental image of the lake bed and structure. The lake slopes away gradually from the shallower north east corner to around 8 ft in front of the left hand end, no drop offs or features were found, but i occasionally felt the drag of silt.

Over the 2 days i spent up there, much of it was in driving rain and howling winds, i spent much of my time watching the water for signs of fish, but so early on in the year it was unlikely i would spot anything to go on and the session ticked away nicely towards its end.

It would be 2 weeks before i could get myself back up to the Old Hall lake and again i managed to arrive with an hour of darkness still on me. I had been working on a pre-conceived idea that the fish would be sitting in the deeper water for the winter so i settled into the bottom left corner of the lake, again with the strong winds coming off my back, giving me as much escape and comfort from the gusting wind as i could gain. Following through with my plans i fished a rod about a third of the way along the west bank, this went out on a balanced corn bait, over a few handfuls of corn and a similar quantity of B1 pellets, into 8 ft of water. With the line left to settle slackly onto the lake bed, it was time to prepare the other spot. I wanted to present a decent spread of bait in a good depth of water, so found a spot in seven foot of water, within comfy range for flicking pva bags out to, dropping the two rods no more than 10ft apart. I deposited a spread of 40 16mm B1 baits around the hook baits, and topped up the area with  dozen pouches of the B1 pellet.

As the afternoon drew on i had been harassed by the bird life with coots, tufties and moorhens all competing for the food id applied to my swims, but after a few had dived and came shooting up to the surface and clearing off out the area, i was sure there were carp present in the area. As darkness fell the left hand rod gave a couple of bleeps and then proceeded to rip off, i leaned into my first Old hall carp, it steamed along the reed lined margins all the time attempting to bury itself in them, i kept the pressure on and in time the fish turned out into the lake and kited across towards me and into my margins, after a few more dives in the shallow edge i managed to steer it over the net and the fish was mine.

A stunning common carp of 16lb 9 oz, a true bar of gold, with pictures done it was slipped back to its watery home and i was happy as a pig in muck. Off the mark so early into the season on the lake, i was on cloud 9.

The evening passed and in due course it was time to get some needed sleep, the night was uneventful and i woke to a slate grey sky with howling gales and driving rain. Not wanting to disturb the areas i was fishing i decided i would leave the rods alone for the day and by late afternoon the daylight hours were drawing to a close and had passed with no indications or sightings of fish. With the rods baited up with fresh hook baits and again small pva bags they were dropped back into the same areas and a few more pouches of pellets applied to the swim. Again the second night passed with no disturbance. With just one night left the weather on the Saturday morning took a turn for the worst, the gale force winds had picked up and were battering at me, some of the gusts were starting to scare me. By mid afternoon i was coming close to calling an early end to the session, the wind was getting even worse and was now driving the rain horizontally across the lake in waves, the surface of the water being whipped up to a foam. The decision to stay on was not made lightly but with just an hour of day light to go there seemed to be a drop in the amount and strengths of of the gusts, although the constant battering of the gale was still taking its toll on me. The rods were sorted out and re positioned on the spots with the exception of the right hand rod that was flicked up towards the right hand margin but in the deeper water off the marginal shelf. My decision to move this rod came about simply due to the fact that the previous carp had come from what was pretty much a marginal spot, albeit with 8ft of water above it. Shortly after darkness fell, this rod went into meltdown, lifting into a weighty fish it started to kite towards the reed line, but with gentle even pressure it was steered back into the open water. It wouldn't be too long before i slipped the net under my second Old Hall common carp, immediately i was aware this was one of the original fish from the lake and my spirits roared, one of the ancient beasts was in the net. A call went out to a couple of the lads who fish this water and it wasn't long before i had a hand with the photographing of such an ancient fish.

With the excitement over and the fish returned, i escaped the weather and got back into the comfort of the bivvy, dried off and racked up the kettle, a brew was well overdue. The last night passed pleasantly considering the howling gale and driving rain. The pack down the following morning being a wet one was done in haste, but prior to leaving the remainder of the bait i had with me went out onto the areas i had been fishing.

"Silty Mere" pt 8

The next month saw me fishing alongside Andy to sightings of fish at range from the back wall. We had decided to work together and bait up a large area and both have rods on it. This was the only place we had seen fish show with any regularity. Each week saw me making the trek round through the woods to the back wall, with Andy arriving as soon as he could escape the evils of work. We had been spodding to an area that had a light spattering of weed at around 110 yards, with a 10kg hemp/hemp pellet spod mix. On top of this would go a kilo of 18mm boilies and at least 2 rods, one on the edge and the other right in amongst the free bait. Within an hour or two of finishing spodding, the fish would show up in the area and start shouldering, tailing and getting their heads down. They were, obviously loving it. Could we get a pick up? Not a hope. Occasionally we would get what we assumed were line bites, whenever this happened fish would exit the swim sharpish creating furrows through the shallow water.

           

During this long spell of inactivity on the lake we were seeing fish every weekend turn up in our baited zone, but never getting pick ups. I had to miss a weekend due to family commitments, what a weekend. Big scale had been seen looking huge, and to top it all out she came to Andy on a quick evening session off the top. Great stuff, Oh the weight, well we don’t really know. Andy’s scales bottomed out at 30lb!  A fortnight later she was out again at a staggering 31lb 14oz! I can only imagine how poor Andy felt. Still his first 20 was his first 30. I just had to have a piece of her while she was up at this weight. Having had her at 29lb 12oz three times, I just had to.

I got down handy on the Friday morning, 4am to be precise, the missus doing the school run meant I was away early. To be totally honest my eyes didn’t shut that night, I got the kit round to the back and collapsed on top of it. A few swigs of water and the rods were out on singles into the well prepared hemp area. Andy had been down on the Tuesday and topped it all up with another 10kg mix. In total we had now used approximately 70kg of hemp/hemp pellet mix in the last few sessions. I settled in and got the kit organised. Kettle on and I’m all done.

God it looked good, but didn’t it always. I had opted to fish a rod to the snags, something I don’t like doing from this peg as it can get a bit scary as there is a closed off snaggy peg to my right and fish always seemed to try and get in there, saying that, Rick had fished it a lot and had had no real trouble. My eyes were trying to shut by 9am and as fight it I decided to get some sleep. I had seen no signs of fish anywhere on the lake since I had arrived. I awoke to a screaming run.

After a tussle and a half in flapped and bounded what was surely a big twenty. I peered into the net to see a big mirror, she had looked big last time out at Easter, but nothing like this. Her colours had darkened since the spring and she had the most wonderful slate grey colouring to her upper flanks. Onto the mat, scales zeroed, and up she went. I could not believe what my digital scales were telling me, 27lb 11oz, surely not. I repeated the weighing procedure and again she went to the same place. I carefully sacked her up and took her out into some deeper water.

Onto the phone I went, the 2 Andy’s, Rick, and a few others back home. Within 30 minutes Andy was down from Chester and with me getting ready for the photo shoot. He had arrived at the perfect moment of the return, and we watched her swim away. Two years time and I reckon she will go thirty.

After a short weekend away in the welsh hills, I was back, filled with hope. Big Scale had been visiting my hemp bed for at least six or seven weeks. Rick and I started walking the fields towards the back wall. No way, we must have misread the angling log in the security offices. We thought we were the only ones on. Distraught we got to tench corner where we found Simon. I definitely had misread the log. Simon had been there for the previous two evenings for just a few tinca’s, yet out in front of him were carp, everywhere! We stopped and chatted for a while, discussing where he had seen fish and the times they were showing. From what Rick and I saw, the fish were all over the bottom end of the lake and showing out in front of the boards. We both agreed it looked like they were going through the motions of spawning, Simon was going at first light the following morning so I chose to stay put on tench corner and put all my rods out long so as not to disrupt his fishing too much. Rick high tailed it round to the double peg on the back wall. Good stuff, this meant that a moved could be made if things changed. Darkness fell and we seemed to have the whole lakes population of carp between ourselves and Rick on the far bank.

            

After a good social evening of beer and smokes with Si, into the bag I went, thoughts of Big Scale in the mind. My worries were now whether she had spawned and dropped a big chunk off weight. Just after climbing in I got a short run and flew outside in my socks, the bobbin had dropped back to its original position, bloody bream.  I awoke to the dawn chorus, and with 20 minutes or so before daylight I started to re-bait and reposition the rods. As I went to reel in the third rod I disturbed what was obviously a good fish at about 60 yards out, it turned and headed to the left where it stopped and turned back. I quickly threw a halibut on and a small tangerine sized bag of hemp pellets and dropped it 10 yards in front of the fish. I was disappointed to see it turn and head out into the centre of the lake. Unimpressed with myself for scaring it out I turned, set the bobbin and jumped back into the bag, leaned out and put the kettle on. Watching the lake from the comfort of my bed I soon realised the fish from the previous evening had gone, as had often been the case on here. They seemed to move around a lot due to the amount of pressure from the lines in the water. Swigging down my brew, I got a call on the phone from Rick to see what was happening, I told him of my error and I could sense his sharp intake of breath. Just as I put the radio down I noticed a slight disturbance over the last rod I had cast. Suddenly a large swirl a single beep from the alarm, the bobbin twitching, and off it went. All hell broke loose as I connected with the fish. A hefty lunge and I knew who this was. Thump, thump to my left she went. She kited into the margins and headed for the pads, it was here I had seen a glimpse of the plates on her right flank. Now I was crapping it. Don’t lose her, don’t lose her, I kept repeating myself to myself. I followed her up the bank trying to gain line, trying being the operative word. Away she went stripping line of the reel, this time I leant into it and stopped her quickly, in she came and away to my right she went, crashing into Si’s left hand rod, he awoke to the sound of his alarm and flew out of his bivvy, as she went underneath his other rods. I leant again and she turned, wallowing just 10 yards out. Oh yes it’s her. Realising what was happening he got to grips with the net and crouched next to me. I told him who it was and he smiled, into the net first time, thankfully. Yes! Now, for the weighing procedure.

As I lifted her onto the mat, I didn’t think she was any bigger than when I had last caught her. Now I really was crapping it. I sent Si to wake up Andy the bailiff. With their help she went up on the scales just as the battery in my digitals packed in. Typical! Everything zeroed again and up she went on Si’s Avon scales and round went the dials. He read it aloud and my smile grew even larger 30lb 2oz. Well chuffed. A little dance, and into my arms she went for the photographs. Truly, she is an awesome beast, amazing! Back she went into her watery hole, with a flick of her tail she did her usual trick of a good soaking and off she went straight across the lake to the snag island. On went the kettle and off back to bed went Andy and Simon.Leaving me to my thoughts. Out went the call to Rick, he was buzzing for me and he already knew from my dance that I had done my first thirty. Out went the texts and phone calls.

I spent the rest of the session on the shallows but my heart was not really in it. Had I not travelled up to the lake with Rick I honestly believe I would have wrapped up and gone home. Rick followed this capture up the following morning with a fish I have not caught, called the ‘Orange One’ at a good weight of 24lb. My targets were achieved and I was finished. The Silty mere is now a venue I would see little of, I feel that to chase one or two fish in this lake would only see me getting too many repeat captures of some magnificent fish, but I need to move on, hopefully taking some good friends with me to new pastures. 

"Silty Mere" pt 7

We were loaded up by 9.05 and on the motorway by 9.10am. The following 50 minute drive was to prove slightly shorter than usual, even with a 50mph stretch of the M53. We signed in with security and were crossing the fields by 10am. After dumping all the kit onto peg 1 we decided to have a good mooch round. After all, there was no rush, we had four nights and five days. We had got it right, everybody had gone home, with the exception of Ian on the back wall. We knew Ian had already been on the lake for five days with only a single tench and a pike for his troubles, yet every thing looked perfect. We opted to fish from the back wall having seen what we though were fish moving at a good distance out. Dropping the adjacent swims either side of Ian, this looked like it was going to be a social evening. Ian, at this time, was contemplating going home in the morning which meant Rick and I could double up in the big peg. Until then I would fish the stump swim. I was happy about this as it was off the reed bed opposite me that the ‘Pretty One’ was last to be caught the previous autumn.

I began my session with the application of 5 kilos of hemp and pellet mix. This was spodded into a reasonably hard clay area about 60 yards out with deep silt surrounding it. A few 21mm pellets were catapulted on top and a rod dropped nicely on the right hand side of the baited area. The second rod was fished about 80 yards to the corner of the reed bed on a halibut boilie and the third rod was thrashed out towards the large clay area in the central area of the lake, on a single 18mm Maple8 boilie. A few baits were sticked out towards where the lead had landed and I was pleased to see all the baits were to land within a few yards or so of my hook bait. I was fishing this at the back of Ian’s swim slightly, but it was out of his casting range so it felt sort of justified.

As twilight crept in, all the rods were re-positioned with fresh hook baits and the traps were set. After a chat and brew we were all surprised at the lack of nuisance fish. I turned in early that night as I was tired and struggling to keep my eyes open. 11.30 and I was being woken by Ian telling me Rick had the common in his net. I struggled to wake and get out of my bag, but knew how much I had to. I approached Rick and shook his hand, smiles all round. Up she went taking the Reuben’s round to 24lb 2oz, a little under weight, but in excellent condition. Waking to the alarm clock on the mobile at 5am on the first morning of a 5 day was a little upsetting but up I got. A quick scan of the lake surface and I could see nothing. I sculled my rods in one at a time and put out fresh baits. Whilst doing this I heard what could only have been Ritchie casting a bait to a long range mark, once I was done I went to see him with cup in hand. A glance at his face and I knew I hadn’t dreamt the common. Drinking coffee and crouching in the dark watching a glass flat lake surface as dawn creeps on can teach you a thing or too about carp, as light filtered through we were sure we could see one or maybe even two carp cruising just below the surface at about 100 yards away straight out from us. They were definitely on the silt patch. By 10am even Ian had risen from the depths of his sleeping bag and we still had not had a touch. Well, other than tuftie’s and coots which were all over my hemp mix, I decide a wander was in order. Nobody had been near the shallows since we arrived and with the sun on the water I felt like it was worth a look. Rick joined me and we were soon clambering the stile to tench corner. We got to the shallows to find two stock fish about 10 yards out from the little island and a few other fish cruising a range. A move seemed in order already. As we turned to head back a fish chose to announce its location off the smaller set of reeds about 90 yards out from the bank. Three times it lumped out. That was enough for me. Within the hour Rick and I had stripped my kit and bundled it round to the shallows to find even more fish had moved in. He had decided to stay put on the back wall. Having had the common straight off, in his position, I think I would have done the same.

My left hand rod was cast to within inches of the overhanging branches on the little island, with a 21mm hook bait pellet and pva bag of 4mm pellets. The middle rod was fished on a Maple8 boilie with a 3 bait stringer, tight to the reeds where the carp had shown itself, and the right hander was thrashed to the sunken island 140yards away again on Maple8 but this time with just a single hook bait as a stringer would stop me getting the range on my cast. Instead I used the throwing stick to get some freebies out to about 90 yards, even the 18mm baits would go no further. All day long the fish were coming in and out of the shallows cruising in what seemed to be threes and fours. This had to go off, surely.

By late afternoon a light breeze had sprung up from the south west pushing water slightly in towards me. This was looking good. I could still see the occasional carp on the back of the wind in the flat water but there did not appear to be the numbers that had been here earlier. By darkness the water had flattened off and I was worried that they may have followed the breeze. I could see nothing. I could not even move back to the far bank as Rob had arrived around 7pm and dropped into my peg from the previous night.Wednesday morning and again I was up before the dawn chorus. As light levels rose I thought I could see fish out towards the sunken island so out went fresh baits. As the suns rays started to break through the haze thick, low, cloud cover arrived, creating a cool morning, this was soon followed by a south westerly breeze. Not good spotting weather at all. By 6.30am I was on my third coffee and hundredth prayer to the Pretty One or any other carp that may take a fancy to my baits. Come to think of it even a tench would be a start. Still seeing nothing, and nowhere to make a move to, I decided to put out a bed of 70, 21mm halibuts, at about 50 yards, directly in my vision, hoping to stop any greedy pigs in their tracks. These baits were in about 2 foot of water so I should see anything showing an interest in them. If this was to be the case then I could quite easily drop lead sizes and get baits amongst the fish with little or no disturbance.

11.25am and my middle rod, at the reeds, received a single beep, followed by a fast drop back, immediately I was on it and soon picked up enough loose line to come into contact with a solid fish, this was no tench. After a short but spirited fight a superb linear stock fish lay on my mat. Weighing in at 13lb 12oz, not a large fish, but I was overjoyed. After the photography was completed, thinking it was a repeat capture, I got my pictures out to find it was a different fish to what I though. Chuffed.

By mid afternoon I decided to reel in and go and see Rob and Rick, after a quick social and a brew I headed back towards my peg but this time going over the fields so I could get some freebies out over the trees, nice and tight on the reed bed where I had had the fish from. Once done I went back and repositioned the hook baits back onto their spots.

The sun broke through and soon after Rick hooked into a big fish, this turned out to be ‘Big scale’nice one Rick! Something stopped me from going round and seeing it. I don’t know why but I just didn’t bother, deciding to watch the weighing and photographing of the fish through my monocular. Shortly after the return and phone calls I was settling in behind my rods when one of the other regulars approached. I thought I saw my right hand rod twitch but then the other two rocked. Wind I thought. As he asked what it was Rick had caught, my right hander went off on a single tone run. This was an epic struggle as I had hooked the fish 10 yards off the snag island at about 140 yards out. I had it on a tight line from the off as the clutch was screwed right up. The stretch in the Daiwa sensor mono was doing its job nicely. Up and down it went along the island not trying to go in but also not coming any closer. Personally I don’t think it realised it was hooked. I had to put pressure on it. As I did so it started to turn in towards me and pick up speed, I struggled to keep it all tight but managed it, with some luck, I may add. Once it was within 20 yards of the bank it went ballistic. Coming right up out of the water, tail walking, was a big mirror carp. I could see the lead hanging off her chin and the little teeny size six peeking out of her rubbery lips. It didn’t look a very tight hook hold to me but thankfully into the net she went and out popped the hook. She had been netted well, up on the scales she went and at 25lb dead on.

This was an excellent weight for her. She was photographed by a newcomer to the lake, another Andy, a decent lad I had met quite a few times through the previous winter and early spring. I had learnt not to acquaint myself too readily on this lake as people came and went quite rapidly. Unbelievably as we were taking the photographs Rick was landing the dark scaley one on the far bank. This session was already looking promising.

As darkness started to creep up on us, baits were set for the night and being up at this end of the lake, alone I sat and brewed up, sitting on my unhooking mat watching the lake until the late hours when I finally dragged myself into bed. Thursday morning, same routine as usual, up early and sat on the rods. Just after first light a text from Ritchie reveals a new unknown twenty, 23lb to be exact. This fish was virtually identical to the one id had the previous day and so unsure of it we had to check Ricks pictures against the digital images from my capture the day before, Oh yes she’s different, just. I put another 70, 21mm pellets out over the same spot as yesterday just in case. If they don’t show at least it concentrates the tuftie’s and coots into one place. I had just finished a superb sausage breakfast whilst watching the reeds at the bottom end of the lake when I saw a very big fish crash out, I trained the monocular on the spot, up came the fish again. That’s enough for me. I wrapped the kit and made the move to the now vacant tench corner. As I passed one of the regulars he offered a hand and asked if I had ants in my pants. I told him what I had seen and he replied saying he could not be bothered moving again and I must be mad, he had left tench corner less than 15 hours ago. Twenty minutes later and I was in tench corner, scanning for any visible signs of carp. Up I clambered into the alders, but could still see nothing. I opted to fish two long rods over the silt bowl, and one towards the third platform off the reed beds. All were fished on Single 18mm boilie’s. As darkness fell the wind picked up pushing hard towards the reeds. The forecast was for rain and it was soon to arrive, not heavy but persistent.

5am and I am woken by the cessation of the rain drumming on the brolly. All was quiet, a scan of the lake and I could see it was flat calm. I swung my feet into my boots and threw the kettle on. Well this is it the last morning, come on fish, come on Pretty One! During the night I had seen a headlamp from across the lake where Rick was fishing and assumed he had landed a fish and would have it sacked up. I put my coat on and reeled all three rods I, re-baited and hung them on the rests. Grabbing my brew I walked round through the woods to go and get the photo’s done for him, I could then settle down for the last few hours of the session. I get round there to find he was recasting towards some fish showing at range, not far from where I had just dragged my rods from. Rick, it turns out, had lost the fish in the margins and had not received any other action all night. I scrounged a few boilie’s as I had about six left and that was it, I was off back to my rods. All were repositioned almost exactly the same positions as they were previously in.

At around 7 o’clock a fish visited my right hand margin where I did not have a hook bait, as I had opted to fish all 3 rods at range. Minutes later and it was back again. As it left I reeled in the right hand rod and placed it in the swim, surrounded by half a dozen crumbed baits. My eyes were closed when I distantly heard the unmistakable sound of a delkim. It was mine! Assuming it was the marginal rod I made a grab for it, suddenly realising the line was leaving the middle rod at a fast rate. I struck and smiled as I felt the pressure of a big fish. This was no stocky. After a hectic struggle I managed to manoeuvre the fish into the nearby margins, Andy was on hand with the net but the fish was having none of it. A quick sighting of a big yellow stomach and I said “ I think this is big scale, its going hard like big scale”, as the fish neared in front of the net I saw a series of huge moon scales on the fishes right hand shoulder. It was the Pretty One!

            I started to stress, she was punishing me up and down the margins always trying to turn out into deeper water and eventually i managed to guide her to the waiting net and in she went first time, Andy lifted and she was mine. A quick call to rick with the words “Pretty One” and as we sorted out mats, scales and the like he dragged his rods in and high tailed it round to us.

     What a fish, photo’s done and looking spot on she went back quietly and slid out of my hands seemingly without a care in the world. Oh yes and the weight 21lb 7oz.  

The following two weekends would see me start at the far end of the lake on tench corner for the day and night, then I would end up moving in the morning after sighting fish cruising in the shallows. Each time the move would produce fish soon after positioning baits along known patrol routes, the result, being a few stockies and the following weekend, an unknown fish at 19lb and a repeat capture of the damaged mirror at 18lb. Followed by another repeat capture of the small common. The fish were becoming easy to find and track around the lake, getting pick ups was becoming the norm in the sessions.

"Silty Mere" pt 6

March saw me trying to keep the wind coming off my back and with the Northerly winds we were getting this saw me concentrating my efforts on the back wall. The first weekend saw the densest fog I have ever fished in, settle on the fields around the mere. In fact, from the car park I couldn’t even see the stile! Things felt good on this session especially after the sighting of not one but two carp roll off to the left of the big peg just after darkness. Baits were, as usual, fished in the normal feeding spots, but to no avail. Self doubts had settled in after many long winter nights fishing but things were starting to look really good and the following few sessions just saw everything slotting into place, buds swelling on branches, activity from critters in the undergrowth, pheasants waking me at first light and shrews everywhere ! A few sessions into March saw me move back over to tench corner, the previous weeks wind was pretty much a constant south westerly, this pushing into the little shallow bay on my right. The lake was seeing more and more newcomers each week and due to this I started to bivvy up to the right of the alders, mainly to reduce the risk of an unwanted neighbour moving into my area. Odds were low on sighting fish due to the waves, crashing all along the bank. Baited zones were established as quickly as possible, with the usual marginal spot set up; my right hand rod was put out the 70 yards to the reed bed just off the third platform. This was a single Active 8 pop-up mounted up about 1”. The middle rod was put out on a halibut pellet and fished over a pva bag of 4mm halibuts. Having had a visit from Andy, I found out that Rob had caught a dozen fat tench over the last couple of nights. These were all caught at range from the double peg on the back wall. After watching Rob for a while I could see the range he was chucking his leads. Long. By my judgement he was dropping them on the hard mound in front of the 3rd and 4th platform. That night the wind and rain increased in their vigour. Every few seconds there were waves crashing against the side of the bivvy. According to the local weather forecast we were to get gusts up to gale force 6 - 7, no problems I thought I’ve been in worse than this.

By first light I was considering a move to the back wall for some protection and maybe some sleep, I had not slept too much as I had been hanging on to the bivvy for all it was worth. I started to wrap the kit up when the middle rod went off with a wet screech. A half minute later and I was unhooking a mature bream of around 6lb, back it went and out came the rods. A quarter of an hour later saw me in the relative calmness of the double peg, tucked in tight to the Holly tree, rods out at range, (all three), kettle on. Bliss.

The Radio provided me with regular weather reports and the forecast was looking really bad with gale-force winds of 8 -9 and driving rain. Thankfully now off the back of me. The reality of being in the lee of the trees was brought home to me when the first branch hit the water surface 10 yards out. During the afternoon I awoke three times to hear trees cracking and coming down in the woods.

Later in the night I would wake to hear another four trees cracking, on what sounded like the sunken island to my right.I awoke to belting run on the left hand rod, I hit it and it kited to the right, then nothing. I reeled in to find a hook-length that was shredded, damn pike! The winds were still hammering at the bivvy and after struggling to survive it i decided to call it a day. Walking back through the woods I had to make two detours to get round the downed trees and branches and had to unload my trolley to get past the big oak that had snapped off about 15 foot up from the ground.

The last weekend in March saw yet another blank session, but this time it was event-full. After thinking I had seen a fish rise in front of board 3, I had reeled my rods in and went for a wander. The entrance to the platforms is now destroyed and would be a challenge to get your kit onto them!  I balanced my way on and crept along. With the reeds having died back, I had little natural cover so moved slowly, putting my feet down carefully every footstep.

As I sneaked down to the 3rd platform a fish bowed out from 10 yards in front of me! Gutted but sort of pleased I checked out the others the same thing happened again this time of the 5th platform. I turned and shot back to tench corner, buzzing. Two rods were thrashed out, tight to the reed beds and left for the rest of the session. Again nothing!My head was done in, the fish were obviously starting to move, and it had to happen soon. It just had to. The end of March and the start of April saw typical British spring weather, sunny one minute wet the next, hammering down the next and so on.

8 am Friday 2nd of April saw me loading the car, with the sun shining and temperatures looking good. Forecast for the weekend was for a wet one with sunny spells. All done, all I had to do was to drop the little-un off at school and I was away. I sat to swig the last of the coffee and I was on my way. On arrival a quick chat with one of the regulars on tench corner and I was away to the back wall. A quick phone call to Rick to let him know i had the back wall covered, there and then he arranged for the afternoon off and would be getting here just after lunchtime. Whilst baiting up the middle rod, the male swan put in an appearance and started to steal what I was putting in, thankfully he doesn’t seem to be able to find the 4mm pellets. As I’m using him as a marker there is a good swirl to the left, the swan looked and cleared off, carp or pike? Minutes later back he comes now finding some of the 21mm baits.  Rick arrived and set up in the stump swim to my left. We were made up, the fish were showing and the sun was shining, what more could we want? A big fat carp, that’s what. After the success of last season my targets this year were for three fish, ‘The Pretty one’, the larger leather and the dark scaley one. How badly I wanted that dark scaley. Having lost him off the surface in June from under my feet I really wanted to add him to my list.        

My traps were freshened up just prior to darkness, the left hander out at 140yds on a single halibut pellet tipped with half a flouro pop up. The middle was also on a halibut over the spodded bait and the right hander was 20 yards past the corner of the sunken island on an Active-8 tipped with half a flouro pineapple.

Everything looked perfect. “Come on fish” Just after dark my middle rod roared off and after a few short runs produced a pike of around 5lbs and one trashed rig. I made another and cast the rod back into position. Just after finally dozing off at around midnight I had another run, this time at range on the left hander, I hit it and felt a good weight at the other end. This was it, it had to be. After a long hectic fight I netted the fish, elation. I looked into the landing net to see a huge pike.

nasty horrid things

Gutted and dejected I wedged the net into the bank and went to get Rick to give me a hand. After weighing and photographing, it was put back.. Rick got the brews on whilst I built another new rig, I dislike catching pike when carp fishing as I hate tying rigs!

Rod cast back out, cuppa’s gone and back to sleep. I awoke to yet another pike 20 minutes after dropping off, again to the middle rod off the large bed of bait. This time it was just nicked in the scissors of the jaw and my rig was fine. I woke to find myself crouched behind the rods, my right hand delkim light was on, screech, it went off; I hit it and felt something kite out into the lake. After a long spirited fight I finally had the fish ploughing up and down the margins, clipping my other two lines. I reached down and sank the tips into the margins; this was a carp for sure. Into the net first time, up went the arms. I strained to see into the mesh and saw scales, lots of big scales, and a line of scales to the tail.  I’ve done it, the dark scaley one and he’s huge”.  First fish of the year and it’s a target fish! Into a sack for the few hours till daylight and I was getting no sleep. I find I cannot sleep when I have a fish sacked up; I tend to sit alongside the sack stressing out. The weather put paid to that when I suddenly realised it was lashing down. With a break in the rain at 8am and light levels increasing out onto the mat he came and up into my arms for the photos. Away he swam unaware of the extreme pleasure he had given to me.

well worth the wait when they look like this 

Other than a sighting of a fish lumping out towards the oaks at range I saw nothing all day. A tench arrived late in the afternoon and other than liners I would receive no further action for the rest of the day, Oh well, who cares. The rain became heavy and persistent for the rest of the evening and well into the night. Sunday morning saw Rick wake me up with a fish on, crashing into the line on my left hand rod; out quickly to help him I netted a carp we have not seen prior to this capture, of the slate grey variety, a lovely looking fish of 12lbs+.  Smiles all round and time to wrap the kit.

The decision to have a 5 day session over the Easter bank holiday had been taken during the middle of a freezing January night. With good foresight Rick and I decided to organize the time off work to fish the week following Easter. This was chosen as we presumed there would be a serious amount of anglers on the lake for the duration of the holidays. How right we were. We planned for a Monday lunchtime arrival hoping pegs would be clear of anglers and cleaned out by the swans and duck population. As the date had crept nearer the preparations had stepped up a gear. Bait was organized and involved a 25kilo bucket of pellet and hemp mix, a few kilo of 18mm Maple8 boilie’s, a few kilo of the new Halibut boilie’s and 3 kilos of 21mm Halibut pellets and a kilo of 4mm pellets for bags. Seems a lot and certainly added to the weight of the kit.

           

Thursday evening i was at home tying up some pellet rigs and I received a text off one of the lads, he tells me he has gone down to the mere and is fishing in tench corner. He goes on to say that there are 6 other anglers on the lake, two on the back wall, two on peg 1 and two on peg 2. Gutted to say the least ! Over the course of the weekend I would get to hear of a few captures, firstly was that the tatty mirror had graced someone’s net from  the back wall alongside a stocky carp of around 10lbs. The chaps on peg 1 had also had some stock fish around the same weight.

Sunday lunchtime would see the lake empty with the exception of Ian who has now moved into the double peg on the back wall. During Sunday evening I received a call from another lad letting me know he has set up in tench corner for just a quick overnight session and will be going shortly after our arrival. That’s handy as it frees up what I feel to be the top peg on the lake! I know where the common will show first and its here. I know how badly Rick wants that fish so I may back off and let him go in there. We’ll see.

That gives me two real options: Peg 1 involving 2 long range rods to the sunken island, on single hook baits, and one off the little island over a big bed of bait, or fished short just off the reed beds. Or option 2 Go and muscle my way in with Ian on the back wall and try to get all my rods as close to the usual spots as possible. There is a third option seeing as I have my waders packed and that is to fish the little snag island peg and get into the water to cast. Decisions, decisions. Still none of the biggies have shown, oh how glad I am to here that. They’re waiting for me and Rick to show up that’s why! All I want is the Pretty One and the big leather

            

Tomorrow seems so far away……..

"Silty Mere" pt 5

With the onset of the cold frosty nights during late October, come November saw the dying back of the weed beds. In front of tench corner there had appeared a very large clear clay patch. Feeling confident of a fish or two I decided to stick with fishing in this area. Having not seen a fish for weeks now either at range or in the margins I decided to fish all three rods on the clay bar. Other than a bream, this session proved to be fruitless. The following session saw me again fishing all rods in the same location. When I arrived I found a bloke to the right of where I normally set up. He was fishing all his rods out towards the reeds and kindly allowed me to fish to my normal spots. After chatting for a while I found he was on his first session and had earlier landed a fish he reckoned to be a 27lb leather! After querying him for a while I decided his weighing was well out as the fish he was describing was one of the ones i had previously had in the summer. Adamant that his weight was accurate I let the matter drop having obviously upset him, by politely telling him that all the fish are well recorded and that no fish like that was residing in the lake. One of this chaps friends was later to tell me how all of his fish are over weighed. Who does he think he’s cheating, certainly not us.

This session was different, it was wet and windy but was much warmer than the previous few weekends, with the rain driving in sheets across the open expanse of lake. At around ten o’clock on the second night of such weather, the left hand rod tore off leaving a wake behind it that was visible even in such darkness. Immediately I  was in contact with something that was not impressed. It was thrashing itself against the mainline, trying to tear itself off the hook, in time it was under the rod tip steaming up and down the margins by which time I was soaked through and dripping wet. I had taken my boots off whilst lying on my bed and due to the manner in which the fish tore off I had not had time to put them back on my feet, let alone get some waterproofs on. So there I was shivering, soaked through in my mud covered socks, playing something huge. After what seemed an eternity the fish was netted, along with a good sized ball of weed. I secured the landing net at the edge and without looking into it ran to the bivvy for my boots, after ripping my mud covered socks off, boots and coat got thrown on, I ran to get a mate from his slumbers to give me a hand, explaining on the way back to my kit at how well this fish had fought! We got organised with scales, sling and mat and went to get the fish, on lifting it I realised the size of the fish, it was not actually that large, but had given me a right runaround, I looked into the net to see one of the newer stock fish. Confused as to where the enormous fish I had been fighting with in the rain had gone I matted her and lifted the scales.

She was only a short fish but had what looked like a rugby ball in her stomach. Her flanks were devoid of scales but she had a scattering of large plates around her tail wrist. Back she went and judging by her reaction upon entry into the water she was an unhappy fish. She would later recognised as a fish that Rick had caught on his first session in the shallows in the early spring. These stock fish are, I’m sure, going to become some of the hardest fighting fish in the lake, and judging by their speed of growth it will only be a few years before they start attaining the magical weights of 20lb plus.

The following morning saw the chap next to me wrap up and leave with out even a goodbye. Soon after Rick moved off the back wall after having a blank session and joined me in tench corner, I allowed him to fish to my right where "Billy Liar" had been fishing. He placed his baits out towards the reed bed, where later that night he picked up a lovely looking fish of around 19lbs. A good session all round.

These were to be the last fish caught from the venue this year and as winter drew on things got harder, colder and wetter. Not to be deterred we continued fishing small amounts of bait on known hot spots, but to no avail. Just at the end of the year both Rick and I started to fish the shallows at extreme range, towards the sunken island, chucking the leads around 140 yards had take some practise but soon i was dropping the rigs into the area i wanted to fish.My thoughts were that the fish were hanging in and around these snags at the back of the prevailing winter winds. There is a lot of silt in this area and i believed that opportunities to catch a winter carp from the lake would be more likely from this spot than anywhere else on the lake.

The first session of the new year saw Rick and I arrive at the lake, late on the Friday afternoon, expecting to have it to ourselves. Unbelievably, there were already seven anglers scattered around the banks. We both set up down on tench corner and fished balanced hi-viz flouro, single, pop-up baits out at range. After an un-eventful night I decided a move was in order and joined one of the lads on the shallows. After thrashing two rods out towards the sunken island and placing a marginal rod just out from the reed bed on my right I settled in. The weather was turning for the worse and a cold north easterly had sprung up and was pushing in towards me. During the warmer months I would have been very happy at this but at this time of year I prefer to be in the lee of the wind. At least my two range rods were in calm water. Soon darkness was on us and having shared a good curry we settled in for a long cold night. This was to be yet another blank session for us and everyone else on the lake.

Two weekends later saw us arrive after darkness due to work commitments. We could do little about bait placement, so I just cast two rods towards the sunken island and again placed a rod in the margins and sprinkled a few dozen baits around it. We settled in and got brewed up. Shortly after eating my two range rods started to give me what appeared to be liners, bream I thought to be the problem. This continued for much of the night, with nothing being hittable I tried to ignore the bleeps as best I could. This led to a very disturbing night with me on edge at each and every bleep. I was already awake as first light crept in on the Saturday morning with freezing fog and visibility down to about 5 meters. There was little I could do about repositioning my baits accurately so I left well alone and decided to catch up on some sleep. I was wakened by one of the lads with the offer of a brew and by ten o’clock a wind had picked up from the north east and helped to clear the remaining fog, I soon came to realise the cause of the indications I had been getting all night, small sheets of ice. As I reeled in the range rods I at last could make out the island. The rods were re-baited before being thrashed back out to the snags. One rod fell short by about 20 meters so was recast, again only to fall short. By this time my hands were approaching blueness so I decided to call it a day and leave well alone.

Saturday came and went with no action to any of the anglers on the lake. During the evening the wind continued to blow and eventually the sky cleared to reveal a multitude of stars and one very large burnout from a meteorite. Great stuff!  I decided to back-lead the rods in case the lake froze up solid, so as to ensure I could get the lines and rigs back in the morning. That night the temperatures plummeted down to about - 6 and we awoke to find a completely frozen lake, the ice was not thick but it called an end to the session. After dropping the bivvy and wrapping away the rods and other kit we headed off on the walk back to the cars, hoping and praying not to have a flat battery, good job we used Ricks car, mine would have undoubtedly been useless.

February arrived and with it a warm front, with winds blowing up from the south. We arrived in good time on the Friday morning to find five anglers already pitched up on the meadows spreading from peg 1 through to tench corner. This left us little alternative but to travel round to the back wall. 

On arrival at the swims we chose to fish from the double peg with me on the right, fishing the rods a yard or so off the snags. Setting up with bags of confidence I realised I had never actually fished from this swim. After a few trial casts I began to realise why Rick always used waders when fishing this peg, Casting was a nightmare. I found the bank side trees were really restricting my ability to place baits accurately. With me only fishing single hook baits though, I was not too worried about precise locations. The water temperature was up compared to the previous visits to the lake, and felt positively warm to the touch, the chill seemed to have gone right out of it. I opted to fish the halibuts on the island mark and small bags of crumbed boilie’s with pop-ups over them on the other two rods at a range of 40 yards on the clay bars i had found the previous year. Once these were positioned the kit was sorted out and soon I was settling in. With the wind pushing in towards us and a strong sun I thought we stood a really good chance of a late winter carp.

Shortly after lunchtime whilst chatting to Andy the bailiff I heard Rick calling me, I looked down the bank to see him playing a fish, we dashed over to him and stood watching, I positioned the landing net in the margins. It wasn't long till the truth hit us and Rick brought a good tench of around 5 lbs into the net. After release we all agreed that if the tench were prepared to feed then the carp would surely be not far behind  Over the next few hours Rick managed to catch another couple of tench, over a lightly baited spot, and so, not to be outdone I put out about 80, 10mm boilie’s out onto one spot. It wasn't long before this rod shot off, producing a tench of around 4lbs for me. Success? Oh aye. I was smiling.

As darkness fell, the weather closed in and heavy rain began to fall. In no time it was hammering down and drumming so loudly on the bivvy that I could see my alarm lights on but could hear no sounds coming from them. I decided I would ignore them until line was coming off the reels. Again an uneventful night came and went and the Saturday started brightly enough but with an icy northerly wind blowing across the lake from behind us. The waves were crashing on the far bank and the temperatures had dropped considerably since the previous day. We sat expectantly all through the day even hoping for a tench or two, anything for a run at this time of the year, but even the tench and bream wouldn’t play ball. Rick decided to have a stab at a pike that was attacking silver fish in front of him, it wasn’t long before he had banked a small pike, all 8oz of it!

After a few hours dabbling with a plug we had caught pike to around 5lbs before retiring into the shelter of the bivvy for a warm and a brew. The wind was strong, blustery and bloody freezing. Hopes were dashed, and our confidence had disappeared due to the amount of cold water that had gone into the lake overnight. The water in front of us having been warm to the touch, the previous day, was now freezing cold. After a combined decision we all wrapped our kit away and raced the rain back to the cars. Enough was enough.

A fortnight later, and having had warmer weather over the last week, the next few days saw us anxiously awaiting the weekend, I decided I could not wait any longer and set off on the Thursday afternoon, this was partly to do with wanting a choice of pegs and also through the absolute desperateness of the need to fish! Even though the winter had been fairly mild there still had not been a fish out since October. Everything looked good upon arrival and I hurriedly set myself up on tench corner, the sun was strong and pleasant with only a light easterly wind blowing from behind me, this I knew was to turn to a strong to gale force easterly wind by Saturday and helped in my choice of swims, I wanted it off my back, I was not prepared to sit with this in my face for the next three days. As evening came on the winds started to pick up but by 8 o’clock it had dropped completely and the lake had flattened off to a sheet off glass. I was standing out on the alders till just after 10 when I heard what could have only been a fish topping out in the general direction of the boards, I strained my eyes to see if I could get a fix on the location but could not make it out, I considered a wander to the boards to try and see if there was any activity over there but the left hand delkim beeped a couple of times and made me change my mind, I slipped and slided my way to the rod through the mud and paused awaiting any movement on the bobbins. I crouched alongside the rods and waited, but nothing. By midnight the temperature had started to plummet to below freezing, the clouds that were in the sky were skidding along at a rate of knots, providing no cover from the nights chill. We spent the evening chatting and plotting the demise of the fish for the coming year. That night went -4

By first light there had been no activity on the rods, I chose to leave them in place until lunchtime by which time the sun had been on the water for a few hours. Any fish willing to feed may have been on the move by now. The sun was now so hot it was t-shirt weather and I had a feeling that fish were sure to be moving. I re-baited and repositioned two rods at a range of about 120 yards or so. Both with flouro pop-ups fished singly on shot balanced rigs. I sat watching the open water in the vicinity of my baits for the whole day trying to persuade myself that the unseen fish were definitely going to feed. How could they not be moving around and basking in this sun. As the evening drew on I came to realise that it was not looking like it was going to happen, well maybe tonight after all that sun. With the arrival of my mate at just after four on the Friday, we still had the lake privately to ourselves. After a chat and brew he chose to fish the big double peg, and shouldering his kit he headed off to the back wall.

With the onset of dark I baited the two range rods with bottom baits and small pva bags of crumbed boilie’s and flicked them back over the baited zone at around 120 yards. The marginal rod had a scattering of small halibuts and half a dozen large freebies placed in position around the hook-bait. Traps set, some dinner, a smoke and a snooze. The wind picked up and started to blow easterly across the lake towards the sunken island and down towards the shallows. On more than one occasion today I had contemplated a move to the shallows so I could present baits tight to the snags. Now I was glad that for once I had not followed my instincts. Unlike the previous evening this was freezing cold by seven. I mean freezing, the rods were white the ground was solid and the margins looked like they were going to ice over, and the wind, well it was raw. Even a quick visit to the loo stripped all the body heat away from me and caused me to become a dithering wreck. Thank god I didn’t have the wind in my face. With the stove on constantly, inside the bivvy was warm and a thoroughly pleasant evening was had drinking coffee and smoking. This was not a night for sitting outside watching the water and the stars but a night for indoor socials. With the arrival of a mate just after seven it was never going to be anything else. Again an uneventful night passed us bye. Getting up at six am the realisation that the lake margins had frozen, saw me getting the rod tips high in the air to bring the lines out of the ice. During the night the wind had dropped considerably and as the sun rose it was obviously going to be a stunning winter's day. Again the rods went out to range, but to no avail. After sitting watching all day and knowing the lake was again going to freeze over I made the decision to call it a day and make the long walk back to the car.

"Silty Mere" pt 4

July came and went with no other fish gracing the banks for myself, I had fished on the surface off the platforms in the reed beds on many occasions and had quite a few takes. All of the fish had either snapped me up or just come off for no real reason whilst trying to control them and bully them away from the thick weed beds.

            

Nearly all of my fish had come during the hours of daylight but the first weekend in August saw things change. Typically, I was on my own on the back wall. Rick had spent the last few weeks doing uncomfortable night sessions off the boards in the reeds. He was still catching some quality fish whilst all around the lake many of us were struggling to buy a bite. The light intensity, extremely low water levels and high temperatures throughout the summer days had seemed to put the fish off feeding. That weekend I had a frantic Friday night session after seeing little activity through the daylight hours. Just after dark I had a short tussle with a fish that was just happy to plod around on the end of my line. Either this fish didn’t know it was hooked or it didn’t care. After gently guiding the fish into the margins it slipped quietly into the waiting landing net. It was a repeat but a welcome one at a weight of 21lb 3oz, a little down on its usual weight.

After photographing, returning him and repositioning the rod on the ever decreasing clay area I got a brew on, a smoke rolled and went back to sleep, content to have caught. It felt like my eyelids had barely closed when the middle rod belted off towards the right, this was ripping yards of line off the spool, and trying to have the rod away at the same time. As I reached for the rod it bounced off the rest and into my hand. Scaley! I hoped, and about time too. This fish had still not graced the bank to any anglers since we arrived on the lake the previous November, rumours were flying round that she no longer lived in the lake, either having died during the winter or been stolen. I was and still am in the belief that she had gone. Surely she would have been sighted by myself, Rick or another angler. Even Andy and the other bailiffs were starting to believe she had gone! I played this fish with the utmost of care anticipating the sheer bulk of the fish. To my surprise when I finally had the fish in the margins I realised she was not as big as the powerful fight had suggested and once in the net I saw a stunning mirror carp with a group of 4 vertical scales in a cluster on her right flank. After weighing her at 17lb 12oz and some more self photography, (not easy at the best of times, let alone in the middle of the night, with a frantic fish) she was returned to bow out right through the middle of my swim, scaring off a couple of feeding fish.

What a night, I was buzzing, finally a fish that was not a recapture. I dropped Rick a text to let him know of the happenings so far. No response, he must be asleep I thought. Back to sleep I went full of smiles. Again I was awakened by the monotone screech of my delkim, as I flew off my bed the run stopped, had I dreamt it? No, a light was on, as I crouched next to the rod it went off again. A very short fight saw me with another small fish flapping about on the unhooking mat. This time a baby common. Weighing 10lbs 2oz. From what I knew there was only 2 commons in the lake, the big one and the little one at around 17lbs. And now the baby common.

September saw me without a fish on the bank. Just when I thought I was getting it together again I was dropped like a brick. I was down, what didn’t help was that other anglers were catching. I could not believe it, I had worked hard but to no avail.  I was also getting sick of fishing in the same swim week in week out. I had watched fish come in over my beds of bait but not a pick up could I get. As the longer cooler nights started to arrived in the latter half of the month, so thoughts turned to bait. I started to refuse the idea that the halibuts could still work in these cooling waters and I came off them. Big mistake. Using the activ8 baits again I instantly started to catch tench and bream. After two weekends of these bait stealer's, I was pulling my hair out. The fish were still coming out to Rick and one or two other anglers but I was starting to feel left out.

I changed my approach the week later and started to re-bait with the pellets on all three rods, all over a couple of handfuls of freebies. The following morning saw me with my fourth capture of Big scale, what a fish, she was getting back up to her full weight again and was only a few ounces down at 29lb 8oz. After photographing and returning her again all I could wish for was for Rick to catch her.

Saturday morning came and as the light filtered through the clouds off went my right hand rod, again with an extreme battle I managed to land 4 scales again, just as she went into the net out popped the hook. Upon examination the tip had dinked over and was knackered, I’m amazed it held as long as it did.

Again this fish had me thinking it was going to be a twenty pounder. This fish is one of the older stocking of fish and has certainly got potential to be a monster fish in the future. I collared Rick to come and do some photos as he was fishing towards the sunken island on the adjacent peg. This is one peg I have not and will not fish as I feel it is too tight for me to be confident in landing anything I may hook, saying that, Rick has never lost a fish from here. 

 It was two weeks after this session that Rick would finally bank the big girl for himself, on the halibut pellets, all the regular lads were made up for him and congratulations were well earned. Having had my share of captures of this fish I was relieved and happy for him. The scales went round to 29lb 8oz again and we were glad to see weights were on the increase again. All he needed now was to attach himself to the common !

This gave me a pick up and hope for the autumn, but how long should I keep fishing the pellets? As  I made the long walk from the back wall to the car I passed through the woods and over the stile into tench corner, boy did this area look good to me. I dumped my kit and took a breather. Climbing up into the alders I noticed for the first time all summer that there were now some clear spots appearing in the marginal weed, only about 10 yards out. I climbed down and went to have a chat with Rick who was just coming over the stile. As I described what I had seen I pointed to the approximate area and we both saw a nice fish shoot out from the margins just to the left of where we were standing. We looked at each other and nodded. A change of area was in order for the following week. Before leaving I scattered over a few kilos of big pellets all along the margins and a good amount out towards the clear spot. The following few days at home were filled with thoughts of these clear spots, what had obviously caused them and what we had seen. All I could think about was getting back on the lake. I wanted to approach the swim with a baiting campaign of seed particles and decided only to fish this spot for a whole month and to apply 25 kilos of bait each week during the autumn, so on went the cooker. Little did I know what the outcome of this would be.

I arrived with great anticipation as to whether the fish would still be visiting the clear spots I had seen the week previously. On arrival at tench corner I could instantly see that this had been the case, over the last week the clear spots had been revisited and enlarged. There were now three spots, all at least three metres in diameter. I started to spod a large quantity, probably about 15 kilos of particle mix over the largest area to the left hand side of my swim. The other two spots I would fish with normal levels of pellet. These would be topped up as and when necessary. The particles had clouded up the water really well, and seemed to hang in the water column causing many small roach and perch to be attracted. Within an hour or so there were bream all over the particle swim.  I spodded more bait on top of the bream trying to frighten them away, but to no avail. They were staying put. The popped up corn hook bait was snatched at many times by the bream but all this did was cause the occasional bleep from my alarms as the fish couldn't move the plugged in 3oz lead out from the clay  As darkness fell I expected to start to catch the bream with regularity, but this was not to be the case, thankfully. That Friday night proved to be an eye opener. Just as darkness was approaching saw the arrival of an old friend, I gave him a hand with his kit and soon had him set up about 40 yards to my left.

            

Within a couple of hours of darkness I had a belting run on my middle rod, this fish felt strange. It seemed to be twisting and turning and banging up against the lead core all through the short fight. I landed what can only be described as one of the ugliest fish I have ever caught, with a damaged lower jaw looked monstrous, but after weighing and photographing was released to swim back unstressed. She had taken the scales round to 18lb 12oz. I was smiling, it was a fish !

As dawn broke on the Saturday morning, again I had a take from the same spot as I had caught the tatty fish from. This turned out to be what I thought was the dark scaley fish when i first saw it, but once in the folds of the net i realised it to be a different but similar fish at a weight of 16lb12oz, with pictures taken and a quick once over the fish was returned back to its watery home. Rick had seen the battle and brought his rods in to pop round to let us know he had banked one and lost one at the net. 

 The following morning saw me up before daylight re-baiting and repositioning all three rods, back onto the clear spots. Kettle on, cuppa made, time to watch the water. Just after daybreak the rod being fished over the particles shook and tore off, as I reached for the rod the fish stopped taking line, was it off?  I lifted into it to find it was still on. Applying pressure to the fish I gradually dragged it out from the weed bank it had buried itself into. It was well weeded and felt like it weighed a tonne, it shook its head, displacing a huge clump of weed from around its head, that was it, it could see again and it soon realised that it was out of the safety of the weed bed. It went ballistic, I frantically hung on and tried to stop it from taking line. The fish gave in to steady pressure and was soon on the bank.  Again it was the big girl at 29lb 7oz she looked massive. Immaculate in condition and fighting fit with a very fat gut. Whilst she was on the mat she was coughing up and excreting particles. I wondered how long she had been feeding over the baits and decided to get up into the alders and have a look. Most of what I had put in the day previously had gone! Time to top up, I spodded in the remaining 10 kilo’s!

the big girl looking her best

Hours after returning the big girl I had a series of short bleeps from my middle rod again. This happened a few times over the course of an hour or so. I decided to ignore them assuming that it would be the bream wiping me out of bait. The alarm bleeped again and for the first time took a little line,  I struck and was pleasantly surprised to feel weight behind it The fish was heavily weeded and I contemplated going in for it but steady pressure to the rod eventually encouraged the fish out of its cover and it flipped over my landing net, It looked like the little common. After removing what must have been 20lbs of weed from the fish I realised that the fish was a fully scaled mirror. I weighed it at 17lb 8oz and sacked it up for a few moments while i got the camera kit sorted and a photographer to do the honours.

Fully scaled beast

A quick call to Rick had me laughing, He had also banked 4 fish this weekend. He wrapped his kit and came round to see the fish I had sacked up. This was a stunning fish, elated I lowered her back into the edge and held her gently till she swam out of my hands, away into the safety of the thick weed. Having had a chat with Andy later,  i would find out this was a rare fish to grace the banks in this lake. It had not been caught for about two years, yet had not really gained a great deal in weight, but what a superb looking fish

The particle approach worked well this weekend and I decided to stick with it for the following couple of sessions, but to no avail, I was not to receive another pick up over it, but what the hell it had worked for the biggest pig in the lake and a few more fish to add to the album