Situated in the Colne valley, roughly half a mile north west of West Drayton in Middlesex and seemingly surrounded by motorways is an oasis nestled amongst the madness of all those busy roads and urban sprawl! That’s certainly the feeling I get whenever I visit Thorney Weir – which is a beautiful and picturesque day ticket gravel pit, which is home to some stunning carp.
With my syndicate water not playing ball at the minute I decided to head to Thorney to try my luck there instead – a decision made easier as the fishing has been slow on the syndicate lake due to some of the stock still trying to spawn and the ridiculous temperatures that we’re encountering. On my arrival I was shocked to find the place empty. The weed had come up which I guess a lot of anglers find fishing in the weed frustrating.
With the barrow loaded I headed off looking for clues as to the carp’s whereabouts. After half an hour I had spotted a couple of fish in a weedbed, which was situated around 60 yards out in open water. I thought I’d spod out some mixers in the middle of the green stuff just to see their reaction and to give me an indication as to whether the swim was the right choice to settle in. After five minutes had passed it was clearly the right choice as the weed was stuffed full of carp!
Whilst they were troffing happily away on the mixers I decided to sort the gear out. After a little leading around the weedbed I had found the contours to be really choked up too. After taking some time feel for a drop on the lead BINGO! I finally located two lovely clear spots which was a right result. Time to set the traps then …
I’d chosen to fish chod rigs (a firm favorite of mine) with the lead held on with one of the new Drop Out Chod Clips. If a fish got stuck in the mass of weed I wanted the lead to pop of which would hopefully help me land as many as possible.
The chod rigs comprised size 5 Covert Chod hooks, size 12 Covert Flexi-Ring Swivel and a 25lb Trip Wire hook section with the hook bait mounted on the ‘D’ via a 3mm Covert Rig Ring (the ‘large’ ones). The rigs were fished on a length of the ultra reliable 45lb Heavy Plummet Leadcore in green and a 2oz Gardner Chod coated Ranger Distance lead, which gave me all the distance I needed to land on the clear spots.
Hook bait choice was easy! Carp Company ‘Chewy’s specials’ 16mm pop-up on both rods were fished the same and both had around a kilo of offerings around them. With the traps set I decided to get the kettle on…
WELL I TRIED ANYWAY!!
To my amazement the rod burst into life. After picking up the rod and making contact with the fish I was dumbstruck – shaking my head thinking this is complete madness! After that I felt the Drop Out Chod Clip discharge my lead as the fish buried into the thick weed, it then came straight out and after a few minutes it came ashore in the folds of my net.
Happy days – a stunning 24lb scaley old warrior chuffed!!
Unsurprisingly I was really eager to get the rod back out and kettle on as it was looking good with fish activity all over the weed. As the session went on I managed a total of 17 fish despite the ridiculous temperatures and the fact that I was getting burnt to a crisp (not to mention the sleepless nights due to those pesky mozzies).
Seventeen fish way exceeded my expectations considering the conditions and in the end I was really pleased with the final tally, and almost happy to return home for some much needed sleep!
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