Once again I worked like a man on a mission to get the early finish, only this time to do the Thursday night through to Friday morning.
Upon arriving I did the ritual lap, had a brief catch up with a few mates then had a look around. Two sizeable groups of carp, on polar opposites of the lake, were on display, location derived by a warming sun and no angling pressure was my assumption.

So I’d found the fish but really wanted to explore new areas. I wanted a change of scenery and had some ideas I wanted to try, but decided you can’t look a ‘gift horse’ in the mouth and left the area I had in mind for another day.

As the day wore on the lake started to fill up, and I started having doubts about whether I should move as it went really quiet after the rain started. But between showers I started to see the odd one, and my mate and bailiff of the lake convinced me to stay put having seen a large dark mirror make his way back into the baited area.

I fished all 3 rods along the tree line in the bay. One cast with a multi-chod tied with 25lb Ultra Skin Silt to a size 4 super sharp Covert Dark Chod attached to a 15mm ABS custom mix fishmeal corkball pop up. This was cast onto the back of some new weed growth and fished over a spread of 15mm ABS custom mix fishmeals. The other two were placed onto spots with a double bottom bait rig incorporating the super sharp size 4 Covert Dark Chod, 25lb Stiff Ultra Skin, a 4oz Bolt Bomb, 3 feet of 45lb CamFlex Leadfree in silt and attached to the super reliable GT-HD in 0.39mm (18lb). These ensembles were fished over whole, chopped and crumbed boilie.

I waited patiently and during the middle of the night after a much needed dinner, consisting of hot sausage and chips with lashings of salt and vinegar with my mate Josh (nice one mate!), my right hand rod was finally away and after a seriously powerful fight under the rod tip a chunky mirror rolled over the cord.

Fortunately for me, my mate Errol was awake and kind enough to lend a hand with the photos after I weighed the mirror at 28lb 2oz. So following a few pics in light showery conditions I put her back to her watery home no worse for wear, feeling relieved and pleased.

First light arrived and I started receiving lots of liners after seeing a couple of shows over the baited area, then suddenly my left hand rod sounded a take, this time it was a game of patience, keeping the fish moving through the new weed growth and after a very spirited fight a stunning scaley mirror graced my net. Beauty outweighed size ten fold on this occasion.

Despite my efforts to get the rod back out quickly, no further action was forthcoming and it was soon time to pack up and leave the gate feeling fortuitous once again on relatively limited time.

Gardner Products Used