This week I arrived at the lake mid-afternoon, which was a bit of a nuisance because it meant that the early morning Sunday arrivals had already filled the main areas, leaving me with a restricted choice of swims. Given the options I opted for the last of the main open water swims, called ‘The Grassy’, which fishes towards the end of the island where I had enjoyed a successful trip during the previous session a few weeks back.I put out singles on the basis that there was a strong possibility of a move in the morning when other swims would hopefully become free. Within an hour of casting out a carp had taken a liking to my special little pink pop up that I had positioned close to the sunny island margin and I found myself doing battle with the first carp of the session. It turned out to be a football shaped ghostie of 45lb 08oz. It may not have been the most desirable carp the lake has to offer, but an excellent start to the session.
The next morning saw me move into the infamous ‘Hole in the Bush’ swim next door where I felt more confident, simply because I could fish previously productive spots that I was sure the carp were regularly visiting and confidently feeding on. Once again I cast out singles on a really effective setup of a size 4 Ronnie Rig tied to the new Invisi-Link as a boom, primed with a 12mm special hookbait. Shortly after casting out I received another quick bite, and after a scrappy battle the result was an angry common of 24lb.
After this I decided to put a kilo of CC Moore Odyssey XXX boilies on a couple of spots, with the idea to fish them through the night. The theory being that the fish would have the whole day to get confident on the spots, feeding without a line or rig in position. The plan couldn’t have worked better!
Just before dark I put fresh rigs on the new spots and again it didn’t take long before one of my rods was in meltdown. As I ran to my rod I performed a face palm cross summersault losing a trainer in the process! Stumbling about with one shoe and mud in my eye I got control of the fish and it instantly felt like a much more powerful creature on the end. After a lengthy fight a huge common rolled into the net, it was certainly one of the highly sought after A-team. It turned out to be the Small Tailed Common at 51lb! This one is a fairly infrequent visitor to the bank, and a new fish for me too, so I was absolutely over the moon.
I baited up the following morning with the intention of leaving the swim free of commotion for the rest of the session. It wasn’t until 2am when another spritely common of 32lb 4oz took a liking to my hookbait whilst browsing on the XXX.
Conditions were quite mild at this point so I was confident of another bite before leaving in the morning. I repositioned the rod and was woken up at first light to the little ATTs in meltdown! It felt like an age to get the fish in because it seemed to hold its ground and just waddle in really slowly and heavily. The size 4 Covert Dark Mugga held firm as always, and I knew exactly what carp it was as it rolled over the net cord. It was The Linear! A fish that was right at the very top of my wish list. With a fish like this, size was irrelevant, but at 50lb 06oz it certainly made the capture even more special.
I had enjoyed yet another truly splendid trip, catching two more of the amazing Welly A-Team using tackle, bait and tactics that I have 110% confidence in and enjoying the great atmosphere on this very special venue…
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