It seems that a lot of the waters that I have been concentrating on lately just seem to be getting busier and busier, with more and more anglers turning up by the week. As I’m not one for simply settling into a swim that’s left after the weekend rush, without any decent angling options, I decided that as I have permits for other venues perhaps it was time to give them a go.

Without further hesitation I decided to head off to a certain secretive southern lake with no homework at all – apart from the knowledge that some unfortunate angler had not caught all season. Strangely this has its benefits as it should be quieter as many anglers are put off when they hear the fishing on a venue is really tough.

Barging through the madness of the morning traffic I arrived at the venue. Bearing mind I’d never seen the place, let alone fished it ever before, I loaded the barrow and headed straight off down to the water’s edge. Upon my arrival I stopped, just standing there taking in a large breath and looking across the lake – thinking wow! With the buzz of adrenalin running through my veins, it was a stunning first sight to say the least. After strolling around like an excited kid I found little in the way of any signs of carp. All I could find were loads of tench having breakfast on the bloodworm beds.

The first swim I’d come to had an appetising looking wind beating into the left of it from across the lake. Now I’m not being lazy here, but due to experience the swim really tickled my fancy. It looked that good…

After feeling around the lakebed with a rod and a lead I found a really thick choddy area with a wide smooth silty patch in it. This put a smile on my face as I instinctively knew it was a feeding spot that had been cleaned off by the attentions of feeding. I decided that I was going to fish the two rods onto the area as it was large enough to fish without two lines being a problem.

The decision on what to do rig-wise took no thought at all; little stiff links were the one, with a size 5 Covert Chod Hook attached to a 20lb Trip Wire hook section. This was tied to a size 12 Covert Flexi Ring swivel, and a boom section tied from the new 20lb Trick Link boom section material.

A 45lb brown Plummet leadcore leader helped pin the everything down near to the terminal tackle and combined with 16lb Mirage Fluorocarbon mainline made absolutely sure that the line from the rod tip to the end tackle was pinned down to the lakebed.

Bait choice was easy (as usual) with the hook baits being 16mm Carp Company ‘Chewy Specials’ pop-ups to this I added 2 kilos of Carp Company Natural Impact freebies.

With the traps finally set it was time to put the kettle on staring across the lake, taking it all in with loads of tea and biscuits. Suddenly after three hours the Gardner Bug (hanger) pulled up and was ‘eating’ the buzzer!

Shaking my head in disbelief at the explosive action, I was in contact with a right old plodder, so knowing it was a good’un I got in the water gently playing it when it decided to flat rod me and power into the rushes! After a few scary moments and some steady pressure I was winning and within a few minutes it rolled into the net and I came ashore with my prize.

Now I’m not one for shouting after a catch but all I can say my voice must have echoed for miles. I was blown away! What achievement!

I looked in the net and saw that it was undoubtedly a good thirty, so I decided to place her in the retainer to give her a chance to recuperate and get her colours back (which they lose after a good a fight). After ten minutes had passed I weighed her and she went 36lb 8oz. We did the pictures immediately after weighing her and released her straight back into the water.

As the session went on I was fortunate to bag another carp, a little fully scaley mirror however on the last morning the wind changed and chances were looking slim so ventured off home happy with my first visit to this stunning venue.