The following weekend I was back down the pit. Again, it was really mild for the time of year, I think it was around 17 degrees. I did the Friday night in an area I didn’t fancy because the lake was rammed with anglers, which was not surprising really, as the weather was spot on. On the Saturday I decided to make something happen. I went for a long walk around the pit and spent most of the day looking in all the little carpy corners of the lake. It took me about four hours but I did eventually stumble upon a group of five carp. I positioned myself up a tree and watched them for a while before setting a trap in the margin and waiting. Nothing happened, but I had seen eight different carp that afternoon. Two of the group were very old looking mirror carp and rather large. The others were a mix of commons and mirrors around the mid-twenty mark. I did put some bait in before I left and decided to do the night elsewhere and have another look in this little carpy area the next day.
Nothing occurred in the night so around 10am I reeled in and headed off about a mile round the lake to the mother spot. My cousin was already set up a little further down the bank but he left the spot I had baited alone for me to fish. He didn’t fancy it and anyway it was a bit tight for his 12ft rods. I had my old trusty 9fter and a Daiwa 2600 reel ready to go. I got back up my perch and waited for the carp to arrive. Around 11am they did just that; five of the carp from the day before were cruising around at my feet in 4ft of crystal clear water. One of them was a big mirror with a lump on its side. I baited my spot with hemp, pellet, corn and Activ-8. The big ‘un fed on the spot cautiously for around five minutes then disappeared under a snaggy old tree. I put a few more handfuls on the spot and carefully placed my rig. It was exciting stuff. All afternoon I watched as the carp came in from under a snag and fed on my spot. The big ‘un was the first to make a mistake but he spat my rig out and disappeared for the rest of the day. Absolute nightmare and I was left wondering what if? Later that afternoon I hooked and landed two carp, both small scaly ones which had been stocked into the pit a few years previously. Before I left I made sure to bait the spot again.
On the Wednesday evening I popped to the lake again to put another bucket of bait on the spot. My cousin came with me and he saw the big ‘un over his spot further down the margin. We were both buzzing and couldn’t wait to get back on the lake the coming Friday. The big ‘un was in the area and loving the free meals. On the way home I got hit on the M25, my van was collected the next morning and I was at home aching with a bit of whiplash… how’s your luck? I arranged to have a courtesy van delivered on the Friday. It turned up at around lunch time so I loaded it with my gear and headed straight for the pond, earlier than usual.
I got to my perch around at 1pm in the afternoon. I put four good handfuls of hemp, pellet and chopped Active-8 on the spot and waited. I was up the tree for at least an hour with no signs of carp. I flicked out my rig anyway and put a handful of corn on top of the spot. My hookbait was an Activ-8 tipped with yellow foam. It all looked perfect. I could see the rig sitting on the deck in the crystal clear margin. Another half hour went by and then the big ‘un with the lump on its side came out of nowhere and went straight down on the bait. He was probably hiding under a snag further down the bank the whole time. He hammered the spot and didn’t get nailed. I couldn’t believe it and I put two more handfuls of my mix on the spot and re-placed my rig.
I watched on as he cleaned me out again and didn’t pick my rig up. I was sure it was the yellow foam balancing my rig out giving the game away. I swung my rig in from the spot again and rubbed mud into the foam to dull it down. I re-placed the rig and put three golden grains around it followed by a handful of chops, then sat back to watch the show. Around 5 minutes later he came back out into view. I watched on from my perch up the tree as he went down, picked up two chops, a bit of corn and then hovered up rig. The line twitched and as he rose up in the water. I jumped onto my rod, turned him and got him into my net within 10 seconds; it was awesome! I was left shaking looking in my net at a carp I really wanted to catch. I had been feeding him for two weeks on the quiet and it was a massive buzz. My cousin came around to do the pics and we slipped the old warrior back. It was a good weight as well which pleased me. He went 38lbs on the button, my biggest to date from the 60-acre pit. It’s a ticket I hope to keep for many years to come.
The start of April was rubbish and I did four more nights on the big pit for nothing, not even a bleep. To be honest, it beat the crap out of me and most the other blokes fishing it. They just weren’t playing ball. The best thing about my April was when I paid for a ticket on a 32-acre pit. Another new adventure was about to start. The lake is steeped in carp fishing history and I am very happy to have the chance to fish it. The 32-acre pit has loads to offer. There are around 110 carp with the king of the lake being a very large common carp called Ray. My first trip was in the 1st week of May. I managed to catch three in my first trip including one of the lakes A-team at 31lb 10oz, a pukka looking zip-linear.
My next trip to the lake was just two weeks ago. I arrived at around 7pm after work on the Friday to find the lake pretty stitched up with old and new members, all keen to get amongst a few and who can blame ‘em. I did the night in an un-favoured area but planned on stalking during the day at the shallower end of the lake. I wasn’t surprised when I woke to motionless bobbins on the Saturday. I reeled in and popped to the shops around 10am. By 10.45, I was back with an ice cream in hand heading for the shallows where I had caught the linear from the previous trip. That day I managed to catch a nice mid-twenty mirror, again on the Activ-8 and nailed on a size 8 Wide Gape.
I did the night in a swim called the Little Dugout. I spodded out half a bucket of slop and was rewarded with a nice 23lber in the night. Around 11am the next day I was again reeling in and heading for the shallows. I had a plan and it was quite simple. It was to fish in close down the shallows with 10mm pop-up rigs. The pop-ups were glugged in various GOO flavours. My trusty Mainline pineapples were glugged in the pineapple bait smoke and my Mainline10mm plums were glugged in the Raspberry Plume Bait Smoke. I set all three rods up and headed off in search of carp.
I found them straight away and caught a small one within the hour and went on to catch another five. It was one of the best afternoon’s angling I’ve had for ages. I had four more 20s and a 32lb 15oz mirror. It was a great weekend’s fishing with me finishing with eight carp. I’m looking forward to getting back on the lake but it won’t be for a while as I’ve just joined a 3rd lake, which is as big as the two big pits I’ve mentioned in my diary put together. It’s going to be a good summer.
Happy hunting chaps
Richie Lofthouse
