Team Trakker Blog

 Fishing has been going really well on the Top Lake. I had been baiting a swim that wasn’t fished much hoping to pull the carp in to the area. This was taking some real effort with a pre-baiting trip from work to the lake being 98 miles! I had put the best part of 40 kilo of Mainline boilies in to the swim over three weeks and now had it fishing really well; the last week had seen me do two over-night sessions landing four carp to 22lb and I was starting to think I had a real chance of catching the big mirror from this swim. This particular swim had never produced the big mirror before and when I saw it roll one morning, I knew it was just a matter of time before it slipped up.

I was on another overnight session between work and had the rods clipped for a cast in the dark. The spot I was getting takes from had become so hard it was good to feel the lead crack down on the lake bed giving me mega confidence for action. The night passed very quietly and I woke up at 4:50 am to a few bleeps. I had an hour before I had to be off for work so I was just about to turn over and go back to sleep when the same alarm bleeped again. I got out of bed and walked over to the rod. It was still dark so I felt the line, it was really tight! I picked up the rod and leaned in to the carp and was soon giving line. The carp went off across the lake on a really powerful run. It was a good five minutes before I had it under the rod tip. I flicked on the head torch and saw a big old mirror carp wallowing on the surface. I lifted the net around her.

This was the last time I managed to get back in the baited swim as when you’re on busy waters other anglers don’t miss much and the amount of carp showing certainly couldn’t be missed! It was a week or so later that I got a text from Rob Willingham saying he’d caught the big mirror from the swim. To be fair, Rob had worked his balls off in pursuit of that fish and although I was gutted it had been out, Rob deserved her as he’d been catching well from the start; well-done Rob. So it was back to the drawing board and maybe a good idea to move my baited spot as that clever old carp doesn’t make many mistakes and I wanted to stay one step ahead of the pack so to speak. Since then I’ve been baiting a few spots elsewhere on the lake and have caught a 19-pounder and the Lord again at 31lb.

The nights are really drawing in now so the product I’m going to write about is the Tempest Bivvy. I can’t sing the praises about this bivvy enough! It’s light, easy to put up and takes no time at all to set up. When I fished the other week I put the groundsheet in and winter skin on, it was like home from home! The rain really came down that night and I laid in the Tempest as warm as toast and as dry as you like. If you strip this bivvy back to just the shell you have a lightweight shelter that’s perfect for quick overnight sessions or days. It’s everything you need for all seasons and all sessions.  

Right that’s my blog for this month.

Till next month

Dave Levy