Chillin out..literally..

[Baz T]

I decided to take my son for an overnight session at Milemead specimen lake, as he had just finished his GCSE's, and we could have a lazy nights fishing to celebrate.

Got there late afternoon, on a hot and muggy day, with the odd cloud now and again. The owner said the biggest fish in the lake had been caught that very day (27lb 8oz), and that the water had been fished quite heavily throughout the week, with nearly all fish being taken in darkness. He also mentioned a lot of the fish were spawning.
We set up at peg 1, which was a nice bay area, plus the wind was blowing down the lake towards this area. My son fished the right hand side and towards the back of the bay, whilst I fished the far left corner area. The swim was big enough for both of us to fish which made things easier.

Not being an experienced carp angler, I had only fished the lake once before in very early spring, with a more experienced buddy when I didnt have much of a clue, so I am still on a steep learning curve. In fact I havent really fished on any other carp waters, let alone any other Specimen lake, so I wasnt building my hopes up.
I had made up some hair rigs, - which were my first attempts at tying hair rigs with braid, shrink tube, micro rings etc . I was also going to use helicopter rigs, and bolt rigs/semi bolt rigs - also first attempts.
Aaron decided to fish worm in the margin initially on one of his rods to try for some eels, and fish tutti frutti boilie and PVA stocking on his other rod. I baited up with spicy tuna/chilli boilies on one rod, and chocolate/tiger nut boiles on the other, both with PVA stocking with the crushed boilie, trout pellets in them. We fished helicopter rig on one rod, and bolt rig on other.
We sat back and waited..and waited. Bivvy up, sausage and bacon cooked and eaten, copious amounts of tea drunk, and the sun started dipping behind horizon, and....nothing. After it got dark, Aaron had a run - small eel caught and returned. Then another hour later, he had another run - once again small eel caught and returned. He then changed to boilie on that rod too.
I decided to change one of my hairs to tiger nuts. I had prepared some tiger nuts myself, plus had brought along a pot of pva friendly nuts. I added some crushed tiger nuts to the pva stocking along with some small pellets and crushed boilie, using 2 of my own prepared tigers on the hair.
At about 0130 I had a run - and hooked and landed a common carp of 12lb 8oz. This was on my tiger nut hair rig. I changed my other rod plus one of Aarons to tiger nuts also.
Back to bed. At 0400 I had another run, and landed another common of 12lb 12oz.
And..that was it. No more runs, or fish.

We packed up mid morning, in the blazing sun, with loads of fish showing, but all appeared to be spawning. The only down side to the trip (apart from Aaron not getting any carp, and myself not catching anything bigger) was the temperature drop during the night. We were not prepared for the cold temperature during the night - the lake owner told us the next morning that it went down to 3 degrees that night. Whilst Aaron and I had taken a jacket and extra t shirt, we were absolutely freezing all night, and despite warm muggy evenings all week plus it was meant to be cloudy overnight (it turned out not a cloud in the sky!) I was surprised at how cold it got. Usually I err on the side of caution and always take loads of extra clothing etc, however I didnt take much this time, and got caught out - lesson learned - my own fault!. Not sure if temperature drops to as low as that regularly - it is supposed to be summer after all! though we were out on the edge of the moors etc, so perhaps that is why. I remember beach fishing all night, at this time of year in years gone by, and it being warm, muggy, and no need to wrap up too much.

Bad points of the trip - only 2 carp, low doubles (and photo's didnt come out very well).
The cold night

Good poitns of the trip - the 2 carp! Chillin out with my Aaron, my son, (despite having to listen to him doing his various voice impersonations of Arnold Schwazzanegger, Simon Cowell, Wayne Rooney etc..throughout the night, though they did keep me amused !). Hot bacon rolls and a cuppa at 0600 in the morning. The mist rising off the lake as the sun poked through the trees. Getting a bit more confidence and experience in various rigs/tactics, and...just being there.....

pics below

Father and son..I must be standing in a hole?

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Cold n misty night

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Aaron fished this corner

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I fished this corner

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Mornin mist on the lake

[fishypaul]

well done baz and aaron,i'm sure you will do better when the fish hav'nt got rumpy pumpy on their minds,
love the pics mate keep 'em coming

[devondave]

well done guys!

most of the lakes i fish all the spawning is over and done with so i guess your a bit unlucky there

it got really cold last week when i fished stafford moor.... like you say lovely and warm all day and early evening....then someone hit the air-con button and blast froze me!

if you fancy a change of venue and want to pop up this way let me know im sure we can find you somewhere to fish!

cheers

dave

[Fishing Forum Admin]

well done lads

[Baz T]

Dave, I may be trying either Town Parks, or South View Farm fisheries over the summer so will give you a shout if I do..

[BaggieRich]

Well done lads. Shame the carp didn't show more, but still a cracking way to celebrate the end of exams!

That morning mist photo is a cracker Barry!

[blackwater]

Unlucky there, those photos are great though.

[pingu]

sounded a good weekend still
last pics a stunner

dave