24 Hours at Crockerton 15/4/11

[Banana Steve]

Last weekend Simon, Cindy and I went to a small lake on a holiday complex in Warminster known as Hunters Moon, My plan was to catch a few Carp, as the last time I fished there I had a fantastic time, admittedly that was 6 to 7 years ago. Boy had times changed, I had one bite in 5hrs and that didn’t even produce a fish. Simon and Cindy faired a little better, but cost them a bit of money, as Cindy split the top set of her pole (I should be able to repair it for her). However, Simon pallet he was fishing on broke and caused him crash through the pallet and doing so he put his hand straight though a pole section. So overall it was a Poo session.

But this week with having Friday off as a days’ leave we decided that we would give Crockerton a go for the Carp over a 24hr period. I arrived at the lake at 7am to find the whole lake to myself. I opted for Peg 7 on the lake which gives you the option to fish of the Island.



I chose four areas to fish as denoted on the map. The areas around the island I lightly baited up with Boilies and fished a pop-up lifted about inch of the bottom using one of the new Avid corn stops to neutralise the bait, to be very honest with the corn stop I am not that impressed, I feel with the hardness of the plastic stop, it does not look or feel right, I know that people have done well on them but I for one won’t be using them, I prefer the new ESP corn bait or even the John Roberts ones. With the area to my right I decided that I would fish Corn but not the normal corn from a tin, but a brand of pop-up corn from SBS Tactical Bait Products known as Corn Shaped Boilies. With feeding pellet and Corn I hoped for a Carp to come into the marginal area.

Simon and Cindy arrived at around 8:30ish they chose pegs 1 & 2. I found the morning was a little slow. However, Cindy in Peg One caught within an hour of starting, a Cracking 13lb14oz Mirror.

I will let Cindy do her own report on how she caught the Carp.

As the Morning drifted into the Afternoon to early evening I remained bite less, and my confidence on catching a Carp on pop-up started ebb lower and lower, then suddenly out of nowhere my right hand rod screamed off, my first reaction was it was a Bream, which would have been fine by me. However, this fish was no Bream , was it a small Carp or a good Tench, when the fish rose to the top I could see that it was a nice Tench of around 2 ½lb. I done it I caught on a pop-up I will admit it was on the pop-up corn Boilies, but it was caught on a pop-up. I even gave a little Jig to celebrate the occasion( Which gave Simon and Cindy a smile), in my excitement I forgot to take a picture, as I returned the fish I realised I just let 1.5 points slip away. Oh well I am certain that I will catch some more Tench this year.

As the evening started draw into night I had another run, this time there was no doubt that this was a Carp and had been caught on a pop-up, but this time on the Boilie and a ESP piece of fake corn. On nearing the net I saw that the Carp was around the 8lb mark. Just as the net went to slip under the Carp the fish turned and out popped the hook and I watched the Carp swim away into the depths.

Well another Fish caught on a pop-up the ebbing feel I felt earlier was drifting away into higher confidence. It was time for a cup of tea and to pop over and have a chat with the other two before it got dark.
As I was walking over to talk to them my receiver screamed into action, with tea in my hand I ran back to my rods. (Making certain I never split a drop of tea, and I even managed to put the cup down without a single drop spilling) on striking the left hand rod I felt the kick of good fish. Simon and Cindy came over to help me land the fish. My hands and knees were shaking with the anticipation of actually landing this fish on the pop-up Boilie. On landing the fish I knew that this was a special fish, as it looked bigger than my Lake PB. On weighing the fish it was confirmed that this was a Lake PB for me 16lb 10ozs.

On returning the fish and finding my Tea was still hot, I brought the other rod in, and this gave me the opportunity to join the others with my cup of tea.

As the night drew in I settled down for the night all wrapped in my sleeping bag. However, as the Night drifted into Dawn, I had no other runs during the night, and by 9:00am I had not had a single bite since the 16lber. So after having a hearty breakfast (Bacon Rolls) I started to pack down my Bivvy and other items, I re-casted back to the island but both rods this time. As I was packing my Bivvy down I heard Cindy and Simon laughing, I looked over to find Cindy into a fish, which had been taken on the drop. By the time I came over Cindy had landed a cracking 8lb Common.



So that was the 24hrs up and gone and I caught and no one had damaged any tackle, a good 24hrs of fishing. My next trip will be over the Easter Weekend this time a 48hr session at Todber Manor. Oh yeah while I remember 1.5 points were scored for the Mirror

[pingu]

cracking report steve and well done on beating the pop up blues with a pb as well

dave

[MRG2000]

Some cracking fish ,well done all........

[fishypaul]

well done everyone,some lovely fish there

[Jolly Piscator]

Well done Steve, good session with an early Tench too . Like the aerial photo .

[king01]

well done mate, some cracking fish there.

[Maddison_Twatter]

well done m8 nice haul as usual

[Complete Tangler]

Excellent report Steve, nice to know I am not the only one to lose fish right at the net recently.

[tjnorton]

Tidy report Steve some super looking carp there well done all.

tj

[ninja_death]

Well done, great report.
I went out on Sunday afternoon and caught 5 roach and a perch on maggots with a pole and on a feeder rod plus a 5.5lb common off the surface on dog mixer.