Couple of hours down the local...

Baz T · #1 04-26-2011, 08:24 PM

I managed to finish all my chores off by about 1 pm today, so I decided to nip down a local lake for a couple of hours and make the most of the nice weather. I decided to use chum mixer which meant I could travel light, taking only rod, reel, net, mat, some bits of tackle, and the chum mixer.
There were only 3 other anglers fishing when I arrived. It doesnt get too busy there, but apparently it was full all over the weekend, with 9 anglers bivvying up for 24 hours or more over the bank holiday, so you can imagine the lake got a bit of a hammering, as its not a huge lake, so I wasnt sure if the fish would be up for it after a weekend of endless groundbait and boilies.

It was boiling hot, with a mild wind blowing down towards the other end of the lake. I dumped my gear, and set about chucking some chum mixer in a couple of swims. I waited, ......then waited a bit more, but nothing stirred.
I wandered around past one of the anglers to a swim by a large dead tree which was covered in ivy.
There was a gap between the right hand side of the large tree and some bushes, so I chucked some more mixer in there. I stood and waited, and sure enough a big pair of lips came out from under the overhanging branches and slurped down one of the mixers. I hair rigged a chum mixer, and gently lowered it next to the overhanging branches. Nothing happened initially, and then a big pair of lips came up and swallowed a chum mixer. Unfortunately it wasnt the one attached to my hook!!!!!, so I held my breathe and waited, leaning against the ivy covered tree, hoping the fish wouldnt see me as it was virtually by my feet.. Here it came again, ever so slowly, ever so suspicious - It was coming up so slow that I was sure it would see the hook, but it didnt, it sucked in the mixer and turned away quickly. I raised the rod tip and I was in. It headed straight for the safety of the roots and branches hanging down into the water from the nearby bush, but it eventually came out. The only problem was, it shot off to my left, and managed to get round a small bit of bank jutting out. I had the large ivy covered tree on my left, and further along to the left, and round a corner of the bank was my carp. I shouted accross to the angler in the next swim, and he came along. He went around the left hand side of the tree, and I managed to pass my rod round to him. I then came round and collected my rod off him, only to find that the carp had lodged itself in between some submerged logs and branches. The line was solid - I was snagged. I let the line go slack for a few seconds, and then reeled in, and I could feel the line grating against the snag - but suddenly it came free, and the carp was still on the end. It shot off heading for the opposite bank, staying deep, shaking its head, but eventually it tired, and a carp of about 16/17 lbs came to the net. Unfortunately, in my haste to try and find some fish,I had left my rucksack about 100 yards back along the bank as I I had only taken my net, unhooking mat, forceps and some chum mixer in my pocket. My scales, and camera were in my rucksack!
All I could do was put the fish back in the water without weighing it or photographing it, and typically it was my biggest fish of the day (perhaps my biggest carp to date! - my PB is 16lbs 8oz).

Before I did anything else I went and picked up my rucksack. I continued fishing for a couple of hours, catching 4 carp in total, and losing a real decent fish, which steamed off towards one of the islands, and my line parted on a snag.

An enjoyable day, though it was hard work at times getting any interest in the chum mixer.
I made a video of the lake, plus the music is me playing some Santana on the guitar. Towards the end of the video you can see the large tree where I was one side, and the carp head off the other and round the corner!

Until next time....

A couple of the carp
I used my camera attached to the bank stick, unfortunately for the third pic, it had moved slightly so half my head is missing![IMG]

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