trying to catch a twenty

baitmaster · #1 06-08-2006, 02:22 PM

i reported last week about this little water that i fished on the back of rumours of some big fish in it and i have to say the jury is still out on that one .
so i decided as i had a free night and day on my hand and the missus was not going to stand in my way to go who was i to argue .
the car was loaded with the over night gear and the bait was preped and off i went a quick word with the owner saw me getting permission to do another overnighter . i walked round late afternoon and two or three spots took my fancy and i picked on this spot incidently i stole the pic from my other post before you say its the same .

any way as you can see some great ambush points and right at the back is a good spot for stalking during the hot part of the day .
this session tactics were to fish with inline set up with line aligner hook length this set up was going to be used for two reason
1 : i was going to fish this session using the method .
2 : as with the soft bottom the method would be light enough to keep on the soft bottom and not sink in believe it or not .
soon i had the three rods out and started to set up the shelter and two rods went of with in seconds of each other which caught me out a bit .
i hit both rods but the left hand rod was tight to my left and it tried and succeeded to get round the corner and with the line rubbing against the bank it partedf and the fish was lost the other stayed on and a battle pursued and a scrappy common soon was in the folds of the net PHEW !! what a start i thought

this went 11lb 4oz and was glad a blank was stopped so soon.
soon the rod was back out and the other rod was made up and back out and i got back to setting up base camp once the kettle was on the far bank rod was off and another battle started and these carp really do fight as if they are on steroids and just do not know when to give up even on the mat . after about 4 minutes i manage to net the plump common and this too went 11lb 4 oz but was like a ball

again this was released and after a couple of hours all ready to fish banked not huge but fish all the same but my quest to catch a twenty from this water continues another hour or so past and another small carp was banked and this was followed by another smaller mirror i thought they were feeding well and after another to dropped runs the swim went quiet in later evening and i though i had spooked them .
them is strarted the crashing out and as the minutes slowly past the crashing got more and more intense and i knew then that spawning had started BIG TIME

.
i decided that nothing was probably going to happen and i had to try and get some sleep if i could sleep through the carp crashing out every where .
at about 12 o.clock i think i was awoke by and

indicator screaming out beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppp pppp !!!
and suprisingly i got to the rod fairly quickly and with sleep still winning i struggle to control what was attached to the other end and it fought very hard and i just went round and round under the rod tip and with almighty pressure i still could not get its head up and you would have thought i was attach to the giant from the deep but i wasn,t and suddenly i had the

fish in my net and soon i got even more

on the mat anmd started to beat me about i did manage a couple of pics and then it was let go with pleasure .

no more action came during the bight and i was up at first light keeping an eye out and watch for any signs i had baited a small bed of lillies last evening and wanted to see if the carp had took interest which i thought they wouldn,t have due to the spawning and it was still going on in places but sure enough i could see fish in and around feeding and throwing up the bottom i crept away and soon had a baited rod lowered on to the area and i did not have to wait long for a pick up and soon a nice plump mirror around 11lb was caught and released this was again place back and sure enough it was taken with in minutes of being place there theses carp were feeding with confidence on this spot considering the spawning going on again a scrappy single was banked and the rod was back overtight to the lillies i was now starting to believe nothing big was going to come out and i still had no idea if the water contained some bigger residents but its hard to judge on only my seconsd session and would be in no posititon to really know .
at about 6.30am i got a tip movement which alerted me to some interest and then it slowly moved off and i was into a fish it stayed again deep and was hard to get its head up but i felt it did not fight like the others and i felt it had some weight to it and as i struggled top control it i got more and more confident that i had hooked a better fish .
with out warning the fish broke surface and swirl and with my first climpse i knew it wasa good fish another minute or two past and soon to my relief it slid over the net chord . i lifted it and knew it was a twenty and once on the mat i saw it in it full glory i what a STUNNER it was and on weighing it it went 21lb but what a cracking fish and my goal for a twenty from this water was over .
see for yourself and tell me you think what a stunner

i was reluctant to release it but sadly did this incidently was the last fish from the lillies but i did not care .
io fished on and it got hotter and hotter and it went quiet from the carp front as the spawning quieted down i turn to going stalking as it was really hot and a was freelining pieces of flake and here is a nice 11lb mirror off tyhe top and was caught after missing five previous takes it can be frustrating .

i went on during the day with out a sign of a carp and packed most of my gear then manage a couple of smaller carp every thing was quiet most of the gear was away back in the carp and i was left alone on the lake walking around with one rod trying to catch another fish and just as i had enough and was going to head home i caught a common of 14lb which was a nice way to finish .
on conclusion i fished well and manage a target weight which was surprisng for me as of late of not been catching what i,ve been after, but now with only a week before the rivers and drain open i,m going to wait and will next be out on thge opening night carping the drains so hopefuly i will catch some stunners up there but we will have to wait and see

tightlines
kevin