back out on a fen lake

[baitmaster]

well this morning my missus decided that she was going to let me go fishing today as we are going to be busy for the rest of the week until saturday.
i thought for about 00.03 of a second wether it was a good idea and then decided i would take my eldest as he not been out for a session with me yet this summer ,but surprisingly he turned me down so i was going to go on my own.
i decided to go back to oxlodes lake where i finish up last session .car packed and a couple of errands done saw me winging my way down to the fens it was gone 12 .30 when i pull up at the lake i wandered round looking for where i felt gave me a chance of one or two decent fish .
i spotted two groups of carp swimming just under the top and these consisted of about a dozen each .
i watched them for a while just swimming around in the corner sunning themself and i knew that if i attempted to fish for them here in this calm spot i would spook them .

i again decided that i would fish with the stiff wind blowing into my face this was also a good idea cause as the fishing here is margins the ripple would obscure me and make it hard for the carp to spot me .
tackle was fetched from the car and i set up both rods the same . but one would be fished with bloodworm dumbells and the other sweet corn with a artificial piece which was bouyant to allow it to stand up off the lake bed .
again safety clip set ups with small gripper leads to hold right on the slope of the shelf around the margins .
you can also see i,ve gone for a line aligner rig .
bait wise as i said earlier one would be on blood worm so a mix of blood worm pellets and small 4mm low oil pellets .


and over the other i would use 6mm pellets mixed with 4mm pellets with a few grains of corn thrown over the top


so with all that sorted the rods were lowered in and i sat well back to wait for some carp to come sculking round the margin shelf and fall for one of my traps that i had layed for them . one again the kettle was put on and brewmiester was happy .the first run came about 45 minutes in and the mirror fought very hard but was soon tamed and slid over the drawstring of the net it was weighed and quickly released this went 11lb again the trap was set and i settle back after throwing another couple of handfull of bloodworm mix over the hook bait .
this time it was the turn of the criticaly balanced corn to go off and another super fight was on and the fished dived off the shelf and really fought valiantly but again it was beaten and this was weighed and 12lb miiror was soon released .

soon this wwas also released in the next swim and is slipped into the reed to sulk .
another couple of bits off corn were balanced and lowered into position and again a couple of handful with a few grains of corn were put out .
i thought at this point that it seemed that most of the carp had grouped together at the other end of the lake but was confident although it felt if i was a struggle to get fish to move through my swim and i,m going to put this down to the wind hammering into this back and cooling the surface a fraction ,this would be why the carp were where they are .
but trying to catch then where they were would have been difficult and i might have been able to pick one off .
any way i,m happy just catching consistently through the after noon .
soon i had a scraper double common that actualy came in like a bream but weighed 10lb exactly and was released this was shortly followed by a smaller common of around 8lb which was estimated .
after this the swim really did not feel fishy at all and thoughts of catching a bigger resident was slipping away i kept to my came plan as i still felt this swim was the right one regardless .another half an hour went past and again my corn was away stripping line very rapidly from the reel ,i disengaged the baitrunner and leaned into the fish ,
and another spirited fighted was developing it tried to get into the reed so i soon put pay to his plan and at this he decided to give up and allow me to land it this went again 13lb so i set up the camera and then the carp woke up and was not going to let me take its picture after the third attempt i decided its best just to put this demented beast back .
time was getting on now and early evening was upon us i could see across in front of me the sky was starting to look grey and wet looking but still the sun was out but was going to be gone very soon .
every thing was back out and i gathered all my gear up just in case it did come down hard . but it would be a while before that happened.
suddenly my right hand rod was off bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppp !
again i leaned into the fish as it made its way down the shelf this time it felt better and i could feel that this had a bit of weight to it and it fought well too
this tried to get in the reed like it mate ealier ,but a bit of side strain and a couple of sighs from me saw it go back into the lake ,
it battle hard and the water in front of me boiled up as it swirled close in the net was shipped out to gather up the now beaten carp i picked the net up and the fish felt heavy it look a fat carp .
i parted the mesh and a nother oxlode beuaty laid on my unhooking mat it was soon weighed and when the needle stopped i knew i had a new PB for this lake and at a weight of 18lb i was happy .
a few trophy shots were taken and it weas released to fight another day .

the weather was closing in and it felt colder so the jumper was put on and then it started to drizzle .
no more fish came into the swim for the rest of the session although i had a half a dozen carp i felt it was slow and i think with the weather coming in a the wind having a cold nip to it put the fish off from feeding better .
nevertheless i was more than happy with the result but was dissappointed my son did now come with me .

tightlines
kevin

[fishypaul]

well done kev,another great read

[pingu]

another great session there kev, well done

[Greenheart]

How do you do it Kev, think you should be renamed Carp Meister. Another excellent report & nice to see some close-up pics of your rigs. Carp rigs are still a black art to me. Well done mate.

[Norfolkboy]

Well done Kev, great report

[BaggieRich]

Top report Kev. Those fish just keep on coming for ya mate. Well done.



Rich

[biggun]

Well done again Kev. Some nice looking carp.
It's done nawt but rain on and off here but hope to get out before my holiday ends on Sunday

[baitmaster]

well i would not go as far as changing my name to carp meister i,m not that good .
its a matter of using common sense and being confident while out on a session which applies to all types of fishing really , and following simple rules ie : location, presentation and keeping noise level down to the minimum again just keeping it simple

tightlines

kevin

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Cracking read mate and just goes to show if you think about what you are doing then the rewards are there

[Rob M]

Excellent report mate and your tactics worked a treat! Lovely carp by the way

Rob