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Me shop... at Redmire in Walker's Pitch (the Dam wall is in the distance )

Right, so with the horrible run of losses now behind me it was time to get on with the season ahead. The short sessions I'd been doing were not satisfying me so on this occasion I booked some time off work. Enjoy: So I had a decent sesh the weekend just gone. I'd booked Friday and Monday off as I was so sick of these work overnighters I'd been doing... I just wanted a proper sesh. I turned up Thursday afternoon and had a good look about. I kind of knew the area I fancied and while watching said area I saw a carp jump out.... job done, I'd start here. Went back to the car, grabbed me gear, back to the swim, started setting up, disaster strikes!!! I'd forgotten one of my bags which holds my alarms, rod support, distance sticks, all sorts.... I checked the car and the kit wasn't there which meant I had a 3 hour round trip to go and get it... IDIOT! I took the opportunity to borrow some distance sticks from another member and found my spots/baited up before leaving. The area was exactly how it was last time I was in here, a longer chuck for this water, tight to an absolutely MAHOOSIVE weed bed. I spodded a couple of kilos around the spots and somehow managed to lose a spod as it came off the quick change swivel I use to fix it. I was starting to wonder if this sesh was doomed from the off.... but at least I had a spare spod at home. On the drive home it became obvious that every single road user was for some reason intent on preventing me getting back before darkness. There where also 3 sets of temporary traffic lights that had appeared on the journey. All this during rush hour, I was in bits..... This was not how the sesh was supposed to pan out. Got home, grabbed gear, back to the lake... I arrived in the dark, it must have been about 21:30. Got the rods out OK (although I'm never 100% happy with hitting tight spots in the dark) and decided I'd earned a beer so I drank a couple and had an early night. No more sightings at this point which proved to be a recurring theme, no shows at all after about midday for the duration of my trip. My alarm clock goes off at 04:00 and I'm up and about watching the lake for signs of life. I see nothing until 05:15 when I see 2 carp smash out over the top of the weed bed beyond my spots. The next few hours sees the odd sighting here, there and everywhere but the majority are over this weed bed. It's frustrating I can tell you.... there they are, smashing out between 10 and 20 yards behind my spot. They don't seem willing to come any closer for some reason, clearly enjoying the sanctuary of the weed. There's no way I can fish into this weed, it's savage, no chod or long link would present and even if it did it'd be loss-city. The day goes on and nothing happens but I've seen enough to persevere, they are right there, I just need to think about my approach. I start by changing the position of one rod. I'd had all three over there but it was a little busy tbh so i reduced that to two. Just a couple of spods tight over each rod this time, I'm sure there's loads of bait still there. However, this time I get the throwing stick out and peppered a kg of boilies right into the weed in an attempt to get them on it and draw them out. The third rod goes over to my left where I'd seen a couple of carp top, I find a small but solid spot within catapult distance so whack a bait on there with a couple of pouches of freebies. Again, no sightings in the evening so I assume they're still in the weed. This time I set the alarm for 05:00 and I wake up and watch the weed bed from my sleeping bag. It's still pretty dark but I'm sure I can see activity. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can see a few signs directly over my spot. My thoughts are confirmed when my right hand rod absolutely rips off (which surprised me as I thought the clutches were set pretty tight but this fish disagreed). Into the waders and I hit it. It is absolutely solid in the weed. 10 minutes it takes my to extract it and all that while I'm cursing myself for not fishing completely locked up. When it finally moves I take a couple of steps back to grab the net and that's all it takes for the fish to find another weed bed. You literally cannot take your eye off the ball for second here! Another 5 minutes and I manage to get it moving again and the fight plays out in a more enjoyable manner. A few minutes later it's in the net and I'm staring down at a lovely common carp, a decent fish, over 30 I reckon. I secure the net and get the rod back out. As the sky gets lighter and lighter this common gets darker and darker in colour and I realise which fish it is, one of my targets, and I'm buzzing. I call a mate round and we take some snaps, it's an amazing fish, 100% scale perfect in every way, dark and richly coloured, a truly special carp. It turns a rich gold in the sun and turns black when in the shade, a strange but beautiful hue that I've not seen on any carp before or since. It's weighed at 31+ and we return it to fight another day. Not much happens for the rest of the morning although I can see plenty of fish on the edge of the weed which continues to frustrate me. The sightings slow down as we approach midday. At 11:00 I'm on the phone to a mate who's also fishing, just discussing what we've seen. There I am chatting away when I see the tip of the rod to the left twitch. As I watch the tip slowly pulls round before the alarms goes mental as a fish rips off with my hook bait! Into the waders, I hit it. Now this fight is a bit spesh, I know there's a huge weed bed to my left so march down into it sending the fish the other way into open water. Only one insignificant issue with a small weed bed I didn't realise was there, the fish spends the bulk of the fight charging up and down, left and right, it is not happy... awesome fun and for once I don't feel like I'm a second away from losing it in the weed. As it get's nearer I can see it's a mirror, a grey one, but when I net it I don't recognise it. I secure the net and have a closer look, it's a big fish, slate grey down it's flanks and pure black along it's dorsal, classically shaped, a proper brute of a carp. No wonder it fought so well. A mate walks into the swim, great timing, and we start to do the honours. He doesn't recognise it either and at 35+ we cannot believe we don't know it. The gaffa then shows up (more great timing) and he knows exactly which fish it is; as soon as he mentions its name we click. It's one of the old ones, a proper original, hardly ever mentioned as it's hardly ever caught, a very rare fish, not the kind you can really target, and as you can imagine I'm well happy. It's a stunner for sure and completes a brace of 30s!!! Pics done we send her back..... two special ones on the trot.... buzzing! Nothing happens for the rest of the day so I have an early night. Alarm clock goes off at 5 am again but this time it's not feeling so good, the sky is clear, the sun is bright, the wind has died.... I see a couple of fish but activity is at a minimum. It get's hot so I wander about looking for something to fish for. I find a few carp in a bay and get them taking floaters but the birds come and wipe me out and the fish disappear. I know the conditions are set to improve big time, rain on the evening and night, so I decide to stay that last night and hopefully capitalise with another fish. The rain arrives and it's off to bed after a long and uneventful day. It's now the morning and even though I told myself I'm having a lie in by 05:00 I'm perched next to the rods watching the water, bite time approaching. It is looking perfect, overcast, drizzly, moody.... and I'm watching carp over the weed bed getting closer and closer to my spots. By 06:00 I'm convinced it's gonna happen and I've got the waders on in preparation. By 07:00 I'm at my wits end, literally sitting next to the rods in my waders, staring at them, willing one to go off, when the middle rod lets out a single beep. The bobbin twitches a fraction of an inch, I look at the tip and it's just pulled down slightly. That'll do me I think to myself as I hit it. It's a carp and it rucks like hell. Into the weed bed it goes, everything is solid. I'm used to that now though and I'm happy to to extract it over the course of 5 or so minutes. Once it's free it kites over to my right and I have to go on a wander down the margin to keep up with it. Another great fight and I'm praying I land this to make the extra night worth it. Eventually it goes in the net and I can see it's another grey mirror but with a few scales dotted here and there, it looks familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it. It's another good fish and for a second I think it's a hat-trick of 30s but then have second thoughts. I'm on my own now so self-takes it is. When I get it on the bank I take one look at it's tail and recognise it; it's the big tailed mirror I caught last year (in my September '16 catch report). It's a little down in weight at 28 lb 8 oz but it's looking pukka, and another original to boot. I take some snaps and put it back a happy man. It starts to warm up and the activity slows so I pack up ready for home. It's been a long and tricky session but ultimately a successful one. Two special fish and a high 20 to cap it off. It's the first time I've spent that long in a single swim for years, in fact last year I did 30 nights and didn't stay in the same swim for more than one night in that whole time. My horrible run of 4 losses on the trot are now behind me and this weekends fish were nailed so confidence is back. Can't wait to get back down in a couple of weeks.

Moving on from the Barrow thread , lets see Bivvys in all their tidy untidiness 😁 Can you tell im Bored sat here at home . Heres mine off the barrow.

I haven’t got a pic of my bivvy as I’ll be honest I only use it for socials or winter overnighters I’m more of a brolly guy. In fact I treated myself last wk to the JRC Extreme last wk so it’s only had a quick pegging out back after work last wk. 80% of my nights are just a brolly nowt else and my old stealth brolly still gets an airing if it’s going to be blowy !

Autumn Fishing... Late Summer fishing... Not got one of the Rod Hutchinson Cabrio yet, not had the chance to use it in a real fishing situation.

Very 1st bivvy £20... bargains, Chub RS plus Max. 2nd Bivvy, CarpZone 2 manner...MAOOSIVE. 3rd (Brolly) Fox Supa brolly. 4th (present) Chub Outkast Brolly System.

Yes that was the idea that prompted it. They threatened to close vehicle access to a lake I fish and the alternative would have been a very long walk with arthritic knees. It is still in use 10 years later but the Golf has long gone.

This was my first overnighter in March this year, I was planning plenty more this year but I don't no when that's going to happen now. ☹

Emmcee luvin these story’s/pics,mate. 😬😎🎣

So I've finally scanned the rest of the pictures from my list in my opening post. So I'll continue with that winter. After catching "Sandy" from my back up swim I went back in there the following friday and I recall not seeing anything so moved to my main swim on the Saturday. Once again that night was very quiet so after packing up I put all remaining bait out on the 3 spots. I recall the long range forecast and it had a proper wet and windy one coming in the following weekend. I was back down again on the Wednesday and I gave it 1kg of boilie on each rod and half a bucket of hemp per spot as well. So the following Friday arrived and I got down my usual time for a friday. True to the forecast and it was certainly a strong wind , very mild and a bit wet. On arrival I saw a fish show about 150yds up the lake. My main swim was bang centre of the bottom bank right at the bottom of the lake and from there I could see 85% of the lake from my swim. The only part I couldn't see was the car park bay. So being encouraged by the sighting and the wind howling I was quite confident. I certainly heard a few crashing out, the wind carrying the sound to me so I wasn't entirely sure how close they were. Seeing that the wind was properly howling now the loose weed that was on the surface around the lake through decay or from being uprooted was blowing into my lines as I'm right on the end of the big south westerly. Back then my Neville alarms were continually beeping through the weed as the wheel would rock back and forth with each wave. 10-30 that evening and the right hand rods single beeps turned into a one noter. Picking the rod up and I recall being flat rodded instantly and the clutch spinning which was done up quite tight due to the odd weed beds that were still around. The fish was feeling heavy and with its power it gave me a proper scrap. To my right was Reed bed which the fish headed for once I got it closer in. Luckily all the weed that had blown down formed a raft before the reed bed and once the fish found that and got covered in weed it stopped fighting. With that ,steady pressure applied and I scooped the lot up. Even with a net full of weed the tail was curved up the side of the net, holy **** this must be a long fish. Get my head torch and peel away the weed and there lying in my net is " the long linear " also known as "Bernie's linear". So I weigh the fish and it's a new PB for me so I sack the fish and go to see my mate. Being the time of year and the big wind the oxygen levels should be high so my mate suggested to sack the fish up until morning. I wasn't so keen but by this time it was near on midnight as I'd cast back out , had a cuppa etc before going to see my mate. I didn't sleep a wink that night worrying about the fish, constantly checking it, making sure it's up right and gills moving etc. As soon as there was a hint of light coming I told my mate to come round. So pictures done and a new PB, catching "Sandy"a couple of weekend's before my poor season was slowly getting better. The rest of the weekend past without a bite. I did see the odd fish but that was it. A few more blank weekends followed this fish. Mid December though and another big wind was forecast. So pre-baiting continued through rain or shine , blanking or catching, the bait would still go in no matter what. This particular weekend I saw fish on the friday again but no joy. The Saturday was to see the wind pick up even more. To the point that I didnt sleep for one minute due to fearing that my bivvy would either be blown away or the tree next to my bivvy would blow over. My Neville alarms were continually beeping , driving me mad so I decided as I wouldn't be getting any sleep I turned them off. Around 3 or 4am the wind eased off just slightly and I crashed out. I was awaken by a phone call, one of the lads up on the back of the wind was calling me. "Hello " I said, all he said was " thank god for that, you're alive". No word of a lie the wind being in my face was that hairy through the night my mate was genuinely concerned for my safety. Phone down and the next thing I hear is my bobbin smacking the butt of my right hand rod. I'd forgot my alarms were off. Pick up the rod expecting the fish to be out to my right and the line pings up through the water and starts heading on a 45degree angle to my left, what the hell. Anyway this is just a solid and unbelievably heavy lump. No line being taken just very slowly moving towards me. A mate further round the lake sees me and comes to see me. Slow steady pressure and all we see is a weed bed the size of my bivvy coming towards me and my line going into the middle of it. Weed bed in the margin and my mate is tearing at the weed bed. All of a sudden a rod length behind the weed bed and from the depths a right kipper swirls on the surface. The line pulls tight as the fish makes a lunge. This weed bed is so big and so entangled my line just isn't coming out of it so I play this fish with my rod top to the weed. I get the fish back in and just within netting range, it rolls on top, its "paw print " and looking huge. Lower the net and it makes one last lunge and with it the line parts at the weed bed. #### absolutely gutted. I had caught this fish before in my first year on there at 32lb but it was most certainly a lot bigger, last out at 39lb so being winter it certainly looked 40 but I'd never know, or would I? ..... to be cont'

You are the same as me Mate. I much prefer not using a full bivvy system unless I have to. The number of times last year I left the overwrap in the car knowing I didn't need it. I have had full bivvies in the past, a bigger EasyDome is handy in a cold winter, (that is ice next to it on the bank) but even with the overwrap the brolly works

Mental innit.... it's know as the Black Common for obvious reasons. Very special fish imo👍

That common is insane. The top pic, my god the colours are amazing. Like someone has just varnished it. Then as black as anything when in the shade. The other 2 mirrors aren't bad either 😉. Top angling mate.

LOL my first alarm, from way back when I was float fishing but had a ledger rod out for carp with a a trusty Bitech Viper giving me constant false bleeps, if you had light enough bobbins/monkey climber it became quite musical and played tunes ALL DAY! It's safe to say I had no concept of adjusting the sensitivity - thank god Fox came out with the Micron 👍

the evening pitch was slightly off to the left, opposite... but although I saw nothing, one night I had an uneasy feeling and didn't sleep well... my buddy, who was fishing up on the shallows said the same thing in the morning

The old Willow is sadly gone,but there's still a bit of the old magic there

I've never had a designated coloured pop up mix change colour due to flavouring/ liquid additives etc. Nor has a normal base mix changed colour when doing cork balls. Don't forget you'll only be using a couple of mil of flavour in your mix so it will be ok.

Cheers stevo, more to come soon mate. 👍

Cheers yonny, loving your posts too mate. I read your reports at the time but now seeing the captures to go with them is special mate. As for the fish, it is a corker. One that everyone wanted and you can't beat a returner shot. Must admit there weren't many anglers on there that id give my camera to but the few I did certainly had an eye for a shot.

I am loving these posts mate. That is ridiculous↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓. What a fish, and a fantastic shot too.

Living off my old age pension limits my purchasing power but not my imagination. I use a home made barrow which is very easy to pull because of its large wheels, is preloaded at home, fits snugly into a VW Golf without packing/unpacking and makes a handy fishing station at the swim. Larger items simply strap on top. ----- and it has NEVER tipped over.

Ouch, been there done that. Bedchair on the bottom layer helps, with legs open it holds gear in place if you have no side bars. Last season I loaded mine up to go round the reservoir and on lifting the handles, the barrow didn't lift and the handles straightened. I didn't think I had that much weight on it, loads of bait though... I've never really thought about taking a pic of a full barrow load, but I'm positive mine for a week would not be that full.

We've all been there at some point lol.