Osma11

So on this day session out myself, the hippy and the hobbit decided to try out a new water, Trebellan Park lakes out near Newquay, Cornwall. On this particular session the hippies girlfriend Lilly came along (and caught more fish than the hobbit I think ). Now myself and the hobbit took a walk around the lake the weekend before and saw so many carp on the surface it was insane, some looked a good size to. After speaking to a couple anglers willing to share a bit of local knowledge it sounded like a real hit and miss lake some days they were walking away catching 20 plus carp in a day, and on other days walking away struggling to catch 1, so myself and the hobbit were quietly confident we would hit it on the right day. We were oh so wrong we were in for yet again another challenging day although we did come through in the end. It just seems at the moment whenever we plan for a runs day it turns into so much effort, so next trip is definitely a specimen session hopefully a 72 hour session as well, if were going to end up having hard sessions may as well target the bigguns. So we hit the lake at about 8 am and took a wander, as always the hobbit was running late picking me up. That being said somehow we still managed to beat the hippy to the lake who left about half an hour earlier than we did. A true hippy van things just happen eventually lol :). It quite literally couldn't have been a more beautiful peaceful day, gorgeous sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. So we get all set up and cast the rods out after choosing a little spot where we could all set up, pretty much next to each other. Things were looking good yet once again we were having trouble catching, we could here them splashing and see the odd few on the surface but no luck, this got us questioning if they were spawning, but it didn't seem prolific enough to be spawning behaviour and apparently they had spawned around two weeks prior to today so who knows. Anyway we persevered, I think the hobbit had got so fed up with his run of bad luck he resorted to a float and catching Rudd lol. It got to about mid-day and I was planning a move around the lake, after I took a wander and saw quite a bit of fizzing going on in the bay at the other end of the lake. Just as we were discussing the merits of moving the hippy's rod screams off. Lilly shouts for the hippy as he was off collecting twigs for his kelly kettle, thankfully not to far away, and he's in. It was fighting like an absolute demon, he could not get it's head up off the bottom, I think we all honestly thought he might be about to beat his PB of 16lb on this one. Now something to point out is that on really hot days by the lake I always fish with my shoes and socks off, now this usually isn't an issue until I started fishing with the hippy lol. I grab my landing mat and scales to give the hippy a hand while Lilly was netting his fish and stand in his pile of twigs, only they weren't twigs, oh no, he had been harvesting dry brambles! I lept off them and yelped like a puppy who just had his tail stood on, it blooming hurt, obviously the hobbit found this real amusing. Anyway Lilly nets the fish after a good ten minutes of hard fighting, not as big as we thought but still 13lb so good fish. After this it got to about 1:30 and I had had enough myself and the hobbit still hadn't had so much as a nibble so time to make a move, I move my bits over first and cast out to reed bush which was moving loads when I got there. The hobbit came over to see where he was going to set up and by the time he had gone picked up a few of his bits and walked back over (bare in mind the lake is only about 2 acres) I was in. Now because I was snag fishing on this occasion I did have to put a bit more pressure on the fish than I normally would, but I have got my rigs set up so if it does get a bit snagged up my leads get ejected, so I am fishing as safely as possible. The hobbit walks around and see's me into a fish, lets just say he makes some un-savoury gestures lol. I get the fish in, only around 5lb but its a start. The hippy and Lilly move around soon after and set up just down from myself and the hobbit in another corner, while the hobbit fishes between us casting to the opposite margin and open water. About 30 mins later I was in again, just as I strike this one my other rod goes, I normally wouldn't strike both but had to because the second rod to go was the one in the snag. I was in a bit of a pickle lol, Lilly and the hippy come over and Lilly takes the second rod and plays the fish (awesomely I might add). We manage to get both in safely both weighing around 5-6lb, happy days. Now by this point I think the hobbit had lost motivation, it really was not his day, he has caught on the last few sessions but it has been tough all round and we were all hoping for an easy one on this one but it just wasn't meant to be, and he does normally do pretty good. I think he had got to the point where he was just enjoying the day and being outside like a Labrador lol. He's a sleepy man anyway so I offer him my bed chair as I was barely using it as I had to pretty much sit on my snag rod. Now I am not even exaggerating within less than 5 minutes of him getting on my bed chair he was asleep lol. While he was sleeping things went a bit quite for a few hours so we all chilled out in the sun. I wake up to hearing things hitting the ground near me, to amuse himself the hippy started catapulting boilies at myself and the sleeping hobbit lol. Now the next part I really wished had worked, let me just clarify we do take our fishing seriously but when things are quiet and there is no one else near us or on the lake that we might disturb we do like to mess with each other a bit. I look over and see the hippy sneaking up on the hobbit while he was sleeping flat out on the bed chair, I could see where this was going and obviously decide to help a hippy out lol, unfortunately when we are mere feet away his hobbit senses tingle he knows something is wrong and wakes up, disappointed but I am sure to be continued on another day lol. So after catching a couple more little one's about 4-6lb it was time to wrap up the day, the hippy definitely got biggest fish by far, unfortunately the hobbit had a blank which is the first one in a while for him and he lives to fish another day so no biggy. And I think Lilly had a good day fishing and chilling in the sun and I managed to catch a few in the end, but once again no runs session like we were hoping for. But it is a new lake for us and it does seem to be a bit of a hit and miss one depending on the day so I think we will definitely give it another go again. But the next one is the big one of the year specimen fish here we come (hopefully lol).

The Late Bloomer So, as you can tell it’s been a while, that’s due to the arrival of my second future fishing buddy my little baby girl in April. But I am back in action with two trips under my belt since her arrival and three more planned, so hopefully have plenty to show and tell in the coming couple of months (thanks to a very understanding and awesome wife, I swear I wasn’t made to write that to). However back to the trip at hand. So this is the second trip after my baby girl the first trip was myself, the hippy and the hobbit, however I was so busy at the time I barely had a chance to do the fishing itself let alone write it up. Let this be said though, it was an awesome runs session, plenty of carpies and a lot fun having a wee match between the three of us (for the record I won, but the hippy almost had me at the end, it was real close, not going to lie I was saved by a little carp in the last 5 minutes, so close). This session however was just myself and the hobbit, the hippy was all caught up with girlfriendy things for the day and sweaty flaps, well he hasn’t managed to get out with us for a while but for our next 4-day session he will be there, thank God as well because I really can’t be bothered to cook at the lake anymore haha. So this trip was at Oakridge carp lake just outside Goonhavern in Cornwall, myself and the Hobbit have been here numerous times and had some great sessions, in-fact the hobbit caught his PB carp here at just over 17lb (bless him he is so desperate for that 20lb I can feel the hatred burning from his eyes whenever I catch one haha). We started the day as normal it was a beautiful morning at the beginning of May and it was set to be a scorcher. We set off in the Car at about 7am after packing our gear into the hobbits ridiculous, only two doors working car (however news is its all fixed but we will see how long it lasts 😉). Now somehow by some unknown parallel universe, crossing dimensions weirdness we got lost on the way to the lake, we drove down two different roads swearing we were on the right track to no success. We checked google maps and saw it flagged in the weirdest location, we said to ourselves no way is it there, its on the wrong side of the main road, way to close to the village definitely not that one, must be another camp site nearby named a similar thing. So we kept looking for another 15 minutes driving around like a couple of idiots playing Donkeykong, then just said ‘right screw it we will go to where it said on the map’, even though we were sure that was the wrong one but behold, somehow, there it was. I cannot explain it, neither can the Hobbit we have no idea how we were getting to it before but must have been some weird back way or something. Now this is a beautiful little 1 ½ - 2-acre lake and a great little runs water but the banks aren’t the best looked after, the swims are a bit overgrown and the path around the lake, well when you are carrying all your gear and rod bag and having to duck under a massive branch only 4ft off the ground, gets a little challenging. But this is part of the charm of the lake and it does give you the sense of fishing a bit more naturally so ‘swings and roundabouts’. So we get to the lake and its already a little busy and the swim we really want is taken so we settle in a nice looking little corner. We get the gear and the rods out and away we go, I was a bit cheeky and brought my bed chair along for the day, ultimate put your feet up and laze in the sun action. Well it would have been if it wasn’t for the fact that if I wasn’t catching fish I had to revise for a biology exam, but at least I was at the lake. While sitting in our little corner the lake in front of us was fizzing away like a can of soda, we looked to be set for a good one. But by 11am we had only had one fish between us on the hobbits rod which managed to bounce off the hook just a foot from the net, which needless to say he was a little gutted about haha. But neither of us were to bothered at this point to be honest, it was an absolutely baking day, first real one of the year, the carp were basking in the sun and so were we but by 2pm we were getting a little twitchy as we had nothing else and from the looks of it everyone else on the lake was struggling as-well. I got up and had a scout around and noticed the swim we originally wanted was empty, the guy had moved around the corner. A quick chat with the guy on the opposite bank to check we wouldn’t be interrupting his fishing if we moved there and away we go, get all the gear there in minutes with rods in the water. The hobbit was casting to an island only 10 – 15 feet from the bank with some lovely overhanging tree’s. I was casting one to the opposite bank and another about 5 feet from where I was sitting right under a snaggy tree on the bank we were fishing on. Dam did we make the right call, by 3pm the hobbit had his first carp out around 6lb and then it just went on from there. I hooked one out from the rod nearest me soon after that and they just kept coming. The hobbit had a right rod bender, almost had his rod in the lake, he pretty much dived on it from about 4 feet away and just got it, he brought it in and bearing in mind it was probably around the 6lb mark again, it really did fight, got a great pic of it on the bank as the fish flips out of the hobbits hands into the landing mat, I don’t know who is more shocked the fish or him. These fish were really fighting well, all that energy they had built up by relaxing on the surface for the morning, they were really letting it out now. I had out a 10lb common which honestly fought like a fish double its size, ran me around for about 10 minutes. On looking around the lake it looked like it was just myself and the hobbit who were producing, I bet the guy who moved from that swim was kicking himself a bit by now but that’s the way it goes sometimes. All in all this was some day, beautiful weather, plenty of fishies (eventually) and cannot wait until our next trip out which hopefully isn’t to far away.

Please guys like my Facebook page loads more pics and antics on there it's The Cornish Carp freaks and Other Fishing Escapades. Thanks in advance guys and girls

Once again myself and the hairy one was sitting down at about midnight watching fishing vids on you tube and as we sit there obviously craving a session we decide, right let’s forget work and go fishing. As we sit there running through our usual choices of lakes we pondered about a reservoir just around the corner from us that we have still yet to try and said let’s give it a go. However as always, the carp gremlins start to take hold before we’ve even given it a shot, ‘it’s a big lake, bigger than anything we ever tried’, ‘it’s a hard time of year to try a new lake’, ‘I am pants at spodding’, were all regular sentences thrown out over the next week. And before you know it were back to debating where to fish until we realised it’s been almost exactly a year since we last fished one of our local lake’s Gwinear. Our last session at Gwinear not going to lie ‘shocker’ to say the least, cold easterly wind, didn’t see a single sign of a fish, temps below freezing, myself and the hairy hobbit had to share a bivvy as mine had truly bit the dust on the trip before, and again, so cold I think permanent damage may have been done to personal areas as they froze to the chair. Yet we didn’t let the last trip tarnish our spirits and said ‘hell yeah, the year before that I had a 23lb mirror out let’s give it a shot again’. We gave the dread locked converting veggi a txt (still looking for a good nickname probably end up being the hippy) the newest member to our fishing group to see if he was up for giving it a go. Didn’t take much convincing and he was in for the trip. Unfortunately, sweaty flaps Phil couldn’t make it, bit of a downer as he usually does the cooking. So, the morning has come, its 05:30 am and I am woken by a screaming 2-year-old but no matter, the hairy one was getting to me for bang on 06:30 so we can pick up our new hippy and be at the lake for 8am to ensure first pick of swims for our 36-hour session. But as always hobbits particularly hairy ones are always late its 06:50 and finally he pulls up in his questionable new freelander. Which packing was a fricking nightmare as with every electronical thing the hairy hobbit owns within a month of owning it half of it doesn’t work. We’re trying to pack the car up with all our gear where the only access we’ve got is one side door and the front driver’s door, as somehow, he has managed to break the others not going to lie pain in the a**. Were all loaded up honing it through town to pick up our new hippy who for a hippy bang on time he is waiting outside his house gear ready to go. Were all loaded racing to the lake which we get to at about 08:30. Surprisingly considering it’s a Saturday with an overcast sky, temperature at around 7 degrees Celsius which it has held most of the week (the warmest week for a good month) running up to Saturday, with a nice low pressure of 1009 the lake was empty, sweeeeet. We pop in to the tackle shop onsite to get our tickets (good tackle shop particularly for Cornwall), and have a chat with one of the guys. He tells us that zigs have been working really well for him, he has been telling everyone, but apparently everyone was ignoring him and not catching much at all. Not going to lie I have never really given zigs a go neither has the hippy. The hobbit has done once or twice before but to little success. But local knowledge and all that, we picked up some zig line and a tub of 12mm high vis pineapple pop-ups and gave it a shot. We get down to the lake and pick our swims, we hadn’t seen any sign of fish, so we had some educated guesses. I went for a swim where I could reach the nice, open, deepest part of the lake, as well as a nice overhanging tree with some old bulrush bushes lining the bank. The hippy went next to me as he is bivvy-less at the minute and needed to share my two man, he could not only reach a bit of open water from his swim but also had one out of the two island’s to fish to. The hairy hobbit went for probably the shallowest narrowest part of the lake with only about 15ft between his swim and the opposite island, and around 4-5ft deep at most. Not going to lie I thought what the hell is that crazy hobbit doing, its winter and the wind was a cold north north westerly blowing into that area, no chance mate. I thought I got it sussed nice and deep open area fish will definitely be sitting there in this weather, and the overhanging tree was sheltered from the wind and 4ft deep about 3 ft from the bank, boom give a couple hours I am going to be in. Or so I thought. Now I know I probably shouldn’t of, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put both of my rods on to zigs and neither could the hippy. It appears both of us are a little stuck in our ways and I had one on a 3ft zig open water and the other on a stiff hinged rig just by my tree. The hippy had a 2ft zig in open water about 10 ft from the island he could reach, and a simple hair rig directly off the island. The hairy hobbit however, being the brave hobbit he is went balls deep and put both rods on zigs one at about 1 ft and the other at 3ft in his narrow little channel. Me and the hobbit get our swims properly set up, bivvy’s up all looking sweet, we then look over at the hippy’ swim. A man of pure ingenuity, were not wealthy people and can’t afford the best gear or the newest rods or s[censored]iest of s[censored], however we have all the gear to make ourselves comfy and to ensure fish health is a priority and no damage comes to them on the bank. First let’s talk rod pods, mine is a cheap pod but it does the job, sturdy enough and reliable. The hobbit just got a new pod for x-mas and it is pretty sweet, it’s a mid-range JRC pod, heavy but plenty of adjustment and feature’s along with his new JRC bite-alarms which have sensitivity adjustment and indicate when it’s a drop bite (I am not jealous at all). The Hippy however I thought ‘what the hell is he doing hammering a load of wood together by the bank?’ I thought he was making a table, turns out he had made a homemade fold out pod out of wood with screw fittings to put his bite-alarms on with, and it was pretty dam sturdy ‘fair play sir’. His brolly was just as clever, it was reasonably windy so in all his genius he had brought a load of rope with him and lassoed it down, again solid probably would of held up in stronger winds than our bivvy’s. Speaking of new gear I just got myself a Daiwa Black Widow reel and it is awesome particularly for the money, clutch is so smooth, and it sings when a fish is running, loving it. Let’s skip ahead to mid-day and the Hobbit has already had some promising takes and the Hippy has had a few bleeps to, all on zigs, yet mine, totally silent, not a sausage. At this point my hopes are still high I am confident in my swim choice, we still haven’t seen a single sign of a fish, give it an hour I will be on, no worry’s (yea right). It’s got to about 3pm and I have still yet to have a single bleep on my alarms the hobbit though, hell of a run, he was unfortunately over chatting with me and the hippy when it happened, he charges off stumbling as he goes no more than 20ft from his rods, gets to his rod, alarm still screaming and strikes in to nothing. He looks down at the floor in shame and recasts to his island spot. At this point we’re all hungry it’s time for the eaten mess our signature fishing dish which unfortunately the hippy can’t join in with due to the excessive amount of meatiness involved. It consists of beans, chopped sausages, chopped bacon, meat balls, onion, mushrooms, huge amount of cheese and corned beef all boiled together. Fills you up for days however you don’t poo right for weeks to come but dam its good. It’s about 4pm and the Hairy Hobbit has retired to his bivvy for a nap at this point I thought this is the perfect time to mess with him. I do the classic of attaching a hook to a spool of line wrapping it around his line and pulling it like a mad man from behind his bivvy. Thankfully the hippy had it all on camera. The Hobbit stumbles out of his bivvy looking like a mad man and full-bore Jeremy Wade’s the strike. The rig comes flying out of the water and he looks around to see myself and the hippy cracking up with laughter. He was a real happy hobbit at this point in time. Annoyed and swearing revenge he casts back out to the same spot just before dark. It’s now dark and I am still yet to have a nibble I am happy with my rigs, their presentation and spots so I persevere with hope for the night. The Hippy pulls out an awesome light he brought with him for the bivvy to create some weirdly erotic ambiance which gently changes colour, things were getting strange and I was starting to question my bivvy companion’s motives. We’re sitting there chatting away and the hobbit has come to join us for a bit, it’s got to be around 11pm now and I am starting to feel slightly demoralised as everyone else has had a bit of activity. All of a sudden my alarm goes mental, ‘Yessssss!’ I am on my feet and out of my sleeping bag in seconds, don’t even put my shoes on, run to the rod and strike, ‘yes a bit of resistance here boy’s’ I say with confidence for the first few seconds, then in it comes with ease gliding through the water, yep you guessed it a 2lb bream. Incase you were wondering, yes they did take the [censored] out of me and I didn’t live it down for the rest of the trip, I had been well and truly slimed and had. The icing on the cake though was at about midnight the Hobbit’s rod screams off and he is in dam it. He had moved one of his rods onto the bottom on a simple hair rig for the night, with a mainline cell boilie and a half pineapple pop up snowman presentation. This was the rod that took, it came in surprisingly easily considering it was an 11.5 lb mirror but he was happy to say the least especially considering how poor our last trip to Gwinear was. The bench mark had been set it was on (were not competitive at all). Now I know some of you pure carper’s will look down on us now, but it’s rare we do this, it was time. We cracked out a laptop and watched the ultimate Return of the Jedi, nerding it right up. There was no one else on the lake and it was hammering it down outside now, there was no way the fish could hear it, we could barely hear it ourselves. The film finished, and we retired to our respective beds with hope for the morning. It’s now morning and no activity at all for the rest of the night, for any of us. It was so cold that morning there was no way I was leaving my sleeping bag first thing, even though I had every intention of doing so to see if I could see any fish rise. I was definitely questioning a move if only I could see some dam fish to guide me to a spot. I had been consistently moving my zig rig around the whole trip, casting to different areas and changing the depth desperately trying to find them. I waited the morning out in hope. No one was having any activity at the minute and a couple other’s had joined us on the lake that morning. It was about 11 am and suddenly the hippies rod went mental, he was in, ‘noooooooooo!’. The rod that took was cast to the island as well, he had a bit of a fight and banked another beautiful 11lb mirror. I was properly demoralized now and I was definitely moving swims, the islands were producing which I got to admit I really didn’t expect. Shallowest part of the lake, this time of year with a cold wind blowing into them, but the fish were definitely in that area so I had to be. The Hobbit pointed me to a swim just down from him, which when I had a look myself did look pretty sweet. There was an area on the back of the island sheltered from the wind, didn’t see any fish but it had to be worth a shot, I packed up and made the move as quick as I could. The pressure had risen and the sun was out, it was still cold but with the heat from the sun I figured they got to be up in the water column now. With the local knowledge playing in my head I put both rods onto zigs one at 2ft one at 3ft. ‘I had to catch a fish’ I kept telling myself. Not being big headed but it is normally me winning the fishing race. It’s about 3pm we had to be off the lake by 5pm and still no fish I was proper demoralized now, I got to the point where I really didn’t think it was going to happen. Suddenly, my left rod screams off and I mean screams off, the rod almost got pulled clean off the pod. I strike into it and instantly think this is decent. The guy’s head down to check it out after hearing the commotion, repeatedly telling me ‘I bet it’s a massive bream’. This fish was really fighting keeping its head hard on the bottom and kiting me off to the left of my swim desperately trying to head to a snag at the bank. I am proper cacking my pants now, we had just seen the fish at the surface about 6 ft from the bank, it was a good one. The waters nice and clear so you can properly see the fish when they come up. It wasn’t ready for the net yet, I had been playing it for a good ten minutes now and saw it arch its back and make another run for the bottom. As I see the fin disappear I am then nicely presented with the rig flying out of the water. Yep it had pinged off the hook after all that effort, silence fell around me, I could see the guys trying to hold back the laughter. I was gutted, that was it last couple hours no way am I getting another fish, I was [censored]ed and so gutted, I was desperately holding back the urge to ling the rod in the lake. I stood there solemnly and truly demoralized and done. I recast the rod in a hopeless last ditched attempt to the same spot with no hope what so ever. I was so wrong, in no more than 20 minutes of recasting it screams off again, holy stinky winky I leapt on that rod. It’s on, the guys came down again, I think even they were hoping I got this one in. It was fighting just as hard as the last one and in the same manner kiting to the left, ‘please don’t happen again, please don’t happen again’ I kept saying to myself. After a good 10 – 15 minutes of play it’s at the surface gliding towards the net which the Hobbit is doing the honours for me. It’s netted and it’s an awesome fish absolute dark stunner weighing in at 24lb, YESSSSSSSSS. I was unbelievably happy, chuffed to say the least after almost 32 hours of disappointment for myself, to have that on the bank was an awesome feeling. We got our pics and returned it safely. And within an hour we were packed up and heading home. An absolute emotional roller coaster of a trip for me but loved every minute of it as we all did. We all left with a fish at a particularly hard time of year, a definite successful trip and we will most certainly be back to this lake again for our winter sessions.