ouchthathurt

If anyone’s interested, I’ve edited my catch pic above with a full catch report.

It is a tad open, the rains hammering down now and I’m under a brolly and storm sides! The hot water bottle is working overtime tonight!

Dark moody and damp February session

Good morning to you all, so as I defrost in front of the fire i shall regale you with a tale of carp, rain and mud! (I’m like a cut price Terry Hearn!) This tale has its foundation in last week, when I found myself once again ensconced in a stuffy hotel room for a “preparation course” ahead of my final exams next week. Chatting to wifey on the phone, she asked why I didn’t take any fishing gear with me, I explained how there wasn’t any time to disappear to a lake for a few hours, so wifey suggested that I get an overnight trip in as she is working and daughter is at nursery and I probably won’t be missed! Still, as the wifey and I have another baby on the way, due in the summer, opportunities to get the rods out are going to become few and far between, so I prepped the gear, my daughter and I rolled some bait and on yesterdays dawn I was gone, heading for zombie sheep lake. In arriving, I found the lake looking grey, sullen and foreboding. The water level was up by a good 2ft, meaning one of the islands had disappeared completely, and the other, only a few sorry looking branches poked above the water! As I was alone, and the wind was piling in, with this being a rather barren landscape, with little to stop the howling wind between the Russian Steppes and my bivvy, I chose to set up on the back of the wind, tucked in behind a sorry line of bushes that did at least act as a wind break. It wasn’t raining, so I took the time to have a lead about to find my usual spot albeit from a different angle. Happy with my spots, HMS Jenny (my bait boat) was launched into the chop, where she gamely battled the waves to deposit two pva bags of boilie crumb, pellet and maggots onto the spots. With that, I was fishing. Both rods being Fox Horizon X3S’s to Fox EOS 12000 reels, to lead core leaders, 3 1/2 oz leads fished as helicopter rigs to fox cortex braid, ESP Clawhammer hooks barbless size 6 fished slip D style. Bait was my usual Premier Superaminos with belachan, shellfish and salmon oil with added robin red, I tend to just keep feeding the same bait all year through here and still keep having bites, plus it helps keep it established for next year. A good quality bait gets better with application in my eyes. With the rods out, it was time to set up house and have a cup of tea. As I was crouching down by the rods, watching the water for any subtle show that there may be fish about, my right hand rod tightened up, so the tea was flung to one side and I snatched up the offending rod, on hitting it, the rod took on its battle curve as the battle was joined. After a spirited 20min scrap, where it bored remorselessly around the flooded margins, it finally rolled over and hit the net. I checked all the fins were flat, popped the hook out and rolled it up in the mesh for the short walk up the bank. As it is rather steep on this side, with all the rain, it was like an ice rink, and I managed to slip over, landing on my bum with a carp in my lap! Still, the fish was undamaged so I laid it on the unhooking mat and unfurled the net. I was faced with another rig in its mouth! Hanging from the scissors was a pink boilie, attached to a rig, safezone leader and a 4oz lead that had no chance of discharging from the lead clip as the tail rubber was jammed on tight! So I unhooked it for the second time and held it up for the happy snaps at 28lb exactly, he was in rude health, I don’t think the other rig had been there long as the mouth was not torn, but I treated both hook holds and let him go, a 4oz lead lighter! I felt that he could be the start of a few, to get a bite so quickly, but alas, it wasn’t to be. HMS Jenny continued to battle the waves to deposit my baits back out there, the rain closed in and started hammering it down, I discovered a few leaks in my bivvy that will now need attention, the bank became a quagmire and it soon became a challenge to stand upright without slipping, let alone walk anywhere! So diving into the stand of trees, I picked up a carrier bag full of pine needles, pine cones and twigs, which I made a path from my brolly to my rods, now I had a grippy surface again, I got my head down and had a peaceful nights rest! This morning, I awoke and redid the rods, or at least tried to! HMS Jenny, my indefatigable little Amazon special bait boat, finally gave in. Her props still spin, she splashed bravely through the waves, but when it came to drop the baits, the hoppers refused to release, the motor working the release mechanism had given up the ghost. HMS Jenny was like a WW2 Escort Corvette who’s used its last depth charge, it can sail gamely on, but not a lot else! I chose to stick on a stringer on each rod and cast them out for the last hour or two, whilst I slowly packed up. Sat on my bedchair, looking at the bags that needed packing away, whilst trying to drum up the enthusiasm to make a start, my left hand rod registered a rapid drop back! I leapt off my backside and promptly landed back on it again as my feet shot out from under me in the slimy muddy bank, and I landed flat on my back, picking my self up I watched the embryonic take fizzle out, I’d missed it! This proved to be the motivation I needed to pack away and go home. With the barrow loaded, I slip and slide my way back to the car park, load the car and head for home. This proved to be a more mentally challenging session due to the conditions, and it did cross my mind to pack up and go home, but I gave my head a wobble and stuck it out. Besides, a 28lb common in February isn’t a bad reward! Now time for a hot bath, get HMS Jenny in dry dock and see if I can get her back to her little bobbing best!

Err.. I have a few more than two…

I fished in much worse! 🙄

Mad!! 😂

having another go

I’d need to have a look mate, but they’re not the original ones with the x-wrap, shame, I loved those rods! My local tackle shop thinks he may have one in their rod rebuilding stuff, so im going to drop the tip in so they can have a gander

Interesting session today, I had a premonition that I needed to be in a certain swim, and got up early, abandoned wife and children to their prospective fates and shot down the lake. No cars parked anywhere, so the swim was mine! only it wasn’t, as when I parked my car on the grass verge, I could see there were a couple of guys fishing it! I went to drive off and park up and discovered to my horror that I was now stuck comprehensively in the mud! My father rescued the day with a 5 metre length of astroturf, wedged under the front wheels soon had the jalopy free again. Still, try again! A quick glance around the lake and I saw a couple of very subtle shows, reeds knocking etc. then one fish put its head out at around 100yrds in the far margin. An orange northern special pop up soon landed on its head followed by a krill bottom bait against the knocking reeds in my near margin. (Not a usual go to winter bait, but my son has done well this winter on them here, so worth a shout.) 2hrs later and a recast (with a small pva mesh bag of tutti fruitti crumb) and the orange NS pop up was properly ripping off! at a single ounce over the 20lb barrier, the first 20 of 2026 has hit the net.

Evening all, I am trying to source a 14mm tip eye to replace a damaged tip eye on my boys 12ft fox warrior 2.75lb tc rod, I have done the usual online searches but can’t find anything, (except the usual Temu/amazon stuff) or do I just order 3 16mm tip rings (which are easier to source) and do all 3 rods? (He wants them all to match - I get that!)

This mornings 5am to 10am session

Nothing exciting, but the boy and I managed a few commons this morning to start this years captures. now have to find a tip eye for a fox warrior 2.75lb rod (any ideas?)

another go for 2hrs today, another blank! My little girl had a fair few roach and rudd though.

I tried to go last week but it was frozen solid! 🙄 hopefully get another few hours in over the weekend

sat behind the rods in a wet and windy low pressure system, the lake was frozen last week. blanked unfortunately, but try again soon!

I’ve got a cross cast handle on it at the moment, it just needed an extra washer to get it to work. It will do for now, might have to speak to Weston developments and get some hold up handles for them all…

Yes mate, me too, but you can’t add it to the basket, so when I called up to place the order over the phone, he checked his stock and found he had none left 🙁

Hi all, hoping someone here can help me, I have a Daiwa windcast Z5000 that I need a replacement handle for, but I can’t find one anywhere! Daiwa UK don’t have any as it’s discontinued and Jim’s reel shop have sold out. Where else can I try? Usual internet searches are not producing the goods. or any aftermarket places I could try?

couple of low double Christmas commons

out for a few hours to bag a December carp. Fishing locked up to the reed line

One of the books I own, I thoroughly enjoyed it 👍🏻

After working a 2pm-2am shift, I popped down to a local park lake to await the morning when I would be able to park on my road (that was my excuse anyway) I managed a carp that probably wouldn’t look out of place in Yonny’s koi pond, but it kicks off October

two little 2lb test 11ft shimano aero rods with little shimmy bait runners out this evening, left rod to the tree in the water opposite, right rod next to the platform right of shot. Had 3hrs out, landed 5. Nothing huge, but nice to be out again

I saw that, and here’s me buying a family home for the family like a chump. Could have brought that lake and a caravan…