greekskii Posted July 7, 2017 Report Share Posted July 7, 2017 Seems a bit quiet on here for July so I'll get the ball rolling. Managed this mid double off the surface this afternoon. Fish were very finickey and tricky to get feeding well. And when they did, they'd avoid the hookbait. Luckily I tucked this one up against a lily pad and it worked. cyborx, carpmachine, phil dalts and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 Since catching the big common last month I've only managed a couple of overnighters on the bank and while I've not caught anything I've put the time to good use through observation. It's become clear all this hot weather had changed the habits of the fish and while they've been easy to find in the day it's not been so easy to catch them in those areas. I had a pretty good idea of where they could be caught having watched their movements during my short sessions. On Saturday I was able to get out for another overnighter, only one car in the car park when I showed up, lovely...... As usual i found them straight away in a particular area but with the knowledge gained from previous sessions I knew that setting up on top of them was not the one. It really does take a leap of faith to walk away from a swim in which there's clearly loads of carp but that's exactly what I did, instead choosing to head towards the area I suspected they were feeding in. The swim I chose looked, for lack of a better word, completely dead, and I couldn't help but wonder about my sanity as I set up. I took advantage of the absence of carp by having a really good lead about, and after an hour or two I had the swim mapped and found what is probably the best spot I've ever found on this water; it was rock hard, clearly something had been digging around, a natural feeding area maybe? Confidence for the night ahead increased as did the amount of bait I planned to put in. Out comes the spod and 3 kg of boilie and pellet later I whack the hook baits out and sit down with a cold beer. I was a little restless during the day and evening I have to admit, normally I'd be up trees, on the move, looking, searching...... but on this occasion I suspected the hard work was done and I just had to sit tight until bite time.... around 5 - 7 am. As it got dark I saw a few fish moving which suggested that my thoughts on location might be correct. I stayed up quite late and at around 1 am I got my head down having seen the odd fish but not as much as I'd hoped. At 3:30 am the rod on the new spot signals a twitchy take and I'm on it in seconds only to be disappointed that it's a tench. I land it, it's about 5 lb, I let it go straight from the net. I do like tench but that's not why I'm here. The moon is almost full and the sun is threatening to breach the horizon already so it's light enough to recast immediately. Two attempts and it's bang on the spot. Back to bed. I'm struggling to sleep so by 4 am I'm back out of the bag just having a 'quick look' for carp (one of those quick looks that goes on for the rest of the day lol). I know I need more sleep but bite time is approaching and I want to see what develops. I see very little, a few tench, and I'm getting worried that my theory is completely wrong so doubts start creeping in.... wrong spot? too much bait? etc, etc.... until about 5 am when I see a carp pop its head out maybe 10 yards behind the new spot. And another.... And another.... The next couple of hours is brilliant, I see a bunch of carp head-and-shouldering behind my spot and they appear to be getting nearer. At about 6 am I see one of the real monsters nut out, defo a 40+, and I'm smoking like a chimney trying to stay calm. It gets later, and later and before I know it 7 am is approaching which tends to signal the end of bite time..... and the sightings are starting to slow down. It hits 7 am and I've not seen one for a while, I'm guessing my chance has gone, very disappointing, so I head back to the brolly to see if I can sleep. I lay down and.... BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE......................................... off it goes! Into the waders and I hit it - straight into the weed and it's locked up. I've just moved to drop off leads however (don't normally like to drop them but a lot of fish are being lost recently so it's mandated) which helps no end. I tease it out with relative ease and pump it back. I have to say it behaves well once hooked and the fight aint spectacular, which I'm not complaining about with all this weed around. Within 30 yards it's up near the surface and I tease it over the absolutely savage marginal weed beds and straight into the waiting net. Sigh of relief, subtle fist pump, job done, get in! Peering into the net I see it's a proper looker, a very dark double row linear, clearly a male fish, torpedo shaped, long and solid. Good size too, maybe a 30.... It turns out he's one of the oldest fish in the lake, one of the originals, been fished for since the first anglers hit this lake, a slow grower that's been steadily increasing in size over many years. He's a rare one, a once a year fish at most apparently, so I'm feeling rather pleased as you can imagine. On the scales he goes 30 lb 6 oz, the first time it's done 30, which adds to my good mood. The fish looks awesome in the morning sun, black down it's back, rosewood down it's flanks, and an almost mustard shade to it's belly. It's top half is like a fully scaled, as is it's front end and tail, with just a broad area either side of it's belly clear of these big golden scales. They really do not come much nicer that this, I'm well happy, so I take one last look before sending him back. The view of him snaking his way back out through the marginal weed forest is pretty breathtaking. Lovely. I hang around hoping for a late morning bite which doesn't happen so I go home. Job done, happy days, I bloomin' love carp angling........ greekskii, carpmachine, commonly and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusian Posted July 10, 2017 Report Share Posted July 10, 2017 Super stuff Yonny . Now get your coloured pencils out , I want a picture of your beautiful Carp ! . yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted July 11, 2017 Report Share Posted July 11, 2017 I couldn't draw this one if I wanted too Crusian, mental looking carp! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted July 14, 2017 Report Share Posted July 14, 2017 Been out for a few days this week with a few mates ..... last out the draw & in the most unfancied swim on the lake but stuck at it Did manage two bites one of which was the biggest fish of the trip at 28lb Andy Hull, yonny, nigewoodcock and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 Well I should have been sitting here writing one of my page-long catch reports but instead I'm moping around dwelling on not one but TWO losses after spending all weekend working to get the bites. First was a hook pull; harsh, but they do happen. The second really hurt though; I hooked it at range and spent 10 minutes battling it, a dead weight plodding slowly up and down the far margin, typical big fish fight, kiting slowly, when I got it half way back it decided to pick up one of my other lines and then went for a weed bed I had no idea was there. Long story short I ended up with line and weed all over the swim with no carp. Two in a morning...... unforgivable. I'm hoping it's just a bad day at the office and that's my losses for the year all done..... jh92 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted July 17, 2017 Report Share Posted July 17, 2017 Gutting mate !!! It's about the only thing that can wind me up on the bank & two lost fish can end up with the rod in the hedge yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil dalts Posted July 20, 2017 Report Share Posted July 20, 2017 Not been much but I do have a fishing companion!! crusian 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil dalts Posted July 21, 2017 Report Share Posted July 21, 2017 8 hours ago, carpmachine said: Oh wow, what a super little pal, looks border collieish. He sure is cm. From working stock too. Lovely little chap. Got my work cut out though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil dalts Posted July 21, 2017 Report Share Posted July 21, 2017 Its all good. Hard life being a dog! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigewoodcock Posted July 23, 2017 Report Share Posted July 23, 2017 Managed to grab an overnighter last night. Had to be home for 8am this morning. So happy when this one came along at 5.30am. lost one on dark after an hour of getting the rods in, then had around 10 or 11 tench in between!! crusian and chillfactor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greekskii Posted July 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2017 (edited) Two from the weekend. Unfortunately I really ballsed the night time self takes up. My own fault for not having a decent camera! 17lber that gave one hell of a scrap & 21lb that was stunning apart from the mouth. Gutted I messed the pics up and it had real sandpaper like skin. Edited July 24, 2017 by greekskii carpmachine, crusian, chillfactor and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
... Posted July 25, 2017 Report Share Posted July 25, 2017 13lb common..👍🎣 phil dalts and chillfactor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted July 25, 2017 Report Share Posted July 25, 2017 Stalked this one out off the top ,on the way home from work . Will have to make do with a camera shot with photobucket no longer playing ball . phil dalts and yonny 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Booya. Lovely carp Chill. chillfactor and phil dalts 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 3 hours ago, yonny said: Booya. Lovely carp Chill. Cheers mate , happy with that one took about an hour to work out where the best chance to catch it was . Not catching smaller ones & ruining my chances was the key . yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted July 26, 2017 Report Share Posted July 26, 2017 Nice way to do it mate.... making use of limited time..... spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muftyboy Posted July 27, 2017 Report Share Posted July 27, 2017 Had a double take the other night and lost the bigger one of the two . This was the second one that went off about 5 seconds before I lost the 1st one. ... and chillfactor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted July 28, 2017 Report Share Posted July 28, 2017 Seems to be fishing well at night for you mate. Nice one 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muftyboy Posted July 29, 2017 Report Share Posted July 29, 2017 On 28/07/2017 at 12:12, chillfactor said: Seems to be fishing well at night for you mate. Nice one 😎 I'm only fishing short night sessions mate. Getting there about 8 o'clock and fishing till about 11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted July 29, 2017 Report Share Posted July 29, 2017 That'll be why then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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