ouchthathurt Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 So I've just got back from a long overdue session on my local water which I call zombie sheep lake. It's a spooky place at the best of times, being in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a farmers fields surrounded by sheep. At night when you look around with a head torch, all you see are the reflections of eyes looking back at you. On my first session, I woke up after a blank night to find a dead sheep in the margins under my rod tips! How it got there without setting 3 alarms off I could never work out. Hence the name zombie sheep lake. Now I've fished it a fair few times and done pretty well, but something usually goes wrong there at some point, I've bogged the car in, slipped on sheep droppings and slid into the lake, had my bite alarms mysteriously stop working despite having fresh batteries, only for them to work fine when I get home... Yesterday I arrived to find the pond perfectly still, Sun shining and everything ok with the world. I made my way to the swim and flicked out the rods on 8 bait stringers, right rod to an island, middle to a hard spot surrounded by silt and left up the margin. Now this lake was an old WW2 gun emplacement with two concrete bunkers set into a hollowed out valley totalling about 2-3 acres. After the war, the guns were removed and the hollow flooded to create the lake. In fact the islands are actually the roofs of the concrete bunkers. With a slight breeze blowing into my face, I set up the 50 brolly with storm poles so I was sheltered from the wind, bedchair and camp all arranged and sat back to enjoy the view. The middle rod melted off, the Neville screaming its high pitched tone demanding attention. I picked up the rod, 12ft of fox torque carbon bending pleasingly into its battle curve, spool on the fox 12000 reel purring like a contended kitten as I did battle with a sprightly 15lbish common. Netting the carp, I slip the hook from his bottom lip and slip the carp back, happy to have caught. Another stringer soon finds its way out to the spot among the silt, and I clamber back in the bedchair. A few hours pass before the bobbin on the left hand rod creeps up an inch with a resounding beep from the neville, my eyes settle on the rod as the rod tip slowly starts to bend round to the left. On striking, the rod is quickly pulled down, I pump the rod and can feel a weight on the end, it was not a spectacular fight, a few gentle plods in the deep margins (6ft under the tips) and the carp quickly hits the surface and is in the net. I estimated it's weight at mid doubles during the fight so when this lump surfaced I was very surprised to see it was a good fish. On the scales, the carp went 31lb 8oz which was the biggest carp in this pond. I went to bed ecstatic and curled up in the bag with my hot water bottle and DSI Steven Fulchers autobiography. As sleep overtook me, I went to sleep happy that I had finally seemed to have broken the run of bad luck I have experienced at this lake, however, the lake had other ideas... at 7am this morning, the gentle wind increased to galeforce, the rain hammered down and the bankside became sodden. With a tremendous gust, the wind whipped round, and tore my storm rods and pegs clean out of the ground, deprived of this stability, the wind, now firmly under my brolly front, continued its path of destruction, tearing out the pegging points and flipping the brolly onto its back, snapping the spokes. My shelter now a write off, in torrential rain, I pulled together my soaked and ruined gear and trudged off home for a hot bath... Seems the zombie sheep lake curse hasn't released me from it's icy grip... 31lb 8oz common bluelabel, yonny, Golden Paws and 14 others 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 29 minutes ago, ouchthathurt said: the biggest carp in this pond....... My shelter now a write off...... Certainly a session you won't forget in a hurry then lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmanstevo Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 Well done. You water sounds very similar to mine a very windswept barren middle of nowhere sheep ridden place ......... I’ve seen the best of kit get smashed down there on stormy days tho my jrc stealth brolly is still the only gear I’d trust on my water in real bad conditions. Nice fish and I also notice you’ve got wind turbines,just like my place ......... I’ll be looking out for zombie sheep on my next session down the Marshes. 😱😱😂😂😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusian Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 Congratulations on that lovely golden Common , Ouch , and thanks for the enjoyable read . IMO you need to watch The Walking Dead to pick up some tips . 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouchthathurt Posted November 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 The walking dead?? Shawn of the dead is more my mark! It didn't help the bailiff coming round at midnight and scaring me half to death... Due to the remote location and good stock of decent carp, the lake has been hit with a spate of fish thefts. As a good, diligent bailiff, he does random midnight checks to deter poachers. Didn't help my blood pressure seeing a bloke in all black, hood up marching purposefully towards me in the darkness! crusian and snowmanstevo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusian Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 21 minutes ago, ouchthathurt said: The walking dead?? Shawn of the dead is more my mark! It didn't help the bailiff coming round at midnight and scaring me half to death... Due to the remote location and good stock of decent carp, the lake has been hit with a spate of fish thefts. As a good, diligent bailiff, he does random midnight checks to deter poachers. Didn't help my blood pressure seeing a bloke in all black, hood up marching purposefully towards me in the darkness! Good grief , and you go fishing for well deserved relaxation , Ouch. , you need Negans' " Lucille " 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzbomb Posted November 11, 2019 Report Share Posted November 11, 2019 Good fishing and a good write-up as well! Looks like there are even some of the woolies in that pic over by the fence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted November 12, 2019 Report Share Posted November 12, 2019 Result mate.... great read too 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salokcinnodrog Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 Nice fish, nice write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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