As it is now April and spring is finally here i thought id better try and catch up with a bit of fishing. Ive done a bit here and there but no real effort has been put in over the winter, its just been too harsh. i did 48 hours on the lodges frozen solid in December needless to say that resulted in a blank however since then I've had a day on the lodges, a day at Taylor's and a days trout fishing which resulted in a couple of nice rainbows and a superb brownie of about 2 lbs.

Ive had two fish from the lodges so far this year a pike and a decent crucian. things are on the up =)

Its now 19/5/10 and I've been fishing my head off! I've had my first carp from the lodges, at 13lb a perfect old common caught stalking with an eight foot rod and bread flake was a cracking way to start. A couple of weeks ago my farther and myself took Alan, my dads friend from work as a guest up to the northern water. Alan despite his many years had never caught a big fish. He's a pleasure fisherman who's had some cracking coarse fish up to about 4lb! the day went disastrous (as it always does when you take a guest) with me catching six and my dad bagging one. So tea time arrived and i persuaded the two oldies to up sticks and move. What an evening we ALL had! Alan ran away with the title for best come back in years finally having landed more carp than me and my dad by home time. Whats more his ten carp weighed in at a combined weight of around 90lb! And so the three musketeers made the long journey home feeling satisfied that a memorable day had been had by all.

Last weekend myself and Dave headed back up to the northern water for the weekend and I'm pleased to report that we both had a superb trip landing around 80 fish apiece! I'm even happier to announce that i caught my second twenty pounder. A mirror of 21lb 6oz. Which gave possibly one of the most nerve racking fights Ive ever had.

That's it now I'm in full swing and desperate for more big carp, Ive been baiting the lodges all week with a view to fish over a bed of boilies for the weekend. i shall keep up to date.

Tight lines

nige

Well a night on the lodges and another fish under my belt. i finally got the rods out by about 9pm and got settled in for the night some time soon after and i was in the land of nod, dreaming of catching a thirty most probably lol. i awoke to a vicious take at 6am, yep that's right i Slept right through. Upon trying to escape my sleeping bag and putting the shoes on i thought it could be a really big fish so was unbelievably surprised when i slipped a 4lb common over the net cord. But a great result all the same it could of just as easily been 18lb but the size was irrelevant i caught another lodges carp and the nights are starting to get cooler now so even better. I do have some cracking dawn pics but they shall have to wait until another time. I'm trying to go again tomorrow maybe. who knows i might get another!

tight lines
nige ;P

back in the saddle

I Have been fishing twice since my last post, once on my local water of which most of this blog is occupied and once up to the northern water.(both of which the clubs have a publicity ban) in case you wondered why i never name the waters. Anyway my first trip was again a total blank! A quick overnighter straight from work through until the following tea time, the fish just weren't playing ball even though they were obviously active . This is the first year which i have fished this water right through so I'm not expecting to catch to many fish, i shall however savor any fish that do turn up.

The second trip was a week last Saturday when myself and Dave made the trip up north at 5:30 am. At dinner time we were accompanied by my dad and Steve. Although the sport was generally slow for this water we landed about 40 carp between us, which over 30 were to Dave's rods! He totally wiped the floor with us! The main thing was that we all caught fish and had a thoroughly enjoyable day with these fish being of an average size.

It was nice to finally get amongst a few fish after what seems like months of nothing.

The last week i have felt under the weather hence i never got a night in, but this week i hope to go on Wednesday night so ill keep you up to date.

tight lines

nige

I'm going to the lake again tonight, straight after work so hopefully ill have a carp or two in no time at all,.

RAIN RAIN RAIN AND A FEW SNOTTYS

Ive just got home from the lake, I've finally been fishing rather than tell you all about it i shall publish what i wrote in my journal for a change.

Fishing is a wonderful past time. It has so many variables, its never boring,never predictable and never the same from one day to the next. No my favorite lake is more like a hormonal teenager than a four acre carp pool. The mood at the waterside can change so dramatically from day to day, you never quite know whats round the corner. From an angling point of view i love this, it keeps me fresh and constantly having to work to catch my quarry. I haven't yet unlocked the secrets of this lake but its a work in progress. For the time being the best i can hope to achieve is to try and stay in tune with whats going on around me.

So here i am, four acres of Paradise to my self again. this is the first time Ive been fishing for months! I'm almost ashamed that we are now well into autumn and i have barley wet a line. Both rods have just been recast due to bream activity, i want to know for sure that both baits are in a position to tempt a carp through the night, not attached to a snotty.

Its now about 11.30pm i think, the only sound i can hear is the low dim noise of the motorway some miles away. Everything is calm but for the occasional carp crashing as it leaves its watery home for a split second. at this time of night it sounds more like a ford Escort being wrapped around a lamppost than a carp doing acrobatics. yet another cup of coffee, probably not the best thing to drink before bed but i wont be going to sleep any time soon anyway.

The tension is just to much, anticipation has taken over me once more, i cant take my eyes off the water, my rods. at any moment my bobbin could twitch signaling first contact! It seems like forever since i last held a carp. There is no feeling on this earth like that which you get on contact with a carp, its enough to wake a man from his slumber in an instant. As the rod takes on that healthy arc on the strike and you feel every once of resistance, too me that one moment sums up why i go fishing. Surely I'm in for a fish tonight its not cold (i have my door open) the fish are active, the full moon has just subsided behind some cloud cover, its bite time.

How I've missed this solitude, this space. Most people couldn't understand (including my better half) but i guess if you've made it this far you know what I'm talking about. There is a pair of green eyes sat watching me on the far bank as a cat prowls i see his eyes reflect my dim head torch. Yet another big fish has just crashed out somewhere in the darkness. All i want is a fish, all i can smell at the moment is rancid bream slime from the earlier encounter oh how id love to replace it with that fruity yet slightly nutty aroma of the carp. Smell is a wonderful thing, everybody smells something different in a carp but to me, especially in this lake i find that on the most part the carp smell very rich. Almost a cross between roasted nuts and fresh tree bark.
In the past five minutes I've heard another three carp in the darkness, I'm confident of the night ahead.

the wind has suddenly picked up, i can hear it in the trees now. Wow a big fish has just completely left the water in front of me, it must of been a twenty. I can hear it over the distant traffic, i can see the tree tops on the other bank dancing and swaying against the night sky, i think its going to rain soon.

its now 7am the kettle is on once more. Its been raining since about 3am and the light is creeping back into the wet morning very slowly. The mood has changed from the edgy suspense of last night to the sulky withdrawn state I'm now faced with. Two new rigs dispatched to their spots maybe that will bring a bite. Its now 9.30am I've had mt breakfast and have that feeling of deflation that always follows a fish less night. Confidence is low, i always prefer to fish at night, i catch more but i also love the still night air.

My bobbins hang motionless an inch above the floor, my alarms are covered in mud from the rain splashing up. Its dinner time now and still no fish, its still raining though. My left hand bobbin just smashed into the rod the delkim let out a flurry of bleeps at the receiver end. Turns out its a bream, on goes the kettle once again.
An hour has passed and still the rain hasn't eased off, the peg is now under several inches of water. Another bream on the bank sees that I'm drenched i think i have one on the other rod as well. I had a stick attached to that rod, maybe i can call it a TREE TROUT. Its the nearest I've had to a carp this session.

well that was a bit different, hope you didn't get to bored along the way.

tight lines
nige

ive not posted in a while because ive been on holiday. but now im back and hearing my mate daves catch results im hoping to get down on the lodges on monday so i shall keep updated on how i get on.

This weeks trips.

Well i had Monday and Tuesday off this week so i jumped at the chance of a couple of days fishing. Monday saw me fishing with my manager from work. We were originally heading for tubuary house, i was going to fish for the carp while he fished the pole but things didn't work out and at dinner time we left turbuary and headed for orchaton? the commercial next to the kennels in eccleston. we opted to fish on the small quarry lake as i only had my carp gear with me. To say i struggled was an understatement with the heavy gear and gin clear water! Byron managed to have a fairly decent afternoon taking several bream to 6lb!

He managed about half a dozen this size as well as bits, i however found that my gear was too beefy for the fish in this lake and suffered lost fish again and again. the only fish i managed to catch was this superb looking koi.

It fell to a mixer late on in the evening once the light started to fade.
Tuesday was even worse than Monday, me and Carl were going on the lodges for a couple of hours summer plugging for the jacks but we never got a take all day! It rained constantly and i had no waterproofs, all the required ingredients to have a cruddy day! I did however see a couple of kingfishers which is always a treat. At the end of the day it was a day out, better by far than sitting at home all day.this is the middle lodge, although its solid with fish there impossible to catch. evening match's are usually won with a couple of ounces by quality match men! But just look at the beauty of the place who can possibly complain for twenty quid a year, its a total bargain if you ask me. And this is only one of the three lodges!

Well I'm hoping to get back to my club water again on Mon/Tues so ill let you know how i get on. Who knows i may catch a whopper Ive caught some pretty unexpected fish of late and I'm now thinking I'm on a bit of a role. How long can my luck hold out?

tight lines

nige