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

Finally !

My self and Carl both booked a week off work this week. We managed to get to our local club water on Sunday evening and fished through until Thursday morning. Of course as usual we were targeting the beautiful conditioned carp that reside in the lake. I hoped to get among the fish and set myself a target of four, if i achieved that i would be very happy i thought to my self as i erected my m3 bivvy, Carl said he would be happy just to get one as this lake can be quite tricky. as this is only a two rod water i decided to fish one on a baited area which i gave a good thrashing with a spod and the other as a roving rod which i could cast at fish and explore the water in front of me with. Both were dispatched with my latest bait creation which smells vile, so bad i was condemned to the shed whilst making it and my mum still moaned she could smell it in the house! its sea monster and anchovy with a high amount of n-buteric acid (which smells like puke.) 1ml of this stuff is more than enough for a pound of base mix and a few other of my favorite bits and pieces were added. the finished product was a nice dark 15mm boilie with a soft texture so it released its smell faster.I was confident at that point let alone at the water side. The rods had been out about half an hour when my left hand delkim burst into life - Fish on! The fight was weird, at first i thought it was a pike,it was just thrashing around with no real power then a few short bursts just under the surface. This is not typical of the fish in here because they have a really good depth of water even in the margins as Carl found out when he fell in up to his neck! Anyway the culprit was a 10lb koi! i was then informed that it was one of only two koi in the lake so i was quite chuffed. A new bait on, the hook was still nice and sharp so it was cast to the same area again with a small bag of pellets and a few crummed boilies, i injected my bags with 5ml of a mix of different oils and additives to really give it a pulling factor. it had been out about an hour when the same rod (the roving rod) rattled off again, this was more like it the fish came straight into my margins as they do here then battled to the end under the rod as i drew it over the draw cord of the net i caught a glimpse of a nice brassy flank in the dark. it turned out to be a very welcome common of 13lb 4oz.

At this point i was flying, the snowman rigs presented blow-back style with the new baits were really passing the test, back it went on the spot but no more action came through out the night which i was a little disappointed about however when i reeled in for inspection in the morning i found i was attached to a bream that had just sat there all night without giving any indication! That was it up went the sensitivity on the alarms. At about 10 am on Monday morning i had a slow steady take on the bait rod, i was on it in a flash as the fish kited in towards my bank, it came under the rod with ease. I told Carl it was only a small fish but hey it was a carp i cant complain. then it absolutely let rip and charged up the margin to the left under three different bushes and a tree on its way! the only thing i could do was drop the rod in the deep margin and hold on praying it would stay deep, i was completely flat roded at one point i was just waiting for something to go but it didn't. Instead it headed back out into open water where i managed to tire it. As i was crouched down i didn't really see the fish as i drew it over the draw cord, i asked Carl if it was a double and he said most probably. When i lifted the net and fish out of the water i shouted omg its flaming huge mate! it has to be a new pb! She went 21lb 8oz on the scales i weighed her twice just to make sure and i was right! Six years of hard work and a lot of nights on the bank and i finally had my first 20.Just look at the grin on that face! to say i was happy was an understatement, just a shame the pictures don't do her justice she was really wide! That one fish would of made my trip but then at 12 pm i got another of around 6lb. whilst i was dealing with it on the bank i looked down the bank to show Carl only to see that he was into his first fish! i quickly slipped her back reeled i the other rod and wandered down the bank to give him a lift with the net.i put the net under a really big mirror which when last caught last year was in the 20s so we couldn't believe it when it only went 15lb on the scales but even so it was a brilliant fish well done mate, you deserved it. Just look at the size of that tail!

The bait was really working now so i gave both of his rods and mine a good scattering then i went for a wander with a floater rod and managed to bag another three small commons between 6 and 8lb as well as three decent bream around the 4lb mark and a cracking hybrid.

so at the end of Monday i had seven carp to my name i was well happy! Monday night passed by without so much as a line bite i managed another carp on Tuesday morning then another at about 9pm whilst Carl managed a few too in the day which was nice, we were both having a cracking session. i sat up all night on Tuesday feeding a field mouse trout pellets at my bivvy door i hadn't seen it the night before although there had been a rather noisy tawny owl sat in the tree above me so it was a sensible little mouse. I must of drifted off around 3:30am and was quite bemused as to what was making the whistling that woke me up. I actually thought it was my own nose whistling as i breathed so turned over on my bed and sunk my head into my pillow. The noise however did not stop and eventually i sat up only to find a little robin sat at my door whistling at me for food! i have never seen anything like it in all my life, he was no more the three feet away and didn't even flinch as i sat up the leaned over to open my bait bucket to shower him with pellets. That was it i had made a friend for life, drifted in out of my peg for the rest of the session picking up bits and pieces of food.

dawn is always my favorite time on the bank and this session was no different with a mug of coffee in hand i just enjoy sitting back and listening to the dawn chorus as the world around me wakes up. its also a brilliant time to see the carp and where they are feeding let alone catching them , often in the margins. the smells in the air at this time of day are coated in dew which only enhances them, the smell of the surrounding woodland and the water itself is a real treat for me as i live in an urban area on a busy main road.

Wednesday was a nightmare for me i didn't get anything at all apart from a few snotty bream where as Carl was amongst them again with a couple more cracking low doubles like this mint common.

By the time dusk had set in on Wednesday night we both feared that that would be it for the fish as they hadn't been feeding at night. at 11:20 Carl was in again with another decent double and after slipping it back he reeled in and came and i put the kettle on. as we sat chatting my alarm screamed off again and i caught the last fish of the trip in the form of this mirror.

What a belting trip we had, 17 carp between us. i had ten and Carl seven. that's more than we could of ever hoped for and has really given me confidence in my bait.

as we were packing up on Thursday morning i had a chat with two old men that were setting up for the night. when i say old they were both in their mid 70s and still get out at least 1 night a week and had just come back from a week in France. what an inspiration!

until next time, tight lines

nige

Eel by heck

the evening on the ribble turned out to be a total disaster! arriving at one of my club beats we were amazed to see that every plot on the other bank was taken. Most fishing were yobs from the housing estate, not much idea and absolutely no manners. 3 oz leads were flying in every direction! the problem is that the other bank is not controlled by any club and is a free for all, i don't think the EA even dare to go down there.after three casts each both me and dad had three eels apiece! it was never going to be a good night was it ? Then we sat in amazement and watched as a guy on the far bank hooked a barbel! Only to go and beach the the fish on sharp gravel and drag it up the bank! we were totally disgusted then he went one step further by getting a net out of his bag to weigh the fish in! THERE IS NO PLACE IN FISHING FOR BEHAVIOUR LIKE THIS! We decided there and then that it was time to leave and headed off up to another beat at ribchester. We never saw another soul until we packed up and were at the car, a couple of fly anglers had turned out for the sea trout. All we caught was sixteen eels between us with my biggest being around 2lb. Dad couldn't have a run down with the fly because we were called home early.
i hope my next trip (on Sunday with Dave) is more productive, it has to be more enjoyable i think were going on the lodges because i cant twist his arm into going up to windermere.

tight lines

nige

Well in the last week I've had another evening down the lostock with Dave this time. I am pleased to say that he caught his first ever river barbel too! Well done mate! we wandered down to the pool that i had caught from previously and both managed to get a barbel and managed a couple of decent chub as well. What a great evening it was, a brace of barbel from the tiny river however i wont be returning now for a couple of months at least as i don't want to catch them again, i guess that in a habitat like that they would suffer dearly from stress.

What a brace of nice little barbel!
So without the lostock on my agenda i managed to grab an hours plugging for jacks on the lodges, i caught two with this small jack being the largest.

i even managed carp number 3 from the lodges this season in the form of this small common taken on a floating mixer under some marginal trees
That has pretty much been my week, I'm off onto the ribble tonight with my dad, i wont be bothering fluff chucking at tourists but ill take a tub of worms and a tin of spam see what i can latch into, you never know this time tomorrow i may have a picture of a double figure barbel up here, it may be a 5lb chub or even a river carp! the again it could just be a snig or even worse nothing at all only time will tell.

tight lines

nige

To barb or not to barb, that is the question!

The alarm sounded at 7am and i turned over and turned it off. Next thing i realise that Carl is due to be here in ten minutes and I'm not even out of bed let alone got my gear together! One rushed motion saw me fully clothed and down stairs.There was no time for breakfast but the gear was assembled and i only kept him waiting a couple of minutes. Today we were heading down the lostock for the first time this year so are not completely confident but this little river is a gem! A ten minute walk from my house saw us setting upat the first pool of the day. first cast bang a chublet then it went dead, i Lent over in the branches off a willow to see a barbel! Icaught one of these from the very same swim four years ago but not having seen a sniff of them since assumed that it was a lost fish come up river from the Ribble. With my very best Bob James impression i let out a childish high pitch shrill of excitement speaking to Carl like i had a razor stuck in my Adams apple! In a flash i had a size 8 hook and a couple of pieces of cat meat positioned inches in front of Barbus Maximus the hardest fighting freshwater fish in the kingdom!

In went the bait and a violent shake of the head prompted me to strike. The tiny pool erupted as all hell broke loose, with a short but thrilling fight i had her in the net, my 3lb line held good on me.She obliged with a photo for the album too!You may be thinking that a fish of this size is nothing special but when you consider the size of the river, 10 feet wide and only a foot deep in most places even at an estimated 4lb its huge.
Then the rest of the day passed without anything special, catching dace and chublet from every pool or run this is a typical example

Carl even managed to get in on the action with a couple of bootlace eels, as you can see from the facial expression he wasn't best pleased!

on the way home we called in at the pool where the barb had visited the net earlier in the day, as i leaned out over the willow i almost went in as there were another three barbel there all lined up on a slight patch of gravel! as Carl had already packed his rod down naturally i dropped another chunk of cat meat in front of them with the promise that as soon as i hooked one i would give Carl the rod. The best days fishing are always when everyone catches a great fish so i wanted Carl too get one too. well as I'm sure you have already guessed the meat was snaffled in a matter of seconds and Carl was into another barbel! Unfortunately the fish boiled on the surface and Carl didn't loosen the drag and as a result the split shot followed by the hook came hurling back over our heads. I don't know who was more gutted me or Carl but never mind there is always next time. The best part is that it shows there is a small population of these beautiful fish in the lostock !

tight lines

nige

Brazzzeeem!

Well, the lodges was as deserted as ever last night apart from the stoners on the car park. Myself and Dave took to the double peg on the pit in hope of catching a few bream in the darkness of night.my waggler and quiver tip remained motionless all night without a bite. Dave had one bight on the waggler which was a bream of around 5lb. with my ground bait made up with a more than ample helping of that awesome attractor i thought we would of scored a bit better but it just wasn't to be. Down the lostock tomorrow though so who knows what we will catch.

tight lines

nige

So Ill Bring You Up To Date.

Well i can only start by apologising for the dodgy photos, most pics are on Dave's camera, the pics i have are all self takes on my little digi camera. The past couple of months have seen me fishing on a couple of waters mostly. Up North, My local Club water and more on the lodges. Ive now got a couple of good fish under my belt but still not that elusive twenty. My fishing isn't about weights and individual fish however i find it helps to motivate ones self on harsh nights if you have a target you would like to reach before the years out.

One such harsh night was during the big freeze. Me and Dave thought it would be clever to go fishing all night with the temperature plummeting to minus five and still freezing in the day. Although i didn't get a sniff of a carp Dave hooked a fish at 4am. I had to smash a hole in the ice in front of his rods to get the net in! Once the culprit was in the net ( a small common) we noticed another fish sitting a couple of feet out under the ice It was attached to Dave's margin rod! His alarm had froze solid and the fish was just sat there so we bundled it into the net too! One bite and two identical commons on the mat! unfortunately i don't have that photo currently at my disposal.whilst trying to pack up that morning i snapped off twice, the ice was so thick and i guess it weakened my mono.

So times could only get better, and that they did! We stared our campaign on the lodges and i can say that to date i have had two of her residents and Dave's also got in on the action banking one of her elusive carp. By no means have we had any 'jewels' but i think any fish from said water is good going.

We have also had a couple of weekenders up at our northern water which have produced some cracking fish up to 19lb. one such weekend saw me and Dave bank a staggering 1600lb of carp and we reeled in at night to get a nights sleep! an average fish is 8lb so that's a lot of fish in two days fishing. i also found that Big Eels love halibut oil! my boilies glugged in them were like a magnet and saw me land several 4lb+ SPECIMENS. Unfortunately they were slightly less obliging to pose for the camera than the lovely common carp, this one being slightly bigger than the norm.

Thenthere the Club water i have fished a few times, this has given me some cause to rip my hair out! With a good smattering of twenty's and only being a couple of acres you would think they were catchable. Although i seem to be able to catch consistently i haven't had any of the biggies, my most recent trip last week saw me bank several fish topped by this mirror just short of 16lb.Myself and Dave are on the lodges on Friday night so i shall keep you updated!

as a footnote congratulations dad on banking several chub from the ribble i know they are not quite the sea trout you would like them to be however i don't think your complaining!

tight lines

Nige.

How time flys!

Its a little under twelve months since my last diary entry which is a total shambles. However i am back with a renewed enthusiasm. I can honestly say that i don't believe I've enjoyed my fishing as much as i have in the last couple of weeks since my childhood sat at a pond with my farther catching 'monsters' which in reality were small perch and roach with the occasional bream and tench. anyway back to the job in hand, what a year it has bee

Ive had mixed success and some rather nice fish but what makes me most chuffed is that I've been able to help put a smile on a couple of faces along the way. my cousin Carl, a life time pleasure fisherman who went a couple of times a year. In the past twelve months hes accompanied me often and had some cracking fish topped off by this common just short of 16lb.

Another great catch was this 10lb common from the lodges which has only a handful of carp in it!

i think the smiles say it all and hes hooked just like the rest of us! i know have another great fishing companion.

Then there were my younger cousins how visited from France last October. They spent a week here for my sisters wedding and i managed to to get a couple of hours down the river with them one afternoon. As is always the case we timed it totally wrong, the river was up and the colour of hot chocolate, not good when your trying to trot a stick float in this very small river lostock. As you can imagine we didn't catch that many fish however i did manage to get William for different species which he was made up with! his first fish a perch followed by a roach then a dace and a chub. although only small this would have been a dream session for me at that age and i think he enjoyed it too!

Fishing for myself? well i have done quite a bit of that too but that will have to wait until i get home from work.