Three from a tight swim.

Jubilee's Horseshoe lake today, tried to get the Carp on top at a few pegs but the cool northerly wind was keeping them down, I found a couple of fish willing to take a surface bait in a sheltered corner and had to fish from a very tight swim to get to them, normal surface fishing wouldn't have been a problem but the fun is to be had with the fly. I had a willow tree to my right and sloe bushes behind me making casting very tricky, the back cast had to be high and short so as not to catch the bushes behind me and the forward push had to have enough power to shoot the line out to where the carp were feeding. After a about thirty minutes I had my first take, it wasn't big but I was satisfied to have managed to cast too and land a Carp from this tight spot and I would have been quit happy to leave things there and move to another swim but the fish kept feeding, usually it all goes quiet and I'm forced to move to find more fish.


It didn't take long to get the second fish and at one point I thought it had been foul hooked in the tail as it looked as though it was coming in backwards, it was just trying to bury itself in the marginal weed and at one point everything did go solid, steady pressure soon got the Carp out of the weed and into the net.

The fish were still feeding, should I push my luck and try for three, why not!

I had a visit from a fellow angler who was fishing from the point, he seemed surprised to see someone fly fishing for the Carp, but like I said to him, if a fish rejects my fly I don't have to disturb the swim by reeling in a controller and recasting beyond the fish before bringing it back to where they are feeding, I just lift the fly off and recast back to the spot with no more disturbance than the fish make when feeding on biscuits. I can even recast to the left or right to keep in touch with the fish as they move around searching for treats which is exactly what I had to do to get my third fish. This carp kept slurping biscuits off the top to the right of my swim and the cast to there was very tricky and I did manage to catch a couple of bushes, some careful positioning of the pouches of biscuits brought this fish into a better position where my fly was waiting which it took and tore off across the lake. I heard one of the anglers in the next swim acknowledge the fact I'd caught one and shout to his mate 'I bet that'll take him half an hour to land'.


About five minutes later the fish was in the net, it's surprising how much power you can stop with a fly rod.

12lb 11oz's of Common Carp