What a difference four years makes!

A short session this morning, starting early I was surprised to be the only one on the lake but on reflection it was the opening day at Jubilee which I think explains why I had the place to myself for most of the morning.

Not to bore you with details but I only had one fish out today and it was the only touch of the whole session. This Carp fought like stink and I could tell it was a little better than the others I've had so far this year by the way it refused to come to the net preferring to just plod around making very short powerful runs. Eventually the fish gave in and rolled over the cord into the waiting net and as I parted the mesh to look at my prize I thought this Mirror Carp looks familiar and a mirror at Ryton is a rare sight. I took pictures and weighed the lump before releasing and as soon as I got home, out came the photo albums and there it was, caught in 2006 and much smaller at only 7lb 12ozs, 'Morris's Mate'.

'Morris's Mate' almost four years ago.

I'm glad I've kept a photo log of all the Carp I've caught at Ryton, as well as helping me to identify individual fish it's also acting as a guide to how well the Carp are growing.

This is what 'Morris's Mate' looks like today at 17lb 14ozs.

I wonder how big Morris is?

Long day on Morris's

Sunday, I arrived at the lake just as the mist was lifting, I was very surprised to see so many anglers already at the lake. Daniel called out from peg one as I started to make my way round to Morris's, I gave a quick wave and carried on to my peg, it was one of the only free ones and I didn't want to loose it talking to someone. After dumping my gear I went back round for a quick chat with Daniel. A few fish had been showing in one spot so the day looked good for a run or two.

I planned to fish just pop ups today and start by casting them to the back of the tree's where I'd seen fish bubbling yesterday. According to Google Earth it's and 85 metre chuck from Morris's, which I know my old rods can do and I did get a couple of casts fairly tight to the tree's so it was just a matter of sitting back and waiting.
(Some of the casting fell short and I had to recast a few times to get onto the spots, 'it'll do' won't do for me)
With all the sunshine I was hoping to see more fish show so I could cast to them but nothing showed all day. I had a chat with another angler (not fishing) he'd seen a Carp show further round the lake so they might have followed the wind. Apart from a couple of Pike, I don't think anything was caught which is a shame as it looked good for a bite.

One thing I did notice and something Keith has written about in a blog last week, was the amount of detritus lifting off the bottom with all sun activated gas bubbles, it's a good sign that the water is warming up, I just wonder if this has an affect on where and when the fish feed?

Not a good day for PVA!

Friday's wet weather continued through the night and into Saturday but it was still fairly mild. I didn't get too wet setting up the brolly on the steps leading down to my chosen peg, things were a bit tight but at least I had a dry spot to shelter in to tie my PVA bags, but, no matter how hard I tried to stay dry I still managed to ruin a few feet of mesh.

During the first half of the session I did manage to bank a couple of Tench and lost another fish just before the net, I had a piece of what looked like a plastic bag caught on the hook so whatever the fish was managed must have used the bag to twist itself off the hook.
(Either that or the plastic bag stopped fighting just before I landed it!)

Mid afternoon the rain stopped, the wind died and everything fell calm, it looked perfect for a Carp and as though ordered, one popped it's head and shoulders out of the water not far from where I had a pop up positioned. I kept watch through binoculars and there were a few bubblers in that area, it was just a matter of waiting for the run.

Just after six it went but it was no Carp, just another Tench.

It's good to see the Carp starting to show.

First Friday

Today was my first Friday session since last autumn, I'd been watching the weather all week and last night it looked good so the decision was made to get home as quick as I could after finishing work at one, get my stuff attached to the bike and get to Ryton. I did just that and had both lines in the water by three. The weather forecast had changed from last night and rain was expected for six but it arrived not long after I'd set up which is fairly typical.

About half an hour into the session I had some very erratic dancing from the bobbin but the culprit was a Tufted Duck, luckily there weren't any people feeding the ducks at the time and it was reeled in, unhooked and checked over before it flew off, unharmed. I put a fresh hooklink and bait on and cast out to the same spot, it wasn't too long beore the alarm sounded again but this time I also had line 'fizzing' off the reel, it was a proper run. Even small Carp can give a fairly good scrap and this one did just that.

A lovely common at 9lb 2oz's.

The rain continued to get heavier so I broke the session off early, happy to have had the one fish and headed home for a hot bath.

Carping with Man Flu!

Suffering with a bout of man flu I felt some fresh air would do me some good and started Saturdays session sitting in sunshine at the back of the island, clouds soon moved in and a cold wind got up which spoilt things, the way I was feeling I'd have been quite happy to stay on this peg all day and enjoy the sunshine that was forecast but with the weather changing I felt I'd have to move around to find the fish. It was during the afternoon, when fishing on the far bank that I saw a couple of Tench come out and would have been more than happy with one of those but it was earlier on whilst fishing the peg at the back of the island that I had what was to be the only bite of the day.

I'd cast a pop up to the gravel bar just off the point of the island and it had sat there for a good thirty minutes before the alarm gave out a short sharp 'shrill' and the line pulled up tight, I waited for a short while to see if anything would develop then reeled in to find the bottom bead of my chod rig had been pulled down to the lead, I'd been done!

Today's weather was much better, plenty of sunny spells but there was still a cool wind blowing across the lake so I put myself on the back of the wind with the sun in my face. I was fishing the road bank and was hoping to emulate last years March 15th 'dream' session where I caught four Carp and Five Tench, biggest Carp weighing in at 22lb (my biggest last year), it was also the session that started my 'Ryton Carp' blog, I can't believe I've been writing this for almost twelve months!
Today's session wasn't to be anything like last year and I think it might be a couple more weeks before the Carp wake up properly, this time last year the hawthorn bushes along the back of the road bank were just starting to show their first leaves of the year but this year I think we're going to need a few more days of sunshine before they split their buds. Back to the fishing, I did manage to bag one solitary Carp today but at only 6lb I did almost mistake it for a Tench until it came to the net.

A very short fish with big shoulders, surprisingly heavy for it's small frame and in excellent condition, one to watch for in a few years.

Bite time!

Saturday afternoons session ended in a blank and it was bloody freezing when I left the lake, I was half expecting to find some ice on the lake today but the sun was very warm when I set up at the back of the island, I'd had a good look through my diaries this morning and I fancied a go from the peg I built a couple of winters ago and I've done well with early season fish from this corner of the lake in the past.
The usual pop up and bottom baits went out to known clear spots and the wait began. The sun was lovely and warm and I was sure that this corner of the lake would receive a visit from a hungry fish or two with the amount of sun it was receiving, the water temperature must have been a degree or two higher in this corner but all that visited my baits were the tufties. I kept an eye on the ducks as they surfaced in case they'd been spooked by something else feeding in the cloud they were making.
Several hours passed very quickly and I remained fishless, I made a quick move to where I'd caught last week and was set up and cast out ready to see if 'bite time' would be the same. It was only a few minutes later than last week when one of the bobbins hit the front of the alarm as a fish pulled the tip round, this was no tufted duck. The fish felt heavier than last week and put up a good scrap, this was no Tench either, it wasn't long before I had a Carp safely in the folds of my net.

A lovely plump common of 12lb 8oz.

About half an hour later I hit another run off the same spot but something I hadn't done before casting out was check the hook point, it was blunt!

This one got away.