Crystal clear in the shadows.

I arrived for a late session just after three, my first view of the lake was greeted by several carp milling around on the top in the corner bay, I carried on down the road bank towards the car park and couldn't believe how clear the lake had become in a matter of days, I was here on Wednesday evening with a marker rod and there was still some colour in the water, today you could see how shallow this lake really is!

I had almost done a complete circuit of the lake when I saw Colin on the top of a bank watching some slightly bigger Carp through the tree's doing the same as the others, teasing the anglers into having a go, so I did. I set up in a corner I've not fished for a long time and cast towards the front of the tree line, rods were laid on the ground without alarms as I was expecting this to be a hit'n'run affair. I missed the first run, (or it was dropped) but a second and third pulled away shortly after, they were both Tench. Baits were back on their spots and at around five thirty my first Carp fizzed line off the reel in it's bid for freedom and it really did pull some line off the reel, with most of it's energy spent it came to the net without too much fuss. On inspection, the hook hold was very deep inside it's mouth so this fish wasn't coming off, it must have been having a proper feed to get hooked so deep.

The shadows of the tree's I was under make this fish look like it has bands of colour but it was an immaculate, evenly coloured common that pulled the scales round to 11lb.

After letting the fish rejoin it's friends I thought about moving as the disturbance in this corner was sure to have scared everything off to the the far side of the lake but no, there were still some dark shapes mooching about under the tree's so the rods were soon back on their spots with fresh bags attached ready for the next take. It was about half an hour later that there was a start stop run on one of the rods, I knew it was another small Tench and it was to be my third of the session. After recasting again I thought I was going to be in for an evening of Tench fishing but I noticed a few larger dark shapes moving around one of the baits, I was willing that rod to go, breathing the word "C'mon" and watching for the line to tighten, when I glanced over to where the fish were I missed the take, the line had instantly pulled tight and was leaving the reel at a rate of knots so I picked up the rod and let it go, it Paused and shook it's head around making me think it was another Tench but it was too heavy to be one of them, strangely, the fish just wallowed and thumped around as I gently pumped it back to the mesh and just before it reached the cord I backed the drag right off in case it woke up.

This fish was a bit of a hot potato on the mat but I managed a few pictures without getting a slap from that massive tail, the scales read off 16lb 14oz's.