Fueled by a tale!

The pool was practically deserted today, there was one angler with family in tow, in the far corner trying for another Carp like the one he had a few weeks previously but he looked to be struggling with the weed which is by far the worse I've seen it, the last time it looked this bad was four years ago when the level was down by more than a foot. 

I did my rounds and headed off to Jubilee fueled by a conversation I'd had with Barry on Wednesday night. He'd phoned just before ten with tales of a single mirror carp he'd caught that evening, a monster at just over 23lb caught on a biscuit fly. (Monster for a fly rod that is!)

It was hot and I think the fish population of the lake were all on the top, I could see Bream, Rudd and plenty of my target, Carp. I started feeding biscuits and up they came and it was long before I had the first fish of the day on the bank and I think I've seen this little fella before.

I moved around to the point and got the fish feeding fairly close in but as soon as the fly landed on the surface they became cautious, drifting up to examine every biscuit rather than snatching them off the top. They moved further out  and I had to lengthen my cast to drop the fly at the back of the biscuits I was feeding and did fool a couple of fish into taking, they were only small commons but they really do fight hard for such small fish this is also enhanced by the use of such a fine carbon stick to catch them on, I love fly fishing for them and someone else that does is Barry, he arrived at around six and fished the point swim but struggled to connect with the takes he was getting but did manage to get one good fish. 

I on the other hand, was struggling with ducks, as soon as you turn your back they were in the swim cleaning up the biscuits but I kept feeding and the fish stayed around. I struck into one take which I could tell was a better fish by the way everything went solid, I saw it's tale and dorsal a couple of times and it was good so I just had to hang on, get it under control and in the net. Bigger fish don't seem to thrash around as much as the smaller ones that twist and turn very quickly so it wasn't an epic battle, it plodded around in front of me taking line when it wanted to eventually it gave in to the constant pressure and slid over the cord. Barry did the honours with the camera and I lifted my prize, a long and lean 14lb 4oz Common.

Rudd - On the fly!

Friday 21st, Fly fishing for Carp at Jubilee. Things were very slow with the Carp, they were on top but not interested in feeding, there were some fish topping next to an overhanging tree to the left of the swim I was fishing so I thought I'd have a go at catching whatever they were. I put a normal dry fly on, don't ask me what it is but it does resemble a small daddy long legs but I couldn't put a name to it. This was cast towards the front of the tree and was taken almost straight away, Rudd.
I caught three in fairly quick succession and they are the first Rudd I've caught using a fly, result!


Whilst catching the Rudd I kept catapulting out a few pouches of biscuits to try and tempt the Carp into feeding, I've noticed that as soon as one starts, they all do, it's probably the competition for food or something like that, anyway, they were on the top and now feeding. A small Carp of around 8lb was the first on the bank but it spooked everything off after taking a tour of the swim after being hooked. The Carp were now being very cautious and stayed just out of Casting range waiting for the free offerings to drift their way on the wind. A constant scattering of a few treats would eventually tempt them back within range. It's great to see a cluster of biscuits slowly disappear one by one your fly being next in line, the cork gets gripped tighter, line grasped firmer waiting to strike, the water below the fly changes colour a split second before a Carp emerges and slurps down the fly, strike, Then all hell breaks loose. this is exactly what happened with my only other fish of the evening, it was a much heavier fight than usual and after netting I had to give it a number, it pulled the scales to 13lb 4oz's.

Not big by Jubilee standards but great fun on the fly.