Another Quick One!

Monday, left it till later in the day starting the session at around two thirty. Dan was on peg one so I stopped to catch up on things and we were shortly joined by Barry, I dropped my stuff onto peg two and put a couple of lines out before rejoining the social, it wasn't long before I heard some intermittent beeps from one of the alarms so ran to investigate, I picked up the rod and felt a bit of weight but it soon became apparent that a tuftie had tangled itself in my line midway between the rod and rig, I quickly untangled the poor thing and it swam away fine.
The rod was put back on the spot, I put another fresh PVA bag out on my second rod and returned to the top of the bank to continue the chat with Dan. After a short while, I heard the alarm sound again, this time on the bottom bait, I struck and immediately felt several good thumps back up the line and thought, tench!
As Tench go, it was a good hard scrap but two and three quarter test rods don't do them justice, the fish was a good size though. (Cheers Dan for taking the photo)

I gave it another hour then made a move around to the disabled peg to get onto the back of the strong cold wind, I thought the wind had got a bit warmer earlier on but with this peg being exposed to the southerly wind it felt very chilly on my back.
I saw a few bubblers in that bay but had no takes.

Easter Quick One!

I spent the first part of the Easter break in North Wales, a bit of a mad two days cramming in as many places as we could in between visiting family but it was worth it, we had a couple of hours on the beach at Llandudno early on Saturday morning, it was flat calm and the sun was very warm on my bald spot! the only thing missing was my beach rod and a multi hook trace baited with lugworm and peeler to catch a flounder or two from the bay.
Woke up tired on Sunday so was quite happy just to do an afternoon session at Ryton and got there at around two thirty and set up in one of my usual spots on the back of a very cold wind, there was one other angler on the point who packed up shortly after I arrived, as he walked past he said to me 'I heard you had one' my reply was 'not today, I've only just got here', he thought I was the same chap that was fishing this spot in the morning so something must have been caught from this peg earlier in the day.
The usual combination went out on two rods to the usual spots and the waiting game began, after about an hour Barry arrived for a short session so I was having a quick catch up on events with him at the top of the bank when my left hand alarm screamed as line peeled off the reel at a fairly rapid rate I immediately clambered down the bank at a rapid rate to catch up with the fish.
The buoyant curiosity teaser had got the better of this Carp and it wasn't happy, it tore off across the lake flipping on the top a few times and at one point I thought it had come off as it turned and swam straight towards me but I managed to keep in touch with it to avoid a thrown hook, when it got closer in I could see that it wasn't as big as it felt but was very welcome, Barry did an excellent job of netting it and held it in the margins while I got the mat and scales ready.

10lb 12ozs, I think it was a male as it was long and slim and was lacking the spawn filled belly that the females usually have this time of year.

(A big thanks to Barry for taking the picture)

Barry setup on the peg next door and put a deadbait out on one rod and fished maggot on the second hoping for some Perch but we both remained fishless for the rest of the afternoon/evening.

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.

Ryton Twenty Ten Carp Account - Open!

Even though it's not quite spring, I've started my campaign for the Ryton Carp.
I started early on Saturday and used pop up boilies on one rod, bottom bait and PVA stick on the other and cast these towards areas that were clouded up by the feeding tufties, these spots have accounted a few early season Carp for me on previous seasons and even though you have to put up with the constant line bites and pick ups from the ducks it's somewhere to start. After a couple of fishless hours I moved to another swim with the hope that the sunny spells would start to warm the shallower water unfortunately the wind swung round and picked up slightly and was now blowing straight onto my sunny spot. With the wind having a cold bite to it I made a move to another swim that enabled me to cast to the calm areas sheltered from the wind with a hope that the fish would be there.
Early afternoon saw the session finish on a blank and after seeing the forecast for the Sunday I didn't think I'd be fishing again this weekend.
The heavy rain had past over our region early this morning and the wind was a lot lighter than the forecast so I made my way back to Ryton for another Carp session. I stayed on the back of the wind again and used the same combinations of pop ups and bottom baits to target the same spot's as yesterday. It was only after I made a move that I struck gold with the first fish of the day. The tufties were having a good root around the area of my pop up and at first I thought one of them had picked up my bait as the bobbin was making some very erratic movements, I picked up the rod and started to reel in the bait but couldn't feel anything, then everything went very heavy and I could feel something kick and then kite off to my left, at last a Carp!. The Carp had picked the bait up and bolted straight towards me pulling the top bead off my leader and up the main line, hence the weird indication.

A nice way of finding out how safe my rigs are!

A small Common weighing in at 9lb.

There was still some bird activity over the spot so I put the same pop up out again, I'd only just sunk the line and set the rod on the pod before it rattled off on another run. It didn't feel as big this time and after a short tussle I had the fish in the net.

The Tench at Ryton are always welcome.

Ryton 2010 Carp account - Open!