A sad sight

Last weekend was a complete washout. The rain didn't help things but I did have a plan and put it into action on Friday evening just before the rain arrived. I had a bottom bait in position on a spot I've been watching and baiting for a while. Everything seemed perfect til I 'got done', a large Mirror Carp lept almost clear of the water right over my bait. I left the bait alone for a while but nothing further developed.

Saturday morning was better weather wise, the fishing was a tad slow, fished the same spot as Friday and managed one dropped run and an average sized Tench. It was on my way back to the car park that I noticed something no Carp angler likes to see, a dead Mirror Carp I estimated it to be around 10lb. It had a large hole in it's side so something had fed on it, probably a rat, mink or something similar, I couldn't see any other signs of how it died and looked as though it had been there for a couple of days but what saddened me most was the way it was left on the disabled peg for all to see, not a good advert for the club. I removed the carcass to a spot out of the way.

Sunday was a blank, I chose a peg that had done well for me over the past month and put baits onto the likely spots. Nothing sniffed at any of the baits not even a Tench, I don't think I could have bought a bite.

Plenty of Tench

Saturday 9th, A early start finds me looking for the visible signs of Carp feeding. I already had a peg in mind and dropped my stuff off before having a look around. It didn't take long as I found them feeding in the peg next door.

There were plenty of Carp showing on the surface with a few appearing from a feed on the bottom, I got the rods ready and waited for a suitable casting opportunity, one wrong cast now and they would disappear from this area. I cast a pop-up towards an area where a few fish had been feeding and left this hoping that they would return. My bottom bait rod was eventually cast to another area where the Carp looked to have been feeding.

After about an hour the bottom bait was picked up by what I thought was a carp by the way it took line, the strike met little resistance and the first Tench of the day was soon in the net.

At around 9.30ish, I had a slow constant pull on the pop-up rod, I looked towards where the bait was cast expecting to see a coot pulling at the boilie but instead saw a fish explode on the surface and a bow wave head out into the main body of the lake. The peg I was fishing is on a bit of a corner with the main part of the lake behind some tree's so the rod tip had to be kept close to the water and at times under it, to avoid the overhanging branches, it felt a good fish and pulled like stink between all the stopping and head shaking. I eventually got the Carp into the net and my prize was a rather nice plump Mirror Carp with not many scales, it weighed in at 15lb 2 oz.

A fresh pop-up went back out to the same area but I didn't think any more Carp would come from this spot due to all the commotion caused by the mirror. I continued to get interest in the bottom bait from Tench and banked another four before the session finished.

May day weekend

I fished at Ryton a few times over the weekend with no more than a couple of Tench to show for my efforts, I couldn't see any signs Carp in their usual places and I tried several spots I treat as 'guaranteed of a bite' but still nothing.

On Sunday I thought a break from Ryton would be good and descided to head to Snitterfield Resevoir for a few hours just to have a look around as I've never fished it before. After a bit of advise from a regular to the place, I put a couple of rods out. After a short while I had a rattle of a bite on one rod which turned out to be a small Bream, (a few more of these at Ryton would be nice!) I could see a few fish showing on the top and started to feed some 'doggy treats' into the area, a few of them were picked off but not confidently, I put a surface bait out just to see if one would take. After a few frustating swirls near my surface bait I called it a day.

Monday, should I go to Ryton and spend all day behind stattic bobbins or should I do something else, having had a taste of surface fishing at Snitterfield I felt a need to catch a Carp off the top. This is not a good method at Ryton because of the bird population but it's not impossible, the weather had also taken a turn for the worst overnight so a day at Jubilee was called for. I knew that Barry had been catching off the top all week and was going there today with his Fly rod so a Carp off the top looked a dead cert. My usual gear was packed with the addition of a fly rod just in case I had the chance to give it a go, wind permitting.

I started my session on the point of the horseshoe lake, no fish were showing so I put a rod in the near margin and another across to a bush on the opposite bank. I was warned by another angler about a snag near that bush but it had to be tried. I had a good look around for some signs of Carp on the top and found them in one corner that was sheltered from the wind, in came the rods and I was on the move. As soon as I moved, the angler that warned me of the snag moved straight into the point swim that I'd just left, strange!. I put a 'sleeper' rod into the margin of the new swim and started feeding the 'Doggy Treats', sure enough, up came the Carp. Barry was already feeding and casting a fly to a cluster of Carp a couple of pegs away so one of us was bound to get one soon, a couple of casts later I saw a fish take a biscuit just behind my in-line controller so I tightened up and was in. The Carp at Jubilee fight differently to the ones at Ryton, they stay deep and fight hard but it wasn't long before a good double was in the net.

A short while later, my sleeper rod was away with another hard fighting double.

The wind picked up slightly in the late afternoon and the surface feeders dissapeared and I swapped the second rod over to a bottom bait and put this into the margins. I had another screamer of a take just before I left and put another double on the bank.

A very satisfying day, If the fish had stayed on top longer and there was less wind I would have tried the fly rod. Maybe on the next visit to Jubilee.

Short session, long wait!

After a quick walk around the lake, I settled on a swim where I could see several fish feeding in one corner, there were cloudy patches all over the place. I put carefully aimed casts onto a couple of these spots and began what was to become a long waiting game.

We had a heavy shower of rain during the morning which seemed to switch off the feeding spell, all the bubbling had stopped and the cloudy patches created by the feeding fish started to settle. I kept putting the baits out all morning and, at around midday, they were eventually found by a couple of hard fighting Tench.
Shortly after 1pm, I had a fidgety take on my pop-up rod, I hit it quickly thinking it might have been another Tench but felt the satisfying sensation of a rather energetic Carp moving the opposite direction. It wasn't too long before it was netted, it weighed in at 15lb 2oz.

Due to pre-arranged commitments, I packed up after this fish. However, a couple of lads on the opposite bank seemed to be doing rather well and had banked four Carp before I left, I wonder how many more they caught?

Two in the net!

Due to commitment's this morning, today's session had to start just before midday, I decided to try one of the pegs on the road bank and cast towards where I'd seen some fish show yesterday. Today's fine weather brought crowds of people to the park so after an hour I decided to find a quieter peg. I set up on the grassy bank where I caught a couple of Tench yesterday, This spot didn't produce anything allthough I could see the Carp cruising on the top towards the middle of the lake. I couldn't reach them from this peg and as luck would have it, another angler on the corner peg was packing up to leave, a good cast from this peg could reach these Carp so I made another move, the third of the day.

I tried a zigged pop-up on one rod (surface baits at Ryton are near useless because of the birds) the second rod had my usual bottom bait and PVA bag of pellets. I had nothing for an hour so I swapped the zig for a four inch hooklink and put it back out to where the Carp were cruising, within a few minutes it was away and a small Common was soon in the net, 8lb 8oz. (A big thank you to Curtis for taking the picture)

A short while later I started to get some interest in my bottom bait with a few start stop runs, these were Tench and I managed to bank two I also had a couple of good runs but the fish managed to transfer the hooks to loose branches on the bottom, stick fish don't put up much of a fight!!

The next cast was the last of the session so I really put some power into this cast to get it as close to the tree's as I could to get away from the Tench and into Carp territory, it was on the spot. I'd just started to pack away my gear and the rod I'd just cast out was away, It was a good scrap and I had to lift the second rod off it's alarm to keep the line clear as the Carp kited to the right into open water, at one point a floating log made things a little difficult, I managed to steer the carp past this and soon had it in net, I then turned only to see and hear the spool on the second rod spinning, another Carp was on!

I have had this happen twice before with both Tench and Carp, two fish at once. I guided the second smaller fish in slowly and almost lost the first fish as I pulled it over the cord and into the already full net, It's a good job 42" nets are as big as they are.



The first fish was a Common at 14lb 2oz.




The second was an almost leather mirror carp 'Larry' I've caught him before a couple of years ago at 7lb 4oz he's now 11lb.

What a great end to the day.

Early start on the 11th

A short session on Friday afternoon, in the rain, ended up with a blank, so I made the effort to get up early on Saturday to beat the rush and arrived at the lake before the park opened it's gates. I had a quick look around before settling on a swim where I could see a few clusters of bubbles rising from feeding fish. I put the usual pop-up on one rod and a bottom bait with PVA bag on the other and cast them out to where the bubbles where rising.

Within an hour , I had a take on the bottom bait, at first I thought it was a Tench but it raced off much quicker and was a lot heavier. The first Carp of the day at 13lb 10oz, a nice start. I couldn't help noticing that it's mouth was full of bloodworm.

A short while later the second Carp made a bolt for freedom and ended up in my landing net, again, this was on the bottom bait and was a slightly smaller Carp at 11lb.

The visible signs of Carp feeding disappeared after these two fish, I did see a fish show further around the lake and decided too make a move. I had a couple of dropped runs from the new spot and did manage to catch a Tench but there were no more Carp today.

Ryton can be hard work!

Saturday the 4th April, a warm day again. Started on a peg I've done well on recently and cast a pop-up to the back of the tree's and my usual Ryton 3 boilie bottom bait on the other rod cast to a known feeding spot. I thought the early morning sun warming the water in this part of the lake might attract a few Carp.

Three hours later and after only a few casts, nothing was showing so I felt a move was in order. The sun was much higher now and the island looked good. The wind was coming down the lake from the west so I chose a spot where I could target the margin of the island with the wind blowing into it with one rod and the centre of the lake with the other. One cast went to the island the other to a known clear spot, this was clearly visible as a muddy patch where something was stirring up the bottom. This turned out to be Tench as I managed to bank three of them.

The other rod to the island margin went off after the second cast, I could see another muddy patch and decided to recast towards it, it had only been in the water for about twenty minutes and whilst tying some more PVA bags I got a run. When I struck I thought the Carp might have bolted straight through some sunken branches as I could feel a juddering sensation coming up the line, the Carp kited away from the island pulling the line with it clear of any more snags.



A short while later, a lovely common of 13lb 8oz lay in the net.


I continued to cast towards the island and did see one Carp leap right over my bait.
I'd been done!