River Dee Carp Pt2

Following on from my first ever visit to the river dee last week I was keen to get back again, with two carp under my belt I couldn’t help but wonder what else was in there?. I’m only just scratching the surface when it comes to the potential of the river dee as a carp water and last weeks success was a real bonus. I was actually expecting to have to put in a lot of time and effort to find these elusive dee carp but my initial recce sessions and reasoning for choosing my swim must have been pretty much right, at least I hoped they were!.
I paid another midweek visit to the river to bait up, another 2 kilos of chick peas, 2 kilos of tiger nuts and a sprinkling of boilies was deposited into the area I’d had success in last week. The bait I’m using to bait up with is merely what I’ve been using recently, I have a sack of both chick peas and tiger nuts so rather than buy any more bait I’m simply using up what I have. The addition of tiger nuts in particular puts my mind at rest when it comes to nuisance fish like bream and roach, tiger nuts are a very selective bait so I can be sure there will at least be something there when the carp do eventually pass through my chosen swim.
I was back on the river early for this weeks session, it had been raining in the week and a wet night lay ahead too as the first of many showers moved in. I needed to put line markers on my rods this week. I cast to my chosen spots, clipped the line and tied a small length of size 4 Pole Elastic to my line. I find pole elastic ideal for use as a line marker, a simple overhand knot is all that’s required to attach the elastic to my mainline. The elastic locks in position when you pull it tight and a size 4 elastic is thin enough not to cause any problems when casting. When finished, a simple pull on one of the tags and the elastic comes off no trouble at all. With my line marked up I could easily hit my spots again in the dark.
With the rods now marked up I cast them out and put several pouchfuls of chick peas and tiger nuts over each rod, the usual sprinkling of boilies went in too with single 15mm bottom baits on each rod. This session was a lot different to the last one, there had been no wind at all on my first trip last week but this time there was a steady blow pushing waves upstream, the wind, along with constant showers made spotting carp difficult this week. I’m sure I heard a carp crash out just after dark but with the wind and rain I couldn’t be sure?. I needn’t of worried about the conditions, shortly after 10.00pm the right hand delkim bleeped once, I looked at the rod wondering if a carp was responsible, before I had chance to think about anything else the Delkim burst into life and another angry dee carp headed for the back of beyond!. I was on the rod straight away and another mental battle ensued as the carp used the current to try and head downstream as fast as it could. I reckon heavy rods help when it comes to playing river carp, they have the necessary power to bring these fish under control and eventually this particular carp succumbed to steady pressure, after a few short runs close in it slipped over the net. It was another single, a small common weighing exactly 6lbs.
With a carp under my belt so early, things looked promising for the night ahead. The time passed by with nothing much happening, the wind kept blowing up river and the rain kept coming and going, in between times I had a bite to eat and got up occasionally to stretch my legs. By the early hours I was starting to think that little 6lb carp was going to be my last for this session, things remained quiet until 4.00am when the right hand rod was away again. The run and fight off this carp was the same as the others I’d caught, the fish headed off downstream at a rate of knots with me hanging on and applying as much pressure as I dare to stop it. Once again my tackle did it’s job well and I eventually had a good tussle close in with this carp, it put up even more resistance than the last one. I won through in the end and slipped the Landing Net under a nice river dee mirror carp. The scales revealed a weight of 12lb 6oz, it was easy to see why this carp had given such a good account of itself, it was bigger than my previous carp and it was all muscle!

12lb 6oz of solid muscle


I went through my usual routine again, putting everything back in its place so it’s easily found, with my scales, camera, tackle box and Head Torch all neatly back in their places I recast to the same area and topped up my swim with another couple of pouchfuls of chick peas, tiger nuts and boilies. It didn’t seem long when the same rod was away again!, this carp headed off across the river instead of downstream, despite not using the rivers flow to its advantage this fish still gave an exceptionally good account of itself. The carp made several good runs out into the river before eventually giving up and rolling into the landing net, it was another mirror, slightly bigger than the last one at 13lb 4oz. I checked my watch and it was 4.45am, I hadn’t waited long at all for that carp!.

Slightly bigger at 13lb 4oz


Another recast and re-bait and I was fishing again. An hour or so passed and it was starting to break light, with three carp under my belt I began to think about packing up and leaving before anybody saw me, I decided to give it until 7.00am again, I figured nobody would be walking their dog that early with the rain around. An hour before I was due to depart the same right hand rod was off again, these river dee carp really do go, the takes are absolutely vicious and they leave lake carp standing with their awesome power. This carp was no exception and like the others before it, it just went like a train on it’s first run. Another long fight ensued and again I got the upper hand with strong tackle, eventually, I slipped the net under a nice looking common in the same kind of weight bracket as the two mirrors I’d had in the last couple of hours. This common turned the Scales to 14lb exactly, three ‘river dee pb’s’ one after the other, I’m getting to like fishing the river dee for carp, two sessions in and six fish banked so far!.
The common was my last action of the night, there was a bit of daylight when it came to photographing this particular carp which is why I’ve left it out of this blog entry, there is enough background in the shot to risk giving away my location on the river and I’m not prepared to share it at this present moment in time. I’d like to unlock some of the river dee’s carp secrets before I share details with other anglers!.
I had a Brew after that carp and gave it another half an hour just to see if I was in for another but it wasn’t to be. Still, I had four carp throughout the night and that’s a decent fishing trip in anybodies eyes. Once packed away I deposited another couple of kilos of chick peas, tiger nuts and boilies into my swim then headed off home before anyone turned up.
Tight lines.
Mark

A walk along the Meadows in Chester City Centre