Spring Carping Begins

Before I begin this weeks entry, and for those of you looking here for the first time, I put together a small You Tube compilation of all the carp fishing pictures that are present on the site up until the beginning of march 2008. Feel free to have a look at it and if you see anything that catches your eye, you can browse this blog for the relevant text by using the ‘Blog Archive’ section that’s located on the right hand side towards the top of the page. You can browse previous entries and find information by using the drop down menus for each year and looking through the entries for each month. I’m sure there will be something of interest within these pages, specially if you’re a carp angler.

Well after an enforced absence from the bank I finished work for two weeks annual leave and finally managed to get out carp fishing. The lake I fished was a tricky Cheshire carp water that has some half decent fish in.
I arrived at my Cheshire carp lake just after dinner on Tuesday. This particular carp water is quite peggy and the swim I really wanted to fish, known as little point, was occupied. The next best swim was the main point which just happened to be free, the main point was also the scene of a red letter days piece I published a few weeks ago. It had been a while since I’d last fished this swim but I knew where I needed to be, single hookbaits at extreme range was the order of the day and I’d taken my daiwa infinty x carp rods along ’just in case’. I pitched the Bivvy during Tuesday afternoon and began sorting the rods out. I’m a short session carp angler and it had been nearly a year since my last full 2 day carp session. I really should have prepared myself a lot better for this fishing trip but due to work commitments I'd just grabbed my fishing gear and gone. I felt a bit rusty having not actually fished since new years day and it showed too.
After one short cast to get my Line wet I went straight for the big chuck to where I thought the carp would be, I obviously hadn’t wet my spools enough as the first cast birds nested and fell short. Typical, I wouldn’t mind but my timing was spot on and the bait and rig where flying until everything went pear shaped. The knot the birds nest made in my line was massive so I opted to get the rig back in then sort the other rod out so I was at least fishing with one rod. Again after a short chuck to wet the line I wound up the second rod only to crack off!. This was turning into a disaster as it was beginning to get dark, I had no choice but to put my long range rods away and just fish as far over as I could with my usual rods. I ended up fishing at 90 yards range over bait, my boilies were 20mm so I was able to reach my shortened casting range with the use of my king cobra throwing stick. I scattered 100 baits around the general area and settled down to my first night in a long time.

I’d like to say I caught but I spent two days sitting behind motionless indicators. I thought I’d at least see a carp roll but nothing happened. The days were bright and sunny and the wind was a particularly cold northerly that blew the whole time I was there. The nights were very bright, a nearly full moon beamed down on the lake both nights and I just knew I was up against it. I left sorting the infinity carp rods, opting instead to carry on fishing over bait. I wanted fresh line on my spools for the next trip and with hindsight, I should have dealt with this before I even went fishing rather than just ‘making do’.

After two nights fishing I abandoned the session as a dead loss and packed away. Funnily enough the guy who was fishing the peg I really wanted to be in was the only guy who caught a carp. In the early hours of Thursday morning he banked one of the lakes most sought after fish, the big common at a low but respectable 32lb plus. I’m always happy when a fellow angler catches a decent sized carp and a north west 30lb common is a superb fish, I can’t help wishing I’d got that swim though!. I pulled off the lake Thursday morning before the bank holiday weekend anglers arrived for their easter fishing. As I’m off work for two weeks I’ll be going back late on bank holiday Monday for another crack at this particular north west carp lake.
After not fishing for so long I was really glad to be out for a session again, hopefully next time I’ll get on some carp and sneak one out. The time is certainly right, I know its March but the days are getting longer and the carp are beginning to move around more as the temperatures slowly rise, it won’t be long before the t-shirt weather is here again and I’m looking forward to some spring carp fishing and finally getting a bend in my rod again.
Tight Lines
Mark.