Yateley Sandhurst Lake - Hired for the Weekend

For the last 3 or 4 years the first week in May has always been an annual trip to Sandhurst carp lake on the famous Yateley fishing complex. This year was no exception and having hired the lake for the weekend at a cost of £1000 between 14 of us (£500 per 24hrs), I was optimistic about our chances of getting amongst some big carp, after all, less angling pressure on those Sandhurst carp would surely give us an edge.

The area local to sandhurst had been suffering from forest fires in the run up to this session and a few of the lads got caught out with certain roads being closed on the way down. Fortunately for me my trusty Sat Nav took me round the M25 and despite being behind most of the guys on the way down, I actually arrived earlier than they did!.
My early arrival gave me some time to have a look around and my first impression was that the fish were holed up in front of the famous pipe swim but this was a shared trip between a group of friends and we were drawing for swims, whoever picked out No 1 in the draw got first choice of swim and so on. I’ve never had much luck when it comes to drawing for swims and I’m certainly consistent with it!, I came out 13th out of 14 and needless to say I didn’t stand a chance of getting anywhere near the pipe swim or any of the adjacent swims!. I actually chose peg 9 on the road bank, I was familiar with this swim having fished it the previous year, peg 9 is actually directly opposite the pipes and there is a large hole in the middle of the lake which is directly between the two swims, by fishing onto the edge of the hole at long range I was hoping to pick off the odd carp that might drift into this area during the weekend.

Peg 9 Looking accross to the famous 'pipe' swim


When visiting day ticket carp waters most anglers I know seem to take the kitchen sink when it comes to bait. Several different flavours of Boilie, Hemp, Pellets, particles, you name it, they take it. Much to my fishing neighbours surprise I had with me 3 handfuls of Tiger Nuts and some Yellow Rig Foam!. I get the impression he thought I was mad bringing so little but I know sandhurst is a pressured water so I chose to avoid boilies altogether and stick to alternatives. As I was going to be fishing mainly at medium or long range I knew it was going to be a case of PVA mesh bags so I really didn’t need a lot of bait, I’ve learned from experience that most of it ends up going to waste so I took just enough to do the job.

I sent two rods out at range to the edge of the hole, both baited with tiger nuts with a small PVA Mesh Bag attached to help avoid tangles. (You can see how I prepare and rig my tiger nuts Here). The third rod I fished on a zig rig baited with yellow foam. This rig has worked for me previously at sandhurst and with 3 rods in use I thought it was worth a try despite the weather not being warm.

I’d only been fishing for 4 or 5 hours when the left hand Delkim signalled a screamer, at the same time mine went my neighbours in peg 10 went as well and we both found ourselves playing carp at the same time. Last year I’d had 5 runs from peg 9 but landed only one of them and I’d not taken into account a snag in the water at around 70 yards range. As I played my fish in it found the snag and I ended up loosing it, to top this off my neighbour lost his on the same snag!. I wasn’t happy and I was kicking myself for making such a stupid error. Even though it had been a year since I’d fished there and only once before in that swim, I’d had a big enough lesson last time and I really should have done things differently. After that loss I pulled the other rod back in and re-rigged both rods with drop off leads instead of my usual inline leads. By loosing the lead on the take and playing any fish with the rod held high I would hopefully avoid the snag again. It had worked last year and I was sure it would again.

My drop off rigs were made using a Safety Lead Clip with the Tail Rubber completely removed, I simply PVA’d the back of the clip to make sure the lead wasn’t lost on the cast. I put both rods out to the edge of the hole again and sat back to wait. I had nothing during the first night and next morning I got to sit and watch two of my mates in the first and second pipes have run after run, the pair of them were racking up carp at quite a rate and all I could do was sit and watch. It was obvious the fish were in front of them and they both filled their boots.

My Trakker A-Lite at Sandhurst made for a comfy swim


Saturday afternoon we had a break and our annual BBQ in the car park, it was a weekend social after all. On one of these trips previously I was a bit under the weather and felt sick but I had no trouble this time and I put away several burgers, sausages and chicken kebabs during the afternoon, if the carp weren’t going to eat I certainly was!.

Once the BBQ was over we headed back to our swims and once again I put two Rods to the edge of the hole with the third on a zig at shorter range. Saturday evening continued the same as Saturday morning and I had to sit and watch the guys in the pipes swims catch yet more fish. I headed for the Sleeping Bag when it got dark and I slept until one of the rods on the edge of the hole signalled a run, there was no single bleeps or indication of what was to come, I woke to an absolute screamer!. I hit the rod and sure enough I finally had a carp hooked up. I knew the drill this time, I stepped backwards and up the bank to give me more height and I held the rod high above my head with the butt resting on my shoulder instead of my groin. This worked and despite being so far out I could clearly see by the far bank street lights that the fish was up near the surface. I cleared the snag no problem and kept the fish coming towards me, this carp put up a good fight in the margins and it was a good 15 minutes before I finally slipped the Net under my prize.

I peeled back the mesh to see a nice mirror, it certainly looked over 25lb but I doubted it would make 30+, I left the fish in the net and set up the Unhooking Mat and camera ready for the weighing and photographing procedure. When I was ready I retrieved the fish, unhooked it and Weighed it. The mirror went 27lb exactly, not my biggest sandhurst carp by any means but I was happy enough, I took a few photos and returned my prize to the water. Recasting in the dark wasn’t too bad because I had street lights opposite and I was using these as far bank markers.

27lb Yateley Sandhurst Mirror Carp


After getting the rod back out I checked my watch and it was 4.00am. I turned in again only to be woken by my neighbour Ian a few hours later, like me, he had to sit and watch the two guys in the pipes catching whilst his rods stayed quiet but he’d finally nabbed one early on Sunday morning and I went to Photograph a 30lb+ common for him, an excellent result indeed!.

No more carp came my way despite me staying until early afternoon on Sunday, eventually I called it a day and headed for home. I was happy to have caught one in the end, coming out of the draw second to last is getting to be a bit of a habit for me but despite this I’ve still yet to blank when fishing sandhurst, I’ve had quite a few bad draws now and my bad luck can’t continue forever, sooner or later its going to be me sat on the fish and bagging up instead of scratching round for the odd straggler so roll on next time and some better luck!.
Tight lines.
Mark.

North West Angling Clubs

Below is a list of Angling Clubs and Associations from around the North West. This is not a definitive list of clubs, just the ones I've come accross during my time online. If you happen to know a club I've missed out please add it via the comments box at the end of this post. It won't show up straight away as all the comments posted on this blog have to be approved first but your contribution will get seen once I've passed it.
Thanks.

Stoke On Trent Angling Society

Wheelock Angling Society

Prince Albert Angling Society

Northwich Anglers Association

Warrington Anglers Association

Winsford & District Angling Association

Lymm Angling Club

Wigan & District Angling Association

Wem Angling Club

Altrincham & District Angling Club

Port Sunlight Angling Club

Bay Malton Angling Club

Weston Angling Club

St Helens Angling Association

Newton Le Willows Anglers Association

Congleton Anglers Society

Southport & District Angling Association

Victoria & Biddulph Angling Society

Burton Mutual Angling Association

Ribchester & District Angling Club

Birmingham Anglers Association

Derby Railway Angling Club

Buckley Angling Association

Barnton & Frodsham Angling Club

Haig Angling Club

Weston Under Lizard Angling Club

Macclesfield Victoria Angling Society

Nantwich Angling Society

Shropshire Anglers Federation

Salford Friendly Anglers Society

Furness Fishing Association

Radcliffe Angling Society

Cemex Sandhurst Carp Session & Blog Update

My week long carp fishing trip to Acton Burnell seems like yesterday, I can’t believe we are at the end of October 2010 already!. I haven’t written anything new since my trip to Acton back in April, this has mainly been due to a lack of time and a lack of fishing I can actually write about. Being in a publicity shy carp syndicate has it’s advantages when it comes to fishing but it certainly doesn’t help when you are supposed to be writing a carp blog!.
Just to bring my fishing up to date a little, I’ve had a fabulous year so far banking no fewer than 15 x 20’s up to 34lb+ (the common I had from Acton Burnell), most have come from the syndicate but a couple have come from a north west club water, one came from my annual weekend at Sandhurst Lake on the Yateley complex.

The Sandhurst trip was memorable for all the wrong reasons, I had a complete disaster of a trip!. Somehow I managed to loose 4 fish on the bounce, two on the Saturday daytime were missed runs, one in the early hours of Sunday morning to a hook pull and a fourth found a snag when I played it in at range from peg 10. The fish that found a snag was particularly hard to take because I knew it was a right lump. Despite the 4 losses I still left Sandhurst feeling like I’d just scored the winning goal in the cup final. I was due off the lake at 3pm on Sunday afternoon, after 4 missed chances my confidence was rock bottom, I was staring at my first ever Sandhurst blank and I wasn’t very happy!. That weekend had been one of the coldest on record in May, a freak North Easterly wind kept the temperatures bitterly cold, I believe the day time high was just 6 degrees!. I’d travelled to Sandhurst with absolutely no cold weather gear, I just had a t-shirt and a fleece jacket, both of which were useless against the biting Easterly wind. A few of the lads lent me a couple of Fleece Hoodies and these helped but I still had to spend most of the trip tucked up in my Sleeping Bag just to keep warm.

Because of the need to keep out of the wind I’d left packing the Bivvy until the last minutes before leaving and it was whilst I was packing this item of tackle away that one of the Delkims signalled one final run, it was a screamer too and I quickly made contact with another Sandhurst carp. After the rotten luck I’d had all weekend I can tell you my heart was in my mouth for the duration of the fight. Even under the rod tip I was praying the carp wouldn’t escape, thankfully it didn’t!. I actually had to unpack my Scales and Camera in order to weigh and photograph the fish. It wasn’t massive by Sandhurst standards, a scraper 20 common weighing 20lb 6oz. It was so close to packing up time I didn’t even recast the Rod, I simply packed it into the holdall and carried on packing up. 20 minutes later I was pulling out of the car park still with a massive grin on my face, a small fish that common may have been but it saved me a blank and a last minute winner is always a sweet moment in carp fishing.

20lb 6oz Common Carp from Cemex Sandhurst Lake


Apart from Sandhurst and Acton, the only other time I’ve left the syndicate was for a handful of short sessions on a famous north west club water in mid October. I love this type of hit and run carp fishing, keeping the sessions short and working hard to get your baits under a carp’s nose. These were the tactics I used the other week and they worked a treat. In 5 trips I banked 3 fish, another two 20’s and a high double was a cracking result for a water were 5 fish per year is the norm!.

22lb 10oz Mirror Carp from a Famous North West Carp Water


Switching to short sessions mid October has brought an end to my night fishing for 2010 and I’m back to the short sessions I usually do throughout the winter. I’ve written this piece to update the blog a little and to say I’ll be writing some more about my winter carping this year. My writing won’t be as prolific as it was in previous years but there will be some more new material coming during December and January as I take a break from syndicate life.
Until then, tight lines.
Mark.

Acton Burnell Carp

It’s been a while since I wrote an update for this blog, I’ve been enjoying syndicate life this past year so I’ve pretty much had my hands tied as far as updating this site is concerned. I’ve had some cracking fish though, 2009 was one of my best years for numbers of twenties and I managed to bank a couple of northern thirties too. Being in a syndicate is proving to be a good move on my part, I like the peace and quiet and being among like minded anglers sometimes opportunities arise and one such opportunity was offered to me earlier in the year, a week long trip to the famous Acton Burnell carp syndicate water in Shropshire!. I’d seen Acton Burnell on a few of the Matt Hayes fishing programmes on Sky and I’ve seen the place documented many many times, the waters at Acton have been fished by some very famous anglers so when the offer was made I did my sums (it was expensive!) and when I realised I could afford to go I duly accepted!.
Despite what you see on TV, I wasn’t sure what to expect as the Sat Nav took me towards Acton Burnell itself, a few short minutes later I arrived at the lakes and my first impression was that the lower lake was actually quite small. Things always seem to look bigger on TV and the upper lake, although much bigger, still looked a little on the small side compared to the impression you get from the TV. I was going to be fishing Acton Burnell Upper Lake and as I walked around I liked what I saw. The upper lake was stunning, it’s around 18 acres in size, a typical estate lake dammed at one end with an overflow to control the water level similar to Capesthorne Hall.
We’d had a draw for swims and my bad luck at the draw continued, I came out second to last and had to watch as every swim I was interested in disappeared!. In the end I was left with very little choice and I opted for a swim known as the ‘Pot Beds’. My swim was at the dam wall end of the lake and the fish were crashing and rolling up the other end so I knew I was in for a hard time on this trip!.

Pot Beds Swim at Acton Burnell Carp Fishery, my home for the week.

My bad luck continued after the draw when I managed to lock my keys in the boot of my car within a few hours of being there!, I put them there for safe keeping not realising there was a safety feature on my car whereby it locked after 60 seconds if the keys are in the car!. I couldn’t settle on Saturday night and following a blank night I had the AA out on Sunday morning. If you travel any kind of distance I can’t recommend the AA highly enough, they were with me in 20 minutes and I had my keys back 5 minutes later!.
After my drama with the car keys I was able to settle down to my fishing, I was restless and wanted to move on Sunday but there wasn’t anywhere to move too so I was stuck. I must admit I hadn’t done a lot of preparation for this trip and little did I know that the wind was going to change and push the fish down the lake towards me!. After a blank Sunday the wind whipped up south westerly and I began to see fish in my area. Just because you can see them doesn’t mean you can catch them, these Acton Burnell carp seem to be masters in avoiding anglers and on a typical week long trip, a few anglers would catch 1 carp each with maybe one lucky angler bagging a brace. Facing that kind of odds I was going to have my work cut out tempting one of these Acton carp despite them now being in my swim!.
The pot beds swim is opposite the dam wall at Acton, it’s a short cast to the dam wall and it seems the standard tactics in this swim is to cast a Lead Weight onto the dam wall then go round and tie your rig on and place it with the use of chest waders and a landing net pole, this way you can actually get your rig and bait under the trees and you can bait up with pinpoint accuracy. I’d already done this and despite fish being in the area I couldn’t tempt a carp to pick up my bait on Monday or Tuesday.

Dam Wall at Acton Burnell, cast over and place baits your with chest waders!

Half way through the week and no fish, I had already began to ring the changes in my rigs, one thing that had attracted my eye recently was the Korda Sinkers. I never usually bother pinning down a hook length but these Acton Burnell carp really had me thinking about everything to do with my presentation. I put korda sinkers on my hooklength to pin it down and I ended up using a combination of normal backleads and Flying Backleads to really nail my mainline to the bottom. I wanted everything on the deck and out of the way because these fish were exceptionally cute!.
Wednesday night I finally managed to trip up an Acton Burnell carp. I’d placed a Tiger Nut under a bush on the dam wall and put a light sprinkling of tigers and cell boilies around the rig, I did this early on Wednesday morning to try and avoid any disturbance to my swim, the day had been quiet with just odd fish rolling in open water to my right during the evening. It was 11pm when the left hand Delkim bleeped a couple of times then quickly developed into a full blooded run.

I picked up the rod, wound down and struck lightly. Sure enough my rod arched over and my first impression was that I’d hit a brick wall, a sure sign I was into a lump!. My heart was beating out of my chest by this time and I kept muttering ‘don’t blow it’ to myself!. I kept the pressure steady and made slow progress bringing this fish in. Acton Burnell is in the middle of nowhere and with plenty of cloud cover it was a black night, I couldn’t see anything and I was literally relying on the direction the Rod was being pulled to work out where this carp was. Eventually I had the fish under the rod tip but I couldn’t seem to lift it up in the water to net it, for 10 minutes it circled round in front of me and all this time I had to keep talking myself into not applying too much pressure. It’s so easy in a situation like this to just try and apply more pressure and the result is usually a hookpull or a breaking of the main line. I’ve lost a few big carp at the net due to panicking which is why I talk to myself whilst I’m playing a big fish, I find I can keep a level head if I do this and it works for me!.

Eventually I managed to get the fish into a position where I could actually net it, this was a crucial point and as the fish slowly edged into the Landing Net I lifted the mesh around my prize. I didn’t quite breathe a sigh of relief until I’d lifted the net and checked my prize was inside, it was so dark I’d just been going by the disturbance to the water to judge where the carp was. I checked inside the landing net and sure enough, there was my first Acton Burnell carp, a lovely looking common that looked well over 30lb in weight.

I secured my net and left the fish in the water whilst I got to work sorting out the camera and scales so I could weigh and photograph my prize. Acton Burnell supply Unhooking Mats, they are standard in every swim so I used the mat provided rather than my own as their mats are massive!. I placed my carp on the mat and unhooked it quickly, my rig had done its job and the fish was well and truly nailed in the bottom lip. This common was a long fish and it looked massive on the mat, I wondered how big it would go as I zeroed my scales ready for weighing. I hoisted the fish up and the scales gave me a weight of 34lb 2oz. I was delighted with that, my first Acton carp was a 34lb+ common!. Acton Burnell also has buckets for pouring water over the fish and after a quick bucket of water I cracked on with doing the pictures as best as I could in the pitch dark. I kept my Head Torch on for all my pictures simply because it allowed me to see roughly whereabouts both myself and the fish were on my Camera's flip screen. With the pictures done I released my prize back to the lake and the fish swam off strongly.

34lb 2oz Common Carp from Acton Burnell Upper Lake

I couldn’t get my bait back under the bush on the dam wall so I hooked my rig up to the butt ring of my rod and left it on the Rod Pod until the morning. I didn’t mind doing this, I’d managed to achieve my goal of catching an Acton Burnell carp and with my target met I could just chill out and enjoy the last few days of my trip. When the morning came I put my rig back under the same bush on the dam and began the wait for another Acton carp.

I should just point out that if you ever use Chest Waders to place baits or land fish or for any other reason, please wear a life jacket too. You never know what’s on the bottom of a lake, a soft patch, a branch from a tree, literally anything could see you loose your footing and if you fall over and get your waders full of water, you could find yourself in real trouble. I can’t speak for everyone else but I value my life far more than the price of a Life Jacket and I simply won’t go in the water without wearing one, lifejackets aren’t just for boats!.

If you use chest waders always wear a Life Jacket!


I was nice and relaxed on Thursday and Friday of my trip, the wind was still pushing straight into my swim and there were fish around but they were proving difficult to tempt. Although I’ve mainly concentrated on the dam wall I was busy all week dropping baits into open water areas where I was seeing fish roll, I even tried another swim for a few hours after I saw a couple of lumps roll there. One thing that quickly became apparent was that a lead weight landing in the area the carp were rolling was a killer, every time I tried casting at rolling fish they’d stop and I wouldn’t see them for the rest of the day. I even took to leaving baits in areas I’d seen most fish, in the hope they would come back the next day but even that tactic failed to produce a result.

Waders at the ready in the Willow Swim at Acton Burnell Carp Fishery


As I was packing up on Saturday morning I saw a fish roll and I was straight into my chest waders so I could cast to it, I didn’t give up trying to the bitter end but I just couldn’t tempt another Acton carp. I was happy with the one I had though, Acton Burnell is a difficult carp water and my week on there had been enlightening to say the least. It had been a while since I’d chased carp that were this wary of anglers and baits. Acton proved to be a tough water and overall I was happy just to bank a fish. Out of the 8 of us that fished the Upper Lake, one guy had more than one fish, 4 of us had one fish each and 3 blanked, coming out second to last in the draw I’m actually surprised I didn’t blank too so I’m well happy with my result and I believe we had a slightly above average week by Acton Burnell standards!.
Tight lines.
Mark.

Burton Mere Carp Syndicate 1992

The last time I wrote a blog entry about my early carp fishing years I wrote about my first brace of twenties which I caught in 1995, this was part of my 'red letter days' series which first appeared on 'Anglers Diary'. This is really part 6 of that series and I’m going back even further, to 24th September 1992 to be exact. I actually started carp fishing in June 1989 on a local pond, those first few sessions produced carp for me and a couple of PB’s including my first double which came off the top on anchored surface crust!. Right from the word go local anglers kept saying Burton Mere was the place to be to catch carp. It didn’t take me longer than a few weeks to pay my first visit to the woodland pool on Burton Mere and 3 carp including a new PB mirror of 12lb 6oz on my first trip had me hooked on the place!.

There are more red letter days to come from my early days at Burton Mere, I cut my carp fishing teeth on woodland pool and later the syndicate ‘mere’ itself and during my time on the water I caught a lot of carp. This particular story relates to my first ever session on the syndicate pool. I wasn’t actually a member of the syndicate at the time but I was allowed to fish it on a day/night ticket basis for which I was charged £8 for 24hours. I’d watched the carp in Burton mere pool closely whilst fishing woodland pool and I couldn’t resist having a go for them. The mere held around 8 x 20’s at the time and the back up doubles were much larger than the average sized carp in woodland.

My first night on the syndicate lake turned out to be productive, I knew I had to go looking for the carp and I found them fizzing up in a swim known as ‘the giles’, so named after a guy called Giles who fished it regularly in the 1980’s. Giles was a clever carp angler, the bloodworm beds in front of the peg where immense and I watched intently as fish fizzed everywhere in front of my chosen swim.

On the left hand side of the swim was the remains of an old abandoned boat house, the brickwork was still in place but the boat house itself was long gone. Having had a couple of casts around the swim with a marker I quickly found a channel that ran from the old boat house, directly across the swim cutting through open water and heading out towards the corner of the first island that was in front of me. This channel was a good 18 inches deeper than the surrounding area and it went straight through the middle of the fizzing I was watching, it didn’t need a rocket scientist to work out that the carp were feeding heavily in this channel so this is where I placed both of my rigs. The left rod went in the channel half way over to the island and the right hand rod went three quarters over into the same channel. I scattered a few boilies round each rod and a few more in between both baited spots which were about 10 yards apart. Obviously Giles the 80's carp angler had latched onto this channel and I didn't know it at the time but I'd found the holy grail in terms of hotspots in this swim!.

With my traps set I settled down to my first ever night on the syndicate lake, my PB at the time was a mere 14lb and I hoped at some point to break this on the mere. Despite the daytime fizzing I couldn’t buy a bite during daylight but an hour or two after dark things changed for the better. I was actually trying to get off to sleep but being my first night on the mere I was too wound up to sleep so I just sat watching the Isotopes in my monkey climbers. Like most carp anglers I can’t concentrate on one thing for too long and eventually I started to drift off to sleep. It was as I was just nodding off that my left hand rod tore off, the sound from my Super Compacts and my bi tech viper sounder box was more than enough to make sure I was wide awake in a shot and I quickly jumped up and hit the rod.

The fish kited left and tried to make its way to the main pads in peg 19 so I applied some side strain to make sure it didn’t reach them, the pads were quite a way away and with 15lb Big Game Line on my spools the carp was never going to reach sanctuary. I turned the fish and eventually managed to get it back to the same place I hooked it. Another 5 minutes later I had the carp circling in front of me and without the aid of a light, I sunk my net deep and waited until the carps nose touched the spreader block before lifting the net. The manoeuvre worked and I netted my first carp from the syndicate lake!. Despite being in my learning years, even back then I always had a plan and a way of doing things, I knew where my Scales and my torch and other things were so I got my prize onto the Unhooking Mat and weighed it in at 13lb 2oz. Not massive by today’s standards but back then it was only 1lb off my personal best so it was a great fish for me!. My mate Phil did the pictures and once my catch was documented I returned my mirror to the water and sorted out my rod.

13lb 2oz, my first carp from the Burton Mere syndicate lake in 1992


I recast the rod and topped up the swim with a few more of my Home Made boilies and settled down again. Things went quiet after that first carp and it wasn’t until the early hours of the morning that the next run came. A steady ‘one toner’ on the right hand rod had me scrambling off the Bedchair to grab the rod. A quick strike and I was in again. This carp felt a little heavier than the last one and it gave me the run around for 10 minutes before finally giving up, this fish just chugged up and down the margins so there was never any trouble apart from a few occaisions when the fish came close to my other line. Once again I dropped the Landing Net deep and waited for the carps nose to hit the spreader block before lifting and engulfing my prize. This fish was a prize too, a fully scaled mirror, one of 3 that was known to inhabit the mere, I weighed this fully scaled at 16lb 12oz, a new PB and a lovely looking fish!. The fully scaled was a known fish called spike due to the front of its dorsal fin just being a spike, the carp was always well known to the syndicate members but later the fish found fame when it was caught by carp fishing duo Rob Hughes and Simon Crow when they visited Burton Mere as part of their day ticket series for carp world a few years later.

'Spike' the fully scaled at a PB of 16lb 12oz from Burton Mere


Naturally I was over the moon with my new PB and I Sacked it up in the margins for a few hours as I had no camera man around to do any pictures. Once the sack was secure I recast the rod, I knew when I sacked the fish that I’d be up all night to keep and eye on it and it was logical to carry on fishing. The recast was only out half an hour when it was away to another flyer. Once I was into the fish I realised it wasn’t as big as the fully scaled mirror I had in the sack and when I lifted my landing net from the water I guessed this one was my smallest fish of the night. It was my smallest fish of the night but it was still a special one, I peeled the landing net mesh back to find a common!. There were very few commons in Burton mere and this one, weighing in at 11lb 9oz, was actually a PB common by a couple of ounces!.

PB Common of 11lb 9oz topped off my first session on the syndicate lake


I sacked this fish too, when my camera man turned up at first light I had two PB’s to Photograph and I was on cloud 9 for the few hours up until daylight. No more runs came my way and in the morning I dealt with my two fish and returned them to the water. I was a little uncomfortable sacking my fish for a few hours and I took the photos at first light rather than wait a bit longer for the best light. Once my two fish were safely back in the lake I headed back to my old fox supa bivvy and crashed out for a few hours before packing up and going home. My first taste of the Burton mere syndicate was a positive one and as soon as I got home I found myself plotting another visit.
Tight Lines
Mark