Jake's Blog - Part Two

This month has been a good month for me, as I have now got myself a new job and and I am on the books which means I will be getting paid for being on the bank when I take my holidays, happy days! January Started off awesome as I had a NYE party round my house to celebrate my 18^th which was on the 1^st of January, What a night! We started off drinking at about 6pm and it wasn’t till my dad asked me what the time was and I said 5am we both realised it was time for everyone to go and let the neighbours get some much needed rest as all we were playing that night was drumstep, dnb, dubstep and house. But boy dint I wake up with a banging head ache!

I have been taking driving lessons for a while now and I am now finally up to test standards but I made the mistake of not taking my theory before I started my driving, I recommend if you have just turned 17 or just started your driving lessons to definitely take your theory before you do your lessons as it is holding me back from driving. But I have been looking at some motors for when I do pass and I am so glad that I have been saving a lot of money from work as the insurance is just pure madness! I really don’t understand how they think someone my age can afford it.
The sooner I pass my test and start driving the sooner I can start doing some cheeky midweek overnighters!

I have joined a 3 lake syndicate in Oxford called Linch with my old man this year and these lakes have got some of the best, if not the best looking fish in the country. We have been up there a couple of times this winter just walking the lakes and we haven’t seen anyone in site, we like to do a lot of winter fishing and one of the lakes even has  12+ fish the right time of the year over the 40lb mark, which is incredible! Our Ticket starts on April 1st so roll on that date! I am just hoping I can winkle a few out this season during the weekends I will be fishing, would be nice to fish midweek but we cant have it all can we!

I have managed to get out on the bank a couple of times with Jordan again this month at the same lake using the same tactics. I Have seen and spoken to a lot of moaning people this month on the bank and they were moaning about not catching fish, but what they did when they got there was just chuck there rods out, sit there all day and not recast at all. In the winter I have found recasting regularly around your swim produces bites for me as the fish don’t move about much in the winter and generally hold up in one part of the lake for days, or maybe even weeks before they decide to move to the next area, but when they do start to move more is when they have got to eat as they are burning energy and that's when a top class winter and all season bait like Baitworks Monster Red and Atlantic Heat come into their own. If you use this bait in the winter and use it correctly I am sure you will see your catch rates from last winter double or in some peoples cases triple! Get on it!
 

I have been spending a bit of time with people that just fish for themselves and keep out of the spot light and boy I have learned some crafty tricks and made some good mates, that hopefully I will keep in contact with for many years to come. I Found it mad how the slightest adjustment to a rig, hook or any end tackle can make a massive difference. I will certainly be using the tips I got in my own fishing this season!

I have also been up to the Cotswolds to play footy with the Cotswold carpers and I really enjoyed myself and can't wait for the next one! The day after though my legs felt like jelly and I was walking around site like John Wayne!

That’s it for January

Febuary

This month I have been up to Linch Hill to pay off the last of my ticket for this year and go for a walk round to see if anyone was fishing. We arrived at the bank got the money out and headed up to oxford but took with us our marker rods and note pads just in case no one was fishing one of the lakes. We finally arrived at Linch, paid the money off and went for a stroll around to see if we could do any prep work and luckily enough for us there wasn’t a sole on Christchurch, so off me and the old chap went and did each swim with our marker rods and we found some lovely spots in each peg and marked them out by rod lengths and drew the skyline on the far bank for our mark. Some of the spots will change when the weed starts to grow back, but it's always nice to have a rough idea of what you've got in front of you before you start fishing it. Doing this has made me buzzing for the 1^st of April when we can finally start fishing the lakes and hopefully get amongst some of the best looking fish in the country! Not long now only a month to go!!

I went to the local tackle shop, Veals during their sale as I needed to get a few bits and pieces. I was shocked when I arrived to see how busy it was! But after I had got all I wanted and looked at the price and then looked in the bag with my goodies in I couldn’t believe that little lot could cost so much!

I decided to contact Jordan this month to see if he wanted to head back down to the club water to hopefully catch some fish! So we had a chin wag and decided that we would go on Saturday the 25^th, so with this info out came the tackle box and away I went tying up some rigs ready for the session ahead. This really got me buzzing as I haven’t had the rods out for a few weeks now and knew if we got in the right swims it could be a hectic day as I knew the weather was due to warm up according to the weather forecast. Saturday soon came round and off we set in his car at 6:45am, we couldn’t stop chatting about how excited we both are to finally be on the bank and hopefully bag a few! The plan was to try and get to the lake for first light because, as you know from the last blog we caught straight from the off from fish rolling on their morning munch.

We finally arrived at the car park and got the gear out quick time to beat everyone else in the car park to the lake! We got to the lake and saw one fish roll out in front of the swims we fished last time so off we headed to the swims and I got the rods out and all rigged up in record time. First rod went out with a trimmed down Baitworks white pop-up (the same as last time) and a small PVA mesh bag of pellets which I dipped in Baitworks Monster Red dip and as I was just threading the trimmed down white pop-up on the other rod the one I just cast out ripped off! The fish in this lake seem to come in easily and then when they get in the margin they fight like mad!! But after a 5 minute battle the first fish was banked and unhooked in the net so I could get the rod straight back out there. So, with the pics done it was time to get the fish and get the other rod out, as I was about to cast the second rod out the other rod ripped off again but this time the hook pulled. The bites slowed down so I decided to reel in and take a walk to the other end of the lake to see if I could spot any signs of fish in the area. As I was approaching the swim one up from the swim on the bank I was fishing I spotted a patch of bubbles on the far bank on the peg opposite and that was enough for me to go back and pack up my gear and move, I said to Jordan "Stay down here mate and if one of us starts catching we will move next to each other." So off I went to try and winkle one out, I decided to try out some new stick mixes from Baitworks that Mark asked me to try out, and this venue is a good one to try things out on so I put one rod on the stick mix and one rod on my pellet mix, one bag being dipped in the Atlantic Heat Red Hot Fish Oil. One rod went out to where I saw the bubbles and the other went out to to the left of the swim on the far bank just off a bush, so with the two rods done I decided it was time to start making up some bags just in case it kicks off. I tied 5 stick mix bags and 5 pellet bags and sat back and waited. Just as I was about to put the kettle on I received a phone call from the missus and before she could even say hello I gave her the old “alright my lover, ah s**t I got a fish ring you in 5” (that turned out to be a very long 5 minutes) so I struck into the fish and started paying it and this one didn't seem to be doing much and to be honest I thought I had a tench on but like always as soon as it got into the margins it scrapped its heart out, but as soon as it came to the surface I was quick enough to get it straight in the net and the first thing I did was unhook it in the net and grabbed a stick mix bag dipped it in the glug and cast it straight back out hoping i'd have another fish. I rang up Jordan and asked him if he could come up and take some pics and to start bringing some of his gear up with him and fish the peg up from me, we finally got the pics done and slipped the fish back in and just as I was about to give Jordan a hand with his gear my right hand rod ripped off again. This fish felt like a decent one just plodding around and then started to swim straight towards me trying to get in the roots of the trees but I kept good pressure on the fish and managed to steer it away from the trees and Jordan did a good job with the net and we got it in first time, as I was unhooking the fish my other rod ripped off and I was doing battle again and told Jordan to hurry up and get his net so off he went while I played the fish, these fish just love the white pop-ups!! This fish wasn’t big but was putting up a good scrap! I let it tire itself out whilst Jordan was running up the bank with his net ready to land the fish, as he got back to the swim he got the fish in first time and what a lovely brace I had! A double figure linear and and upper double mirror. Once the pics were done and the fish were back in their watery home I left my rods out and put three pouches of boilies over the spots where I had the fish from to try and keep the fish there while I went and helped Jordan move his gear. It didn't take Jordan long to spot a few signs of fish in his swim and put a stick mix bag dipped in the Hot Fish Oil right where he had seen the signs. It went quiet for a bit, which gave me the chance to ring the missus back and have a chin wag to keep her happy. After I spoke to her I asked Jordan if he fancied moving down the bottom at 4pm, ready for the 5pm bite time? We both agreed on that and gave it until 4 when we would move back down into the deeper end of the lake and where we have had some great results from in the past. I started to pack up and get everything ready and just as I was about to tie up some stick mix bags Jordan's rod went in to meltdown and it resulted in a nice common. We decided to move after that fish and to get down to the swims earlier and put a bit of bait in ready for the 5pm bite time, as we both knew it gets hectic at that time!! We decided to put out about 100 Atlantic Heat boilies in each peg and scatter them right out making the fish more confident in feeding.

I put the kettle on so we could have a brew before we cast out and as I was waiting for my brew to cool we put fresh white pop-ups on and new bags and left in the oil until we were ready to cast out. With the brew finished it was time to get our rods out ready for the 5pm feeding spell, so with all the rods cast out it was now time for the fish to move in and get their heads down. We saw two fish roll over our rods at 4:50pm and Jordan said to me "I think we are going to have one in a minute mate." Just as he finished his sentence he got a bleep and then a one toner on his right hand rod so I went and helped him with the net, but as I was doing that my left hand rod ripped off so I quickly ran to the rod and lifted into the fish and this fish had dropped the lead so it came straight to the surface and wasn’t long before I got it in the net. Just as I put the rod down to unhook the fish in the net my right hand rod tore off so I had to leave that fish in the net and play the fish on my right hand rod, luckily Jordan landed his fish just in time to come and help me out with the net. It wasn’t long before we got my second fish in the net and I couldn’t believe it that in Febuary I had 2 double takes!!! We weren’t wrong about the 5pm feeding spell either! We got the fish out and onto the mats and held them up for the camera with Jordan having the biggest fish out of the three at 17lb 6oz. We managed to catch two more fish each before it was time to pack up and leave.

On our way home we were talking about going back out there on the Sunday but I had the missus staying so it depended on what time I got up. But at 9am I was up and straight on the phone to Jordan asking him if he wanted to go back out there for about 12-ish and he said "Yeah, I knew we would end up going mate." Me and the missus got up, went to McDonalds, got a breakfast and then came back and chilled for a bit before I got all the gear ready and before I knew it I was saying my byes to her and Jordan was outside waiting to load up his car. Our first stop was the local tackle shop to get our tickets and then straight to the lake!

We got the rods out at 1pm and had our first fish at half past, which turned out to be a nice double figure common on the white pop-ups and the new stick mix. We caught steadily throughout the day and ended up with six fish to 16lb 6oz.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much I have enjoyed writing it.

Take Care

Tight Lines

Jake Taylor

Monster Red and Atlantic Heat. Perfect for all-year-round use.

One hell of a New Year / Birthday party!

Get on the little mesh sticks!

Jake's Blog - Part One

Hello Crafty Readers
Welcome to the first of my online blogs.

This last month has been busy both on and off the bank. What with work, fishing and a girlfriend, I don’t have much spare time, but I’m loving life. In the summer I was luckily enough to help out at a couple of Korda’s Carpfest events, which was a great opportunity to meet some nice people, I really enjoyed showing people a few tricks and also learning a few myself, so if you get the chance next year, it’s definitely worth attending. And who knows, I might just be there; if I am, make sure you come over and have a chinwag, and ask me any questions on stuff you are not 100% sure about.

With winter now here, I tend to fish a couple of lakes. I am lucky enough to have a winter ticket on a low-stocked 30-acre gravel pit in Oxford, which has some great people on there. We have had some good socials and have seen some proper old English carp; they sure do love the Baitworks range, and more than half the members are using it. I have had two takes and lost both of them, but next time I am going there with a plan, and hopefully I’ll have one out. The lake can only be fished from October until March, so I must start putting in some hard work – as we all know, effort equals rewards. I also fish some local club waters, to get a bend in the rods and make sure what I am using actually works, and sometimes I head to Linear Fisheries if I am meeting up with a few mates for a social. This is where I ended up recently, when a good friend of mine, Oz Buchan, rang me up and asked the old man and me if we wanted to do a session with him and his daughter Amy on Friday 18th November until 20th November. He also asked if I would give Amy some tuition because she doesn’t listen to her dad! With no hesitation I said yes, and what a good time we had. I have met Amy a few times at BYCAC events; she is always there for the week with Oz and is always making brews for everyone, and fair play to her, she is getting good at it. Oz has been a marshal from the start of the BYCAC event, so I was more than happy to go and do a session with them and do a bit of tuition with Amy. This is something I have been thinking of doing for a couple of years now, so it would give me a chance to see if it was for me or not. I really enjoyed teaching Amy and will hopefully be doing tuitions next year, so if you’re interested, get in contact with me via Facebook. When we arrived at Brasenose One at Linear to do the session, the wind was blowing a hoolie and some things were difficult to do, but a lovely scaly mirror of 15lb 4oz saved a blank for Amy, which was a bonus with the lake fishing really hard. My old man went camping again and blanked, and Oz lost one, but I was lucky enough to winkle four out to 23lb, so not bad. Brasenose usually fishes better at this time of year, but we couldn’t really complain about the result.

I have also been on the bank with an old school mate of mine, Jordan Sweet, who has just started getting into carp fishing. So, with a couple of hours of me teaching him about rigs and how to tie them, we decided to go and put them to the test on a local club water. Let’s just say he was more than happy with his newfound skills, and we landed a total of seven carp and lost two, and he broke his personal best twice. The first time it was a 19lb 4oz mirror, and then shortly after that he beat it again, with his new personal best of a 23lb 12oz mirror carp. This encouraged Jordan even more. On the way home we treated ourselves to KFC, and as we were eating, we decided to go back there asap because we really enjoyed ourselves. After all, that’s what fishing is all about. We decided we were going to tie some more rigs one night in the week, and decided to go back to the local club water on the following Saturday (which was the first hard frost that we have had), armed with some new pop-ups from Baitworks; they are white and pink 10mms and are called Sent from Heaven, and will be released soon. You must have a pot of these with you at all times; they are something else and have saved me from blanks on so many occasions this year! The fish just couldn’t resist the white 10mms; eight fish fell to me and Jordan, with the biggest being a 17lb 9oz mirror. There was only one other carp out to the geezer next to us, and that was caught on the new pop-ups as well; I had given him a couple to try out. We really have been enjoying it out there, and our target is to catch 100 fish from there before February, which is going to be tough! This is just what you need to keep you going through the winter. It’s a mega-buzz with the rods going off in the cold conditions, and it gives you loads of confidence.

I hope you all have a good Christmas and a great new year.

Until next month, tight lines,
Jake Taylor.

Winner Stays On - The Battle Of Naseby

Currently with Alexei, Harry, Lewis Read and Tom Oliver they're competing for the winner stays on title on Naseby Res in Northampton. It's cold and it's wet. To top it off it's muddy as hell. You'll find out how the match went in the February issue of Crafty Carper.

Tight lines.

James - Team CC

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A day at the races

On Thursday 15th December it was time for the annual Angling Publications Christmas day out. Southwell races was the venue and a good day was had by all. Some better than others when it came to having a couple of quid on the gee gee's. By 2pm the meal had ended, though the drinks were still flowing and the horses still racing. To be honest I think there may still be a couple yet to cross the line!!

By no later than 2.15pm the first casualty had been accounted for and as ever it was Tim Jnr. He also slept all the way back home on the mini bus. I'm sure there'll be a few more blog posts coming from others with regards to the do so i'll leave the full version of events in their capable hands.

Until next time.

James - Team CC

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The Abbey Lakes Bailiff's Blog - Part One.

Crafty Carper have secured the services of Ru Whiteman to send us a monthly blog from the banks of the famous French carp fishery - Abbey Lakes. This is the first installment of The Abbey Lakes Bailiff's Blog and with things easing off slightly, in the run up to the Xmas period, Ru actually manages to get some fishing of his own in!

While waiting for the infamous Point swim on Heron lake, I decided to settle into Peg 6 on Fox Lake mainly because all the going swims were sewn up but also so I didn't have too far to move my gear when the chance to switch lakes arose! Peg 6 commands a nice area of water where you can see what's occuring across the whole lake but the centre of Fox is relatively bare at this time of year and is basically an incredibly wide strip of (sand and) silt, maybe 80yds across and about 300 yds long. It's been a very mild Winter so far but with the recent dip in temperatures, the Carp seem to have searched for and settled into any remaining weed beds where I believe the water is slightly warmer at present?! With this in mind I decided to bait my barren section of the lake quite heavily, and see whether I could tempt the fish back out into open water? This turned out to be easier said than done once a strong south westerly blew up (and stayed for the next 10 days) and drove down the lake towards the 'holding' weedbeds about 200 yards away!!

Plotted up on Fox Lake waiting for a move to Heron Lake.

I found three spots which had nothing more to offer than minor changes in depth, all at a range of between 65-120 yards. I then sticked out around 2-3kg of 18mm Cell boilies and Spombed around 5kg of mix containing matching Response pellets, Hemp, Jolly green giant, Tuna and good ole' Salmon Whiskas to each, sat back and waited.

During the first night I had a run on my right hand rod which was on the 120yd mark, after a short tussle I managed to bank a lovely scaley 30+ Mirror. No more action was forthcoming and I reeled in the following morning, sticked another kilo or so of boilies over the swim and rested it for the day.

On day 3, I had a screaming take on the long range rod again at dawn but couldn't stop the fish, it took maybe 100 yards of line on it's first run and if you asked me again now, I'd still swear it was a 100lb+ Catfish.. Only problem being, there are NONE in Fox lake! This tug of war went on for about 20 minutes, every time I pulled, it just pulled back harder and added a few more precious yards between us until after a while, everything just locked up solid. I now had big problems as I didn't want to put the rod down or ease off the pressure on the fish so was stuck in the swim with the rod held high and on a (fairly) tight line for over 3 hours waiting for someone to wake up and come to my rescue! Once we had a boat in the swim, I donned a life jacket and set about dealing with whatever was attached to the end of my line?! I had to row over 200 yds just to get to the fish, only to discover to my horror that it wasn't there, it had simply used a thick clump of silkweed like a roundabout, pivoted on it and was actually some way off down the lake, back the way I'd just come!

As darkness fell is was time to settle the score!

To cut a long story short, after a further 45 minutes of pissing around, hanging off the side of the boat up to my armpits in water, I retrieved the rig from a weed bed no more than 25 yards out from the front of my swim.... Sick as a Parrot.. (Doesn't even come close!) as we have a Carp called Cheeky that's long over due a visit to the bank, it probably weighs way in excess of 75-80lbs now and it's probably the only one big enough to have that much power in reserve? In hindsight, not once did I feel like I had the upper hand or was even remotely in control of the fight!!

During the day I again chose to rest the swim, sticking out another helping of Cell in the vicinity and sat back to wonder what might've been? Just after dark I had the chance to make amends, this time it was the left hand rod fished close in that let out a couple of bleeps, I was on it in a flash as I didn't want this one building up a head of steam again! I knew the fish was a nice one, just a few long but slow lunges against a tight clutch were a telltale sign and after a short fight I had a really chunky, wide fish in the bottom of the net, happy days! On the scales, it went 51lb exactly, I was made up, as after such a long period of time on the banks of Abbey, it was only my 3rd ever Carp over the magical mark!!

At 51lb exactly it made the effort all seem worhwhile.

The 4th day proved pretty uneventful, I had the rods out all day as at long last I had a few fish rolling in the area and the odd one appeared to be heading my way from the far end of the lake as well, so things should've been looking up but nothing of note happened bar a little common mid-afternoon!

Winter has arrived!

 Early on day 5 and I had a fast take on the long range rod, this one had ideas to put as much distance between us as possible and felt like another good 'un from the off! It had been raining hard during the night and I was having difficulty staying on my feet in my flip flops as the combined effects of a steep bank, wet grass, dodgy footwear and an angry carp tugging away made getting a firm footing impossible! After 20 minutes I had what appeared to be another chunk on a short line close in, after a few last minute bids for freedom in the marginal weed, the fish rolled and I shot forward to net it.. In doing so, I finally lost my footing and slid straight up to my knees in the lake!! Anyway, the Carp was safely in the folds of the net so I sat there and smiled to myself that it was nothing a towel and a swift change of clothes wouldn't put right.. Wrong! As I stood up, I lost all traction again and proceeded to go straight back in the lake, up to my nuts this time!! Despite the mild Winter so far, I can assure you that this isn't something I'd encourage in December, choir boy springs to mind!

A hot shower, warm clothes and then pic with a 49-pounder!

I then did something I don't normally condone and made the fish safe for the night in a recovery sling as I really needed to get back to the Clubhouse, take a nice warm shower and thaw out a bit! At first light I made my way back to the swim and got everything ready for the photos, the carp was indeed another cracker and the needle swung around to 49lb 10oz, well worth the grief of the previous night!

My rigs as ever, were made of 8" lengths of RigMarole's Hydrolink, these have a hinge 2" from the hook with a Korda sinker just before it, a size 4 Fox SSSP Hook, a Fox Line Aligna Adaptor tidies the business end up and they're attached to an Avid in-line groove 4.5oz lead and 4' of Fox's new adaptive camo leadcore via a quick link, which I always fish 'drop off' style to combat the notorious weed here!

Since then, the weather has taken a serious turn for the worse and we're experiencing the winds and rain that have been bothering England over the past week or two so I haven't got the rods back out. It just goes to show what can be achieved in the colder months though. After five days, I had banked four fish, not enough to set the world alight admittedly but given the choice over being stuck indoors or here, I know what I'd have chosen every time!

Hans sees the weight confirmed at a collosal 83lb 11oz.

As a footnote, the six guys who'd had the foresight to get in swims at the windward end of the lakes had an incredible run of big fish, I/they didn't keep full details on all their captures but they still notched up over 30x 20kg (44lb) Carp, 12 different 50's and one lucky sod, Hans, banked Shoulders at an amazing weight of 83lb 11oz.

Shoulders the King of Heron Lake!

Until next time

Ru.

The Session at Larford

just finished shooting the session at Larford lakes in Worcester with Kev and Bart where they have adopted the popular match fishing approach of the flat-bed method feeder to fish for carp. To find out how they got on make sure you pick up the February issue of Crafty Carper.

James - Team CC

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Confessions of a Rainbow virgin – day 7.

Friday was a good day – I’d landed my personal best mirror late into the hours of big fish Thursday and despite having not slept a wink on the Thursday night I felt great! The weather didn’t show signs of improving today and eventually the lack of sleep caught up on me – I was ruined by 7am in the morning!

Slipping back the chunk after the photos.

 Just after first light with the pictures done of my new PB, I redid the rod fished over the bars in 9ft of water with exactly the same rig that had nobbled the 57-pounder – double tiger nut with an Enterprise Immortal plastic boilie 10mm in the middle – spaced out a bit like a kebab rig. 

The rig that nobbled the 57-pounder - the only difference was the Immortal boilie was white!

From the start of this trip I’d set my stall to try and winkle a bite off of each spot so with 2 nights remaining I needed to speed things along a little and try and tempt another bite off this spot but with sensible bait application. The biggun’ had crapped out in the recovery sling exactly what I needed to see – a mix of hemp, tiger and boilie poo – exactly what I’d previously baited the spot with! She must have been having it away munching her way down a 60yd baited stretch in the deep water, between the bars, enjoying her free meal before, BANG - I’d hooked her! I just love it when a plan comes together!

The 40lb Power Pro mainline braid and my aging Shimano Aerlex reels performed without fault - this combo was awesome in fact!

For the record the rig that nailed the 57-pounder had been out there in position for the best part of 4 days – so you kinda see where I’m coming from when I say I needed to speed things along as I only 2 nights left to get another bite from that spot! I was so confident with the baiting and rig positioning previously that I really couldn’t have done anything any better, so it was just a case of waiting until a chunk came along – which she did! In the back of my mind the longer the rig was out there – the better the chance of a biggie and that’s the way it worked.

On re-doing the rod, I dispensed with any form of PVA bag and just trickled in ½ pint of hemp and crushed tigers, 10 brazil nuts halved, two handfuls of pellets and 20 halved boilies all scattered in a 10yd area – that was it. With this plan sorted and the rod re-done my mind moved to which rod might go next – that was two rods I’d had bites from and I had two to go!

To the left of the ducks is a small island with an overhanging tree - the spot was just underneath this branch.

My banker rod going into Friday night was my left-hander. I’d hatched another plan earlier in the week on a tasty little spot that I’d been told about by a mate. On Tuesday morning I’d been out in the boat and investigated an overhanging tree that just looked like a really likely ambush point. After tying the boat into the tree I had a good feel around with the prodding stick and the bottom in one particular tight spot close to the edge of the tree was 7ft deep and rock hard – that’s the feeding spot then! I baited with 2kg of chopped boilies along with a good mix of hemp, crushed tigers, Tuna amino liquid and mixed pellets. In total I baited with 5kg of wet mix – all of which I poured straight down onto this little hard dinner plate I’d previously found.  With the spot baited I decided to leave this as my fifth spot and come onto it later in the week if one of my other four spots wasn’t looking likely for a bite! This move to bait and leave was to become a decisive move but I’ll get to that in a minute as to why!

On Thursday morning I decided to move one of rod that I was fishing out over the bars (the other rod on the bars eventually produced the 57) onto this left-hand spot. This new spot was only 40 yards down to my left but it required a bit of careful positioning with the boat and generally it was an awkward trap to set but after 20 minutes of faffing around in the boat and another kilo of my hemp/ pellet/tiger/boilie mix over the top my hookbait was positioned and the trap was set.

Life jacket at the ready closest to the rod I thought my go next - I was right!

As darkness descended on Friday evening I was absolutely dead on my feet and decided to half zip the bivvy door down to keep the damp evening air out of the bivvy and try and catch up on some much-needed sleep. I crashed out a 6.30pm only to awake an hour later feeling like it was 6am in the morning. I resigned myself that sleep just wasn’t going to happen, got the kettle on for a strong coffee and sit there in the semi-darkness of my bivvy and listen for fish. As I was supping on my brew I heard a fish roll over the spot down to my left – game on they had finally found the bait! Suddenly I wasn’t tired as the plan hatched on the Tuesday was starting to come together. 

 

8pm and whack the left-hand rod alarm went into spasm-mode and I’m doing battle once again. With the clever use of a bankstick placed on a shallow bar opposite the actual spot my plan was to crank from my end and pull the fish away from any danger and out into open water and then go and deal with it in the boat. The plan worked perfectly - I made 10 turns on the reel and with Tim’s help I manoeuvred the boat through the shallow gap between the islands and off I disappeared into the evening mist for another open-water boat battle. As I approached the area I could see that my float was well away from the overhanging tree and the fish was just plodding around deep down in 9ft of water. I lifted the line from around the bankstick and was then in direct contact with the fish – she felt a pretty decent one too. A couple of lunges later and a few efforts to spin the boat I caught my first glimpse of a battle-scarred common in my headtorch. She had a distinctive mark on one side of her flank and seemed pretty peeved that I’d managed to extract her from her feeding spot. Two deep lunges later and up she came and into the net first time. I was elated – my baiting tactic had worked, the rig positioning must have been bang-on and the simple use of a bankstick had given me the line angle to pull the fish away from the snag and out into open water!

I beached the boat on one of the shallow small islands and took a closer look - she looked at least 40lb but I was faced with a dilemma of how to get me and the fish back to the bank. The shallow bar between the two islands directly in front of my left-hand rod was too shallow to get through with the fish held by the side of the boat. Decision time…what to do? Then I figured it – unhook her in the net, roll down the net and place her on top of the unhooking mat that I’d laid in the front of the boat. Well it worked a treat and I was able to get enough speed up with the motor to lift the engine as I got to the shallow bar to drift into my mooring point – I must be a dead jammy git as it worked first time with a little assistance from a bankstick as an oar!

Tim presumed I’d lost the fish but I soon explained that the carp was secured inside the boat inside the mat, he laughed and congratulated me on my improvisation to get around a fairly tricky problem. After letting the fish recover in the sling for a few minutes we weighed her and the needle spun past 45lb and came to rest at 49lb exactly! Holy sh*t I’d just landed a PB common too, less than 24hours after landing a PB mirror – what a trip this was turning into, a red-letter one for sure!

Second personal best in less than 24 hours - this time it was a 49lb common!

Tim did the honours with the photos once again and nailed em’ - the fish was a real old warrior with well-healed battle scars on both flanks, certainly a distinctive carp moe than a pretty one! She behaved perfectly for me as we did the pictures and with her returned to her home I shuffled back to bed a very happy carp angler indeed!

Well this entry concludes my confessions of a Rainbow virgin blog! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my ramblings as much as I have putting them together sat on my laptop in my bivvy on the banks of one of the most amazing carp lakes in the world. This blog was all about what was going on in my mind as it happened, when it happened, blow-by-blow written at the place it was all going on. I can’t really sum up this trip in one poignant sentence so I’ve decided not to even bother trying – the way I see it, I fished well, I had a plan, I stuck to it and it eventually paid off for me. The best bit for me isn’t about the PB’s it’s that this Rainbow virgin ain’t a virgin no more – now I’m a Rainbow angler – job done, can’t wait to go back! Thanks for reading, Jerry Team CC.

Home time - but this time by plane!

Special thanks to Pascal & Nadine Jousseaume, Tim Paisley, Frank Warwick, Lewis Porter, Scott Day, Martin Locke, George Csonka, John Lilley, Matt Rand, Andy Pethick, Paul Musson, John Walker, Dave Chilton and Lewis Read for all your help and support before and during the trip!