It's always nice to find a water you haven't fished before as it always presents a new challenge and adventure. Somewhere you can use all your previous knowledge to help bring you success. This year I have three tickets two that I have fished previously both with there own unique character and challenge providing me with the chance of some big fish and this new one which is where I go to take the pressure off and just have loads of fun.
This lake is a farm reservoir with a small sloping margin dropping sharply to depths around thirty feet, so a good winter water but in summer the fish move off of these depths early on in the day which can give you only a small window of opportunity. It's at this time you need to concentrate on the margins which can be tricky as they slope down rapidly so bait placement has to be right and given the small area it provides you cannot expect to catch too many with a static approach as they will soon move off, this is when the roving approach comes into it's own.
Armed with the minimum of kit and my Richard Walker MKIV Split cane rod coupled with my antique Mitchell 300 the first order of the day was to walk around the lake and pick out some likely looking areas in the margin to fish. I arrived at 2:00 PM spending twenty minutes getting the spots primed with a few handfuls of Retro Baits Golden Crab and then settled into the first swim.
Bite indication is a simple affair, just a single bankstick to rest the rod on whilst I feel for knocks coming up the solid split cane rod. This is usually the very first indication but I have also noticed that more often than not with a one ounce lead the tip tends to go around quite slowly at first giving me plenty of time to react. This is often the case nowadays using a light lead because of course most people use much heavier setups which I feel the carp have gotten quiet use to. With a one ounce lead the carp initially doesn't know it's hooked as there is very little resistance. Couple this with an Ultra sharp hook from Specialist Sharpened Hooks and bingo!
First fish was probably the biggest which I quickly weighed in a 16lb+, the bite came after about ten minutes and once it was all sorted I moved on to the second spot. Another quick fish around 12lb was soon in the net and I was in my stride. I made my way around to the third spot but only stayed a while as I was pleasantly interrupted by the bailiff who gave me a quick rundown and booked me in for the future work parties. It's often best to move in quiet on these spots as they are always within ten yards of the rod tip so after 15 minutes sitting I picked up my kit and moved to the last spot I had baited.
Whilst sitting there I got the feeling that given that it had been a good hour since baiting I should perhaps take my rig out and prime it again, also taking the time to go and prime the first spot again. Within five minutes of returning and settling back into the third spot the tip tapped a couple of times, went slowly round and I was into the third fish of the afternoon, another hard fighting double figure common. I finished off where I started and again managed another quick fish which was almost the identical twin of the first around 15lb+.
The bend in the cane rod, the whizzing of the clutch on the Mitchell 300, the sunshine and the wind in my ears was just what the doctor ordered.
Happy days.