With a 5:30am alarm call and temperatures of 18.5° my Friday starts well. Even the traffic round the M25 for my 230mile journey is clear, so I make great time to meet James Bushnell Snr at Ladywood Lakes in West Yorkshire.
Arriving at the lake at 8:45am to temperatures of 16.5° some 3 hours later with the sun up it’s clear my Southern bones are in for a shock, as temperatures are set to drop tonight. I’m reminded of what I’ve left behind on a call to Tony Smeets later that day. He takes great pleasure in telling me he’s sat in shorts, flip flops and a T shirt at Willow Park Fishery! My reply wouldn’t be printable at this point, as the air turned a little blue!
Anyway after a little discussion with James Snr we are going to fish pegs 2 and 3, as a mix up means 11 and 12 are already taken. James Snr kindly puts me in peg 2, so I have plenty of options and depth in front of me. A cup of coffee and the rods are out, with 2 in 13ft and 1 in 18ft of water. After a quiet day with talk of fish, lake depth, swims and the world put to rights. Finally it’s that time and James Jnr. rocks up from school raring to get the 9ft Wychwood Extricator rods out I’ve got for him to try. It’s so nice to see a young lad with so much passion for the sport. A few more cups of coffee and some food means its time to get my head down and see what night brings. I’ve baited light with a kilo of The Nuts boilies from MAD baits over the 3 rods. Hook bait is a cut down 14mm The Nuts boilie, topped with a 12mm Coconut Dispersion Pop up. The swim is then topped up every few hours with a handful of baits. And we wait…
Early hours of the morning and I’m finally rewarded with my first Ladywood carp. All I’m going to say is that’s the last time I’m leaving my bivvy in a T-shirt!! The pretty Mirror is a good double, but fights like a 20 in the deep water. This gives him plenty of room to scream around the margin making me work for my prize. The Mirror fell to the middle rod in 18ft of water and after some pictures and a little more bait it was back to the warmth of my sleeping bag and hoodie.
Up at 6am for coffee and it seems 4 fish came out last night. Thankfully one fell to me. The day is quiet again, but we did have lots of fun and laughs filming for James Jnrs blog. I keep the bait trickling in and on dark I decided to let them have it with 3kg of The Nuts boilies going out on 2 spots. With 5 takes from 10:30pm to 2:30am I got the result I was after and this time I kept my Wychwood fleece on, so even stayed warm!
The fish were staying in deep water in the day and raiding the 18ft and 13ft shallower areas at night! This time I was ready for them. James Snr had a fish called Apple Mac. This is a stunning fully scaled Mirror. James Jnr seems to be suffering with us cutting the fish off before they make it to his rods.
Sunday morning arrives and James Jnr hasn’t bagged one yet. I’m not going to let the little fella leave without a fish and it’s off in search of a fish round the lake. A few hours and we are finally rewarded with a stunning angry double figure Mirror. Challenge completed and it’s back to the swims for a blog round up, as Jnr has school tomorrow.
James Snr and myself stay on for one final night and with bait running low, it’s a kilo over the rods, steak and rice with a few beers and off for some much deserved sleep. 10:58pm and the mother of all screamers! Fishing at 13.5 wraps I’ve never had such a take. This I’m sure is where the saying “A ONE TONER” comes from. With the fish in the net I’m surprised to find it’s only an upper double. No way! God only knows what the 30’s go like in this lake. The last of the bait goes out at 3am and not long after it’s another clutch burning take that puts a truly special fish on the bank. This turns out to be the final fish of the session, but what a fish. Morning comes and it’s more coffee, banter and a quick pack up ready for the long journey home.
A friend of James Snr, Mara fishing the Pub bank landed a truly breath taking 35lb Common on the second night. With fish like that and bigger coming out, plans are made for a return trip after some of the bigger fish.
This weekend my fun continues with a session on a secret Estate lake. It’s been 3 long days in the office waiting for this one, but its finally here.