Twice a year you are allowed to book two 5 nighters on monks pit and this starts from any Sunday afternoon from 12 o’clock to the same time Friday, so it frees up the lake for the weekend anglers which is fair and seams to work. I’m always buzzing to go fishing and this trip wasn’t no different. Once I turned up and went through the gates, I could see there were only 3 cars in the car park, so I quickly grabbed my water bucket to have a walk round to see where the other members were and what’s been happening. I knew where I fancied, hoping the pegs and area were free. I came across the 1st member who was set up in the shallows and the other two were set up next to each other, on the rocky bank in the middle section of the lake, in pegs called rota & double.

This left the other side (the A14 bank) totally free for me to drop back into a peg called wobbies, which has been good to me lately. I’ve been fishing it for the last few weeks, one was a quick overnight with 4 carp to 31lb & two nighter a week before. This trip resulted in 11 carp with the biggest going 36lb 12oz, so I was feeling confident of jumping in here to start as the carp have been still showing well in this area of the lake, plus it didn’t take me long to get set up as the spod rod was still clipped up and the rods still marked up. I still like to double checked them with the distance sticks incase the markers had moved. I made a few casts to the fishing spot I’ve been catching from too see if it was still nice and clean as there has been a lot of floating rafts of Canada weed drifting around, the lead was thumping down so everything was looking good.
The spot that has been doing my bites of late was round 90 yards it’s a very clean hard area up against a wall of Canadian weed & kelp just large enough to get 3 rods in fished side by side.
The rigs I’ve been using are a reverse combillinks made with a stiff boom section of the Korda’s mouthtrap in 25lb to help kick out the bait in flight and also once on the bottom to help kick it away from the lead. with a supple end section of Korda supernatural 25lb with a very sharp Korda side 6 wide gape & a taska tungsten hook aligner to help slowly sink down the critical balanced ccmoore odyssey xxx wafters & snowman rigs.

I’ve been doing very well using the odyssey xxx soaked in the ccmoore salmon oil lately but have been waiting to get my hands on the new Pacific tuna to come available with excellent results through out its testing, I knew Ian Jarrold one of the  ccmoore consultant also on monks had been putting it though its paces and the carp seamed to like it a lot. So I didn’t think twice about mixing them together in the salmon oil.
Before getting to dark I despatched All 3 rods, them all hitting the clips, smashed down with 4oz leads with good hard drops followed by 20 midi spombs of 15mm odyssey xxx & Pacific tuna and once finished there was a massive slick kicking off the bait which was now drifting across the lake on the wind, all done it was time to relax and see what the night brings I had done my bit it was up-to the carp gods now.
At around 11pm I started receiving liners and wasn’t surprised when the middle rod ripped off taking line off a tight clutch, only stopping once it made the weed. Everything was solid it was 12pm pitch black I didn’t fancy going out in the boat on my own about 100yards, so I put the rod back on the pod to think about what I was going to do, a few minutes later the spool started slowly ticking line off. On picking up the rod I could feel it thumping so applying a little pressure walking back slowly I could feel the weed starting to rip and the carp was slowly coming out with me gaining line and then disaster, the rod sprung back and on the retrieve swing It was clear the rig had been cut off half way up the hooklink, a very clean cut too, must of been one of the many zebra mussels that live in the weed. It’s always gutting to loose the first one hopefully I get lucky with the next one.

With 2 rods still on the spot I chose not to redo the rod with them being tight i didn’t want any lines crossing over each other but chose to respomb 4 more loads of bait out to keep it topped up. Before slipping back into the warm sleeping bag I reclipped the rod back up ready to do at first light. I was re awakened just as it was starting to get light with more liners I couldn’t get back to sleep I just laid there watching the bobbins & line bouncing around until firing up the kettle for the first brew of the day. the liners continued with more light now I could see the spot was slicking up with the light wind rolling down the lake, I then see one carp roll over the spot followed by another, they was on the bait alright. This is why I like using the salmon oil on my bait you can’t beat watching the slicks coming up from fish activity.
Just gone 5am i got another chance but this time the carp never made the weed but did kite out to my left out into deeper water. With not much weed with an empty bank I could take my time as what I was feeling through the rod was a good fish attached with the heavy head thumps. Once near I could see it was a large mirror twisting & turning close in and once in the net on closer inspection it looked a good 30 & I wasn’t surprised the digital scales showed 33lb this was a very good start to the session and more important I was off the mark.

I now had a chance to get both rods back out with some more bait on the spot, as it was still early with carp still showing in the area. One hour later another take with a 28lb mirror safely netted. while trying to do self takes one of the other rods was a way, luckily another member called Neil was walking by to help by putting the 28 back in the edge retained while I played a 25lb mirror in, it was nice to get some help with the photos & stuff even more so with him going next door so we could both help each other out and have a social.
All was quiet for the rest of the day as the fish shows fizzed out, so this was a good time to make up more new rigs ready for the next few days. later I reeled in the rods to have a walk round the lake to see what else has happened. I wasn’t the only one to catch a few doubles were caught but it looked like the bigger fish where in front of me for the moment. I didn’t change anything for the night ahead kept everything the same 3 rods on the spot with 20 spombs over them.

Once again the liners started and not long after another take which turned out to be a 1am 22lb common that I unhooked in the net & slipped back, I was able to get the rod back out with more spombed too as it was my left hand rod which had more room to the side if not quite bang on. I was made to wait till morning again for more action as another 28lb mirror locked me up solid in the weed this one was a boat job so once the life jacket was on, I set sail in the boat to claim my prize. Once over the fish the carp popped out of the weed & kicked off towing me round a bit but once some weed was over its head it was game over safely in the net. When back on shore I retained the carp to wake up Neil, just as I got to him my receiver was beeping into a meltdown. Quickly running back the carp was still taking line once the rod was in my hand but then stopped & locked me up I could still feel odd thumps so it was still on.
So,with the lifejacket back on with unhooking mat in the boat I made my way out to the carp which was made harder this time by the wind that was now blowing towards me, it felt ages to get there but when over the carp were the line entered the water I put a little pressure on the rod & felt the carp kick followed by a sheet of bubbles with a massive ball of weed slowly coming to the surface with a very large carp I could see in the clear water buried in it. The lot hit the surface & I was shaking as I scooped the carp with most of the weed in the pan net, the boat was nearly tipping over as I tried several times to lift it in to the waiting carp cradle which I managed to do I was a bit shocked on what just happen so glad it didn’t break free of the weed & run me around the lake.

I thought about clearing the weed from the carp but thought it was best to make my way back to the peg where Neil was waiting. As I got nearer I said to him it was a lump & could be one of the 40s. Once on dry land we both started bit by bit ripping away the Canadian & kelp weed to reveal a long dark mirror which was proper hooked in the rightside of the mouth where previous bruising & hookholds had been in the past. There was a small tear which was treated using the Korda fish care, every carp angler should carry these carp kits, we got to look after the carp for the future. With a 28lb mirror already in my retainer we used Neil’s sling to weigh the carp its frame was massive but looked spawned or miked out, we both hoped it would go 40 but the digital scales told us its was 38lb 12oz the photos were done the carp was well behaved & swam back strong & so did the 28lb mirror. We both started looking at photos to see which one it was which it turned out to be called Gill cluster a carp that doesn’t get caught much & also hasn’t been out all season which normally goes 42-44lb just a shame it’s down in weight but still another one of the monks pit A team off the list.

With 2 more days to go I decided to quickly pop home for a shower & shave, fresh supply’s & get more bait out of the freezer which I gave a good soaking before leaving of the salmon oil to soak in while thawing out as running low.
On checking the weather for the last few days it was going to be a bit stormy with very strong winds, heavy rain, thunder & lightning all blowing hard into the bank I was on so it looks like is was going to be batten down the hatches job. I got back in good time to get the rods out with the 20 spombs over them as the tactics were working well for me just before the bad weather turned up. The stormy weather really turned them on even more over my last few day with carp throwing themselves out everywhere I looked and the takes continued in the non stop rain with more carp from 22lb up to 28lb coming during the night and mostly early mornings I was getting absolutely soaked every time but I worked hard at it to keep the bites coming even spodding out in the dark and early morning they was truly enjoying the bait couldn’t get enough of it, I was even getting liners & odd takes while still spombing out.

I enjoy every minute of the session and ended up with 11 carp in total with a couple lost to the weed which can’t be helped.
If looking for a bait edge give your boillies or spod mix a good soaking of the ccmoore salmon oil it 100% works for me the carp love it, helps me draw them into the baited feeding zone it could also do the same for u so give it a try.
Tight lines all

Ian Fisher