Summer of stunners

Hi guys I’m Dave I’m a passionate carp angler I have been a fisherman since I was a boy and as most do I progressed to carp angling I have been with Hybrid Tackle since the day dot and there gear is accountable for some amazing catches as I will tell you about in this article.

So here we go, it all started around the beginning of May I made a choice to change lakes and move to another on the complex which holds some absolute beauty’s so with that I got my bait sorted which at the time was urban baits nutcracker and got down the lake. As I recall it was a very windy day the wind was blowing a westerly so going on experience I moved to the end which the wind was blowing into and set up in a swim with some Lilly pads opposite on the end of island so got everything set up. I got the marker out after flicking it around the swim I found a nice smooth silt spot about 40 yards out to my right away from the pads as I was thinking that’s where everyone else fishes so I got my throwing stick out and my air-dry bag a scattered around 1.5kg of bait over a large area now time sort my rod out I’m a big fan of balanced baits so tied my favorite rig.

my top go anywhere rig consists of approx 14″ of Hybrids Konda stripped back about 4″ and attached a micro swivel slide a size 4 Armohawk curve and whipped it on Kd style tied a loop in the end added some Hybrid putty the to sort the bait out so I took a 15mm bottom bait and a 12mm pop up threaded them onto the baiting floss tied and it off now comes the important bit. I sit there and trim the 15mm down until the hook bait is suspended above the hook. Right back to fishing I clipped my rod up attached the Pva foam and put it bang on the money sunk the line and sat it on my Nevilles slide the monkey climber over and switched it on.

Now my thoughts go to my left hand rod my eyes are on  a spot about 15 yards along the face of the island with the marker I discovered the island had a steep slope dropping to around 11ft and thought to myself bottom of the shelf sounds a good spot nice bit of silt clipped my rod up but on this one I chose to go with a different rig this one still made of Konda but attached to the end with a Albright knot is a length of stiff fluorocarbon with a size 6 Armohawk Chod hook and I micro swivel on a D-rig then tied onto that is a yellow 14 mm pop up.

After a couple of casts I have the bait where I want it, out comes the throwing stick again and I proceeded to flick around a kg of bait along the island that was it the traps were set now for the waiting game as the hours went by the fish started showing all around the lake and more importantly near my rods. Sat watching the water before eventually getting into my bag around midnight next thing I know it’s was 4am and I’m being woken by the best sound ever my Neville beeping away I as I jumped out of bed grabbed my rod I knew I was into a reasonable fish after a short battle I landed a common around 22lb. I re-did my rod and put it bang on the spot so did some pictures and released the fish at this point I was buzzing so sat in my bivvy made a brew a checked out the pics.

Around 6:30 my right hand rod has lept into life this time when I lifted the rod I realised this was something a bit bigger after a pretty intense battle around 10 min of give and take I slipped the net under a beautiful common at this point I checked my shoes to see what I had trodden in ! While un clipping the rig in the net I saw this fish was a bit larger than the first. I clipped the net and took it over to the unhooking mat and removed the hook treated the hook hold then placed it in the retainer and placed it in the margin now with an even bigger smile on my face I called my mate Chris and asked him to come do some pictures. When he turned up I lifted the fish out Chris saying to me that could be a scrapper 30 so out come the Reuben’s and the needle finally settled at 30-12 my first 30 of the year took some photos and slid her back over the rest of that session I was plagued by tench but didn’t mind because of what I had caught

The next amazing session happened just over a week later same sort of situation wind blowing the same direction though why not jump back into the same swim did all the same things same type of rigs out came the throwing stick again and I started putting the bait out this time I was being hounded by gulls so stopped and waited till just before dark and finished off feeding.

Feeling confident I settled into my bag next thing I know it was daylight and no bites so put the kettle on and started watching the water I could see fish moving around over my right hand rod the one to the right of the pads. I like to call them snail trials so my heart started to race thinking it’s going to happen then low and behold my left hand rod the one off the island springs into action with this I jump out of my bivvy nearly spilling my coffee I raised the rod and could feel it was a carp. After a brief battle I felt the line go slack and realised the hook had pulled after a few choice words I thought it happens you have to take the rough with the smooth I then re clipped and re baited the rod and put it back out. While all this was going on I had been keeping an eye on my right  hand rod the fizzing was still there next thing is the monkey climber has whacked the underside of my rod spools spinning and the alarm beeping boom this one feels really good.I can tell it’s a slow plodding hard fight after giving me an amazing battle I lifted it from the deep water revealing this beautiful chestnut common and the size of it,it was massive so keen not to pull the hook the fight went on finally slipping the net over what could potentially be a new PB.

I could see it was defiantly a new PB common did the usual un clipped the rig got everything ready to bring this awesome looking creature on to the bank when I lifted it out I was amazed how wide and deep it was so placing it in my retainer I was smiling all the time next came the very excited phone call to my mate Chris. With this 20 minutes later he came bounding round the lake looking nearly excited as me we picked the spot for the pictures lifted the fish out and placed the retainer on the mat. At this point I could see a big smile on Chris face we placed it in the weigh sling placed it on the scales the needle finally stopped at 35-5 a new PB beating my old one by 1oz happy days I said as Chris congratulated me and then we took some amazing pictures as you can see after giving the fish a check over and treating the hook hold I slipped her back. She laid down in the margin for a short while before sloping off back to the depths of the lake I couldn’t believe it I had had two 30+ commons in less than 2 weeks nothing special happened for the rest of that session !!

I had been a few times before the next crazy session happened banking a few fish including commons of 25lb+ and another just over 28lb

It was a day in the middle of June I had decided to fish a swim which had its own little bay with Lilly pads at the end and reeds down both sides it’s a favourite haunt of some of the lakes other A-team members during the warmer months. The placing of the rig this time was a little trickier because you wanted to be to the right of the pads in this little hole along the reeds. To do this right my mate Jack would spot my rig to make sure it just right after a few attempts the bait was bang on as we could see with the water only being about 4ft deep watched the pva nuggets pop off and float to the surface with this I picked around 100 baits pinching them in half a scattering the around the bay and around my hook bait which was a white 14mm pop up on a stiff hinge. Then as normal looked for a spot for my left hand rod and I found a nice gravel spot just out in front of me so popped the marker up and started baiting it up with around 1.5kg of boilies clipped on one of my favourite wafter rigs and sat back and waited for the action to start this time it happened about 3:30 am just as it was getting light my right hand rod tip is at a right angle knowing that the rod is locked up I need to move fast. That’s it I have hooked something and it decided to swim straight towards me and out into open water whatever is on here was not happy and was gonna make me work for a picture.

After 15 minutes or so of a game of tug of war I could see my prize another common not as big as the last but scale perfect, after a short while it was in my net so did the normal unhooked it slipped it into the retainer and text my mate ready for when he had woke up. Jack who was a couple of swims up had also managed a brace a nice mirror and a common so Chris would be busy when he turned up three fish to photo so we did jacks photos and then we moved over to mine picked the location and got the fish ready to hit the scales I placed into the sling popped it on the hook and with great amazement the scales slide past 30lb again stopping at 30-8

The thing I noticed with this fish was the size of its pecs they were huge we did the pictures and slid it back we had a celebratory cup of tea and chilled out for the rest of the day. Along came the evening reset the traps and sat socialising till we got in our bags around 11 as we were up early no sooner had I got comfortable my left hand rod has screamed off jumping back out of bed I can tell it a small fish after a short battle I have it in the net I then set the mat set up called jack did a couple of pictures a slide it back it was around 12lb re-set the traps and went to sleep. The best sound in the world awoke me at around 5:45am it was the right hand rod again it was light so I could see the top of the rod arched round grabbing the rod I could see the line heading towards the pads so I dropped to rod to my left trying to keep the line as low as I can while giving it pressure to keep it out the pads. I noticed as the fish came out towards me the fight was different more of a plod and lots of circling around after short fight I could see it was a mirror and a big mirror at that which I then knew that I had seen this fish banked a little while ago a fish known as the Lady which is part of the lakes A team. Feeling all happy with myself as it slipped into the net this time I didn’t call Chris because another one of my good friends Steve had arrived to the lake the night before so he came along to help me weigh it boom another 35-2 we took some stunning pictures the eased her gently back into the water

I was thinking to myself what a great 2 months I have had unbelievable to net 2x 30+ and even better 2x 35+ but that wasn’t it

The most unexpected one of them all I had heard rumours that during the floods a couple of years ago some of the lakes big residents had moved into the lake across the other side of the fenced off public footpath. So in early October I decided to have a go the lake is a small triangular shape I had fished it before but never really had anything out weighing more than 16lb so I set myself halfway up the stream bank so I could see the whole lake after leading about I found it was pretty silty and not a lot of gravel so found two smooth spots about 35yards out flicked some bait out and placed both rods about 3 yards apart.

After watching the water I could see activity but no bites so I got settled in for the night then around 1:30am the right hand rod went into melt down I was automatically thinking I was gonna be into one of the usual 16lb commons that mainly occupy the lake but I was wrong once I had weighed it was just shy of 20lb so not a bad start got back to sleep woke up in the morning had some breakfast and a brew then redid my rods I thought I would keep the right hand rod on the spot where I had the fish earlier and use the left had rod as a bit of a rover. As it only a small lake a good cast and you can cover most of the lake with this in mind on the bank to my left I notice a small overhanging tree nice little chuck so I put on a stiff hinge rig and flick it over it felt like a nice drop so felt confident it was in the right spot.

I think I may have put no more than 50 baits up and down that margin and around the overhanging tree all was set I knew for a couple of previous visits it was hard to get a bite in the day so just relaxed in my bivvy  then to my amazement less than an hour later my left hand the one out by the tree is Bent round and the alarms beeping like crazy cause I’m locked up. I lift into well what I can only describe as a really heavy lump you know the type where the rod tip just bends and you feel like you have hooked the bottom this this was moving though or it was for a short while then it all went solid dam I was snagged on something it would not move tried giving it line it wouldn’t move the only thing left to do was try get closer to the fish. So I made my way along the left hand margin passing my rod around the tress a I moved along the bank eventually I ended up 3 swims up after a little bit of force and a different line angle the fish was free and I was back into a battle yet again this is another deep lake with really deep crystal clear margins soon I had the fish under control and could see it ploughing around in the margin just in front of me. watching it thinking that’s no 16lber this could be a new PB it’s huge then it dawned on me landing net where’s my net I had forgotten to pick it up and was the only person there what do you do fight your way back along the margin of take the chance flip the bail arm off lay the rod down and legit and believe me that’s the quickest I have ever moved grabbed the net got back everything was all good netted another massive common u clipped the rig lifted it back to my swim thinking this is big placed it in the retainer while I got the stuff ready for pictures and to weigh it when it hit the scales and settled on 35-8 I was over the moon what a fantastic 6 months I had fishing

I hope you enjoyed reading this