May 1st was opening day of a new season at My Local Park lake so I decided to Renew my Ticket and have another go at trying to winkle out some of its old residents. From the last season I was on there I learnt quite abit about the Carp and certain spots although I only fished till November last year and my las fish from there was the BIG COMMON I realised that the majority of my takes had come from one side of the lake. The Far Bank in question is surrounded by old overhanging trees and can get abit dangerous in high winds as the branches have been known to come crashing down around you in severe weather. This was the bank I was going to concentrate on as this side was a lot quieter with a lot less ppl walking around and I found that the fish would like to come right in close as the cover off the trees made them feel safe.

Opening Weekend of the season came around and after abit of preparation I couldn’t wait to get up there to see if the spots I intended to fish would produce the goods. A new season brought a change in Baiting too for me as I was lucky enough to be fieldtesting a brand new bait from First4fishing called the Redball the thing with the bait was I found it was equally effective as a Frozen Bait as it was a Shelf life, my Strategy was to feed Frozens and Fish with Shelf Life Hookbaits the reason being the Frozens were really soft and very easy for the fish to Digest so the fish would pick one up an be actively looking for the next bait I also fed chopped baits to keep them in a certain area for longer. The Hookbaits were Shelf-Life Bottom Baits as these are packed with Additives and Preservatives which will hopefully draw the fish to my Rigs and get me a quick bite.  My first Visit to the lake didn’t really go to plan an most of the residents made an appearance but to other anglers around the lake. All was quiet for me until first light when I decided to put out a few handfuls of broken boilie an sweetcorn into a margin spot and within half an hour my left hand rod was away with my first fish of the year My Fiancee who was fishing with me got to the rods and managed to land a stunning 12lb Common although the past 24 hours were quiet for me this fish gave me confident, that the spots I was going to fish would produce for me. With the las time out being abit frustrating due to the amount of anglers fishing the opening weekend I decided I needed to get back up there when It was abit quieter and persist with my 2 spots although it was a gamble as I’d blanked previously I had caught fish off these spots in previous years so I though it was worth percivering. The next time I got to the lake was a Friday night an I intended to stay till the Sunday an the plan was to give them a free meal an see if I could get them to drop there guards so instead of setting up straight away when I got there I located the same 2 spots I had fished las time I was there and put in a mix of 15 and 18 mm Whole and Chopped RedBall Frozen Baits and left it for the night.

Saturday Morning the Rain had swept in and had brought a very strong Wind with it which was Battering my bank, my 2 rods were fished to a Clear spot at 40yrds range as I wanted to leave my margin spot for aslong as I could only baiting the spot with the intention of fishing it in the late afternoon. My left hand rod was fished with a chop down 15mm bottom bait tipped with a piece of fluro corn fished with an inline set up this was fished about 10yrds to the left of my right hand rod which was being fished with a single Cork Balanced 18mm Redball Hookbait. As the afternoon came around I was the only person mad enough to be fishing the park as the wind and rain continued to batter my side of the lake then out of knowhere my right hand rod went into meltdown as I lifted I felt a weight then the fish tore off into open water stripping yards off my spools the fight didn’t really last that long and after a few eery moments fighting the fish under the rod tip my mate slid the net under my first fish of the sesh. As I was sorting out all the unhooking equipment and Camera my mate looked into the net and shouted ‘Stew its a good 20!!’ I ran over and looked myself and couldn’t believe my luck when I saw a known Mirror called ‘PAT’ staring back at me this fish had previously come out at 22lb 10oz and when I put it on the scales it went 23lbs I was absoloutly over the moon as this fish was one of my targets and my perseverance had paid off and was well worth the battering I was having off mother nature. After landing the Big Mirror I really wasn’t bothered if I caught anything else but within an hour of the both rods being replaced my left hand rod was off  this time a 6lb Bream was the culprit. I then thought it may be time to reposition my left hand rod and put it onto my margin spot that I had been trickling bait onto since the Friday night I baited this spot with chop baits and Sweetcorn and abit of hemp hoping that the small baits would keep them in the area for longer. The margin Rod was fished with a really short hooklink and a inline lead baitwise I decided to fish a chop down 15mm bottom bait tipped with a whittled down 10mm Redball Cork Pop up.

4 o’clock in the afternoon came around and I was jus about to bring the rods in to freshen things up when my Right Hand Rod which was being fished as a single in open water was off again and after a spirited fight a 12lb 8oz old Mirror was in the net soon followed by a 12lb Common I couldn’t believe how well the lake was fishing although the weather was the worst I had ever fished in up there.  As Evening came an the light started to fade my Margin Rod sparked into life and a little 8lb Common was in the net this was the beginning of a frantic nights fishing for me by the morning I had managed 6 Takes out of my Pre baited Margin Spot. I managed a 8lb Common, 4lb Bream, 12lb Common, 15.2 Common, 10lb Common, and a 7lb Mirror this was by far the best nights I had ever had from the park although no real biggies but it goes to show if you can get the fish feeding confidently on a spot fishing can be easy. As morning came I saw a break in the weather an decided to pack away soaked to the bone an battered by the elements but I couldn’t have cared as my plan had all come together and my perseverance had paid off.