So welcome back to my second blog entry and since the last time I put fingers to keyboard I’ve managed to get myself on a beautiful new water which is pretty much unfished for in the way of carp and not only that but the membership allows me to fish the close season all for a few hours graft at the recent work party! Sweet! It was a good opportunity to be able to talk to the locals which again like my previous water are mostly old boys for the tench and bream but gave me a good insight to the lake and what could be valuable information to help piece together the bits of the puzzle. Stock wise I am led to believe is very low but to be honest that doesn’t bother me because these sorts of waters always have the surprise element and that is what does it for me and keeps me returning at every available opportunity.  Anyway more on that another time… For now sshhhh it’s a secret!

So the time had come, the last weekend on my estate lake ticket and being unsure if I would be renewing it I knew this would be the last chance I had to bag one of the elusive so say biggies. Considering the past year you would very occasionally see them show themselves, fizz up or give themselves away at all I just had to go with gut instinct on where I thought they would be with the weather being so mild and so warm. Weirdly I don’t know why but I did  stupidly dropped into a banker spot that I have had fish off pretty much every time I fished it and to be honest looking back I wish I didn’t bother on this occasion and went with where I was intending to fish all along because I blanked on the spot for a good 2.5 hours so it was pretty obvious they wasn’t there so decided just before dark to up sticks to where I should have went originally! My bad!

Upon arrival to the new spot instantly everything felt 1000 times better. It was warmer weirdly even in the face of a slight breeze and the area I was casting to was a comfortable chuck and also the margins looked more than inviting. You know that feeling you get when you move and think it was right, I had it! So setting up camp I wanted things to be perfect as I knew once the rods were out they were going to stay put as I was 100% sure that once the evening drew on the carp would be moving in and mooching around the area so wanted it all to be primed ready to trip one up!  Sticking with the same tactics that have seen me bank a number of the estate lake carp this season one was despatched but with a new twist. The new Hinders Betalin Black. I am a massive fan of the original Betalin and now never cast out without it and if I’m being honest I have had previous sessions where I have rigged up without it and not had a touch but then re-casting glugged in the ever faithful it had come up trumps so I had high expectations for this new product.

So sat back enjoying what was a glorious mild evening I was priming my second rod in the hope that I would be needing to use it at some point in the evening. Tactics this past season have taken me a while to get my head round and figuring out what was going to be most successful but once I had made several tweaks the results had backed it them up. No dropped fish and strong battles under the rod tips that had also given me confidence in the strength and hook holds of picked up fish. So propping up the mat against a tree and laying out the sling I kicked back and wondered if it was written in the stars that I would be bagging the biggy this evening on the last session of my ticket when the Delkim let off a one toner! I was startled as genuinely didn’t think it would be that soon into moving that I would get any action but obviously I was wrong! Lifting into the fish I was not happy at hooking itself and gave a great account out in open water taking me on a right merry dance. Although it didn’t feel like a lump it was always in the back of my mind what if!!! Finally gaining control and guiding it into the net it was a double figure common that scrapped like its life

depended on it! With that one was now in the safety of the net it was time to get that second rod back out and topped up with a handful of freebies.

 Again glugged in the ever faithful out it went settled, minimal disturbance and perfectly placed. Time to see what I had in the net and ruin what was a quite comfortable bed but for a fish I would sacrifice my right arm! So unhooked, treated and weighed it tipped the scales at 14.2 which isn’t the biggest resident of the lake but it was a carp and I was confident that more would follow! Turning around I could clearly see that I was not as organised as I obviously thought as it looked like WW3 had just taken place in my swim but to be honest I didn’t care folding up the mat and again cracking on with rigging up the rod when again the Delk let off another one toner in what was utter silence around the lake. Lifting into the fish it had made an immediate dash towards the margin and a tree that quite clearly knew that was there. Bending the Bradwin Rod round in a lovely arc I managed to slowly bring it up the margin as it tried to make a dash for every obstacle it could find. Under the rod tip it was a case of the Bradwins soaking up every last lunge for escape when it decided to realise the game was up and it was sulking in the bottom of my net. Lifting it up peering into the net I could tell it was a better fish than the previous capture so went about getting everything organised this time round and dropping a quick text to my partner in crime and personal photographer J. Him living local has always been a benefit over the past season with times he hasn’t been able to make it down for the session with me as he can usually be with me in matter of minutes if I had any success without him around which was always nice. So in the sling it just pushed the 20lb mark just at 20.1oz and was in great condition and not a fish I recognised but without having a proper look through the album I couldn’t be 100% sure as I have had a number of recaptures this year which has made me question the depleting stock from around 8/9 years ago.

So back it went to fight another day and of course it would have been rude not to chuck a rod back out for another hour at least but with an early start to the day and plenty of grafting fatigue was starting to catch up and it was soon for the walk home. Living so local has been a massive benefit over the past season and allowed me to fish at such short notice and no doubt I’ll keep an eye on he