One Step Closer.......

Well I've just returned from my local syndicate after trying something different, the end result was a blank.....but it's better to have had a take and lost than to never have had a take at all I suppose.

I left the office slightly before 4pm yesterday and was in the syndicate car park in 30 seconds flat, the barrow was soon loaded and I jogged round the bank. I knew where I wanted to be courtesy of "Dumpy" keeping me informed during the day about the carpy activity.
It didn't take me long to get all 3 rods positioned at the bottom of a shelf on the far margin, I sat back with the first brew of the session with a new found confidence.
After having a good chat with "Dumpy" my wife arrived with some welcoming warm baguettes and a bottle of Shiraz firmly in her grasp. All 3 of us had been sat in "Dumpy's" swim talking about anything and everything for about an hour when "Dumpy's" middles rod went into melt down and after a few of what I shall describe as "entertaining" moments we soon had the fish in the net, which turned out to be a stunning 23 lb+ Mirror.

"Dumpy" with his stunning 23 lb+ Mirror......

After doing the photos we returned her to her watery home and celebrated with a brew (Trudi chose to drink the Wine!). At about 11pm me and Trudi returned to my swim a few yards away and got in the sleeping bag or shall I say squeezed in the bag together but I have to admit it was cosy after we had shuffled about abit!
I struggled to sleep, I could hear fish rolling in front of me all night and by 4am I decided to get up, have a smoke and see what they were up to!
I squeezed back into the bag at about 5am and slowly drifted off to sleep. Before I knew it was 6:45am and I was being screamed at by the shrill of my Neville!
I flew out of the bivvy and lifted into a good fish that was kiting to the left on a tight line, at this point I was wondering why my Neville was still screaming at me (obviously a fault looking back now) I lent down to switch it off and at that exact same time the fish turned and flew towards me, with one hand still on the alarm and one on the rod the fish was soon on a slack line and by the time I had attempted to get back in contact the hook had pulled.......my heart sank, I was gutted.
A complete school boy error which I shall never forget, I launched the "Torrix" down the margin into the reeds and had a paddy, Trudi went and hid in the bivvy whilst I "sorted" myself out.

After 10 Min's and a cup of coffee with a smoke I was almost back in a normal (ish) state of mind and retrieved the rod from the reeds, rebaited it then put it back on the spot but unfortunately the moment had passed and the lake looked lifeless.
After demolishing two packs of Bacon and several gallons of coffee I decided to pack up before the rain arrived and typically just as I had put the bivvy in its bag the heaven's opened and I mean Opened!
So with all the gear completely sodden I pushed the barrow back to the van all the whilst swearing that I will have my revenge next weekend...........

Until then,

Smithy

Not Feeling The Love.......

Due to me having to work on the Saturday, I never managed to get behind the rods on Friday night as planned.
After work on Friday I popped down the syndicate for a mooch and upon arriving my worst fears were confirmed as I was greeted by a full car park.
Never the less I parked up and walked the bank in the dark, passing a bivvy in almost every swim. By the time I was half way round I recognised "Tones" laugh from the back of a bivvy so popped my head in for a chin wag, after putting the Carpy world to rights for a good hour I bid him farewell set off to find "Russ" further up the bank. We had a good chat and I told him my intention was to be back down by 4pm the following day and I asked him to keep me informed on bank space - which as always he agreed....I then set off home via the kebab shop to get the kit sorted ready for the pursuit.

Russ with the "Big Common" last winter.....

I arrived at work the following morning on edge, all the while wondering if a) I could get on and b) would they be feeding in this freezing northerly? The day past slowly, I was constantly checking my phone for updates and then it happened at a little after 2:30pm.....I got the text I really didn't want. Somebody was hovering around the "3rd middles" [my No1 choice swim] and one of the only free swims on the lake, this knocked me for six! At 3pm due to a few technical issues the boss gave us the go ahead to leave early so I was out of the door in a flash! I jumped straight in the van and made the very short hop from the office to the lake in seconds, almost forgetting to stop and open the gate!

I arrived in the car park to be greeted by a member saying, "you fishing then, I'm going in 3rds!" and that was that, I put my tail between my legs and walked round the lake to Russ and had a sulk, Russ put the kettle on and we had a chat for a while, by this point I decided I wasn't feeling the love and after a brew said my good byes and headed home without wetting a line.

Last winter under the Oval......

That night whilst sulking on the laptop I decided to purchase a bivvy, I fished through the whole of last winter under my oval but after suffering from several bouts of flu and enduring temperature's down to -9c I decided I would be a little wiser this winter.

I have been looking for a new one for a while but it needed to tick 2 main boxes, it needed to be light and also able to be stripped back to just a shelter for the summer months and after being impressed by Russ`s latest purchase I opted for the Chub S Plus Max and got one at a bargain price too!

Hopefully my new purchase will make life a little more comfortable on the bank!

I've also managed to convince the wife to do her first night on the bank this weekend, very brave of her to do her first one at the end of October!
That bring us pretty much up to date, as I'm working again on Saturday Trudi & I shall be heading down the syndicate at about 4pm on Saturday, I've promised her a bottle of mulled wine and a Chinese so it should be a pleasant evening on the bank and if one of the "Jewels of the lake" makes an appearance.........well it would be rude to knock it off!

Until next time,

Smithy

Feeling The Pressure....

I arrived on the Syndicate Thursday Morning and with the lake quiet I felt confident. I had a quick trot round the bank and found the fish showing half way round the lake at about 65 yds range, I dropped a bucket in the swim and jogged back to the van to fetch the rest of the gear.
It didn't take me long to get sorted and I soon had 3 rods cast onto showing fish so I sat back and enjoyed the first brew of the day, before I knew it dusk had arrived so I got the dinner on. I was fully expecting a take at any moment and just couldn't relax but by 10pm I called it a night and got in the bag.

I awoke at about 6am and looked at the rods, I could tell instantly that something was amiss. The middle bobbin was touching the roller and on a very tight line, I knew what had happened and I had never done it before until now and that is sleeping through a take. I fired up the Coleman and had a strong coffee before cooking up a few Bacon Rolls and a Cappuccino to wash them down. After breakfast I decided it was time to investigate the offending rod. My earlier thoughts were confirmed when I struggled to retrieve the rig ,the fish had obviously taken me through one of the big weed beds towards the far margin, to say I was gutted was a huge understatement.

At least I ate well during the Session....

By 11am I thought it may be a good idea to rest the swim for a few hours, so I did just that. I had a walk round the far bank and fired out a few baits over where the 3 rods were going to be placed before going back to the swim and reading for a few hours.
At 3pm I got all 3 rods back on the spots and with the occasional fish still showing I felt pretty confident, my old mate "Dumpy" arrived shortly after and set up next door.
After a good catch up we ordered a Chinese and sat up until about 10pm having a good chinwag before calling it a night, the cold that I had endured all week had really taken it out of me and I was soon in the land of nod.
After an uninterrupted sleep I woke up at 6:45am and looked out from under the Oval, the swim looked completely dead and I knew that it wasn't going to happen now. I had a brew and a couple of smokes all the while trying to tell myself that I had done everything right and it couldn't be helped, but it was frustrating that all that hard work hadn't paid off this time. By 10am I packed away and left the lake with that deflated feeling which I always try to avoid but I am sure that every Carp Angler has felt at some point in their career.

So here I am sat at home typing this up and looking towards my next session, I am hoping to manage 2 nights on the bank from Friday but it [as always] depends on work.

Surely it's only a matter of time before all the pieces of the puzzle come together, isn't it?

Until next time,

Smithy

Jolly Boys Outing - Returning To Hell!

After you read the title of this post you may well be wondering what happened, so let me explain....

I left work bang on 4pm and headed straight to Devon as planned, I completed the Journey in a little over 4 hours which isn't too bad going for a Friday night and before I knew it I was in the pub and knocking back the first of many beers. The inevitable last orders bell was rung but the party continued onto the beach, unsuprisingly I can't remember the finer details!
This pretty much set the scene for the weekend and before I knew it, Sunday morning arrived and I pointed the van in the direction of Oxford and flew up the motorway.
On arrival I was greeted by a packed car park as well as a busy lake. Pete arrived shortly after me and after a bit of cursing we headed off to another water on the complex to see if we would have more luck there.
You see, we have one of these trips every year......just a couple of nights away from our target waters to  have a social and a catch up, the end result is always the same though, the lakes are always completely stitched up and we can never get on the fish so just end up camping and moaning about the bloke next door who thinks he has the right to put a bait anywhere he likes, oh the joys of day ticket waters! You would have thought we would have learnt by now!
We did however eventually find a quieter lake and we were soon set up in the same swims we fished last year, with fish showing in front of us it looked promising.
The day passed quietly and before we knew it it was time to climb into the bag and call it a night not to mention recover from the previous few days escapades!
I was awake at 5 am as normal, I fired up the Coleman for the first brew of the day and rolled a smoke. It was a very cold morning and I was the only person awake on the whole lake, the peace was fantastic......but it didn't last long! By 6am the vans started arriving in the car park and hoards of anglers started doing circuits of the lake. At about this point I noticed the fish activity in front of me had moved to the swim to the left of Pete so I quickly moved into there before someone else beat me to it.

They were showing well at 100 -120 yards, but just wouldn't pick up a bait!

As the day wore on the lake filled up and by mid day every swim was taken, spods flying literally all over the place, mallets thumping the ground not to mention people casting where they like! However the fish didn't seem to mind and put in a fantastic acrobatic display for most of the day so I rattled off a few snaps with the SLR, it really did look good for a take and we just couldn't understand why it hadn't done a fish whilst we were there.....to anyone!
By mid afternoon I took a turn for the worst and started feeling a bit crappy and definitely felt that I had the flu coming. We took this as an excuse to have an Indian to try and shift it, as nice as it was it didn't manage to do a thing and by late evening I literally crawled into the bag all the while wishing someone would put me out of my misery. I got no sleep what so ever that night, I was struggling to breath, banging headache and muscles I didn't even know I had were aching!

By 5am I gave up trying to sleep and fired up the Coleman once again before rummaging through my ruck sack to see if I had any pain killers, all I found was an empty packet.....typical!
As soon as it was light I started packing up just wanting to get home, I was glad I did as well as by 8am the spod & marker brigade started their bombing.....my nerves couldn't take anymore so headed for home.
I can never understand why people get their spods and markers out between dawn and 10pm then redo all of their rods, in my opinion this is prime bite time and surely it's best to keep the disturbance down to a minimum and if you need to thrash the water to foam do it after mid-day??!
So here I am sat at the laptop at home typing this up, "Lemsip" in hand praying to wake up feeling fine in the morning, with only a few days holiday left before I head back to work I've already loaded the van and will be heading down to the syndicate in the morning, quite a few of the "Big Girls" are due out so I figured instead of laying in bed feeling sorry for myself, I could do it under the Oval with a chance of a chunk too, I've already been to the chemist to stock up on drugs, no pain no gain eh?!
Hopefully I shall return in a few days feeling like a new man and with some good news,

Until then be lucky,

Smithy

Sunday Blues......

Normally a Sunday would see me writing about my latest session on the bank, however because of various going ons in both my private life and work life that hasn't happened this week.
Because I'm on odd shifts at work for the next 5 days, today will see me sorting the gear out, preparing particles etc ready for the off straight from work at the slightly earlier time of 4pm on Friday.

I shall be flying down the M5 Clovelly bound ready to spend the weekend in the pub at various engagements and then on the Sunday shall be heading back up country to Oxfordshire to spend a few days chasing the "Big Girls" that lurk in the carpy waters.

A normal Clovelly engagement, In the Pub!

The hemp is busy boiling away on the hob whilst I write this as I am preparing fresh batches of bait for the trip. I am always worried about particles going "off", I can't see it happening in this weather but being the over pre-cautious person that I am I have come up with a plan to keep them fresh whilst I am "busy" in Devon. The bait will be in the back of the van for two days before I even get to the lake, then will be on the bank for a further 3 days so I've decided to prepare the bait today and will keep it soaked in the hempy juices and put it into the freezer already bucketed. Then minutes before work on Friday will take it out and put it into the van with my theory being that the bait should be a solid block that will take at least 24 - 36 hours to thaw and still be cool, nice and fresh for my arrival in Oxfordshire.
I've taken no chances for this trip and have re-spooled my reels with the ever faithful krystonite. I absolutely love this line and to be honest I have no idea why I stopped using it at the end of last season, I'm guessing though as everybody who knows me personally will more than likely to tell you it's because I'm always looking for something better and a way to improve my presentation. Now I'm guessing a few of you are saying at this point "why use that? use ____?" Well I've tried them all and in my opinion this really does stand above the rest, it casts very well, sinks well although it states slow sinking..... it doesn't hang about and low visibility make it perfect for the angling situations I often find myself with anyway. I took all 3 reels up the "Beds Pit" last night and gave them a good chuck to bed the line in and it was fantastic, I'd forgotten just how good it really was and will be sticking with it from now on........and before you ask I have no ties with Krystonite whatsoever!

Active Bait Solutions Ninja!

Boilie wise, I've just taken delivery of the usual FBI & Garlic aswell as some "Ninja" courtesy of Active Bait Solutions to keep them guessing, the very dark colour should give me a edge over the wariest of fish that inhabit the water and should also help combat any bird problems that I may encounter.
So for now I will sign off and continue getting myself sorted, hopefully next time I shall report back with news of a Oxfordshire lump!

Be lucky and enjoy the best time of the Carp Calender!

Smithy