Well after what seemed like an eternity Friday afternoon finally came around and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t the first one out of the office door!
First thing on the agenda was to shoot down to my new venue to pick up my ticket, once I had it firmly in my grasp I jumped in the van and headed for home.
Once I was in the door, I set about getting the gear sorted and loaded in the van, ready for my early start the following morning.
I had just about finished loading the van when Pete arrived ready for an Indian, we had a quick coffee before jumping in the motor and heading for the takeaway, it was packed so we sat at the bar and had a drink whilst we waited for our order – hard life eh!
Once back and fed by the banquet we had feasted on the chat turned to all things carpy, more to the point my new venue which as I mentioned in the past Pete is a member of, it was the first time in a long while that we had the same ticket so it would be nice to get to fish together on the odd occasion although not all the time as we both easily get itchy feet and head in different directions around the pit in pursuit of our quarry.
We had a great night and a good catch up, Pete left just after 11pm so I got a few things done then headed to bed to get some much needed rest.
I was awake before my alarm and was soon boiling the kettle for my usual early morning Double Chocó Mocha which was delicious as always, once the mug was licked clean I jumped in the van and headed down the lake, I was shaking with excitement and I hadn’t actually felt like this in years!
Once I had unlocked and driven through the gates, I parked up and had a quick scout about the lake, first session nerves had kicked in by now and it must have been obvious to anybody that was unfortunate enough to bump into me, I could hear their thoughts as clear as day “that fella is clueless’’ most of them were thinking!”.
I loaded up the barrow and headed round to a swim in front of some woods, the normally easy barrow journey was a bit of a bugger, I had forgotten my knee support and could feel it going every few yards but once in the swim I had soon forgotten about it.
I was sweating like a pig so had a sit down on a bucket and had a couple of fags and a drink, once my energy had returned to something similar to normal I began getting the rods sorted.
With a few flicks of the lead I managed to locate a nice clear area on the edge of a weed bed about 30 yards out which went left to right across my swim, I clipped up to the spot and had another chuck just to make sure before putting some marker tape on the line I then took the lead off and attached a mini spomb to the quick link and put about 50 Odyssey XXX baits over the top of the spot before accurately placing a XXX extra hard hookbait on the spot , this was repeated for the second rod but the third rod was fished on a chod with one of my hand rolled cork balled orange Northern Specials and cast into a light weed bed at 60 yards range and now I was angling, it was up to the carp gods now!
The day past with a blink of an eye and before I knew it I noticed Pete barrowing round the lake, although it looked like he was struggling! Once he was behind my swim he collapsed in a heap, the bearing had gone in the barrows’ wheel and it was wobbling all over the place, he was struggling to keep it upright let alone in a straight line!
He had a quick coffee with me then went and set up next door before the light faded, the fish were showing well in front of me that night and at about 10pm the bobbin cracked the blank of the left hand rod…..I was on it in a flash but pulled into nothing!
Pete mentioned some giant roach that inhabit the water so I put it down to those little buggers and started to get the rod sorted ready to be put back out onto the spot, it was then that I noticed my marker tape on the mainline had come off! Now I was p%ssed off!
Fortunately it only took one cast in the dark to find the spot again so I was soon clipped and marked up then fishing again, following that incident I had one last coffee and fag and headed off to bed and into carp filled dreams.
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This was just the start! |
I awoke before dawn and without thought fired up the Coleman and rolled a smoke, the weather had changed dramatically over night, it was absolutely chucking it down!
I sat under the Oval and had countless brews and as the morning passed a few visitors popped in for a chat which was nice, everybody was friendly and more than happy to share information.
As the morning passed I began to get itchy feet, the lake was now quiet, only 3 people on including me and Pete who incidentally had already reeled in and was thinking about packing up and heading for home as soon as the rain eased, so instead of building an ark to move swims I collared Pete to give me a hand, and as always with my luck as soon as I took down the Oval the weather started and I mean REALLY STARTED!
A wind sprung up from nowhere and the rain came at you at an angle, I was drenched within seconds! We quickly as possible moved everything to my new swim a 100 or so yards away, put up the oval and chucked everything under it as well as ourselves!
I put the kettle on, we must have been sat there for over an hour but with no sign of the rain easing Pete decided to pack up regardless, I braved the elements and made my way round to the car park toilet to answer an untimely call of nature!!!
After which I felt much better, so returned to my swim to get the rods sorted. It would have been easy to just chuck them out which did actually cross my mind a few times whilst standing there getting p%ssed wet through but battled on regardless and found a nice clear area 35-40 yards out, I clipped up the rod attached a pva bag of XXX crumb, chops, milkimin pellets and fresh sea snail with a XXX extra hard hook bait to withstand the attention of the small stuff then put it on the spot, the same was repeated for the middle rod, the third rod as always went out on a chod into the light weed.
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My chosen tasty bag mix |
The wind was picking up in strength by the minute, followed by snow! as afternoon turned into evening I was sat on the bed chair literally p%ssing myself with laughter, I just couldn’t think what else to do as I hung onto the Oval and tried to dry my clothes over the Coleman at the same time, it was then that I nicknamed the said wind “Hurricane Trudi” (Sorry darling! ;) )
I couldn’t hear or see a thing due to the weather, so after a bite to eat I hit the sack with a lonely ear wig for company, although sleep wasn’t easy to come by as the Oval creaked and groaned but I must have nodded off somewhere in the early hours.
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Following a tidy up! |
I awoke just as it was getting light and after a coffee and a smoke I couldn’t believe how different things looked to Sunday, the sky was clear and the sun was beginning to show over the horizon, I’d certainly had all 4 seasons in the last 48 hours!
By 8am I hadn’t seen a thing so recast the chod out into the middle of the pit hoping to pick one off before I left, I also retrieved one of the other rods, cut off the leader and attached another chod but this time baited with an Optical Illusion Pop Up then sent that out into the Pit to join the other at about 100 yards range.
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I always carry a selection of High Attract baits |
I began the tedious task of tidying stuff up and making my swim a little more presentable after the night before, the oval had taken a real battering in fact when I woke up one of the storm poles was actually laying on top of me!
Morning soon turned to afternoon and I kept saying to myself “just one more hour then I’m off”, eventually after no signs of a fish for most of the day I reluctantly packed up at about 4pm to try and beat the traffic home. As I was barrowing back to the van I made a cheeky smile at the lake and said “I shall see you soon!”
And that was that, I had finished my first session (as a member opposed to as a guest) on the water and I have to admit I bloody enjoyed every minute of it! So for now I am going to just sit back and enjoy the ride, roll on Saturday!
Until then,
Smithy
