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SESSION 77 and 78

After getting a few carp last session at Elsons, but struggling to get any of the bigger fish, I was keen to get a session back on Bluebell’s Kingfisher Lake. By now the carp would hopefully have spawning properly out of the way and be a little more friendly! Getting a result from the likes of Kingfisher can be a tall order on a one-off 48-hour session, however the incredible stock of fish is too good to ignore!

I got up to the complex around lunchtime and headed straight for Kingy, and to my surprise the lake was relatively quiet. I started a lap around from the bank which backs up to Swan Lake, but could already see that the entirety of the Lock Bank was devoid of anglers – utter madness!

The car park corner with all the pads was vacant too and did look good. Stopping in that swim for a little while it became clear that there were some fish in residence too, as the pads would knock and quiver as the carp beneath them jostled their positions. There was also a little bit of bubbling up going on out in open water, but a couple of a small splashy shows suggested this was probably just tench. However, it certainly looked a half-decent option!

I was genuinely amazed that the Lock Bank was free of anglers and upon checking the Willow in the DVD swim, was pleased to see a couple of really good carp in residence. I continued around to the swim, where it was clear that the snags on the left-hand side were also currently home to a number of carp too. This was enough for me to drop the bucket before continuing the walk as there was surely a bite on the cards here.

Further up the bank is another big set of snags and once again checking the backs of these snags revealed another group of carp happily relaxing on the clean pea-shingled lake bed. With a number of options to go at, I would have a decision to make!

As it happened, someone ended up going into a swim across from the Pads swim and so I decided to write this off for the first night. With my bucket still in the DVD swim, I decided to drop in there for the first night, with the plan of potentially moving up to the second set of snags if I fancied a move for the second night.

I ended up only fishing the single rod that night – it was the only real spot that looked bang on for a bite and I didn’t want to add any unnecessary line pressure. Having just one rod, I wanted to make sure it was spot on and so I crept a bare into position from the swim, just clipping the willow frond as it went in. After a couple of casts I made sure to wrap up before looping on a marker float and popping it up over the spot. From the far side I could then wade out under the willow tree and scatter a few handfuls of pellets and boilies over the top with pinpoint precision before getting the rod out on the spot.

With the bank being empty it also meant Matt could drop in to my left and fish the other snags, giving us both a good chance and the ability to have a nice barbecue and catch-up. That night looked spot on for a bite but when first light came and neither of us had caught anything, we were left feeling a little deflated… that was until Matt walked back into my swim with a big smile on his face. The cheeky sod had just landed a lovely looking common of over 28lb!

With Matt’s fish returned, I got him to wait on my rod while I had a quick look under the willow. Unfortunately, there weren’t anywhere near as many fish, with just one or two small ones left in residence. I was keen to change things up, but literally as all this was going on, someone actually dropped into the other snag swims further up the Lock Bank. The last real option was to fish the same snag bush Matt had caught from but from my side, as the carp tend to come in and out from different points and after the disturbance of Matt’s common, there was a chance I could get a bait in place before the carp returned to the snag.

I carefully waded along the shallow margin and using a baiting pole, positioned the rig a little further down the shelf on a spot I’d trickled a little bit of bait on to the night before, in anticipation of fishing it. With the rod in position, it was now simply a case of waiting and hoping that the fish would return to the snags. Unlike when fishing in open water, bites when fishing to a snag can literally come at any point as the carp come in and out of their resting place.

However, as the day progressed, the snags just seemed to be devoid of carp, including the willow I’d fished the night before. Had Matt’s capture been enough to put them on edge, or had they simply moved off to spend their time elsewhere? Either way, it wasn’t looking good and there was no point in spending another night fishing an empty set of snags! The only problem was that the lake had now become a lot busier and the chances of getting into another likely situation was waning. So rather than waste time, we decided to cut the session short here and plan a return to Elsons for a short 24-hour session early the following week.

I was pretty confident that I’d have a good chance of catching on Elsons having fished a number of short sessions in the past month or two for my last feature and a CarpFix film, catching a few carp on each occasion. Elsons really offers lots of chances at close quarters and with the lake not being overly busy, I could hopefully move around a bit and take advantage of any opportunities that would arise.

I arrived on the Tuesday around midday once again after half a day’s work and immediately headed around the lake to check and prep a few likely spots that I’d had bites on over the last couple of sessions. Sure enough there were only two other anglers on, with one of them deciding to fish down at the bottom end, which was actually one of the areas I was planning on trying out. Regardless, I still had plenty of options and started up in a swim called the Scrape as it gave access to plenty of open water as well as the possibility of dropping a rod into the Little Scrape next door, which is a little stalking spot.

The Little Scrape was where I really thought I would get one and sure enough, after prepping the spot with a handful of pellets, the carp were soon tails up on the glowing gravel area. I waited for the fish to clear off and lowered in place a little pellet hook bait on my spinner hair rig. I’d fished a cut-down boilie the previous session on this spot and it was clear that they much preferred to feed on the pellets here and even had a quick bite after making the switch. As such, it made sense to use the same successful presentation once again.

This time I had to wait six hours for a bite, which is a ridiculously long time considering I’m literally fishing a rod length out and can see fish coming in and out to feed on the spot. I’d repositioned the rig several times, but it eventually rattled off and after a hairy scrap in the enclosed stalking swim, I scooped up a low twenty common. I was finally off the mark!

That bite had actually come just as I was moving my kit into the swim on the other side of Little Scrape, a peg called The Dugout. I had been having a quick look in here and was seeing a bit of fizzing in close when a decent sized carp came right out past its gills and then sent up another sheet of fizz as it hit the lake bed. It was clearly having a good old feed and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity!

Once that common was slipped back, I quickly got the rods sorted and flicked a Freshwater Shrimp pop-up out on a 12in long spinner rig and just a little lead, knowing it should present nicely even if it landed on the thick silkweed that covers the lake bed at Elsons. I then fired out just a handful of boilies over the top. I didn’t even have a chance to get the second rod out when that one pulled up tight, but the hook unfortunately pulled as it charged off.

I was gutted, but clearly the rig had presented well, so I quickly got a second rod flicked out a little further left and almost as quickly this one went too. The fish fought hard in the shallow water, but soon enough I caught sight of what I was attached to – it was a big scaly mirror that Matt had caught a couple of summers back while out shooting my feature! Not only that but I’d actually thought I’d seen it ghost through the snags earlier in the day, so it was clearly liking this area. Thankfully it went into the net and what had started off as a difficult session was beginning to turn into a brilliant one… little did I know what the rest of the session would have in store for me

Before sorting pictures of the scaly mirror, I got both rods back into play and before I’d even attempted to get the fish out of the water, I was latched into another good fish. Soon I was staring down at two nets, one holding a big scaly mirror and the other containing a nice looking common. On the scales they went 36lb and 28lb respectively – what more could I ask for on a 24-hour session.

Well, it was probably midnight by the time I was finally done and getting into bed with two rods in position. While this was all going on, I’d actually heard a few show out to my left too, so actually went round to the Right Hand Point swim and spread a good helping of boilies out in front of there at about seven wraps range, just to give me another option in the morning if I needed it.

Well, I hadn’t even got off to sleep when the two rods on the spot went in succession with two smaller carp – one mirror and one common. I flicked the rods back out and got back into the bag, but was woken again with two tench in the morning half-light! By this point I don’t think I’d even got a wink of sleep, so I just ended up keeping the rods in and setting my alarm for 7am as I desperately needed a couple of hours’ kip!

When I woke, the swim actually looked pretty dead, so I tidied a few bits away whilst boiling the kettle for a morning brew. With a coffee in hand I wandered up to the point swims and as soon as I looked out I could see big patches of fizzing all around where I’d put the bait out the night before – there was no way I was going to walk away from that.

I quickly grabbed the one rod with a sharp hook and fresh hook bait and flicked it out to where I’d baited up and started moving my gear round into the swim, when it was away. This time I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice old looking mirror, a really dumpy carp with scattered linear scaling along its flank. At 27lb, it wasn’t quite as big as the scaly I’d caught the night before, but he had character by the bucketload. I flicked the rod back out and it literally went almost immediately, this time resulting in a long, lean old common; clearly it had well spawned out at 29lb and speaking to Brad who works at the fishery, he confirmed that it’s actually a rare one too!

Each time I flicked the rod back out, it just seemed to go time after time and there was no sign of stopping, to the point that I’d literally used up all of my boilies and was just chucking out singles to catch fish that were roaming the area looking for any last morsels. In the end I think I’d landed 11 carp and lost two that session, which was probably the most bites I’d had in 24 hours for a very long time! To think that most of those carp came fishing just one rod, whether that helped or not I will never know, but it certainly didn’t hurt my chances, that’s for sure!

Personal Best: 61lb 8ozlbs
Occupation: Self Employed