Soon be spring

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Soon be spring                                   

It's been a horrible winter for sure but that hasn’t deterred me from getting out whenever possible and I've enjoyed some great sport even when all the lakes around the country were frozen solid!

Shortly after Christmas while out on one my regular bike rides along the grand union canal near my home I found a group of carp hanging around a warm water inlet. The biggest of these was a lovely old carp that I guessed at upper twenties , a short very wide fish that was clearly much older than his brethren. After watching them go about their routine for a while I decided that I'd return for a go at the biggun' in the near future.

The weather improved a little over the next week or so and I went elsewhere in search of a bite as a few waters had thawed. The water temperature was freezing at 39 degrees, but for a couple of weeks we had odd milder spells of a day or so that saw the water climb on a couple of occasions to 40 degrees. As soon as this happened, there would be a bite on the lake I was spending a night or two a week beside. Sod's law however intervened and every time I could get out the weather closed in again and I missed my chance . The next week the weather took a turn for the worse and the lake iced over once more, a frustrating but unavoidable turn in fortune.

Back at home I spent a couple of days babysitting before I once again got a couple of days to get out on the bank. The weekend before big snow fronts were forecast which would mean the lakes stood no chance of thawing so I decided the time was right for a crack at the big mirror I'd seen on the canal.

Sure enough, a couple of days later I awoke to a complete white-out and several inches of snow. Far from being despondent, I couldn’t wait to get the kit ready for an early start the following morning.

I'd travel light with just a chair ,a couple of rods and a bag with tea kit ,camera kit , a little bait and my tackle box. I know from experience that I'd only be fishing for literally a couple of hours and that my best chance of a take would be very shortly after dropping in a bait as the fish are very localized in this particular spot.
We had more snow overnight and I got up at five am to another couple of inches at least and the roads looked dodgy so after a quick cuppa and a piece of toast I packed the car.

The drive took far longer than expected but as I'd left so early I arrived while it was still well dark and was soon on my way on the long walk to the swim. The snow was deep underfoot and there was not a breath of wind , it really was a lovely morning and I was glad id made the effort.

When I arrived I set up my chair well away from the outlet and stuck the kettle on while I baited the first rod. I'd set up the rod the day before at home with a long leadcore leader and a short supernatural hooklink with a size eight wide gape, so all there was to do was fasten on a flat 3 oz pear lead and bait the rig.
On the hair I opted for one and a half 10mm source boilies and I hooked on a small funnelweb bag of crumbed source and choc malt baits and I was ready.
With the rod in hand I crept slowly toward the outlet and lowered in the rig very tight to the wall where I knew it to be lovely clean gravel where there is a thin channel bordered by cabbages that grow year round in the warmer water.

I crept away and placed the rod on the bank twenty yards further back towards where I was sitting.  It was still dark as I poured out the tea and I was just pouring in some milk when I heard the clutch howl…a bite! The rig had barely been in the water for more than a few minutes.

The fish swung out into the main channel on a tight line and fought it out for several minutes before I gained the upper hand. Soon enough I engulfed a nice mirror in the net , a great start. I left him in the net after first unhooking him while I set up the tripod to do a bit of video and by the time I'd got the rod sorted, it was light  enough to film. Before I was able to get the videoing done the rod twanged round and I was into another fish. This time however, a fine fat chub was the culprit and he made lots of disturbance, which I knew meant the end of anymore action, but I was more than happy with a nice snow carp under my belt.

I left for the car about 8am but not before putting in a handful or so of chopped baits - I'd be back for another go again in the morning!. I could of course have stayed on 'til dinner time, but with such a small group of carp in residence I know from past experience that once they are spooked they will not feed, so it's better to give them a little food and leave them to build up their confidence.
The next morning was different to the first, it was much windier and snowing when I arrived, but this soon turned to sleety rain. Like the first, I received a bite almost immediately after dropping in and this time I had a nice fat common, a welcome visitor especially as I hadn’t seen any commons when I'd watched the group that first time. Again I was back home by 9am as the sleet turned to rain and it didn’t look good for more action as the canal was starting to pick up pace, so again I baited and left them to it.

The temperature dropped heavily that night and we got no more snow, but on a bike ride the next day it was obvious that the melt water heavily laced with salt from all the run off where they'd been gritting the roads so often was making it look like fishing was out of the question, but I decided on one last trip as the forecast showed a big thaw and that meant I'd soon be back on the lakes in search of bigger fish.
 
I arrived at the canal to be met with a raging monster, it had burst its banks where it struggled to cope with all the extra water and it looked awful, hopeless even. Rather than sit in rush hour traffic I trudged off towards my spot in the freezing air. Thankfully, the spot lies on the inside of a sharp bend and when I arrived the spot where I was catching them looked just out of the heavy flow and obviously received a little more protection by the big cabbage beds, so maybe it would be worth dropping in for a bit?

Anyway, I put the kettle on and huddled over the stove, it was –5 degrees that morning. Soon I baited the rod and dropped it in on the mark. To be honest, it looked awful, but it was worth an hour so I sat and watched the huge rafts of debris drifting by.
No sooner had I finished the first tea when the kettle was put on again and as I looked up at the rod it lurched over and held there. I was straight on it and into a powerful carp that held its ground for a few minutes, before tearing off on a long slow run.
It was a good ten minutes before I eventually had it in front of me charging up and down tight to the bottom, but the preesure told in the end and I netted it. As I bent down and looked in the net, I was amazed to see a big wide mirror laying there quietly, it was him!

I did a bit of video and took some stills on the video as well because my camera battery had run out. Once again I was home by nine, but this time with a big smile on my face. It had been a very enjoyable few mornings fishing and proof that it can still be worth it even when everything tells you otherwise.

Cheers,

Nick

• Carp Fishing