Carp Fishing - Day Ticket Carp Fishing Trip

I must admit I’m not a big fan of day ticket carp fishing, mainly because of the silly prices fisheries are charging for a 24hr session these days!. If I do fish a day ticket water I want to be sure I’m on the type of water that offers me big fish, after all, if I’m paying over the odds, I want to be in with a chance of a big carp. I’d actually given up day ticket carp fishing many years ago when I thought Linear Fisheries were getting greedy and starting to charge too much, my opinion of Linear hasn’t changed and I haven’t been there for a while now.
The one day ticket water that persuaded me to part with my cash again was the famous Cemex water known as Sandhurst. I’ve fished this cemex carp water a couple of times now and on Friday 24th April 2009 I headed back down to Yateley for my third go at this amazing big fish carp water.

The journey to the lake was uneventful, the only thing that crossed my mind on the way down there was how on earth long distance carp anglers ever managed without a Sat Nav!. My trusty Tom Tom took me straight to the lakes gate and at around 3pm on Friday afternoon I met up with 14 of my mates as we’d booked the lake for our exclusive use.

I had a good walk around, the carp seemed to be fairly well spread and the whole lake seemed to be fishing quite well, the only area that looked devoid of carp was the famous swim known as bailiffs, whilst fish showed everywhere else, this normally productive peg looked like a dead duck as far as catching carp was concerned!. Eventually we drew for swims and I couldn’t believe my bad luck, on my last trip to this cemex water I’d drawn last out of the bag and had to watch as all the decent pegs disappeared. This time I came out second to last and suffered the same fate!. I ended up stuck with ‘bailiffs’ and I knew straight away I’d be in for a struggle, what made it worse was the lake fishing very well and I had to watch as my mates banked an amazing amount of big carp, I haven’t counted them all but over the weekend at least 16 x 30’s came to the bank along with an obscene amount of 20’s!.

My own fishing over the weekend was poor, I was right about the bailiffs swim not having any fish in front of it and I struggled big time. The best I could manage was a lost fish in the early hours of Saturday morning, I had a one toner on my left hand delkim which was fished on a silty patch at around 40 yards. I hit the rod quickly and it thumped over nicely as I struck into a solid lump. I was really pleased to be into a fish given how bad my peg was but that happiness lasted roughly 20 seconds before I felt that sickening feeling as everything went slack and the hook had pulled. I wound in and examined the rig and hook point and I could find nothing wrong so I rebaited and recast the rod.

Nothing happened the next day, at 1pm I wound in and went to the barbeque the lads had organised, I wasn’t feeling too good, I had a headache brought on through lack of sleep and I felt a bit sick, with this in mind I went easy on the food, just a couple of burgers and sausages washed down with a bottle of oasis rather than a beer. After the barbeque I took a couple of headache tablets, retied all my rigs and cast them out. As the evening wore on I began to feel a lot better, I had a bit of a sleep and when I woke up I had just one thing on my mind and that was moving asap as there was still no carp around!.

BBQ in the Cemex Sandhurst car park.


One of my mates was also keen on moving, he’d had 2 fish from peg 11 but he wasn’t happy, the swim he moved to was the second pipe, I’d looked at this swim and hadn’t fancied it so when he left peg 11, I moved onto the road bank and set up again, the move was a quick one, I was only fishing under my stealth brolly so I was packed and round the other side of the lake in no time. Once settled in I got the rods out and just sat watching the water. I couldn’t understand why my mate had moved out of peg 11, there were fish in front of it and the swim looked good for a carp.

I stopped up late that night to watch a film on my Ipod and it was midnight before I got my head down, I hoped for a fish as we got towards first light as this seemed to be a good feeding period on the lake. I didn’t have to wait that long, just an hour after settling down to sleep my middle delkim suddenly burst into life and my line was peeling off my infinity bait runner at a fast and steady rate. There was no way this fish was anything but a carp, the hookbait was a 16mm snowman presentation, a real mouthful that was meant for a carp. I hit the rod and sure enough there was a dead weight attached to the other end. I kept the pressure steady, not too much as I didn’t want a repeat of the hook pull I’d had earlier in the trip. The carp kited left towards peg 12 and I had to drop the rod tip and apply some severe side strain to stop the fish kiting through my mates line next door. I managed this but my heart was in my mouth!, everything held firm and I managed to get the carp close in and ready to net, the fish ploughed up and down the margins for a while and all the time I kept praying it wouldn’t come off. I don’t have many hook pulls, my rigs are extremely efficient and its amazing how one lost fish can play on your mind. I had no problems with this fish and after a long fight under the tip I eventually netted the fish.

I was relieved, despite so many fish being caught by everyone else I’d struggled and this fish had saved me from a blank session. I grabbed my head torch and using the more discreet red led lights I set up my unhooking mat, got my scales ready and sorted out my camera ready for the photos. The carp was a mirror and it was well nailed, no chance of loosing this one!. I weighed the fish at 22lb 14oz, not as big as I’d hoped but it had prevented a blank session and considering how bad I’d drawn, I was well pleased with this fish!.

22lb 14oz Cemex Sandhurst mirror carp.


I rebaited the rod with another snowman hookbait and cast it back out. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and I slept in until well gone 8am. I was due to be off the water at 4pm that day but I wanted to leave earlier to avoid any rush hour traffic. I had some breakfast and began packing up, there were quite a few carp in my swim cruising round in the upper layers, these fish appeared over all 3 of my baits during the morning and I left my rods out as long as I could whilst I packed the rest of my gear away. Sadly nothing happened and at midday I wound my rods in and packed the last of my gear into the car.

Sadly I believe this will be my last trip to Cemex Sandhurst. Just like Linear Fisheries, I believe Cemex are now getting greedy. The introduction of the Cemex plus ticket at a cost of £35 per year has meant a big increase in the price of fishing not just Sandhurst but all Cemex carp waters so for a second time, I’m now retiring from day ticket carp fishing to concentrate on my club and syndicate tickets. In this day and age £25 for 24 hours fishing is just wrong, putting an extra £35 on top is down right despicable and I hope Cemex come to their senses and abolish this fee, one things for sure, I’ll not consider returning until they do.

Tight Lines.

Carp Fishing - Return to Yateley

Last weekend I finally made a return fishing trip to Yateley Sandhurst. The trip started with a short journey to my mate Steve’s in Runcorn. Once at Steve’s I loaded my carp gear into his motor so we could share the fuel costs and I left my car on his drive. I packed my sat nav too and this incredibly useful device got us to yateley angling centre to collect my day tickets and then onto the lake with no difficulty at all.

Safe arrival courtesy of the sat nav


I knew the fishing was going to be a struggle, the air pressure had been continually rising all week and we were greeted by a flat calm lake that didn’t exactly look inspiring. I spent a fair few hours walking round the lake looking for carp but very little showed. The odd carp I did see were up in front of the car park peg and I had no chance of getting near them as the lake was busy.

Having spent most of the day looking for carp I resigned myself to picking a swim from the best of the rest as it was getting late. The swim I chose was peg 13, I’d fished this swim on my first sandhurst carp trip back in may and caught a thirty from it. The wind was pushing down the lake towards peg 19 so I had a hunch that 13 might be worth a look. I got my rods set up and cast my rigs to the same area I’d caught from last time. On my previous trip I’d witnessed an amazing display from the sandhurst carp as they topped and rolled in this area so it seemed logical to fall back on my limited experience from the last session.

The night passed uneventfully and I was disappointed not to have some kind of action at first light. I left the rods out until 9.00am whilst I had some breakfast then wound in and went for a long walk around. Other anglers would be going home during the day as the lake was exclusively booked for the weekend so I wanted to get an idea of where I was going to fish later on.

After 2 hours of walking round I knew the fish were up at the car park end and if I drew well I’d get on them and be in with a chance. I returned to my swim at 11.00am so I could cast out my rigs again. The previous day only 2 fish had been caught and both came within 10 minutes of each other just after midday. With two carp coming out so close together time wise I thought this might be some kind of small feeding period so I wanted my baits out through this time of day just in case.

I’m so glad I did get the rigs back out. At 11.45am one of my snowman hookbaits was picked up, I was watching the water at the time and hadn’t seen anything when right out of the blue one of my delkims burst into life and the line peeled off the spool at a good rate of knots!. After my initial bemusement I quickly slipped into routine and hit the rod. Sure enough it arched over and after no movement for a few seconds I eventually felt a kick on the end from what felt like a decent fish. The fight was a bit of a stalemate for 5 minutes or so, the carp took no line but neither did I make any back. The fish wasn’t snagged, it was just a heavy weight on the end of the line and eventually the steady pressure had it moving towards me.
I’d hooked the fish about 50 yards out and once I’d managed to get it moving it came into the margins quite quickly, again the carp never took any line and looking at it in the clear water I could see it was a nice fat mirror that looked to be around mid twenties. I was a little nervous when the fish was under the rod tip but I needn’t have worried as the fish was well nailed in the bottom lip and I could clearly see this as the fish slowly rolled into the waiting net.

I must admit I was delighted to see that fish netted, I hadn’t been fishing much over the last few months and when I sat and reflected, I realised it was my first decent fish since I’d caught a 22lb 4oz mirror from a no publicity Cheshire carp water back in mid June!. I left the carp in the water whilst I got on with the business of weighing and photographing my fish. I put the unhooking mat on the road behind my swim and set up the tripod and camera ready for a smooth photographing session. I weighed the mirror at 26lb even, a nice fat fish that was in reasonable condition. My mates Steve and Gino were on hand and with their help I had the weighing and pictures done in no time. I released the fish back to the lake and watched with a big smile on my face as it drifted out of sight.

26lb Mirror from Yateley Sandhurst Lake


The lads were due at the lake just before 2pm and not long after I’d released my carp, the first of them arrived to have a look around the lake. I recounted my capture to them as they arrived and filled them all in on where I thought the fish were. Once everyone was present we had a draw for swims for the rest of the weekend. I was actually relieved to have caught as I came out second to last in the draw. Not only was the car park end of the lake stitched, I’d lost peg 13 as well and I was left with little choice but to pick from a handful of no hoper pegs!.

I opted for peg 19, this peg gave me a big view of the lake and at least 3 swims either side of me were empty. I was hoping the lack of pressure might see a few fish move into the area but they didn’t!. I had to sit and watch carp show up at the car park end and the lads up there managed to catch a few fish over the weekend. For me, my catching was over and I had to make do with the barbeque on Saturday and the fireworks that went on each evening. Despite looking hard I didn’t see a single fish up my end of the lake and I blanked the rest of the trip.

Peg 19, shame the carp were up the other end!


At the end of the day you pay your money and you take your chance, the draw had been unkind to me on this yateley trip and I accepted that I was very lucky to have caught my 26lb mirror when I did!. If I hadn’t insisted on fishing through that potential feeding period in the middle of the day I would certainly have blanked the whole trip.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Carp Fishing - Yateley Sandhurst Session Continued

Before reading this blog entry you should have a read of sandhurst session part 1 before carrying on.
After banking that 39lb 8oz common I was completely on cloud 9 for a few hours. My mobile phone battery was in danger of going flat as the news filtered through to my mates back home and the congratulations came flooding in by text. As the lads started arriving ahead of our booking, I switched my phone off and recounted my bizarre story to them as they all arrived. They were all keen to get fishing and their presence brought me to my senses and I began to focus on the carp fishing again.

Peg 13 was free and following the display the carp put on the evening before I moved into this swim. When your on a session you have the luxury of being able to watch things unfold over a few days and as well as the carp that rolled and bubbled in this area in front of 13, the coots and other birdlife were regular visitors. I didn’t know what natural food was down there but all the signs were indicating a natural hotspot. It was also well away from any of the spots marked on the bailiffs maps that have been doing the rounds on the internet and that made it even more appealing.

I settled into my new peg in the afternoon, once again I put a zig rig out on one rod whilst the other two rigs went straight into the hot area the fish and birds seemed to like. I kept my simple tactics, a ccmoores odyssey xxx popup on both rods and a light scattering of 20 baits spread over and in between both hookbaits. The area the fish showed was quite big, maybe 20 yards square so my baiting was very light, the fish obviously liked the area for naturals so there was no need to try and fill it in.

Early evening the zig rig rod was away again!. I was just as surprised as the first time it went. I was standing next to the rods when the monkey climber pulled up and the delkim signalled a good run. My first instinct was to look at the area I’d cast to check for birds. All I saw was a big boil on the surface so I hit the rod and it took on a nice curve as the carp charged off up the lake as fast as it could. The fight was slow and it took a while to get the fish close in, a lighter than usual 10lb drennan double strength hooklength and a small size 10 esp big t raptor hook meant I had to play the fish on the light side but eventually I had it under the rod tip. It was another common, easily a twenty but quite small compared to the stunner I’d caught from peg 11. After circling and trying to get under a tree in the margins the fish finally gave up and rolled into the waiting net.

I sorted out my camera, scales and unhooking mat before lifting the fish out and onto the mat. I still can’t get over the carp taking a piece of yellow rig foam but there it was dangling from the edge of the carps mouth. I unhooked the fish and weighed it in at 22lb 8oz making it the biggest fish I’d ever caught on a zig rig. I got one of the lads to take a few pictures then slipped the fish back.

A 22lb 8oz yateley sandhurst common caught on the zig rig


This was turning into a very good session. I didn’t bother putting the zig rig back out again, it was late evening anyway so I switched the rod to my normal popup rig and fished it in the margins over a handful of ccmoores odyssey xxx fishmeals. It stayed quiet after the zig rig common capture. It wasn’t until just after 4am the next morning when things kicked off again. My mate ian had taken gino’s place in peg 12 and at 4.10am he was into a fish. His common turned out to be a 28lb+ fish and whilst doing the photo’s for him one of my rods in the hot area was away!. I apologised to ian and went to deal with my own fish. One of the other lads finished his photos whilst I played in another heavy carp. The fish didn’t do much, it just wallowed all the way in and after a short fight I netted a big mirror carp. Ian’s mat was already on the floor between our swims so I just grabbed the scales and camera and got on with unhooking and weighing another big carp. Ian commented straight away that my mirror was bigger than the common he’d just put back and he confidently said it was another 30, I try not to guess but he looked to be right. Sure enough the scales gave 31lb 8oz, a pb mirror by just 6oz!. I got some decent photo's done before returning the fish. It was first light and I wanted to get the rods back out again as I was sure there was more to come.

31lb 8oz yateley sandhurst mirror, a new PB by just 6oz


The recast was good and I topped up the area with another 10 baits. I didn’t want a lot of bait out there, just odd ones the carp could pick up here and there before finding the hookbaits. A few hours passed when the other rod on the same area rattled off. This fish felt as big as the last one for the short time I had it on. The fish kited left and after a few minutes I felt that horrible grating feeling up the line that told me the fish had found a snag. There was little I could do and a few seconds later my main line was cut off on the gravel. A close inspection of the retrieved line revealed lots of abrasive marks and nicks in the mono. I use berkley big game mono in 15lb breaking strain and I have total faith in it, the snag that carp found must have been a bad one for my line to come out like this and I accepted that there was little I could do to prevent loosing this fish.

I removed the damaged mono and tied a new rig on. The rig went back to the same area in the hope of more action but none came that day or on the last night. The wind changed direction up towards the car park swim and I watched as the fish slowly made their way down to the other end of the lake were a few of my mates were waiting for them!.

That was it for me, my first yateley sandhurst session turned out to be an amazing experience. I did a double pb breaking both my common and mirror bests. I also managed a couple of carp on the zig rig too and I felt I was finally getting to grips with this rig. I’ve had no problems getting runs on the zig rig but I always seem to suffer missed runs with it and I’ve made a little progress on this sandhurst trip. I intend to write my thoughts on this rig at a later date when I’ve had a chance to try it on a few local north west waters just to reinforce the lesson I think I’ve learned!.

On a final note, yateley sandhurst is an amazing lake, its very picturesque, loads of big fish and very well run and I’ll definitely be going back for another go at these superb carp.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Carp Fishing - Yateley Sandhurst Session

Yateley Sandhurst Session Pt1

The north west carp scene is pretty much a circus these days. There aren’t enough waters or big carp to go around and this makes carp fishing very difficult if you’re a short session angler. To compensate for the lack of big carp in the region I used to make two or three trips a year to a southern day ticket water. For around 8 years this used to be linear fisheries in oxford. Unfortunately linear grew and grew and it became more of a circus down there than it did on my local north west club waters. Not only did linear end up full of idiots, they became extremely greedy too, when I first started going there it was £8 for a 24 hour session, the last time I went it was well over £20 and I know today that its now even higher!.

I actually decided 3 years ago that I wouldn’t do another day ticket water because I simply don’t agree with the stupid prices these day ticket carp fisheries charge nowadays. Things change and 3 years on I was talked into having a session on yateley day ticket water sandhurst lake. The good thing about sandhurst was that the lake could be booked for exclusive use and so a group of my mates got together and booked a weekend on there. We actually ended up having to pay a bit more each but this was considered to be worthwhile as it kept the lake to just ourselves and ensured there would be no ‘day ticket’ type anglers on the water. You know the sort, captain pugwash who thinks he can fish anywhere he wants because he's got a bait boat or the idiot with the beginners guide to spodding who insists on ruining your chances as well as his own!.
The trip was a bit of a holiday for me so on top of the weekend I booked a day ticket for a further two nights from cemex angling, I had four days and nights fishing on the water, hopefully enough time to get on some fish and catch a few of them.

At 225 miles it was a long journey and the sat nav came in extremely handy, sometimes I’d be lost without this little gadget and it certainly made my trip to yateley very easy. Having found the lake without any difficulties I drove on to yateley angling centre were my fishing partner gino was able to pick up the day tickets he’d booked through the shop. We grabbed some fish and chips from the chippy near the shop then went and sat in the car park area so we could scan the lake whilst eating them.

Yateley Sandhurst Lake Map


The wind was pushing away from the popular ‘car park’ peg and down towards peg 19 on the far bank. It was an easterly wind and the temperature was well over 25 degrees, not exactly brilliant fishing conditions but the lake had been fishing well so we were hopeful of catching.

We did a lap of the lake to try and locate the carp. This wasn’t too difficult and we found them on the end of the wind, there seemed to be quite a few fish down near the second car park so I opted for peg 16 as it covered the fish and gave me a few more options than the corner peg on the left (17). My carp tactics for this trip were the same as always, I like to keep things simple so I just used my standard carp rig and cast a small pva mesh bag to were the carp where showing. I scattered 10-15 boilies around the area just to make sure they found the odd bait then waited for them to find one of my ccmoore odyssey xxx hook baits.

The first day and night passed by with no runs for me. My mate gino had dropped in a few pegs down from me in 14 and during the second day he spotted carp showing in front of peg 12 and moved onto them. He was rewarded with a mid twenty mirror and being a true gent he came down to my swim and tipped me off, he suggested I move into peg 11 next door as it would put us both on the fish. I wasn’t sure, I opted to stay where I was for the time being as there were fish in the area but the second time he came back and urged me to move I decided to do it. I’m not sure why I chose to move, after all, I was already on fish but moving would make a social easier and it would mean a decent fried breakfast so I went.

Someone moved straight into my swim after I’d vacated it and an hour later they landed a 31lb common!. To say I was annoyed was an understatement!. If only I’d stayed in my swim I might have had that fish myself and top of my shopping list was realising my dream of catching a 30lb common. I wasn’t happy at all and having moved to peg 11 I was less than impressed with the swim and I wondered why the hell I’d moved. Gino on the other hand knew exactly what he’d seen in the area, he banked another two mid twenties in a short space of time and this gave me hope that I’d at least manage to get myself off the mark at some point during the trip.

I’ve been playing about with zig rigs for a long time but I’ve never had much faith in them, I’m not sure why, I know they work, back in 1989 my first ever double came to the old anchored surface crust so I knew there was mileage in the zig rig. There were fish cruising round in the sunshine so I opted to fish the zig rig. A small piece of yellow foam hair rigged on a size 10 esp raptor hook, this was fished on a 10lb drennan double strength hooklink and fished three feet up in about four and a half feet of water.

I sat chatting with gino during the evening of day two, there was an angler in peg 13 and during the evening we were treated to a superb display from the carp, they were lunking out and rolling like mad in front of peg 13 and the guy fishing there was only a day angler. I’d already prepared myself to move in the dark such was the display of big carp in front of his peg. It was late evening and whilst I was sorting my gear the zig rig rod was away. I couldn’t believe it, a small piece of yellow foam and a carp had taken it literally in half light conditions!. I played the fish in slowly with just a 10lb drennan double strength hooklink I didn’t want to risk loosing it. Everything went well and I landed my first sandhurst carp. The fish turned out to be a nice mirror that fell short of the 20lb mark, probably a small fish for the water but at 19lb 4oz I was more than happy to be off the mark with my first sandhurst carp.

19lb 4oz, my first sandhurst carp caught on a zig rig


That first carp settled me and I decided not to move into peg 13 in the dark, it was Friday the next day, other anglers would be going home and nobody else would arrive if they had to be off for our booking by 4pm so I stayed in peg 11 for the night. I switched the zig rig back to a standard carp rig and having cast out all 3 rods out I settled down for the night.

The night was quiet until 4am when the left hand delkim ripped off. I was out of the sleeping bag and on the rod in a flash, the fish felt quite heavy and from the moment I hooked it, it tried to ‘roll’ me repeatedly. I’d already lost a couple of big north west carp at the net when the carp had rolled over and I’d lost the fish to a hook pull so my heart was in my mouth during the fight with this carp. I kept a steady pressure on and every time it rolled I’d drop the rod tip a little to compensate. The hook held firm and after 10 minutes or so I managed to bundle the fish into the waiting net. I had a quick look at it in the water, it was a common, quite a long fish that looked quite broad across the back. I didn’t want to think about the 30lb barrier, I thought it might be close but I’d been after a 30lb common for so long I just shut the thought out of my mind. Gino was on hand to help and having got the camera gear and the weighing scales ready I carried the fish to the mat. I knew it felt heavy but I wasn’t ready for what followed!. Gino hoisted up the scales and read out the weight, 39lb 8oz!. I thought he was joking, I asked him again and he said the same. ‘You try lifting it, it’s effing massive’ he said. I did and sure enough it weighed in at 39.08!. I was quite shell shocked and it was only when the pictures were being done that I realised just how massive this carp was. It was a real stunner with not a mark on it.

A Yateley sandhurst cracker! My new PB Common at 39lb 8oz!


I’d simply blown away the walton hall park common that was my previous pb common at 27lb 4oz!. The events around the capture were bizarre, moving swims, seeing another angler catch from my vacated swim, seeing so many fish in another peg and wanting to move in the dark, catching that 19lb 4oz mirror on the zig rig and staying in peg 11. If I’d actually moved I’d never have caught this stunning fish and I feel that sometimes in life, things are meant to be and it certainly looked like my name was on that fish. I felt incredibly lucky to have caught it and I’m in debt to gino who twice tried to talk me into moving swims when he could have kept the area to himself.

My first yateley sandhurst session was already a memorable one, I stayed in peg 11 for most of the next day and when the other lads turned up on Friday afternoon we drew for choice of swims for the weekend. It was then that I opted to move into peg 13, unlucky for some maybe but it wasn’t for me and I’ll finish the story of my first yateley sandhurst trip next week!.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Carp Fishing - Red Letter Days Pt3

Burton Mere - The Capture of the Fat Common

I first started carp fishing in June 1989 on some local ponds and pits, it wasn’t long before other anglers were telling me to get myself down to Burton Mere if I wanted to catch big carp. Every week I went fishing I kept getting told the same story and within a couple of months of converting from pleasure angler to carp angler I’d paid my first visit to what local anglers thought of as Wirral’s top carp venue.
My first session on Burton Mere was a story in itself, suffice to say the place caught my attention and during the rest of the 1989 season and the early 90’s up until 1994 I honed my skills as a carp angler and got myself a solid grounding in the basics of fishing for carp.

The syndicate carp lake known as Burton Mere was a lovely water, at the time, it held around 200 doubles with around 8 x 20’s up to 24lb but it was de-stocked for the 1993 season with most of the small fish being removed and around 30 of the biggest carp being left in there, a few more stockies were added and amongst these fish was a chunky fish that was affectionately known as ‘the fat common’.

Now the fat common was not a normal fish, it swam round most days with the top lobe of its tail poking out of the water. The fat common certainly made locating carp easy, this fish was rarely alone but due to the fact that he swam round on the surface regardless of the weather conditions he was always the first carp to be spotted on a trip around the lake. Most of the carp syndicate thought this particular carp had a problem with it’s swim bladder, I’m not sure what was wrong with the fish myself but it did appear to exhibit some strange behaviour on a daily basis!.
Despite the fat common being visible day after day, it actually turned out to be ‘the’ hardest carp to catch. For some unknown reason, this particular carp just didn’t acknowledge boilies as food!. Every carp in the lake came out to boilies in the first few weeks of the 1993 season except this one. By the time August came around this fish virtually had a price on its head, every day it would waddle round the lake with its tail out of the water refusing everything that was offered.

It was Tuesday 17th August 1993 when that finally changed, it was a hot day and I was bivvied up on a two day session at the time. Nothing was happening so I’d wound the rods in and taken a few bits and pieces to try some stalking up the far end of the lake. I’d done quite well stalking carp on Burton Mere and as I made my way up to the far corner of the lake the sight that greeted me suggested I might have a chance. Most of the carp in the lake were cruising round on the surface so I crept into position and fed them a single pouch of chum mixers.
The response from the carp was slow, at first they ignored the biscuits so I held off putting in any more and opted to wait and see if they’d respond. I’d gone fishing in a very loud and very bright aqua coloured t-shirt which wasn’t exactly the right sort of clothing for stalking carp, to counter act this I wore a black leather jacket to try and blend in more and make myself a bit less conspicuous!. I was roasting but I dare not move from my spot as the fish were literally just a few feet away from me.
Eventually, one of the mirrors nosed a chum mixer, it swam away, only to return a few minutes later with another two mirrors in tow, this time it ate the biscuit and over the next half an hour a few more chum mixers started getting taken. All the time this was going on the fat common was in the area but never once did it show any interest in taking a free chum mixer. Whilst watching the fish I’d decided to try a freelined mixer, the carp were happy to take a chum mixer close to the bank and I was up close and personal, so close I could flick them a freelined bait!.

The fat common came along the margins flanked by two slightly smaller mirrors, at a guess these fish were no more than two yards from the bank and I knew this was the chance I‘d been waiting for. I had a single chum mixer super glued to the back of a size 6 drennan super specialist hook which was tied directly to my 15lb big game line. There wasn’t exactly a lot of finesse in my floater setup but I was fishing next to a thick set of lily pads. I flicked the freelined hook bait out well in front of the 3 fish as they slowly made their way along the margins towards me, the fat common might not be interested in a chum mixer but I’d have been happy with either of the mirrors as surface captures on the syndicate lake weren’t that common!.
My heart was in my mouth as the 3 carp approached the hook bait, I’d put my chum mixer in exactly the right place and as the fish approached the bait, the fat common was right on course to intercept my floater. I gripped the rod as it slowly waddled up to the chum mixer, for a split second I actually thought it was going to take it but at the very last second it’s mouth lowered slightly in the water and it swam straight underneath my hook bait!.

Damn it, that must have been the closest any angler on the syndicate had got to getting a hook in the fat commons mouth, so near but so far!. I watched as the fish continued underneath my hook bait, it was obvious the fat common was the leader of this group of 3 carp, when he changed direction in the water, so did the two mirrors flanking him.
The carp had moved about 6 feet past my hook bait when the fat common began to turn, it came round in a slow ark until it was on a collision course with my hook bait again, the two mirrors had come with it and again I found myself clutching the rod tightly as the fat common waddled up to my single chum mixer. At the last minute its mouth rose this time and I watched in slow motion as a big pair of rubbery lips engulfed my mixer not two yards away from me!. I paused and watched as the carps mouth closed around the hook bait and the instant those rubbery lips were sealed I rolled my wrist and struck the hook home!.
That was it, all hell broke loose as both the fat common and the two mirrors all bolted for open water!. There was a big bow wave out into the lake as he made a bid for freedom. Unfortunately for the fat common, he wasn’t built for a scrap. He was a fat fish with a small tail and I was well and truly in charge with 15lb big game line going straight to my hook!. The fight didn’t last long, once the fat common had gone 20 yards or so he pretty much gave up the fight and just waddled round in circles until he came to the landing net. I slipped the net under him and gave it one massive shout, ‘fat common’ I yelled at the top of my voice!. One of the syndicate members heard my shout and came to investigate. ‘Fat common, off the top’ I said whilst giving it the clenched fist like you do!.

Chris smiled and said ‘I’m off to get the camera’, he disappeared for a while and when he returned we weighed the fish and rattled off a few photographs on both our cameras. For the record, the fat common weighed just 16lb 4oz, this was 3-4lb lower than the average estimate from fellow syndicate members but at the time in August 1993, he was both a pb common and a pb surface capture and given how hard he was to tempt I still rate and remember this capture all these years later.

The Fat Common from Day Ticket/Syndicate Carp Water Burton Mere


I was glad to be able to unzip my leather jacket, whilst getting absorbed in the moment I’d forgotten just how hot it was!. With the pictures done I released the fat common and thanked him for making my day.

This carp had confounded everybody by avoiding capture and I’d been the only angler to get him on the bank and in spectacular fashion, I was just a little bit pleased with myself that day!.
Chris, the guy who’d helped with the photographs, he was a talented angler and he was the only other person to work out that the fat common just didn’t eat boilies. He became the next and only other angler to bank this unique carp when he caught it twice inside a couple of weeks on maggots. Apart from his two captures and my surface capture I don’t think the fat common ever saw the bank again. He continued to annoy the rest of the syndicate by swimming round on the surface every day but apart from the two captures on maggots, he never did slip up again whilst I was a member of the syndicate.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Carp Fishing - Red Letter Days Pt1

Red letter days are those brilliant days in carp fishing when everything seems to fall into place and you get a good result, sometimes its just one carp, other times it can be a big hit of fish, either way these kind of days don’t come along very often and when they do, you remember them for years to come. My first instalment of red letter days is about my first ever carp fishing session on famous Yorkshire carp water selby 3 lakes.

I’d been travelling to linear in April/May time for a few years and fancied a change of venue. At the time, April 2001, selby 3 lakes had not long changed from syndicate to day ticket and after a chat with my mate barney we decided to have a 2 day trip to this famous Yorkshire carp water rather than our usual trip to Oxford.
Little did I know just how packed out selby 3 lakes gets, even though we’d booked a place on the lake I wasn’t expecting every single swim to be taken!. On top of it being packed, the two anglers due to leave were pulling off two dud swims on lake one which meant me and barney were going to be fishing a poor swim regardless of where we actually wanted to be.

I wasn’t happy, being herded in like sheep and having no room to move was not my idea of a fishing trip. I like to angle for my fish, I like to go looking for my carp then watch them and work out the best way to catch them, its simple fishing and the only thing that really spoils my chances of catching is other anglers occupying swims and blocking me from getting my baits on the fish. Selby 3 lakes was looking like my worst nightmare and having set up camp half way up the right hand bank from the bungalow on lake one, I had no choice but to live with it for two nights.

Once I was set up and cast out the complaining started, I had itchy feet and I wanted to move out of my dud swim to try and give myself a chance of catching. My baits were out for roughly two hours when I decided on a plan of action. I wound the rods in and did a couple of laps of the lake to try and pin down the carp. They were stacked up in lake 3 and one particular bar had fish cruising up and down it constantly. There looked to be some right lumps in lake 3 and with only two nights fishing I figured I had to get a swim in there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, nobody was going home the first day so I spent my first night about as far away from the fish as I could possibly be.

Needless to say I blanked that first night and in the morning I went for the first of several walks round the lake. I think it was on my 4th journey round that I noticed an angler on one of the cut throughs had just started to put some of his gear outside his bivvy. I stopped and enquired what he was doing and it turned out he was starting a slow pack up. That was enough for me, I virtually ran back to my swim to start moving but instead of packing up I grabbed a gas bottle and went straight back to lake 3 to lay claim to the swim. I don’t know why I did that but I was so glad I did as two anglers arrived just after I’d claimed the swim!. I went back for the rest of my gear and a couple of hours later, I was set up in a flier of a peg watching lumps cruising along a bar to my left and the odd fish in the cut through to my right. Unfortunately the new arrivals had to take the only peg left and that was my old peg!
Over half of our trip was gone but at least my persistence had got me onto some fish, a few hours later the guy on my left began to pack up too so I was straight round to barney and by nightfall we were both fishing lake 3 and on the carp.

I’d watched the fish for a few hours and decided the best plan of action was to cast one rod to the bar where the carp were cruising and the other tight to the far side of the cut though where I thought carp might pass if they decided to move from lake 3 into lake 2 or vice versa. Being a day ticket water and seeing how busy it was I opted for single hookbaits. I figured there was more than enough bait going in already and that I was probably fishing over someone else’s freebies anyway so single hookbaits seemed the logical choice.

I woke up on the last morning with nothing to show for my efforts. Looking around I noticed most anglers were recasting first thing in the morning so I left my rods alone. I was due off late afternoon anyway so it was all or nothing for me.
I’d dozed off for a while early afternoon and was awoken by a full on screamer from the rod fished in the cut through. I was on the rod straight away as instinct kicked in but it took me a few more seconds to clear my head and get focused on what I was doing. The carp ran away from the cut through and went into deep water in front of me. It felt like a solid lump and it took me quite a while to get the upper hand, once it was in front of me boring up and down the margins I knew it was a matter of time before it came to the net. The water in selby 3 lakes was quite clear and I could see the fish deep down in the margins. This made me nervous because it looked to be a decent fish. Several more minutes passed and the fish began to tire and come up in the water, by this time barney was at my side with the net and a few minutes later my first selby carp went into the net first time.

Selby 3 Lakes 25lb 8oz Mirror Carp, I felt like I'd won for a change!


I was delighted, when I’d arrived I couldn’t see anything but doom and gloom with so many carp anglers on the lake. With just an hour or so to packing up time, my hard work and tenacity in getting onto the carp had paid off. The carp was unhooked and weighed in at 25lb 8oz, a proper 3 lakes lump. The pictures followed and my mate barney did a cracking job as a small crowd of anglers looked on. Once the pictures were completed I released the fish back to lake 3 and watched it slowly disappear into the depths with a big smile on my face.
I recast my rod back to the cut through again in the hope of picking up another carp but none were forthcoming. I only fished for another hour, most of which I spent packing my gear away. I wasn’t sure about selby 3 lakes as a venue, there were some big carp in there for sure but the sheer number of anglers fishing there made it a nightmare. Despite this, the drive home was made so much easier with the thought that I’d actually won this time.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Carp Fishing - Linear Fisheries

I've been travelling down to Linear Fisheries Oxfordshire waters since 1996,making sure to pay at least a couple of visits every year. Back in the late 90's there was no Brasenose or Oxlease, for me, these overstocked waters are strictly for the 'Argos Carpers' and they are not waters I'd visit myself.
Its Manor, Hardwick and St Johns that hold my interest, all contain the kind of fish you travel all that way for in the first place so I concentrate on these three waters and forget about the rest.

St Johns mirror caught one Sunday afternoon, nearly everyone has gone home and the nearest angler is on the road bank at the opposite end of the lake!.


The first thing I would recommend when going to Linear, is to fish midweek, as it gets really busy at the weekends, I reckon the perfect arrival time is about 2pm on a Sunday afternoon, this is because most people have left, or are just packing up. I've lost count of the number of times I have arrived to find both Manor and Hardwick empty at this time!.
My approach on arriving at Linear, is to spend some time walking around the lakes. Naturally, I'll start on Manor first, this is because it contains the most 30's and the largest fish so finding fish on here is first priority. If I fail to locate any fish, rather than just guessing, I will look at the next best option, which is Hardwick, this contains the next largest/most 30's. If a good walk around those two lakes doesn't reveal any carp then I will move onto St Johns and carry on looking. It's very rare to get around all three of these lakes without finding some carp tucked away in a corner somewhere. If I find fish on Manor, I will set up straightaway, however, if I locate fish on Hardwick or St johns, I will make a note of where they are, then leave them be for a while, this is so I can re-trace my steps back to Manor, and see if there is anything that's been missed. Basically, I'm looking for the largest fish I can find on any of the three waters.
Should I get on the fish and they move then I'll move with them, if this isn't possible then I'll take a look at the other lakes to try and locate some more fish. This tactic has paid dividends a few times when I've moved from one lake to another in mid session and had a result. It pays to keep an open mind about which lake to fish, by deciding on the day, based on where the fish are, you will find more success than picking a particular lake/area before you even arrive.


Hardwick 30 caught after a night on Manor, the fish moved off on Manor and I found fish close in on Hardwick and moved lakes, this 31lb 2oz mirror was the reward for my effort.


On the location theme, Linear fish are known to follow the wind, if they are not directly on the end of it, they will almost certainly be in the windward half of the lake somewhere. It's basic good practice to check out the windy end of the lakes first, yet so many people just don't seem to bother!.
Once found, the carp are not too hard to catch if you use a cautious approach and be a little bit different. My favorite tactic is the single hookbait or a very light scattering of bait fished to showing fish. By not baiting up heavily, or using a spod, I don't risk spooking the fish and I get my bait right amongst fish that are feeding. Believe me, it doesn't take them long to find a single hookbait. Should the fish decide to move, its just a matter of moving with them, if you have a large bed of bait down you can be reluctant to move off it, even if the fish are showing somewhere else. Theres also the fact that most Linear anglers turn up and spod for England, often ruining their chances of a fish before they've got their hookbaits out!, I personally only give them a lot of bait if they actually look like they are up for a big feed and thats not very often.


Stunning 22+ Fully Scaled Mirror, I went round all 3 lakes twice before I found the fish on Hardwick!.


On the bait side of things, it seems that most people seem to spod a mixture of particles and pellets, then fish boilies or maize over the top. I'm not a fan of spodding on top of pressured fish so I just fish either maize, a tiger nut or a boilie over a light scattering of bait, or use a single hookbait if I can't bait up quietly with a catty.
The old saying 'it's better to spend one hour in the right spot than a whole day in the wrong one' is the theory behind my approach, not just on Linear's waters, but everywhere else too. The key to catching on Linear's waters is to keep your eyes open and be prepared to move when it's necessary, don't put all your eggs in one basket regarding which lake you fish and how much bait you put in. If you just turn up and go through the motions, you're more than likely going to be sitting there watching somebody else catch, work at it and stay on the fish and sooner or later they'll make a mistake and it's usually sooner!.


A big Hardwick 20 that came as part of a six fish catch after moving twice to keep on them.


Tight Lines
Mark.