Out of bounds fish and barbel buffoonery.

Friday I took a day off work  to go on a day trip with Jacky to Warwick castle.The fact that the river Avon ran right beside this popular tourist attraction was a happy coincidence for me but more of mill stone to my beautiful companion. It was also lucky that some medieval geezer thought it would be a jolly good wheeze to build a hundred foot tall, billion ton viewing platform right next to the gin clear river so us anglers could drag our partners and families up five hundred plus steps to have a look in a river that we spend as much of our spare time staring at any way.

As Jacky toured the attraction taking in hundreds of years of history I looked for every opportunity to peep out of any window to get any glimpse of the river and it's occupants below. What I saw when I got onto the turrets over looking the river was unbelievable. Near the old bridge I could see five double figure carp feeding near the crumbling ruin, three commons and two koi one of which was orange and black and the other pure white. Below the weir in a slack by some lillies a shoal of proper bream numbering at least fifty fish. Above the weir a second shoal of bream that easily out numbered the other by 3-1.

The bay in the lily pads on the left was where the carp fed and the white sign on the right was right on top of the big bream shoal. After taking this picture I looked down and saw two huge bream holding in the flow beneath my feet both of which were close if not over 10lb.

This looked a cracking chub run.

The smaller shoal of bream hung in the water just of the lily pads at the top of the picture.

There had to be barbel in the weir pool and notice the perfectly placed fishing peg right on the left.

As we walked down this stretch I spotted  a group of good chub slowly moving up the left bank.

Looking over the bridge I could see several chub just below the surface three of which were over five pounds. Though I took loads of photos of them, only this one showed a single fish.

It's always the case that where anglers cannot access, fish will always gather. 

Sunday afternoon I arranged to meet Andy at LAA wasperton top meadow stretch to do a bit of barbel fishing. Barbel have become my jinx species over the years and have lead me on numerous merry dances that have nine times out of ten left me fishless and pissed off. If something is going to go wrong for someone whilst barbel fishing it will be me. I've had a huge shoal of fish from five to twelve pounds right infront of me and a mink popped out the bushes dove straight into the swim scattering them. I've spent hours sitting in nettled filled scrub waiting for a single large fish to move onto my bait and when it finally took the bait the top section of my rod snapped like a twig. On another occasion whilst fishing in perfect barbel conditions I had eight whacking bites on the trot and every one snapped me off. It got so bad that on one occasion I was fishing with a old friend and we were both peeping over a small hillock that was masking us from a feeding shoal of barbel when a hornet came buzzing round my mate who naturally had a morbid fear of wasps. I don't know what was worse, his reaction to this giant orange wasp or my threat to beat him to death with a bank stick should he break cover. He did eventually run off scaring the fish and as he danced round the field desperately swiping at his own head I followed brandishing the afore mentioned bank stick. The last part of this terrible run of barbel luck happened when fishing a very tasty looking fallen tree on the upper Avon that I knew had some very shy but large barbel hidden under it. After baiting up just up stream of it I had cast a bait into the shallow clear water and secreted myself behind some tall grass with my rod lying on the floor. After two hours of waiting the fish finally began to venture out just as another angler very considerately crept up behind me to ask if they had come out yet. In a anglers whisper I communicated that they were on the move and with baited breath we both watched as a large fish moved towards my spicy luncheon meat. The rod whacked round and in a desperate attempt to stop the fish going under the snag I applied maximum force. Only for a second did I feel the pressure of this monster before  my hook pulled and my rod sprung back with some serious force knocking my companion clean on his backside as the rod connected with his face.

I suppose I should have been honest with Andy regarding my barbel buffoonery before arranging to go out but if I had have told him he may well have turned me down, or at least brought a video camera with him to get his £250 off you've been framed.

It seemed a good time to use my brand spanking new waders and after donning them and getting all my kit set up I waded into the cow drink to begin. I knew full well that the fish weren't residing in the shallow clear run when I arrived but my idea was to gradually build up a bed of pellets and ground bait through the late afternoon using light feeder outfit whilst trying to get he dace point, then swap over before the light started to go to a heavy rod and see what moved in as the light went.

At first the plan went well with my first cast throwing up a 6oz dace, then not long after this 4oz fish.

After that the minnows went to work. But persistence paid off when my rod trembled with some force and a bigger 8oz example took my maggots.

The dace became impossible to find and my constant stream of maggots attracted a small chub to take my hook bait which proved an interesting fight on my super light outfit. After this I gave up, missing the dace point by a meagre 2oz, put away the light gear and pulled out the big guns. Keith had taken pity on me upon hearing my tales of barbel woe and had left me a gift hidden in the chassis of an irrigation pump. After grubbing round this farm equipment I managed to locate the present on the floor; two mocking sheep watching as I scrabbled round whilst on the phone the Keith.

With this wonder rig made by a far more experienced barbel angler attached my confidence was high.

So thigh deep in the Avon I watched my tip awaiting the impending arrival of my pb barbel. As the light went the tell tale signs began with slight twitches on the tip. The night crept closer and my excitement grew with a few liners. Then it happened the tip trembled then hooped violently round, as I struck the fish powered off downstream in a seemingly unstoppable charge straight into a thick patch of rushes. There was no way on gods green earth I was losing this fish so after calling for Andy's help to hold the rod whilst I waded into the river prodding my way as I went with the landing net pole.The idea of being bollock deep in cold water on a Sunday night would make most people consider golf rather than fishing but for me it was personal. After spending a while poking the weed with the main line in hand it moved, expecting it to shot off I let go only to see a rather small splash only feet away. Grabbing the line again I pulled the culprit in... It would seem that the Warwickshire Avon barbel may have shape shifting abiltys as when it came closer I could see it had miraculously turned into a 2.5lb chub. 

Foiled again I packed up and  wadered off across the field with a rather damp feeling in my underpants.

The Barbel jinx continues.........

Up against the clock

I absolutely love fishing in the evening as I often feel it is other than early morning, the time you're most likely to encounter something a bit special. Though this is dependant on me having time to get myself in position a ready for this wonderful magic hour and if not I often feel under pressure (from myself ) and end up rushing or making rash decisions that are detrimental to my fishing.

Sadly this was to be the case when I joined Keith down at the river avon lido outside stratford on Tuesday night. The swim I chose was the first bad choice I made. Opting to fish just down stream from Keith who was getting into a few fish. My quickly shallowing swim with several different sorts of weed growing randomly all over and decent snag at the tail end proved to be a poor choice for running a waggler through. And after finally locating the only decent area to run a float through I could not consistently hit it with float.

After and hour of fishing all I had to show for my efforts were a roach and perch and five missed bites. At this point I made my next poor decision of the evening and switched to a light lead rig on a quiver tip rod which turned out to be totally fruitless.

With the clock ticking I decided to up sticks and move up stream to a large weedy bay and target predators using a pack of hastily acquired dead baits I'd bought on the way to work that morning. Using a couple of heavier rods I managed to put a popped up roach right over the weed into a clear channel on the far side of the river, and with the other rod I fished a roach shallow under a float roaming over the top of the weed.

I spent the last hour and a half expecting a pike to come up and bang the roach as it swayed around over the weed, but that never happened. With the light fading my popped up roach started getting some attention and just as I was packing up the run finally came. As I struck into the fish I foolishly neglected to remember that the bait runner on my reel was on and line pored of the spool into one almighty birds nest. My only choice was to run back up the bank desperately trying to clear the tangle whilst keeping in touch with the fish. This tactic worked and after quick journey up and down the field again I was able to land a welcome Zander of 4-5lb

Keith on the other hand had fared much better, and in what I consider to be an amazing feat, had bagged the silver bream point from the river that as far as I have ever heard didn't even have any silver bream in it, to get point I will admit I thought to be virtually impossible.

King carp 1.2p per pound

The carp point for the challenge had been something I kind of wanted to get out of the way for a while. It's not that I don't enjoy carp fishing. It's more to do with the realization that if I wanted any realistic chance of getting it I would have to go a carp stuffed commercial to do it, rather than do it in the romantic way I had pictured it in my mind ie. three good twenty's from some forgotten water. My original plan was to go back to old lanwarnes were I had previously done 49lb in a little over two hours but a phone call the night before put pay to that, as two matches were booked on the big lake. A quick change of plans and I agreed to meet Neil ( a old friend who is just rekindling his interest in fishing ) at five ways fishery near Wolvey which is the home of one of the most carp stuffed lakes in the area.
The day before I had sent a text to Keith proclaiming my intention to get the King carp point on only £1 worth of bait and I was very confident that this was possible. So Sunday morning I loaded up the car with tackle and enough smart price sliced white bread to choke a heard of ravenous petting zoo goats.

The peg was not exactly feature filled. Just thirty foot of dirty water with the tip of an island in front and a few overhanging reeds ether side. The rig was even simpler than that. 8lb mono with a big hook tied on the end.
My complicated pre baiting technique took all of a minute complete; tear up three slices of bread and lob them onto the surface.

Before I had even finished this mass baiting the early morning silence was broken by the slurps of a hundred  hungry carp, as fish of all sizes came up for breakfast. So began my assault! It took exactly one second for the first one to be on, one of the smaller fish of the day a 2lb common. From then on it was pretty frantic.

After an hour I realised that there was a huge mass of small carp lurking within feet of the surface, and my bread crust was being savaged off the hook before anything bigger got the chance to get a look in. I also noticed that some bigger fish would come up in reaction to the hungry mass. At seeing this I became very discerning and waited for the bigger fish to appear before plonking my bait as close to them as possible. This turned out to be a better plan and string of better carp sent my total soaring quickly.

A good average sized fish.

Five hours of continual playing of fish on the hottest day of the year so far was hard work. But as it neared dinner time I broke the weight needed and then I bagged a couple more for good luck

The weights added up like this 2,2.5,6,6,3,6.5,7,1,4,7,3,3,3,5,4,8,6,4 = 81Lb. During the day I caught loads of little carp under a pound in weight, but if I didn't think they were a pound I slipped them straight back not even bothering to add them to the score. This could have come back to bite me in the ass but it never did and I was content with eighteen decent sized carp for over 80lb or 1.2p per pound if you would. Though I was happy to bagged this point on my second attempt I have to be honest and admit it was a pretty ugly way of achieving a point and not something I will be rushing back to do in the future.

My aim to do it using under £1 worth of bread worked out a treat and after five hours of carp bagging all that was left was two thirds of a slice of bread or one large mouth full, which I ate!

The great white hunter.

England 3 points Dan 2 points

I am no real follower of football and subsequently do not support any particular team but saying this I am rather partial to the watching the international tournaments, especially where the England team are involved. Now unless you have been living under a rock for the last two weeks you will know exactly what is coming.

After their first poor performance against the USA then the absolutely crap performance against Algeria I really could not force myself to watch England put us all through it again. So instead I dealt with this awkward situation as best I could and booked a day off work with the intention of placing myself in a self imposed exile on the tree shrouded hill's of the Warwickshire countryside until the England match was over. Where upon when I returned we would either be in or out of the world cup.

Not too dissimilar to the England sides last two results, I had fished Snitterfeild reservoir on two previous occasions and both time my tactics and formation had let me down. This fixture was to be decidedly different as since my last last attempts I have recalled my pole into my squad after three years in the tackle wilderness of the shed.

Since rediscovering my old pole fishing days I have been surprised at how many fishing situations I find myself considering using it in, largely due to it's effectiveness. I set up in a swim I know to be reliable for crucians and before doing anything spent a good ten minutes plumbing up the swim and adjusting the depth of my preprepared pole rig. Once satisfied I mixed up a sloppy batch of Bait tech super G gold fish meal ground bait and cupped in five cupfuls which as I expected formed a nice cloud as it slowly settled. This was followed by two potfuls of micro fish meal pellets plus a few grains of sweetcorn which were sprinkled from height to give a good spread over the top of the ground bait.

Whilst this settled I spent some time finishing off my rig. The rig itself was simple four feet of 3.5lb line with a drennan 4x no12 carp float dotted down so it just sank. To keep the tip of the float just a pinprick on the surface I dipped the last five millimetres in bristle grease to repel it against the water film. Most of the shot was set just above the hook link apart from two tiny dust shot six inches from the hook. The hook link was a pre bought Kamasan x strong wide gape barbless size 16 tied onto 18" of 2.12oz mono.

I was expecting to be pestered by Roach or Rudd so the maggots were left in the bag and instead soft hooker pellets or paste were to be the  hook bait of choice in this crucial grudge match. First put in the float dipped under after only seconds, my instant strike was met with good resistance as the no7 elastic shot from the top kit. 

                

Crucian 1 lb 10oz

Quickly the score was Dan 1 Snit 0 A quick snap and I was back out again. Immediately I was in again.

1lb 8oz 

Dan 2 Snit 0

I could only hope it would go this well for England later today. Pushing on in the hope of an easy point my next two shots produced two roach of 5 and 2oz which was followed by a very familiar fish.

Remember me Andy! 1lb 2oz

Dan 3 snit 0

After this I went on a bit of a roach streak adding fish of 3, 2, 3, 4oz then again the slight dip of the float tip produced another crucian.

One eyed willy here may have been a little disabled but at 1lb 14oz it was the biggest so far.

Dan 4 Snit 0

This last fish pushed me well over the record weight but with some thoroughbred roach having the pellet I continued as before knowing it would only be a matter of time before I got the roach point to.

Next I hooked into something a bit bigger. At first I suspected a sneaky bream that hadn't got the memo informing them to stay away, but after steering the unseen fish around the weed beds a flash of gold caught my eye...

2lb a Snitterfield PB (Thanks to Dave for taking the Pic)

Dan 5 Snit 0

With over 8lb of crucians in under three hours I made the choice to try and pick the roach out instead by dropping the float four inches to bring the bait of the bottom out the way of the feeding crucians.

This quick change in tactics had an instant result when this nice roach took a liking to the soft pellet hook bait.

At just under a pound in weight I knew it wouldn't take many to get over the roach record weight, and I was not wrong as it only took four more of a similar weight and a few bits to bag a confident four pounds fourteen ounces.

At half time I pondered my next move over lunch. Perch or carp were the two species that I was considering. But with the midday sun high in the sky and a few carp moving around on the surface the choice was simple.
After filling my weigh sling with a few essentials and dumping all the rest of the kit back in the car I wandered  off with a single rod to shaded spot near the giant weed bed to begin the second half.

My managerial decision turned out to be as ill founded as not playing Joe Cole in either of the first two England matches. Every time a bait was cast in or any freebies hit the water the flock of ever present ducks slowly crept in and mullered the effin lot. After this dark shapes would appear under the surface attracted by all the commotion.

A second change in approach saw me putting individual baits just onto the weed line near moving fish but still the duckies kept seeing the bread. About this time out of nowhere something swooped down at he unsuspecting ducks sending them in all directions. I only just managed to spot it as it pulled up from the water then circled round the lake. At first I thought it was a crow or buzzard but it was far too small for both, but then I realised exactly what it was, as I had seen something similar on a nature programme. A peregrine falcon!
Later at home I checked the silhouette against a reference book and it was definitely that and not a sparrow hawk which was the another possible candidate.

Throughout the afternoon the carp withdrew further into the weed bed and my only option was to risk all and cast further into the weed; this yielded only two successes, both of which ended with me reeling in masses of weed where the carp had pulled that ingenious trick of removing the hook, and attaching it to the largest amount of weed possible.

After a poor second half the score stood at Dan 2 points Snitterfield 1.

On the way back from the wilderness the radio revealed that yes, the England team had obviously heard that somewhere back in old Blighty a jaded supporter was so disheartened by their previous performances that he had gone into exile. So upon hearing this they pulled their fingers out of their arses past their bulging wallets and bleeding well did the honourable thing and won in what was rumoured to be a convincing performance.

Living the dream on June 16th

It couldn't have been a more perfect morning for where we were heading on this the first day of the fishing season. As we walked through the woods laden with tackle, my step quickened by excitement to see the old estate lake again after leaving it wearing it's autumn colours late last year. My eagerness had only been heightened by the fleeting glimpse I caught of it through the trees as we passed by only a short while ago.

She never disappoints

Some things we see as anglers are a real honour and seeing an estate lake with mist rolling off the hill side over it on June the sixteenth is a sight I have etched in my mind forever, and one I know that I will never tire of seeing as long as live.

There were patches of tench bubbles fizzing intermittently along the bank as some of the residents had an early morning feed. As I took a somewhat delicate Jeff for a early morning tour around the lake, pretty much every swim looked likely to contain fish. My original plan was to go for some points for the challenge but that was soon forgotten as the obvious signs of feeding Tench and the idea of  having a go on my all time favorite method, the lift float, crept into my head.

It was not long before I found myself staring through the mist at a red float top next to a patch of lily pads, eagerly awaiting the slightest ripple to emerge from the float to indicate the presence of a hungry Tinica.

This lake was once renowned for its tench fishing and attracted the anglers from miles around. I have even read a few things by Richard Walker were he makes mention of the lake and its numerous residents. But sadly now the hey day has long passed and like so many other estate lakes it finds itself in a different part of its life cycle to the tench stage. But! a small number of relatives of those fish that 'Dickie' once angled after still remain and those prepared to risk the dreaded blank and commit themselves to the cause, can still find one or two fish if in the right place at the right time.

Having fished this lake for a few years and having tried just about every possible way of catching these illusive fish, I have discovered that old methods are far more likely to score than new, and the same goes for baits.

Yes the odd Tench falls to the carp anglers whilst they attempt to catch a monster at range on boilies but as far as I am concerned corn, meat, bread and maggots have been much more successful for me in the past.

After sitting on my hands for the best part of a hour as I watched three distinctively separate fish mooch around, leaving a tail of fizzy bubbles every time they dipped to feed all within feet of my float. My chance was at hand as a ripple shot out in circle from the float. Something was close by, then a slight dip, then the money shot came as the peacock quill float lifted half way from the water then dropped onto its side before sliding away to be met by the strike. My first thought was that a marauding roach had crammed my two grains of corn in it's mouth as there was little resistance, but then it woke up and my fourteen foot power waggler rod was set to work as a tench powered away. With a patch of lilies on ether side of the swim and a second rods line dipping into the edge I tried to be as careful as I could with an angry tinica boring round the swim, but soon she was on the bank. My first fish of the new season a 4lb estate lake tench.

Does life get any better?

My second cast produced a bream around 2-3lb but the fuss caused by the previous tench had sent her companions back into the depths. Switching to a waggler set up I continued catching smaller fish hoping this normally roach filled lake might give me enough for a roach point, but strangely this year there seems to be a even split of roach and roach bream hybrids in the lake, so my roach point would have to wait for another day.

My hopes of some pike getting on the small fish shoals seemed a little ill founded too as not one single attacking splash was seen all day, which compared with last years whole sale slaughter by the pike on this day seemed rather perplexing to me. But on the other hand I have given up trying to predict how this lake will fish as the fishing itself is as changeable as the moods of the lake.

A half time break was in order and the suggestion of a pint and a pub lunch was welcomed by Jeff. A short drive later we were sitting in the beer garden of the Castle pub at edge hill awaiting a home made ham doorstep sandwich whilst enjoying a cold pint looking over the Warwickshire country side from this unusually high vantage point. Whilst on about it I would certainly recommend that should you pass by it is well worth going into this castle based pub. The home cooked food they serve is both reasonable and tasty, there is always good range of traditional beers available, and the view is unsurpassed for this part of the country.

After lunch we headed back to the lake for round two though I suspected the fishing would continue on the same vein. For my own part I must admit that my early morning was beginning to catch up with me and most of my afternoon was spent dozing behind the bite indicators and carp rods. Jeff on the other hand had spotted some carp drifting in and out of a bed of lillies and was determined to bag one, which he did not long after getting back onto his jungle like peg; a nice mirror of 12lb sadly with some serious mouth damage caused by what looked like a trailing hook link, which judging by the sores on it's sides had probably been torn out during spawning. But still I know several anglers who have been fishing seriously on this lake for years and not actually caught one yet so 'well done Jeff'. As the afternoon drifted away the old estate lake grew quieter with every passing moment and by 8pm the only thing that seemed to be moving was the local mozzie population. We could have stuck round until last light but both Jeff an myself got the feeling that the fishing was not about to suddenly improve and reached the unanimous decision to drag our weary bodies home.

    

Bream grind

An opportunity for mid week session gave me the chance to head down to jubilee pools with bream in mind. It's not a venue I have fished a lot and before going I tapped up Keith and Andy for the low down on the bream fishing. Amazingly both suggestions were exactly the same 'cage feeder filled with fish meal ground bait fished at 30 yards'. Now I know the bream in jubilee regularly get caught by carp anglers and have been caught in the past up to 8lb+; I also know that jubilee contains a good head of small to medium sized carp. With this in mind I thought banging a feeder full of fish meal ground bait on feeder rod in every ten minutes was only going to end in disaster. So instead I went for a heavy approach using large cage feeders on a paternoster with 2ft hook links of 6lb line, topped off with size 10 hook and hair rig, with the aim of fishing 10mm boilies on one line and three grains of corn on the other. Rather than trying to watch to quiver tips I used two specimen rods combined with indicators detect the bites.

After setting up half way down the lake in a peg normally coveted by carp anglers I began my attack by first clipping up one rod at 30 yards then casting out fifteen feeders of pellet and corn laced ground bait. I was hoping to bag four or five good bream and get the point the easy way but my first bite produced a fish only 1.5lb. A pattern soon formed as four more fish up to two pounds followed the first.

At mid morning I got my first run in with a carp as the buzzer went mad and for the first time line stripped from the bait runner. My beefed up bream rig coped perfectly and after several spirited runs a 8lb common was netted. Though after taking this photo myself and quickly releasing the fish I looked back as I often do to find it looked like some unseen alien space ship was trying to abduct both of us.

 

Don't go into the light!

Finally as I was trying to eat my leftover lasagna dinner I was disturbed by a bite which turned out to be better bream of 3.5lb. 

Getting Bigger

After this fish the roach moved in and began pecking at the corn baits before they even settled. Sometimes in the dead of winter roach can be little buggers that will only eat a specific bait in a certain way but today it turned out they had quite a fancy for three grains of corn attached to a size 10 hook, and four roach around 10-12oz hooked themselves up as they darted of with my bait.

With the roach brassing me off I decided to reorganize my kit and re bait the swim to try and attract the bream back in.

A bit of organization goes a long way

In early afternoon the wind changed direction and at first I thought I had detected the pungent aroma of the on site lavvi being pumped out but sadly I was wrong, and whilst on top of the bank giving Keith a status update I spotted a bloated carp bobbing in a fallen tree down the bank. There is nothing more unpleasant than getting a nose full of rotting carp every time the wind blows and by mid afternoon  I was considering risking moving just to get away from it.

Mr stinky

A late run of bream between three and four pounds pushed me over the record weight to bag the bream point and as I packed up, pulling my normal trick of leaving my rods out till the last possible moment, my boilie rod sparked into life. With everything packed away I hastily snapped this nobbly brama and quickly weighed it at just under five pounds.

Just five more minutes for five more pounds

The total now was comfortable 25lb of bream, though if I am honest a task which I at first thought was going to be no problem turned out to be quite a grind. Something I will say is that with the amount of bream in jubilee - some of which are already quite sizeable - and the large amount of bait the regular carp anglers are putting in,  the bream in this lake should increase in size relatively quickly, and in ten years time there could be some truly massive fish residing in this lake

Return to the lagoon.

The only fishing action I had got all week was a prospective canal carp session on new bit of canal with Andy on Thursday evening, which produced not so much a sniff from a carp and thoroughly reinforced my theory that you really have to know the location before you try and catch them otherwise your just pissing in the wind.

My session for the weekend had been organized for a week or so. To join my friend Neil and his daughter for her first fishing trip to an old haunt of ours 'Lannys lagoon'. Some years ago I spent a huge amount of  time fishing both lakes and as a result got a very good idea of how to fish these secluded lakes. Sadly Neil had to call off but I still went because I was confident of a point or even two for the challenge.

With my pole dusted off and the top kits re elasticated I felt confident that my pole fishing days of yesteryear would come flooding back. Which they did after two hours of me slapping the pole into trees and the water.

I cupped in a mix of liquidised bread, fishmeal  ground bait and good sprinkling of pinkies onto one long line and an inside line as well. The only real problem that arose with my adventure back into the world of pole fishing was my lack of a pole roller, which I begrudge wasting money on since  I would hardly ever use it. I however overcame this problem with a clever use of other tackle. I took two small bank sticks with the carp style grip heads and put a third longer rest into the tight fitting heads then attached my unhooking mat over the top which worked like a dream, though a couple of other anglers seemed a little confused when they saw me putting it together.

As I suspected the float never even settled for more than a few seconds before dipping under.This went on all morning as a steady stream of roach, roach/bream hybrids, Rudd, Roach/Rudd hybrids, Skimmers, Bream, micro Carp, f1's, Crucian hybrids and best of all, goldfish were landed. At dinner time I ran out of bait and pulled the bulging net from the  water. 19lb not counting the ounces of goldfish topped by a extremely thick 3lb+ example gave one point. 9lb's of Crucian hybrids would be another if I didn't lack confidence in their linage (I am not claiming that point lads!) The only other point was again the Rudd and the total weight overall was 57lb.

After taking a wander round the other lake before I left I found a large group of carp feeding on the surface under a large mat of scum collected in one corner of the lake. Unable to resist I lugged all my gear back to the car and walked back with a single rod, landing net and few other bits of gear to have a crack at them.

Two hours of non stop action produced eight carp from 4-12lb before the rain came in at which point they all sank out of sight. Though for two hours work 49lbs of carp punched me over the 100lb mark for the day.

If only it would have lasted two more hours I would have had the carp point in the bag too......