Quest for a 20lb carp no. 3 - A fish at last

After blanking a couple of times at a difficult venue, I decided that a run was in order so a change in scenery saw me at a lake with a better head of fish, albeit smaller size (the largest would scrape 20 in there, with an average size of 8-9lb).

The place doesn't get many people carp fishing with boilies, so I decided to use meat on one rod, cast to a nearside margin adjacent an overhanging bush and a snowman rig with cell boilies cast to some pads towards the far bank. With the first rod in, I then flicked the meat to its position and placed the rod on the alarm, which tore off 30 seconds later...after a spirited fight this fish of 8lb ish came to the bank. Happy to bank something at least

The rod repositioned, I say it out for a few hours without a touch. There was activity in the pads, with a number of carp (very reasonably sized) launching themselves clear of the water. Shortly after, the boilie rod let out a sudden short burst of beeps which quickly stopped. Unfortunately this didn't culminate in any bites.

As the night drew in, I reeled in my baits, happy to bag something at least. A liberal scattering of cell boilies before leaving, I'm hoping to get them onto it. 

Probably back to the hard venue next time, had my 'fix'!

Quest for a 20lb carp no. 2 - different lake, same result

I fished a new lake yesterday evening. Up to my eyeballs in coursework, I decided the best place to do it was sat by a lake in the evening sun by a lovely lake.

The place holds specimen tench, bream and a few overgrown carp (in comparison to other places in the area), but notoriously difficult. The first rod was cast out with 4casters glued to a hair, over a bed of hemp and caster. The second was boilie over a stringer of boilies cast to any interesting location. 

A couple of beeps on the caster rig was, I imagine, small fish taking an interest. As the sun dropped to the horizon, the place started coming to life. Tench rolled on the surface, a pike attacked some prey fish, a kestrel hovered close by. Suddenly a big Carp launched itself out twice, enticing me to reposition my bait, which I did. As darkness fell, the bats came out to play, coming incredibly close to my head. It was a glorious evening, and surprisingly I got a decent amount of work done, mainly because there wasn't any activity on the rods.

We aren't blessed with big carp waters up here, unless your willing to join a syndicate which I'm not as I prefer my rivers when fishable. I'm also against fishing commercials, despite their potential, out of principal (unless specimen perch start turning up!). There are a few waters which fit the bill of holding 20lb+ carp, being nice to be around, and being local, but they are difficult places where a couple of summer caught carp would be a result.

Will have to keep trying, hopefully as the sun warms into the year, 'nuisance' tench and bream will show.