I was planning on fishing tonight, but unfortunately the weather has gotten the better of me. It would probably have been ideal conditions with a new wind pushing right into the swim i’ve been baiting and fishing for the last month or so, but the rain was forecast to continue throughout the night and into tomorrow morning. Faced with the prospect of packing up in the dark and heading off to work, i chose the comfort of home. Shame on me indeed.

If i’m going to be providing updates on my fishing session as well as adding new articles and ‘other media’, i thought now would be a good chance to briefly summarise the lake i’m fishing and the progress i’ve made so far.

Having returned to the country in late August I set about finding a lake i could really get my teeth into, and hopefully catch some decent carp. After a year out of the sport i was keen just to get a line in the water, but knowing that i would get more pleasure from a sustained campaign on one water, i didn’t throw the rods straight in the car and dash off to Linear fishieries. Well, actually i did, but as i was reversing off the drive i spotted the postman approaching with an encouraging pile of mail. A swift change out of reverse, back up the drive and i soon had my new season ticket in hand.

The lake in question is St. James’ lake in Brackley (just a stone’s throw from the Honda Formula one team HQ). At around 5 acres, it’s a nice looking lake, with a willow lined island at one end, but it also doubles as the main public park in the town. Inevitably this means it’s very popular with joggers, dog-walkers and the like, something of a far cry from the lonely mature gravel pit i learnt to Carp fish on as a kid.

Fishing here was going to be something very different to what i was used to. That said, this was my first serious effort at Carp fishing using gear i had worked and paid for myself, since graduating from university and having taken a lot of time out of the sport - so it was always going to be different from those treasured sessions i so fondly remembered.

I knew the lake had held some decent fish, before a fish kill 2 years ago had wiped out all the Carp stock. It was with great delight that i discovered the water had not only been re-stocked, but that two original fish had been caught at over 20lbs - proving that the decimation of the stock was not as complete as initially feared.

With the possibility of a 20lb Carp, and the fact that the lake was just a 2 minute drive from my home, i had no hesitation in signing up for a season ticket. This proved a little more difficult than i had imagined, as the lake is heavily match-orientated, but some quality time spent talking to the right people seemed to smooth the application process over nicely.

So, armed with my season ticket i headed down for my first session. Choosing a swim that provided a good view of the lake, plenty of open water and some nice marginal cover, i set about trying to catch my first English Carp in over a year. That first session, and the 3 that followed it would prove to be fruitless, not entirely unexpected given that my angling skills were more than a little rusty, and any venue takes time to adjust to.

On the last of those blank sessions, i felt a fish was close - i’d been baiting a couple of times a week in an effort to get the fish switched on to my Ocean Fresh Red Shrimp and Garlic boillies, and had two strong runs on glugged hookbaits. Unfortunately neither resulted in a fish, or even a bend in the rod, but that session served to restore my faith in the bait and my approach.

With new rigs tied i couldn’t wait to get down for my next session - and rightly so: it turned out to be a real corker! I ended with 5 carp including a new Personal Best of 22lbs 4ozs - a fish that hadn’t been seen since the fish kill. All the fish fell to boillies fished over pva bags of pellets and crushed freebies. To say i was delighted was something of an understatement

Since then i have only suffered one blank session on the lake, and gone on to bank another 9 Carp, including the same ‘original’ at a slightly heavier weight of 23lb 10oz. It certainly seems that perseverance and a consistent approach to baiting has paid off. All the fish have been taken from the same swim, and split evenly between a rod fished into open water (the lake has fairly uniform depth), and one fished to a rare muddy patch in the margins.

The full summary of fish caught is as follows:

22lb 4oz Common
10lb 13oz Common
15lb 14oz Mirror
6lb Common
14lb 14oz Common
15lb 4oz Mirror
8lb Common
15lb 12oz Mirror
18lb Mirror
7lb Common
11lb Common
23lb 4oz Common (Recapture)
7lb Common (Recapture)
11lb Common (Recapture)

All in all, i couldn’t be happier with the progress i’ve made so far. As autumn sets in, it presents new challenges in the form of soggy banks and early nights, but i look forward to conquering these and hopefully putting at least one more of those original Carp on the bank.

I’ll add pictures once i’ve had them developed.

Thanks for reading this far!

Will

Stumble it!