Fifth Session 

This was going to be the last session of February, and conditions were looking far from pleasant.

The week before was mainly spent receiving goodies from the postman in preparation for the oncoming Spring.

Nev had sent me 10kg of basemix, Squirrel had made me some top notch pop ups, and the rest of my surface gear had arrived.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday looked absolutely ideal for a spot of surface fishing, bright sunshine, ideal temperatures and I just knew my day would be completely different, if I am honest I couldn't help but feel a little envious. 

The weekend was spent making another small batch of baits and I really was looking forward to being on the bank.

Sunday soon came around and looking outside of my window the weather was indeed looking unpleasant, grey skies, cold gusts of wind and rain look eminent. 

The journey was pretty uneventful, but at least there wasn't a lot of traffic about.

On arrival in the car park, I could see another two anglers present fishing the pole, the weather looked really dark and grey, so I set up on the mid point section of the pool quickly as I suspected it wouldn't be long before the rain came.

The owner had pulled up in his car and after a quick chat he very kindly offered me the chance to fish after dark when everyone else had gone.

This was music to my ears, I had surmised many times that the fish could quite easily just wait during the course of the day and start feeding during the darker hours after everyone had left and now I had the chance to exploit this situation.

No sooner had I set up I decided to move to the bottom end of the pool as the gusts of wind were really cold, biting cold, to my thinking the fish would be more comfortable in the calmer water.

I had just moved my rods round when the heavens opened, but now I was committed to the move so I just had to grin and bare the rain and get moved in as quickly as possible.

Finally I was in position, all set up and ready to go, the rods were very quietly placed, with just a handful of loose feed scattered around the spots. Both rods were cast into the margins either side of my swim. I could set the shelter up right out if sight in this swim and I was a bit more comfortable now, and I knew I was on fish as I had seen a couple of grey shadows moving around to my left.

The rain was relentless all day long, the bank resembled the somme, all of my gear was soaked and to top everything off a had to ration my coffee as I had forgotten to top up the pot.

If I am honest the day was a real struggle and I remained bivvy bound for most of the time, hoping I would get a take, I had even contemplated going home at one point, but I was here now, I might as well stay.

A plump little Robin frequented my swim and offered a little break away from the appalling conditions, letting out his song every time he perched upon my rods, I scattered a few broken boilies out to keep him occupied and fed.

The hours slowly passed by without any sign of activity, then I saw the water flatten to my left, right over my bait, something was feeding sending up the oils from the bait and I knew this may be my only chance of the day.

5 minutes later, the left hand rod sprung into life and I was soon netting a very welcome little common.

I was so glad id stuck it out and it made the weather all the more bearable.

A few shots were taken and the fish was returned to its watery home. 

By now I was absolutely soaked and I couldn't see myself hanging on a lot later but I did, I stayed until dark. 

Nothing else materialised that afternoon but at least id had a fish and at least now I knew I could fish well after dark in the sessions to come.

As always thanks for reading and until next time, good luck.

50 Shades Of Carp

Just for a bit of fun I asked the carp twitter community to display their favourite caught carp, and these are the results. I must warn you though, if you are easily excited, you may need tissue as there are some stunning fish in this collection. I actually had no intention of putting all of these pictures together into a blog, but once the photos started to roll in, it dawned on me, on how privileged and grateful I was that the anglers below wanted to share their proudest moments with me, so here they are in all of their wonderful glory.

Some of these anglers I know, some of them I don't, regardless of whether we know each other or not, irrespective of what method, bait, tackle, age, gender or aspiration, we are all brought together through one desire, and that is, to catch carp.
These fishermen and fisherwomen are specialists in their own right, as they have chosen to fish for one particular species and accomplished what they set out to do, a feat considered an impossibility just 70 years ago.
Some of us wait days, weeks, months even years nearly driven insane in pursuit of these elusive creatures, and yet, all of that anguish, all of that waiting, all of the moments of self doubt just simply fade away the second a carp slips over and into the landing net.
We are the fortunate few who see and experience every season of the year, from the depths of Winter to the scorching heat of the Summer, we see, feel and breath it all.

Every one of the photo's above are special moments that have been frozen in time and will be remembered by each and every angler responsible for the capture, and it is only fishing that provides these moments. In fact I would even go as far to say, we do not choose fishing, fishing chooses us, and takes us all on a life long journey.

This is what fishing is all about and this is what we are all a part of, I thank you all for being gracious enough to share your priceless moments with us all.