Carp capers

The weather is improving and water temperatures are rising. Encouraged by this and some recent sessions ledgering with an Avon rod, I dusted down the Carp rods and give the Abu reels a spin. I've been listening to some Carp fishing podcasts recently and renewed my membership for the Earl of Harrington Angling Club and decided on a club Carp water a short drive from home.

Heatherton is a lovely, peaceful place just to watch the water and there is a lot of wildfowl to see this time of year. I was the only angler there and apart from a dog walker, the place was unoccupied by humans, and then I noticed the weed. Although a work party of Earl members recently removed a lot of the blanket weed and Japanese pondweed, there was still a lot about, partly due to the shallowness of the water. Catkins that had fallen from the trees were resting motionless on the surface of the water where the weed was at its most prolific.

Undaunted I set up the rod-pod, Beacon bite alarms, 10' fibreglass rods and Cardinal 157 reels and looked for suitable places to cast my bait, deciding on a spot close-in for the left-hand rod and further out towards the island for the right rod. I catapulted out some sweetcorn, crushed boilies and pellets and watched and waited. I watched the swans, ducks, Canada geese and a mother coot with her brood of five while looking for signs of fish. The sun was warm and the southerly breeze gentle as the morning wore on and I reeled in to check my baits. I could feel the weight of the weed as I reeled in and swung the mass of weed onto my unhooking mat. This was going to be challenging.

Deciding on a change of bait I choose a popup to raise my hook above the worst of the weed and recast both rods into different spots. Pondering about what to do and hoping my baits were in a place where the fish could find them, I thought about a change of plan. After a few more casts to different spots and adding to the huge pile of dried weed removed by club volunteers next to my peg, I decided to float fish with a short line. Anyway, let's just say I neither caught, hooked or saw a fish. I decided they must be hiding in the weed somewhere and packed up and chatted with a few other anglers who'd set up on the opposite bank. They hadn't caught but they had seen a few fish topping. Maybe next time, although, it's a nice place to blank!

The next session this month was at Birch House Fishery, this time on Kingfisher Lake. I set up the Carp rods and Cardinal reels, one rod baited with a newly purchased bread bomb. I'm not very good at hooking bread and saw the Sweetcorn Kid using one online, and thought I'd give it a go. Shortly after casting, I had a slow take then a hook pull, probably a Beam. However, I did catch a Bream on the bread later in the session.

The other fibreglass rod was baited firstly with fake corn which resulted in a fast run and then another hook pull. Then I changed the hook and put real corn directly on the hook and landed another Bream. The rain started to set in quite heavily so I decided to call it a day after those two fish.

My final session this month was a very quiet session, again back at Heatherton...