Good Evening.

I am very happy to be back in blog mode and even happier to be fishing again. I think the next few days could be quite interesting and I definitely think there is the chance of a carp capture. Nothing happened last night apart from a two beep, two inch, bobbin drop at 2.30am. One hour later the bobbin rose again to the original height. An hour later a single beep on the same rod woke me again. I am fishing with back leads so the beeps could have been caused by liners I guess. The persistent rain finally stopped at 5am this morning and there was an incredible amount of water in my boat when I looked later on in the morning.

No more rain...nice!

A breakfast fit for heroes!!

After a slow breakfast and showing my Italian friend how to cook a sausage sandwich, we then went for a little wander round the small lake. There are quite a few trees that extend into the water and it was near one of these sanctuaries that I spotted some fish cruising around. I quickly climbed a tree and gazed down into the clear water and could not believe my polarised eyes – there were carp beneath me and plenty of them. Commons, mirrors and grass carp were swimming around in groups and rough estimates put the grass carp around the 20kg+ mark and the biggest carp I saw was a common which looked like it could go 20kg too. All the fish looked in superb condition, very plump, and they were all swimming around at very similar speeds. The one thing I did observe was they did not look like they were in feeding mode but they were being very mobile which was great to see.

Tree climbing...

"I can see carp mate!"

I returned to my swim for a quick coffee refuel and returned with some boilies in a waist pouch. I climbed the tree again and waited till the area was free of fish, before throwing some halved baits onto a clear patch of lakebed. I could make out the baits on the bottom and very soon the carp were passing back and forth twenty feet underneath me. It became quite obvious that the fish were suddenly aware of this new introduction and it wasn’t too long before a few tench arrived for closer inspection. I could clearly see them mouthing the baits, and every now and then a few carp would swim over the top of the boilies, but never once did they show any interest. The main group of carp seemed to be made up of commons and they were swimming very close to the bank in a depth of about 5 foot. After watching their behaviour and also putting some crushed baits in their path, they too ignored this free meal. These fish are clearly not stupid!

The tree lined margin where the carp were.

I returned to my swim to hatch a new plan. I would stalk for one in the edge with a zig. The fish did seem to be mid level in the water so I tied up a zig rig that was about 30 inches in length. I went for a small piece of black foam tipped with a slither of white and selected a lead with a nice gravelly coating, to blend in with the bottom. Taking a landing net and with my chest waders on, I returned to my spot. I crept down to the edge and managed to find a tree trunk to rest against. I flicked out my rig and dragged it back a little into my desired spot. My heart beat was already thumping and I could see the rod vibrating with every beat. The fish suddenly came into view and the next forty minutes was spent watching as the fish swam over, under and right past my trick hookbait. There are chub in the lake which have come in from the river and a couple of times they nearly mouthed the foam. The carp though just weren’t interested.

Very clear water indeed!

I decided to return to my swim and quickly tied up another hooklink a little longer in length and with yellow foam. The light by now was fading and the sun had already sunk behind the trees so it was now quite difficult to spot the carp, but I could still make out the odd shape drifting here and there. Finally I had to stop and tomorrow I will have another go. To begin with I am going to try with some plastic corn on the bottom after I have introduced a little pellet and I will be there at first light. I reckon this could be my best chance if the fish are still around. The lake is so small I am confident they will appear again tomorrow at some point, but as the sun has shone today it might need similar conditions to get them to return.

A view back to our swim.

The rods that I put out last night have remained in the same place. I flicked about thirty baits around each rod with a throwing stick as the light started to drop and two of these rods are not that far from where the fish were swimming today. I do think it is quite possible that there may just be a couple of feeding windows at the moment and these might not last long. I do think leaving the baits out is the best plan and I am sure the carp have already spotted them and are aware they are there. Another guy I know called Lorenzo fished this lake for two months before he caught his first carp and he swears that the fish are quite cunning. I am sure it because the water is so clear and although the fish looked quite happy swimming around today, they spooked quite easily. When I was stalking my legs were starting to shake a little and one leg was touching the tree trunk. The vibrations caused two fish to evacuate the area quite quickly, so they are certainly aware of presence and danger. Hopefully tomorrow morning I can catch them while their guard is down a little. We will see I suppose! What I did really enjoy today though was spotting carp and seeing that they were being active. Spring is on its way.

Unfortunately I have a cold! This is the first illness I have had since I left the UK and I know why I have one. Being in the company of many people and a right mixture at that, has obviously put me in contact with some germs. I would like to say I caught them from a pretty Italian girl and despite my efforts over the last two weeks, I am yet to score on that front! I have dosed myself up with vitamins and paracetamol and I am sure the fresh air will soon sort me out.

It is now time for dinner – spicy tuna and tomato spaghetti is on the menu this evening and I am doing the cooking as Nicholas can’t cook that well, and he is Italian too!Nicholas is actually leaving tomorrow morning so I will have the place to myself till Sunday and I have a feeling most of that time will be spent up a tree!

Catch you all tomorrow.

Jake and the dogs.