I've taken 5 years out of fishing because I was both burnt out and jaded with the UK carp fishing world, I found myself hating being by the water, mainly due to other anglers that have no manners or consideration for others. It appears we're living in the age of the 'catch at any cost' twat that appears to be so fucking desperate to make a name for themselves they will do just about anything to put a fish on the bank. This whole attitude makes no sense to me at all, fishing is suppose to be a hobby not a career path. I decided to write this blog because the flame that got dampened by the stupidity is very much burning again, I've had a syndicate ticket for around 5 years now and it's time to start fishing the place.
I have 7 years of blogs to write with loads of good fish caught .. BUT.. I won't be writing them all up, I'll pick a few standout sessions. So much time has gone by, even with the notes I've made, I genuinely can't remember most of my trips, so instead of writing half-arsed accounts I'd rather document the sessions I can remember. Stepping away from fishing is something I've done a number of times in my life but I've always come back to it. This time around I've feel I'm on the right waters, they're near deserted during the week so I'll be able to do my own thing without being disturbed by some bucket hat wearing wanker asking me "what time I'm leaving?" so they can drop in behind me and parasite off my hard work.
The session I'm writing up took place back in 2019, I was spending a lot of time on the stock pond down in Hoo, it was a a very hot August and with the sun now lower in the cloudless sky, I loved spending my time down there. You are surrounded by flatlands so there's always a light breeze, the clarity of the world around you is magnified. Despite the size of the water I wouldn't call the stock pond "easy fishing", the fish are quite wise and you have to approach it correctly otherwise you're going to struggle. Personally for me, solid bags worked exceptionally well, you can use them to "bait and wait" or cast to showing fish.
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| Caught On A Solid Bag Under The Rod Tips |
I've actually lost count of the amount of carp I've caught out of the stock pond by casting at a showing fish, you can be sitting there all day without a touch, then a fish jumps, you cast to it and a bite can occur very quickly. This is pretty much what happened to me on the day of this session. I set up face to the wind, when the wind is fresh the carp have a tendency to get on the front of it. In these conditions I literally fish a couple of rod lengths out, back-lead and sit further up the bank. I alway like to sit a fair distance behind my rods and stay low because I want to stay off the skyline and be as quiet as possible. "Quiet" is something that isn't practiced by many anglers nowadays, I believe any unnatural noise can put the carp on the defensive, especially on a lake the size and depth of the stock pond.
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| My PVA Bag Mix |
Around this time I was using a very fruity mix in my solid bags, it was a mix pellets, crushed boilies and small 10 mm boilies. Before casting out I'd inject some liquid feed into the bag so there was a nice explosion of flavour as it melted. The approach of the day was simple, I was going to keep one bag on the same spot without moving it and then the second rod I'd roam around with the intent of casting it to showing fish. I remember on this specific day, the sun was beating down really hard, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The conditions were pretty much the worst they could be for carp fishing . . but .. hey .. you've got to be in it to win it .... right??
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| Conditions Were Not Ideal |
The day started and progressed in a fashion that I expected, no signs of fish, no line bites, no nothing, this was pretty standard for the stock pond. I knew I was going to have to sit it out until I was given a clue, no clues came in the morning and to be honest if I hadn't have been watching the water closely I would've missed the only show that occurred all day. By chance I walked over to the really shallow bay that was a long to right of my swim and as I did I saw the remanence of a vortex with some bubbles coming up. The fish was literally in two and half foot of water, I couldn't actually see it but I thought it would be worth quietly dropping a bag down there.
I split my bite alarms, now fishing each rod on two sticks, both with a bite alarm on, I tied a new bag up, crawled along the grass to stay off the skyline, got my sticks set up and literally lowered the bag exactly where I saw the vortex a few minutes earlier. Feeling the bag down, it was literally 2ft, if that, I sat up back from the water positioned in between both my rods. If either went off I wasn't too far away, it had only been a few minutes and the rod in the bay gave a few bleeps and "BANG" the reel was screaming, the eruption that took place was like a mini Hiroshima.
I clambered down and grabbed the rod, leaning into the fish, it instantly felt rather large, after the initial bolt it started to plod, silt was being kicked up from the bottom. The bay went from lovely clear water to something that resembled a dark soup. After a few minutes the fish started to slow down, it was at this point I caught a glimpse of it and it looked big, its back was so wide and its depth was crazy. Teasing the fish into the net it hit me that I'd caught one of the 30's, the largest I'd had from the water in the past was 29IB. This was clearly a different fish, its proportions were rather ridiculous.
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| A Rather Large Back |
I gently unhooked it in the net and managed to get it into my sling, when I tried picking it up it became apparent instantly that this was a heavy carp. I zeroed the scales, hung them on my weighing tripod and, rather awkwardly hooked the sling on, the scales sunk to 34.5IB. The thing that I remember the most about catching this fish was the slight disbelief that a carp like this could be residing in such a small water. It really was a lovely carp, almost perfect without a mark on it, I got a few photos done, got my shoes and socks off and walked out into the water to let it swim off. It wasn't possible to release it without going out into the pond because the margins were too shallow.
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| 34.5IB |
It goes without saying I was pleased with this capture, it's always nice to catch a big fish ... BUT the size of a carp isn't my motivation, it never has been. I was fishing the stock pond because I love how fresh it is when on its banks. Because the sea isn't too far away you can smell the ocean when you're fishing, It has the bluest of skies and when the sunsets, if there's no clouds, you can see the stars. That's why I was fishing this specific water, the size of the fish I caught was pure luck and basically a byproduct of me enjoying my time on the banks of the stock pond.
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| Peace |
