Micklem Mere 'Fishing For Mysteries' Part 2

After the success of my last session my angling mind was preoccupied with the thoughts of getting back down the mere as soon as humanly possible. Now having found an approach that worked I really felt that I stood a good chance of unearthing some of the better fish. It had crossed my mind that if I stayed focused on Micklem for the foreseeable future then my 'big carp' catch rate would drop off, but that was a sacrifice that I was prepared to make, there was going to be plenty of time left to get back out on my other waters. If I didn't make a concerted effort on Micklem now, I feared that I never would.

Me And Eric On The Banks Of Micklem

I was going to be approaching this session in exactly the same way as last time, the only difference being the make up of both my solid bag and sloppy mixes. The rig was going to be identical and I was going to target the same spots, I'd made notes of the wraps on each rod and the horizon markers that I was aiming for. Recording all these little details would allow me to get the rods out in super fast time and keep disturbance to a minimum.

But.... on arriving at the water it became apparent very quickly that I was going to have to rethink my plan. Pulling up into the car park and looking down on the mere, I could see the trees contorting, the wind was crazy and I could easily make out waves as the whole contents of Micklem was being propelled towards the right hand bank. It was like witnessing the eye of a storm, it was very strange because there was barely a whimper of wind in the car park. This eerie atmosphere only heightened my anticipation so I set forth into the chaos to try my luck.

I decided to make my way up to the same swim I was in last time and fish into the wind. Despite the conditions it was warm and I had a sense that a few carp might be hauled up along the margin to the left of me. My right rod was going to be fished on a solid bag that I was going to lob out as far as I could, taking into account the strenght of the wind. I wouldn't be feeding slop over this bait, it was going to be left on its own, there was no way I would be able to apply the feed accurately. 

My left hand rod was going to also be fished on a solid bag, this would be placed on the silty area in front of the trees to the left of the swim, because I was fishing at short range I felt I could apply the slop without too much problem. Below is a panoramic view of my swim on a much quieter day, it will give you a clearer understanding of the way I've chosen to fish it.

View From The Swim

Prior to casting out I got my mix together, the make up was exactly the same as last time, the only difference being that I'd chosen to use the "Big Fishmeal" method mix. My reasons behind this were simple, I have a vast range of method mixes and I'm wanting to use them all and compare the results. Combining both the 'hot chilli hemp' & the 'salmon marine' blends worked a treat last time, I was curious to see if a 'fish meal' based attractor would make any difference. For those of you that want to know more about my sloppy spod mix and the ingredients used, you can review part 1 of this blog here PART ONE.

Big Fishmeal Method Mix

With both my wet and dry mixes ready I rigged my rods up, I took refuge behind the trees to seek some respite from natures onslaught, trying to tie a sold bag when its contents is swiftly being removed by the wind was an impossible task. Just like last time, I decided to stick with the floating corn and half a 10mil boilie combination. Both PVA bags were finally tied, the right rod was launched into the oblivion before me and the left rod was clipped up to 9.5 wraps and comfortably put on the silty spot to my left. How I managed to get the bags out accurately was an achievement within itself. 

Floating Corn Boilie Combo

The next step was to introduce my loose feed, I clipped my spod rod up to 11 wraps, the plan was to dump the slop a little further out and use the wind to my advantage. Because it was pushing so hard in my face, I knew the slop would drift nicely towards the area I was targeting. I pictured chaos under the water, I had no doubt that bits and pieces where flying around everywhere, and with my slop being introduced into the equation I felt it was just a matter of time before I got a bite.

Using the Wind To My Advantage 

I fed the spot for a good twenty minutes and then decided to give it a rest, I was going to top the swim up every hour. Despite the difficult conditions I was managing to hit the clip on every cast, the key was to really give it some power. I stood firmly by my rods, determined to stick it out, the mere felt like a wild ocean, my rod pod felt like a cruise liner, I was the captain and if my vessel was to sink, I'd sink with it.

It always amazes me how the weather can change the feel of a water, when I think back to what the conditions were like on my last visit, it felt like a totally different world. I started to think about all the waters that I fish as having personalities and each of them having a disorder, 'schizophrenia' sprang to mind. 

On those quiet warm days they welcome you with open arms, the outside world becomes a void that you have no intention of reentering. Then you have the days like today, when it's brutal, it's as if the water has made an unwritten agreement with mother earth to help banish you from its banks forever more. 

Just as I was about to retreat for shelter my right rod blurted out a few bleeps, the bobbin smacked the blank and then dropped back, the rod tip was fidgeting. Lifting into the fish it became clear I'd hooked into another one of Micklems smaller carp and I had no doubt it was going to be a picture of perfection. It felt funny sliding my 42' net under something so small but it's the right thing to do.

Give It A Few Years

Upon returning the fish to the water I got another solid bag tied and cast it out as hard as I could, it pretty much landed in the same area, I was happy. The previous bite indicated to me that I needn't be spodding every minute to draw the fish in, the attraction in the bag alone is enough to get me a bite - this was something to take into account for future sessions.

Within minutes the same rod was away again, I could tell by the nature of the bite that it was another cheeky scamp, gently reeling it in I started to imagine that maybe I had a secret monster on the end that was reluctant to put up a fight. Sadly not, but the quality of the little common that materialised from the waters skin was a fine reward, it was perfect.

Miniature Perfection

With all these small carp that I was starting to catch, Micklems sentences and paragraphs were slowly being written. This is what it's all about, as stated before, this mere isn't a "rent a carp" type water, it's an entity all of its own and I know that in the next ten years it's going to be such a special place. I feel honoured to get in on it early and as I grow older and weathered, so will the mere and all its inhabitants, hopefully they will choose to pay me a fleeting visit in years to come.

The right rod was back out and I felt it was about time I fed my left spot, twenty spods went out. I was going to continue this process until I got a bite. The afternoon ticked by and I continued to feed the swim, surly the effort was going to produce something? I persevered and stuck to my plan. As the day started to fade the onslaught of wind just kept on coming, I was starting to feel like I'd ran a half marathon, all my slop was now in the lake, and in my hair.

As evening came I started to resign myself to the fact that I might have got both the spot and bait application wrong regarding my left hand rod. I reeled my right rod in and started to pack it down, I always seem to draw this process out in the hope the remaining rod might spring into action. 

'No word of a lie', that's exactly what happened, it simply ripped off, the take was aggressive, the clutch was smoking and the rod was bent right round. This certainly wasn't a small resident, if it was, it was on steroids, I lept into action mode, grabbed the rod, instantly I could feel that this was a heavy fish and it was steaming along, I let it run, the initial run was long and I had to just let it go doing my best to keep it away from the tree line. The wind was battering me physically and this fish was battering me spiritually.. but what a feeling it was.

I was slowly gaining ground, there were some serious flat spots occurring where the fish was wallowing around just under the surface. A broad back surfaced, closely followed by a large fanned tail. My legs were shaking a little bit and I was praying that I was going to be able to get it in. It slowly started to tire, closer she came, with net in hand I stretched as far as I could and as the fish came to rest upon her side I raised the mesh around her. I was face to face with a big common, myth had come reality.

My First Micklem Monster

The condition of this fish encapsulated all the reasons why I fish the waters that I do. The longer I've been angling its become clear that I'm not motivated by the amount of carp I catch or the size, it's about the quality. I adore fishing for lovely clean fish, that's my buzz, and releasing them back in the same condition that I catch them is of the utmost importance. I say it so many times but the fish we catch deserve to be respected. 

Once she was returned home I slowly got my gear together, this capture had been the highlight of my season so far. When I think back to the previous season, I couldn't buy a bite, it goes to show that really thinking hard about what you're doing and subtly changing your approach when needed, can be such an important factor. I was going to give Micklem a break for a week or so and come back with a fresh perspective. Next stop was going to be Blunts Mere, I could feel a 'long dark carp' obsession coming on.

I Will Return

Micklem Mere 'Fishing For Mysteries' Part 1

When I first laid eyes on Micklem Mere I knew that I was in the presence of something special. Located deep in the countryside on the fringes of Chelmsford, it stays hidden, obscured from view. Very little is known about the place other than it use to be a trout fishery, there are rumours that some big carp are residing within it, stocked years ago they've just been left to grow and have long since been forgotten.

The trout have now been removed but the tales of trout fisherman being snapped up by big carp are still prevalent. The meres best days are yet to come and I feel that it's going to be a very special water once a good few years have passed it by. The landscape around it is bleak, there's very little tree cover and there are no real designated swims. For those anglers out there that find mystery a romance, there's no better place to spend your time.

Alone On The Mere

Last season I dipped my angling toes into Micklems waters but didn't manage to bank any carp at all. My focus was very much split between other venues, being my first season on the Chelmsford ticket, I became preoccupied with other venues. Now that my second season is underway I'd made the decision to really try and explore the mere in far greater detail. 

Reports were coming through of mid to upper doubles gracing peoples nets and a good few twenties were materialising, it seemed the myths were becoming a reality. Obviously this got my mind racing and I was eager to unearth what the mere was hiding, other venues such as Braxted and Wicks would have to wait. It was very clear to me that another one of my angling itches was coming on and I had to scratch it sooner rather than later.

The Unwritten

So, where was I going to start? 

When a water is 'unwritten' you have nothing solid to go on. The little experience I have with the place was going to be my starting point, I felt that I had to go back to move forwards. Firstly I was going to drop the boilie approach, I hadn't managed to get a single bite on them. 

My mind regressed back to my old John Wilson book, 'How To Catch Carp', I started to think that an old fashion approach might just be the key to success. It's a water that hasn't really seen high protein baits before and the carp have obviously been feeding on the abundance of naturals that have always been in the water. I sensed that old school baits like corn, meat, pellets etc could do the trick.

"Nowadays it's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the only bait that catches carp are boilies, I for one will admit that I have fallen into this way of thinking so many times, I think it's safe to say that I'm well and truly a "boilie junkie". I love everything about them and as most of you will know who read my blogs on a regular basis, I don't stick to one type, I use lots of different flavours all made up from different base-mixes". 

Different waters respond to different flavours and I feel chopping and changing gives you a broader scope on what the carp are willing to take. But as we all know, you've got to fish correctly for the situation that sits before you and on Micklem I'd made the decision that I was going to be hanging up my throwing stick for the foreseeable future. 

Micklem Mere 'Time Freezes'

On previous trips I'd had a probe around with both my marker rods, the makeup of the lake is very interesting. It's like a bomb crater sloping up from its deepest point, the margins can be anything from 3ft a good few yards out and then drop right off to around 9/10ft. 

The bottom isn't particularly clear, there's weed that appears very heavy in some places, there's some hard spots, muddy silty sections, and areas that hold lighter patches of weed. If you're prepared to put the time in to find them, there are a lot of interesting little spots to target. I feel both preparation and thought on a water such as Micklem are the two major key factors to success.

After a great deal of heavy thinking I decided that I was going to use solid bags combined with slop fished over the top. The slop itself would contain the same elements as my solid bag mix. The water is fairly large so I wanted to try and draw the fish in, I felt comfortable with the idea of using a spod in the short term. Taking into account the carp probably hadn't come across them much before, in my mind they hadn't yet associated the sound of it hitting the water with danger. 

I had a deep feeling that the spod approach would die off pretty quickly so I wanted to try and cash in on it as much as I could prior to this being the case. I brainstormed a list of ingredients that I thought could aid me in my quest to land my first Micklem carp.

With my thoughts well and truly balanced I was raring to go come the morning of my first session. I went through the usual 'rig-marole' of getting up the A12 as fast a possible, this time around, avoiding the morning rush hour. I arrived at the lake early, the sun was peering over the tree line and the deserted mere sat in silence so very fittingly. 

There was the sound of a commotion going on in the distance as all the bird life that inhabited the mere were discussing their politics, a pair of swans swam in perfect symmetry like two appointed keepers of the water. "It's times like these where I feel that I've been so lucky in my life to have discover carp angling, there's nothing else like it."

Dawn Yawning

After the rather bumpy journey down the track with my barrow, I took a seat on one of the wooden benches and watched the water for a while. If you look hard the carp do tend to show themselves on the sly, the wind was gently pushing up to the far end. The back bank is 'no fishing', from past experience I've noticed that the carp do tend to hold up there, with some sharp observation I clocked a few flat spots in and around that area. I decided I'd head up there to see if I could tempt a bite or two.

It was in this swim that I'd spent most of my time last season, it conducts a lot of water and ables you to fish the mouth of the back bay. The depths directly out in front are fairly uniform, averaging 5ft/6ft. To the left of me sits a clump of trees, in front of them is a large area that's very silty. During previous sessions I'd witnessed carp ghosting around the trees root systems and seeking shelter under the overhanging branches, they were so close in you could almost pick them out the water by hand.

Swim Location

Once all primary tackle items were setup I got down to the very 'scientific' job of mixing up both my solid bag and sloppy spod mixes. The base of both the mixes was a combination of hot chilli hemp and salmon marine ground-bait, to this I added porridge oats, salmon marine "high oil pellets" and some nut oil. The mix for my bags was obviously kept dry with a touch of oil to bind it all together. For my slop I kept all the above ingredients but added some corn and coconut milk. 

The Base Ingredients 

My hook bait was a single grain of buoyant corn topped off with half a 10m pineapple cream boilie, in my mind I had the best of both worlds covered, you had the ever reliable sweet corn with the vague scent of pineapple. This was fished on my standard pop up rig with a 2.5oz gripper lead, I kept the hook link a few inches shorter than normal so it would sit in the bag nicely. When I fish solid bags I leave a very short length of tubing on the line, this is to give the PVA bag something to bind to once its been licked and stuck for the cast.

A Simple Semi-Fixed Set Up

Finally all this gets tidily put into a PVA bag, at the moment I'm using the 'Carp Craze bullet bags'. They have a very slim profile, a draw string to tie the bag off and are a great shape for medium to long range fishing. Another advantage is, they come with very small holes already in them so you don't have to worry about piecing the bag to get any air out prior to casting.

Carp Craze Bullet Bag

Ready For The Cast

I clipped both my rods to 10.5 wraps, this distance put me in roughly about 5ft of water, the weed was slightly lighter in this area and I knew my presentation would be perfect. The spod rod was clipped at 11 wraps, both hook baits were roughly a meter apart from each other. 

Before I started my onslaught of "SLOPPING", I sparked the kettle up and had a quick coffee. Being such an open water, Micklem seems to amplify the elements, there were looming clouds shifting in the sky above, the suns rays would hit you on the face for a second or two, soon to be obscured again. The wind was steadily pushing up towards me, I really felt like I stood a chance of a bite.

With my spod rod in hand, "the game began", I found my rhythm relatively quickly and soon enough I was hitting the clip and feathering the cast as if it was second nature. "There's something strangely therapeutic about the "PING" of the line as it hits the clip, it's a very rewarding feeling". After a few minutes I was starting to get the odd liner, this was already more than what I'd had all last season. I kept the feed steady, semi expecting a run at any moment.

View From The Swim

Twenty minutes in whilst the spod was in mid-flight, both my bobbins lifted to the top and stopped. As I looked at the rod tips I could see they were very gently pulling round, furiously reeling the spod back in, I gently lifted into my right hand rod, I could feel a very dull pulling. As I began to reel in I could feel something was on the end, soon enough I spotted a miniature common with my bait hanging from its mouth. I gently netted it and then lifted into my left rod, the same dull pulling could be felt which soon resulted in a perfect little mirror carp. 

Both these fish were perfection and even though they were small, they still deserved the up most respect, like any fish that graces your mesh, it's a visitor, you greet it the way you would expect to be greeted and then safely send it on its way. I feel some anglers look upon small carp as a nuisance, but we must all remember, the monsters that we're all hunting for now, use to be small once. I had no doubt in my mind that one day these carp would be future kings. I was so pleased to of landed my first few Micklem fish, the approach was working, surly it was now just a matter of time before a larger slice of magic came swimming my way. 

Pure Perfection

On a water such as Micklem it's not about the size of the fish you catch, it's about the journey, and with each small carp caught, a little snap shot of the waters future is presented to you. Micklem is a venue for the long term, it hasn't been stocked to cater for the ever demanding 'big fish' angler, I believe it takes you right back to the essence of what angling is really all about. When you cast your rods out, nothing comes close to that feeling of 'not knowing' what could be on the end of your line when the alarm sounds. 

Shortly after casting back out and continuously applying the feed, I had another three small carp, I was determined to keep introducing the slop in the hope that a few better fish might move in. After an hour or so I was starting to feel slightly fatigued from all the casting in and out, I was now on my second bucket. There was still a part of me that felt I had to keep it up, I'd made the decision that once the bucket was empty I'd take a seat, have another coffee, sit back and let the bait that was already in the water do the work for me. 

Future Kings

Finally all the slop was gone, both my rod and reel were caked in the stuff, my clothes, face and hair had a generous covering, I was starting to look like a horror show. Taking a seat and sparking the kettle up, I kept my eyes firmly focused on the water. A few fish were showing to the back of the swim, a couple of them looked like the mythical doubles I'd been hearing about. I was already happy with the result but I was secretly willing one of the bigger carp to come and pay me a fleeting visit.

The day ticked by and as late afternoon came and went the activity out in front of me escalated, there were a number of shows very close to my spots. I can only assume that more fish had moved in now that the spodding had ceased. I knew there was a load of bait out there fluttering and twirling through the layers, it was now in the lap of the gods. Was I going to get the reward I was hoping for?

From out of nowhere I received a few bleeps off my right hand rod, soon enough it was away. This take was different, it ripped off and the clutch whizzed round, with my heart in my mouth I grabbed it, eased it back and ..... to my surprise, the rod arched round and I was connected to something heavy. I let it go, applying steady pressure, my mind was racing, could it be a secret monster? maybe it wasn't even a carp? I wanted answers to all these questions but at the same time I didn't really care. All I knew was, I was connected to something that felt good from a water I was desperate to understand.

The fish was taking me far left and all the way back to the far right, I kept the pressure steady. As it came closer I briefly saw a bright looking tail, it was a common and it certainly wasn't happy about being caught. Closer and closer it came, eventually leaning up on its side. I eased the net underneath, phheeww!! what a result.

Bronze Beauty

The relief I felt when I laid my eyes upon this fish in my net was nothing short of catatonic, it had an incredible bronze colouration to it, and most probably hadn't been caught before. After a few quick photos I spiritually saluted her as she swam from my sling back into the uncharted depths of the mere. 

I was so pleased with the results of the session, the approach worked and I've finally got my first few sentences of Micklems untold story. Instantly my thoughts were moulding around my next trip back. 

Taking into account the popularity of carp angling nowadays, there's very few unwritten waters, I know a lot of you out there yearn for that 'named fish' but I also know there are just as many searching for the unknown and the untouched. As stated before, Micklem is a water for the future and spending time with it, watching it grow and mature is part of the buzz. 

It's a world that I will be dedicating a lot of time to over the coming months. I doubt I'll land any real monsters 'but' the beauty of a place such as this is .. "you never know", and it's the not knowing that can keep us tied to the banks for a lifetime.  

Braxted Front Lake 'Navigating Rain Drops'

After so much mental focus being directed into zig fishing I thought it was about the right time to get my baits back on the bottom. My work has kept me away from the water a lot recently so any free time I've had I've been getting out as much as possible, rain or shine, nothing was going to stop me. To be honest I've felt pretty out of sync with my angling of late, I haven't yet found my groove. 

Sometimes I have such a hard time consolidating my thoughts, and it takes a good block of extensive fishing for me to tame the excitement of just being out behind the rods. If I'm buzzing too much about getting a session in I find myself going through the motions rather than adapting and considering the conditions on the day.

I've come to learn that front lake fishes its best when the weather is overcast and rainy, sun and heat really seems to put a nail in it. Upon opening my curtains on the day of the session my carp senses were through the roof, I knew I had to make the journey up to Braxted, the thought of pristine commons waiting to suck my bait in was a prospect I was willing to climb Everest for. This was going to be my first proper session of the season, I was up at 6am and out the house by 6:15am, determined to beat the "nightmare" traffic that the Blackwall tunnel so easily seems to produce. 

To my intense frustration it was already backed up, it never ceases to amaze me, with such a familiar sight in front of me I proceeded to do what I usually do in this situation, daydream about the day ahead, picturing the lake, my bait and the majestic carp that, "as I sit here in the bloody traffic", are drifting around on the lookout for some morning grub. I must admit the journey up to any of the Chelmsford waters can be a pain, especially if I'm doing it 2 - 3 times a week. This has got me considering a syndicate closer to home for next year, the time and the petrol money spent whizzing up and down the A12 really starts to add up.

Blackwall Tunnel 'The Misery Machine'

My cinematic thinking soon made the time pass, and before I knew it I was shooting up the motorway, a quick stop at the services was needed to stock up on vital edible items. The rest of the journey flew by and as I pulled into the lakes carp park, apart from a few other cars, it seemed pretty quiet, front lake was empty. 

It was pouring, I got out and had a walk around, getting totally soaked in the process. The wind was pushing nicely towards the car park so I pitched camp three swims up on the right side of the lake. When the conditions are like this I know that a few carp would be milling around the area of the water I was planning to target. 

The wind does seem to play a big part on where the carp will be, my confidence was sky high, these conditions were very familiar to me and I've always caught in them. I perched under my brolly, rigged up both rods and sat for a while whilst the kettle came to the boil. I was in no rush to cast out because the majority of the bites seem to come mid afternoon onwards. I wanted to just sit and soak it up, if I was lucky I might actually spot a fish or two.

As I sat watching the water, everything was racing, the trees were arcing in the direction of the wind and the sky looked like it could collapse on top of me at any given moment. I love these conditions and favour them so much over hot sunny days. There's something surreal about being perched under your brolly whilst natures chaos surrounds you, it provokes so many feelings that I can't even begin to write them down.

The Sky Is A Landfill 

After minor deliberation I decided to place my right rod directly opposite where the water shallows up towards the tree line, my left one was going to be placed on the semi steep slope that falls away at the car park end, it shelves down gradually to about 9ft. I always seem to manage to steal a bite from this spot if there are carp present and it's usually the first rod to go.

As usual bait was going to be kept to a minimum, everything was going to be pretty straightforward, bait up, one cast on both rods and then I was going to sit back quietly and wait. To me, through the months of fishing front lake, I really feel that any kind of disturbance has to be kept to a minimum, not only on arrival but also during the session.

Working on the basis that carp have acute senses, especially when it comes to vibration, one of the biggest weapons we all have as anglers is silence. What's the point in dressing head to toe in camo, "not that I ever do", trying to be stealth like if you're going to be heavy footed in your approach, it's a contradiction within itself.

I guess on some waters you can get away with being a little heavy handed, but here, more than any other lake I really try to morph into the surroundings. Many times I've quietly watched carp come so close in as I've kept low to the water, the moment I stand up and become visible on the sky line the fish spook. Witnessing carp patrolling a nose length away from me instantly shaped how I approached the lake, you really can get away with fishing so close in. Sometimes observing carp for an afternoon can be way more beneficial in the long run than actually fishing for them.

View From The Swim

Regarding both my rigs and bait presentation, I was going to be fishing my usual bottom baits on a 'blow-back', my chosen boilie was the ever faithful Raspberry Ripple. I have tweaked my bottom bait rig slightly, all my hook holds over the past months have been solid but a lot of the fish seemed to be hooked very close to the 'scissors'. 

As we know, hooking carp around the side sockets of their mouth can cause bad damage. I understand that sometimes there's no avoiding it because all carp feed differently, but I've put a few precautionary measures in place to try and avoid this from happening. 

The first and main change is the size of the 'silicone kicker', I've pretty much removed it opting now to use heat shrink silicone to solely protect the knot-less knot and tidy the finish of the rig up. I feel the kicker was contributing to the hook turning in such a way that it was nailing the 'scissors' rather than the bottom lip.

Shrinking The Kicker

Secondly I've positioned my rig ring further up the hook shank, literally millimetres, due to the pattern of the Fang X, doing this causes the hook point to sit at a slightly more aggressive angle. As we know, minor changes on rigs can make a big difference and I'm going to be interested to see if these tweaks help to produce safer hook-holds. 

In the image below you'll see the tweak of the rig ring changes the angle of the hook point slightly. As usual I've got a nice long hair, on its own it looks really long but when you put a big carps mouth in comparison to it, it's a perfect length. 

When using longer hairs I opt for longer hook links, this creates a nice balanced setup and every element of the rig has time to work correctly. A too shorter hook link with a long hair won't give the carp enough time to get the hook in its mouth before feeling resistance. 

Ring Further Up The Shank

Finally, being the 'hook-link addict' that I am, I'm currently using 'Ace Camo-Core' 15IB in weed green. I'm starting to lean towards semi-stiff hook links, this particular material has a weave that runs through it allowing its colouration to sit  obscured on the bottom so effectively. This is perfect for front lake because it's a very clean bottom.

Ace Camo-Core 15IB 

Back To The Session

The rods were out, both with single hook-baits on, I was confident in both of the rig positions so now it was just a case of waiting and watching. The wind was constant, the showers sporadic, I just sat tight underneath my brolly, eyes fixed on my rod tips. I watched as the rain drew maps on the water, I started trying to "navigate the raindrops" that were falling, maybe there was a message in them?. 

I noticed how sensitive the waters skin actually was, I started to wonder if the carp could feel it was raining, maybe it was transmitting some kind of morse code into their lateral line, convaying some kind of scrambled message. I had so many questions with very little answers... 

Then ... my left rod was away, crashing back down to earth I grabbed it and connected to a bullet train of sheer power, it was intense, the front lake commons really give it all they've got. I held on, cushioning the thrusts, giving line when needed, and getting well and truly soaked. Soon enough a gracious common was in the net, and what a beauty she was and to top it all, the hook hold was clean in the bottom lip, my anal tweaking worked. The clouds broke, the wind dropped and I had time to get an awesome shot of her.

Braxted Front Beauty

I've recently stopped weighing my fish, I don't want to demote such beautiful creatures to a number anymore, it detracts so much from the carp itself, they're all special. I can relate this viewpoint to age, I don't believe in 'human age', we simply live until we die, everything in between is a space I feel is there to fill with actions that allow us to develop the art of being human, I have no idea exactly what 'being human' means but I feel if you let your intuition guide you, you won't go far wrong. Just like angling, it's a journey and a process we have to go through, neither of which can be rushed.

Once she was back home I checked my rig, the boilie was still good and slightly washed out, a smooth cast got it straight back onto the spot, the bobbin was set and the wait was on. With the kettle bubbling away, I felt pretty dam happy I'd had yet another stunning fish. There hasn't been one carp that I've caught from front lake that's disappointed me, all of them are spotless and a reminder of why I battle the Blackwall tunnel and the journey to come and fish here.

The next few hours passed with no action, the showers continued, the wind dropped and the lake had an ominous feel about it, a bite could come at any moment, I could feel it. Come 4:30pm the sun came out and everything was calm, it was like a different day, I hovered over my rods and scanned the lake for any signs of fish. It was quiet, maybe all the carp were now on the bottom, all of them racing towards my lonesome boilie. 

Almost bang on 6pm my right rod ripped away, even though I was semi expecting it, it still made me jump. I was connected to another hard fighting fish, it powered along and my little 8.5ft margin creeper was creaking, its curve bent to its limit. Slowly but surely the carp was being tamed and after a great deal of heart stopping moments another common was in the net.

Last Knockings Never Lets Me Down

Once again the hook hold was clean, this carp was such a beauty and as I slipped her back I openly thanked her for allowing me to be blessed with her presence. What a fish and what a great session it had turned out to be, it continues to demonstrate that you don't have to pile the bait in to get the bites.  

Front lake never disappointments me and it goes to show that, whatever weather you have to deal with, you've got to get out there when you know it's the right time. It's all very well going fishing to get a tan but I'd much rather be getting soaked with the carp gracing my net than leaving on a blank with sunstroke.