Diary of an average angler

Arrival time: 09.00
Weather: Dry and overcast with a chilly NE breeze.
Tackle: 10ft Fishtec Compact Float, link leger/waggler, 6lb line.
14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, Rapidex 2400 centre pin with 5lb line, 4lb bottom & 16/14 hook. Insert waggler.
Baits: Hemp seed, sweet corn, cheese paste, luncheon meat.
Fish: Two carp, a barbel, a perch and two small roach

After my success with carp last week I went to Fields End today to target the carp. Of course, the carp didn't oblige, well not at first, so I switched to the match rod and then the carp woke up!

After a very tranquil session last week, today I found the car park full and more anglers around the lake. But the NE corner was free, where I fished last week. This suited me fine with the cold NE breeze being behind me.

I prebaited with hempseed and corn and started by free lining a piece of cheese paste alongside the reeds using my compact float rod, hoping that the carp might react fairly quickly. But it wasn't to be and I soon changed to a float, still on the same rod, as the breeze was making free line indication difficult. But still nothing, so after about an hour or so I changed to my match rod to try for roach.

I quickly caught a small roach but there was no follow up! After quite a bit longer I did get a slightly better roach but the lake seemed pretty dead.

I was using sweetcorn and switching occasionally to cheese paste and then luncheon meat. In the end the meat did the trick and shortly after 13.00 I had a positive bite and a small carp was slowly brought to the net. Duck broken!

I persevered with luncheon meat and the next fish was a surprise, a perch of about a pound. The first ever I've caught on luncheon meat. That was quickly followed by a bigger fish, almost certainly a carp, that took my hook on its first run. It could have been a faulty tying on the spade end or perhaps I damaged the line when using the disgorger on the perch. It hadn't taken the hook down but was awkward to remove with my fingers.

But all was not lost as a little while after I hooked another big fish that took me probably ten to fifteen minutes to get in. A magnificent carp a couple of ounces under 13lb. Things were certainly looking up. I had increased the hook size from 16 to 14 after I replaced the lost hook.

No sooner I had sat down after returning that carp and the float sailed away again. I assumed another carp but had a pleasant surprise when, after another protracted battle, a large barbel broke the surface, a fish that weighed in at 8¼lb.

So, after a morning with practically nothing happening I had landed three species in the space of probably no more than a couple of hours, including two very respectable fish.

You can watch a lot of the action in the above embedded YouTube video.

A day of two parts although I liked the second half better than the first.