Had some spare time on a day off so went over to the lake at 4.00 pm. Good decision!

It was a beautiful September day; warm, bright and just a breath of wind.

Couldn't get my 'spot', but this turned out to be fortuitous. I fished a swim near the car park where I had seen others do well.

I free-lined some bread flake by the reeds and threw in some dog biscuits. Carp immediately started to take the biscuits. I changed to floating crust and quickly was in to my first fish; it turned out to be a 14lb 12oz Leather. I knew it was big when its head came out to take the crust!

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This was followed by a fantastic few hours up until dusk:

Leather (14lb 12oz) - floating crust [16.15]
Leather (10lb 0oz) - floating crust [16.45]
Leather (10lb 6oz) - floating crust [18.45]
Mirror (10lb 4oz) - floating crust [19.10]
Mirror (5lb 6oz) - floating crust [19.30]
Leather (8lb 14oz) - floating crust [19.50]

All fish were taken on my light carp rod with 8lb line - gently does it.

Dusk fell very quickly, as can be seen by the last photo. This was unfortunate as the carp were rising to every crust I cast, although I missed more than I hooked. A truly memorable few hours.