Frank’s Autumn catch up
Hi everyone I hope this late Autumn spell has been kind to you all. I have had some lovely sessions in recent weeks topped by one of my most favourite sessions of all time where I blanked, how can that be I can almost hearing you ask! Let me explain I have been a carp angler a very long time indeed and one of the most enjoyable aspects of that has been watching my children grow up loving the great out doors and following my footsteps with their love of carp fishing, we have had some truly fabulous times together, Guy my eldest son is particularly fanatical about carp fishing and has introduced many of his friends to the sport over recent years, many are now addicted which is great to see.
Recently I got permission from the owner to take Guy to my Cheshire syndicate lake as a guest, it was something we had both longed to do all year, but with guest sessions being a bit of a rarity it was all the more special.
As we drove to the lake I asked Guy which fish he would most like to catch if he could choose without hesitation he replied “The big scaled common called Marge” a fish I had been lucky enough to have caught previously which really is the most incredible creature and Guy had been in raptures about this majestic carp.
We arrived at the lake with some trepidation in case our choices of swims might be limited by other anglers present, we sighed with relief to see the lake was devoid of other anglers.
Guy being my special guest was given first choice of swim of course I wanted him to have the very best shout on his special trip, to be fair it was a no brainer as we saw a couple of good fish crash in the area where Guy was already fancying.
Bait for the session was going to be Vital baits Mojo boilies a bait I had so much confidence in as I had had without a doubt my best year I could remember on it so far with numerous big fish and to be quite honest astounding results, to this we added sweetcorn, 3 mixed sizes of small pellets 2,3, ml some boilies we left whole but most were crushed with the Ridgemonkey chopper what a vital bit of kit that is.
Rigs were Thinking anglers size 5 curves in conjunction with slip D rigs, 15ml wafter Mojo hook baits, tipped by our favourite Enterprise Pineapple and N butyric plastic corn.
We went carefully with the free offerings as it was late Autumn and quite cold weather and the lake had slowed down considerably over the previous 3 or 4 weeks had we got the timing right we wondered.
On some waters it pays to re cast regular and freshen things up but I had learnt on this venue the opposite to be the case get the location and spots right then sit on your hands and let the bait nag the carp usually sooner or later something would give and action would come, mostly on the second half of my 48 hour session proving the tactic was valid.
I went in a swim near to Guy so we could have some quality time but to be fair I knew my swim was really not the place to be but it was not about me at all I just wanted to be there to see Guys enjoyment,
The first 24 passed uneventful and did not particularly worry me, I told Guy we were nearing the best bit, I was not wrong as I heard Guy get a couple of bleeps on his alarm followed by the most welcome “dad im in”
It was a heart rending scrap where the carp went crazy trying to bury itself in the dying lilly pads that the lake has in abundance, he did brilliantly and after perhaps 6 or 7 minutes she was ready.
As soon as I saw her I knew Guys dream fish had become reality it was incredibly Marge looking stunning in all of her glory.
I thought Guy was going to explode with delight, the beaming smile and ear to ear grin summed up how we both felt.
She was a little down in weight at 35.8 but she was still a new UK pb for Guy and one of the best commons in the country as far as im concerned.
Job done we were thrilled by the shots which I took, both looking at them for hours after the capture living that special moment in time.
I had a very strange feeling there was more to come and told Guy about my strong gut feeling, I also mentioned I felt he might have a 40lb common, I have learnt many times before in my life not to ignore my gut feelings.
Around 6 am the following morning I heard a few bleeps followed by the shout, it was another crazy explosive heart pumping battle that left us both shaking, I peered into the landing net and said to Guy its bigger than the other fish.
“No way really dad!” was his reply I said not only is it bigger it was indeed my own personal target fish that I dearly wanted to catch, it had somehow managed to elude me all season, it was a common very rarely caught called “ The unknown” normally over 40 but at 38 exactly who cares.
I was 100 times happier to see my lad catch that fish than if I had caught it, I have plenty of time to achieve it, but to see him angle so well and catch two personal best magnificent commons was a day I will treasure all of my life.