I was going to edge my bets and fish a rod for carp and the other for rudd, I wanted to try and see what the rudd potential would be from this lake, and after doing a bit research it seemed my best chance for these would be after dark. I had to wait until my wife got back from work so I could hand over the baby sitting duties, then id be off, hopefully fishing by 7pm. As I worked 5 minutes from the venue I could be packed up and in work the following morning for 8am.
It was a glorious warm day with bright sunshine and as the I pulled up to the gated field it had clouded over, still very warm, in fact improved fishing conditions, im not a fan of fishing in bright sunshine. I was travelling light, no cooking equipment on this overnighter just sandwiches and a few bottles of fizzy drinks. A quiver with 2 rods, my brolly, bedchair with thermal cover, no heavy sleeping bag, a bucket of bait, medium holdall and landing net. I was loaded up like a pack horse, thankfully the route to the lake is all down hill.
I was the only one on the venue, I fed some bait into a few likely areas and set the rods up. My rigs on both rods were identical, a medium feeder fished helicopter style with a 3-4 inch nylon hooklink, size 10 hook, one with a piece of foam and sweetcorn the other a hair rigged boilie. I was catching rudd from the start averaging 6oz, I had a run on the boilie rod, which I did not connect with.
The rudd kept biting however they were not exceeding around 6oz, perhaps the bigger ones would feed after dark. It was a beautiful evening and as the sun sank behind the hills, the boilie rod burst into life, this time I connected with what was obviously a carp, one of the stockies judging by the fight and I soon had a plucky common on the bank. As soon as dusk fell the rudd bites stopped instantly, I never landed any rudd during the dark hours.
As I stated earlier, fishing on this venue is a bit of an unknown quantity, theres no hard evidence that other fish have been stocked in the past and if so how long ago or what species were stocked. I do enjoy a bit of pioneering, trying to unlock a venues secrets, who knows what swims beneath the surface.
For after dark I put a Charwood Baits 12mm fluro pop up on the boilie rod and im glad I did, at 1.30am I received a proper take, line being ripped from the spool, I jumped off the bedchair and lifted into the fish, it instantly felt heavier than anything else id hooked from the lake, my barbel rod absorbed the carps lunges as he made several bids for freedom, it was very dark as the sky had clouded over blocking the moonlight. As I played the fish by torch light I had a feeling this was not going to be one of the recent additions, however I was yet to see the fish until it neared the bank, then I got a flash of gold, it was what I had came for, one of the original fish or offspring of the originals, I estimated it around 6lb, until it was safely in the net upon which I revised my estimate to getting on for 10lb!
It was a stunning Common with bronze back, dark edges to his scales and vivid orange on the tail, what a result. I was over the moon, it didnt matter what weight it was, but for the record the scales went to 9lb 14oz, just short of the double. I felt I had taken a gamble, followed up on a few rumours and it had paid off. The carp was immaculate, it looked like it had never been caught before and probably never even seen a boilie before. The Charwood Baits MPP is a great boilie, it has a track record for producing on a variety of venues and the fish seem to find an instant attraction towards it, if you havent tried it before give it a go on your water.
I retired back to the bedchair but couldnt fall alseep, I was still buzzing from the carp. I must of drifted off and was woke again by the boilie rod with another stockie at 4.30am as it began to get light. The dawn chorus was like none I had heard before, it was a plethora of song from several species bird, so much so I could not tell them apart, this lasted for an hour, it was a tremendous melody.
As I returned the carp, I looked up over my brolly and spotted a fallow deer walking along the tree line of the meadow in the dusky half light. As the Doe neared, she spotted me and instantly pranced across the dew laden meadow with a series of jumps until she was out of sight.
After that last carp I did not go back to bed, I enjoyed the next couple of hours, listening to the birds and watching the sun rise, upon which the rudd started to feed again.
A ghostly mist passed over the lake as another rudd came to the net. I felt my efforts had been rewarded in this short session with an unknown carp falling to my rod.
One thing I will point out is that unfortunately I did forget my unhooking mat, however I can assure everyone that the fish went back just as it came out, the area is on low ground being very wet and the grass very soft under foot, ill make sure I dont forget it on my next session.
Its exciting fishing a venue that has an unknown stock, who knows what swims beneath the surface.
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