Diary Entry

... of the lake for a change.Things started well, and carried on at a frantic pace. As soon as I chucked the ledger out, another bite happened. It was great fun, and although the carp were small, they fought like mad, and it was real struggle to get them in. The biggest carp was on the float, but the other 8 were on fruity boilie on the bolt rig, just off the reedy point of the next swim along. I was using the very short hook length of the pre-tied hairs (about three inches) that I bought recently, and these seem to work very well. I can not remember the last time I caught nine ca...

... with a cold wind (as usual this year), and there was absolutely no sign of carp activity. I moved from my first swim, mainly to get comfortable and be out of the howling wind (at least 15-20 mph).I'm beginning to realize that my search for a sheltered spot in order to be warm, and float fish, can often take me to where the carp are. As soon as I moved I had a great fight on with a 10lb carp from the over hanging tree on the island, on the ledger rod. Very shortly after I had another slightly bigger carp, with a screaming run and a terrifying fight that took all of my conce...

Second Day At Woodlakes. Today I was stalking on the small over grown back lake called The S Pit. It was beautiful, sheltered and good fun. It was blowing a gale, and luckily this place was just about fishable with float set up.I found a nice lagoon, and baited up, and soon my float was surrounded by bubbles. I assumed they were cause by small bream, because every time I struck, nothing was there. But when I decided to change to a small piece of lucheon meat, rather than a large one, I started to catch fi...

...I began to fall asleep.Luckily things began to pick up in the evening, with a screaming run on the bolt rig under the tree of the island, to the right hand side (see map). After a good scrap I had landed a 14 and a half pounder. Shortly after I had a smaller, but angrier carp on the float, but it got off at the last minute. Gutting. Last thing, I got another large carp, about 13lb, from the usual spot by the up turned boat.

.... It was lovely and sheltered, and still like glass, with only two other people there. It is a nightmare to get to, going down some very narrow scary Devon lanes, which is enough to put me off to be honest.  Add to the that, both times I have not had even a slight wobble on the float for hours at a time. Nothing. Maybe they do not like boilies. Who knows. I probably will not ever find out.

...e sun came out it quickly warmed up to about 15 C. My optimism was quickly dashed once I arrived at the lake - there was a fishing match on and so Horseshoe Lake was closed. I therefore set up on the smaller match lake, not very hopeful of much action and I was right. I ledgered and float fished, both rigs were with shell fish boilies, hard on the bottom. After three hours of no bites, but catching a bit of a sun tan, I quickly moved to the main lake as soon as the match was over. I fished in my favourite swim, the round shaped bay, and got a steady number of bites, but missed ...

...caught more fish than Sam...We set up, or rather I set up (Sam doesn't know how to tackle up) at my favourite swim, and almost immediately started to catch small carp. Sam caught about 5, and I got 7, the biggest being about 6lbs. All were caught on hair rigged crab boilie, some on float and some on bolt rig. It was a really enjoyable day and we had a lot to eat, caught the sun, and lost several carp in the reeds.

...must admit I did not like the look of the fishery. It seemed very scruffy and neglected, and certainly not as nice and intimate as the photos on their website made it look.I cast one ledger rod to the far bank, where the warm wind was blowing into, and I had seen some carp jumping, and float fished in the margin on the near bank. After about 40 minutes I got a tentative run on the ledger, and was into something very heavy and slow moving. I played the fish for a few minutes, when it zoomed towards me, and because I didn't reel in fast enough, it spat out the hook with the aid ...

...o the island end, and found somewhere that was sheltered, and looked fishable. After lugging all my gear around to the new spot, I cast out, and almost immediately got a bite. I missed a couple more, and assumed that it was skimmers, as they are a problem at Marsh Farm, especially when float fishing with luncheon meat. But I was wrong, and within 15 minutes I had landed a 10-11lb Common. Then, for the next few hours I caught more bream, and had another large carp on, but it spat out the hook.  On my last cast of the day, just as it was getting dark, I hooked a monster. It ...

...ags, got snapped several times, missed countless bites, and had several good fish on, only for the hook to pull out. After hours of this I finally caught two good size carp, before things inevitably went quiet at lunch time. I also managed to snap my incredibly expensive Korum Power Float rod, although it is still usable, albeit a bit shorter now. Bummer. I will need to increase my tackle strength again as these spring carp go absolutely mental at the moment. Incredibly hard fighting, and yet quite small carp of about 5 or 6 pounds seem to be able to snap my 10lb kook length...