Diary Entry

...ckle in near gale force winds. The temperature was very warm, the first warm spring day of the year, but I 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 zo...

...n. 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 really was the most exciting bit of fishing I have ever experienced. It bent my Korum Power Float rod double, but it held, and I managed to steer the beast away from the tree that I had been fishing next to. But it lunged again for the tree, and got snagged. With my heart in my mouth, I let the line go slack, in the desperate hope that the fish would free itself, and amazingly it worked, and so ...

...gth of character I got up at 5.am Saturday morning to go to Bromswell Lakes, as I was due to go out to Sproughton Beer Festival in the evening, and wanted to get in a decent days fishing first.I made it to the lake at 6.45am, and because I had tied my rigs the night before, and set up the ledger rod, I was fishing within 10 minutes. Major success. The rest of the morning was an epic fail. I lost at least two carp into snags, 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 ca...

... 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 concentration to control. It lasted well over forty five minutes:this carp would not give up, to the point that I was convinced that it was fowl hooked. It was probably the ...

...easterly winds are very chilly for this time of year.However, it does not seem to be affecting the fishing. At tea time i went through a period of catching two big carp and a huge perch. I did my usual trick of placing a bit quietly under a tree, and got bites within ten minutes. The new Shimano rod is perfect for my needs, and it has only taken me three years to find a rod for float fishing for big carp ! After a while it got really cold, and a massive amount of blossom got dumped by nearby trees, coating the entire lake, falling like snow, and eventually clogging up my tackle. I gave u...

... mad rush to get the tent up, so I could get fishing. It was very hot and humid, and mostly sunny. I settled down in the shady swim at the back of the lake, near the no fishing area island, with the up turned boat.After an hour of no bites, I went wandering around with just a float fished boilie rod, and of course at the faithful spot I got a 11lb carp almost straight away. I virtually wandered around the entire lake but had no more action for the day. Very disappointing but probably to be expected. It was too hot, and it had put the fish off the feed. Still I had a relaxing day, caught the...

...rp in this lake, but they are angry. You need at least 10lb line, including the hooklength, check your knots regularly, and have lightning fast reactions. It was very frustrating that I only caught three carp in total, but was very enjoyable and action packed. Weirdly, nothing touched the ledger rod all day.

...es have been removed.For my style of fishing, that means that fifty percent of fishing hot spots have been removed. It was like Armageddon, with the bleak wind having nothing to stop it howling across the valley. Very disappointing. After a quiet first hour, and a few beers, suddenly my float rod was nearly dragged into the water. It turned out to be, after a fairly long and deep fight, a 15lb common carp, beautiful and golden. Very exciting. I then fell asleep (because of the beers) for an hour. The bites started to hot up, but i kept losing them in the snags or got snapped. One beas...

...uite a sunny warm morning turned into a cool and dull afternoon of lots of bites and much carp based fun.I caught quite a few small carp this afternoon, and lost just as many. I had a nice chat with the owner of the lake, who told me about the large grass carp in  here. I also nearly lost a rod as it was literally dragged into the lake, with the line snapping at the last minute. Crazy. Not catching anything on the ledger, which is odd.

... fishery - we know there is going to be fish in the vicinity. But the real question is - where are the big ones ? Which this does not tell you. I went to the usual spot at the end, and float fished, mainly because my carping reel was broken. I only had one bite all day, and that produced an 8lb chubby and fairly short common.  So, to sum up, the good points were: My new carping barrow was a success and made getting to the bank much easier The sonar fish finder is probably not going to be much use. Going fishing in March it is possible to catch carp, ho...