Diary Entry

... 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 carp, before things inevitably went quiet at lunch time. I also managed to snap my incredibly expensive Korum Power Float rod, ...

...rarely fished. After ten minutes I had a gentle, slow bite, which I thought was probably a bream. But all hell broke loose.  This big carp took me all around the lake, and tested my new Shimano Classic Barbel rod to the max. I prayed my knot would hold, and bullied it out of the (many) snags. After half an hour it finally gave up and came to the surface. It was massive, and I was shaking with excitement. It was 15lbs, but looked much larger. A beautiful fish. Then, tired and happy, I did one last cast, back in the original swim, and bang, another 14lb carp. I went home exhaus...

...but bright. The lake at Marsh Farm was churned up like a rough sea, making float fishing difficult, and it was packed with Bank Holiday crowds, so choice of swim was limited.After about 20 mins, having finally managed to tie a hair rig, it promptly got snapped by some wild carp darting for the snags. Gutted. Then I tried the old faithful spot, and guess what, it did not let me down. Had a small 6lb carp, that was very, very angry. Went back to my spot at the back by the fishing boat, and soon had a monster snap me up in the snags. Gutted again. Had a few more takes, but I reckoned that...

...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 beast snapped my 12lb line like it was cotton. The power of them is awesome. Lessons to be learned here, I think. Quite a good trip, but the constant wind was dispiriting.

...boat - where else. The problem is they have butchered this place and cut all the trees down, so there is no where to sit in the shade. Or get shelter from the wind that blasts through that valley, either. I caught a skimmer, and had several bites from carp, and one finally snapped me in the snags. I had to give up at this point because I was sweating profusely and had run out of water.

... group of four lads nearby, saw me rock up, and plonk the float a few feet from the bank, and they must have thought me a loser or a bit wierd. However, after a wait of about 10 minutes my secret spot did not let me down. Before I knew it, I was fighting to keep this monster carp out of the snags, It pulled so hard that I was using all of my strength with two arms to hold it back. It dove for every bit of snag in the vicinity, giving me a very stressful time. The sight of me struggling prompted the lads to ask if I needed any help, and one came over. When I finally got it in the net...

Frustrating Day Of Random Irritations. Marauding ducks, pesky skimmers nibbling at my bait, a persistent cold wind, and a large carp lost in the snags, all combined to make this a frustrating and not particularly enjoyable fishing trip.I stuffed myself full of food in the morning, which gave me stomach ache, and put me in a bad mood. Self induced. The cold wind was irritating, and blew my float fishing presentation out of the window. Two duc...

... on the day, as did the woeful performance of the new Baggin Waggler 4G rod.After having lost one big carp to the bushes in the old faithful spot (I nodded off), I finally got one after an amazing scrap. The new rod just did not give me the control that I need to keep the angry carp out of the snags, and I will be selling it as soon as possible, That is all to report. Except I lost four more. Bit of an idiot today I'm afraid.