Saturday I checked out a new area of
the Thames that one of the Nash anglers had mentioned during the
Roadshow at Broadlands. The area is known for its barbel, yet last
week I heard of a 7lb 5oz chub being caught and this week a 30lb carp
so it looks like it holds everything we are looking for and with a
couple of potential swims located I’m sure we will be paying it a
visit soon.
Monday dawned and after getting on top
of loads of wedding photographs I prepared the carp kit for a night
under the stars, once again on the Thames. Chris arrived early
afternoon and we headed up to Chertsey and Laleham for a look
around, yet apart from a few good looking areas, nether of us was
drawn to it so before the traffic mounted headed back to a new
stretch on the middle reaches that I had checked out over the
weekend. Picking a swim that had some pace to it below a weir we were
soon sorted with rods out, however the only spectacular sensation
that night was watching the Perseid Meteor Shower as come 7am when we
wound in neither had received so mush as a bleep!
Somewhat disappointed and with the best
part of the week at our disposal we decided after lunch to head to a
new stretch of river and try our luck at barbel. Settling well away
from each other in swims that looked the business we both fished
pellet up until darkness then cast another rod out for eels. I
instantly knew my swim contained fish or a good fish as a liner
indicated its presence after just twenty minutes yet I had to wait a
further five hours till the tip pulled round and after a hairy fight
in such a tight swim I finally managed to slip the net under a very
big fish. In the net she looked like it might beat my best but on
lifting I knew it was well short, yet weighing 14lb 7oz it was a
great result and my best barbel for a couple of years now. The rest
of the session past without any further action, yet as they say, all
you need is the right bite to put you back on the confidence road.
Back at home I quickly fired a couple
of images to Tim at Anglers Mail before once again shifting through
wedding images. Can’t wait till Thursday as we will be back for yet
another session.
Thursday came and with wet weather
forecasted to move in at around 2am on Friday we decided to head back
to a known carp swim on the Thames. Instead of going looking for the
carp we have decided to settle on one spot that produced lots of carp
in the past for me and will be trying to fish the swim once a week
from now on as well as also topping it up once a week. The session
couldn’t have got of to a worst start as on arrival I was
distracted by someone asking about the fishing. Not wanting to bring
attention that we were staying the night closed the boot of the van
as not to reveal the bedchairs but on doing so heard a nasty crunch.
What had happened was my rod holdall had slipped whilst resting
against the van and had come to rest on the boot and on closing the
boot one of my butt eyes of my new Nash Entity’s was crushed. I
managed to use the rod throughout the session but although the eye
was less it’s ceramic and wasn’t sharp lived in fear of hooking a
carp! Later that evening my barbel spoon snapped on me before the
catapult elastic went. Not a great start but I struggled on. The swim
we wanted had a massive wasps nest in that had been recently burnt
and with some aggravated wasps flying around had to settle a few
yards upstream. Arriving at around 3.30pm we weren’t expecting
anything till dusk yet as soon as I fired in a few boilies the swim
came to life, unfortunately they were from bream that were rolling
everywhere. Luckily our baits, 15mm/10mm snowman rigs went unnoticed
for a couple of hours, yet come darkness more than half a dozen had
dropped in our nets, so out went the double 20mm baits! This
quietened things down and with what was almost certainly a carp
crashing upstream we dozed of in anticipation. 2am the rain started
and after swinging the oval to stay dry I felt that the big hookbait
might just be too big so changed to single 20mm yet come morning just
a few bleeps had come our way. We feel we are getting closer so after
baiting up with around 3 kilos of pellet and boilies headed home with
a return trip planned for Monday night.
Another day in the office before
returning to our new found barbel swim, but tonight it would be Chris
who would be trying to tempt a monster. As for me I still had river
carp on my mind and headed of downstream, finally settling on a swim
fringed with lilies on the far bank. Movement in these soon revealed
my position was spot on and soon after casting out a common stuck its
head out, yet the night past without incident but not for Chris as
dawn broke he was requesting some photos of a barbel weighing 11lb
10oz. For me it was like catching another monster as this week we
have put in plenty of hours and hard work searching the river for big
fish and I desperately wanted Chris to catch something special.
All in all the week has proved just how
searching for big fish can go. We spent four nights spent on new and
old areas which have a track record of producing monsters. One bite
is all we were looking for and luckily we both received one. That’s
all it takes to turn a week from being a disaster into a remarkable
one. This week we have found a swim that contains big barbel as well
as two that contains carp and its now up to us to educate the carp
into eating our boilies before returning and being rewarded.
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