Hurlston Hall on a Bank Holiday Monday.... You having a laugh?

Common Carp 9lb 6oz

It's Bank Holiday Monday, and that means one thing to me. Fishing! So after a good few hours of deliberating where to fish today I settled on giving Rosemary Wood another crack. I arrived there at 7.15am to find that the gate was still locked. I waited until around 7.45am still locked. I drove to Hurlston Hall to see how busy it was, surprisingly it wasn't that bad, I joined the queue and I lasted there for around 5 minutes, there was a gang of around 5 lads and they were already acting like idiots, so I took this as a sign of things to come and headed back to Rosemary Wood, which unbelievably was still not open waited once again (Now in a queue) until 8.15am I lost my patience and for my sins headed back to Hurlston. What a nightmare, I was up at 6.00am this morning as I wanted to make a day of it. I was finally rods in by around 9.00am Grrrrrrrrrrrr! The wind was still howling like a demented banshee, so made fishing hard work again. There wasn't too amny people fishing there today, it would seem that the winds and the threat of rain had put them well off. Around 4.00pm I had a screaming run on my left hand rod, a Carp had succumbed to a double fake sweetcorn and a smattering of free offerings. I struck into the fish and I felt the weight of a very big fish, when disaster happened. Unforgivably my main line snapped. Lets just say that I will be investing in some more reliable line this coming week, although if I'm honest it was probably a nick in the line caused by me when getting tangled in a tree or something similar, but I'm not prepared to take any more chances. I had to wait until around 7.30pm until I landed my first and only fish of the day. A fabulous fighting Common Carp which battled for around 5 minutes. It weighed 9lb 6oz, and was a fine example of some of the residents of Hurlston Hall, and which is why I return there time and time again. Admittedly it's not the best of waters but it's good value for money at £6 for two rods and £7 for 3 it's a great water for trying out new rigs and techniques.

Hurlston hall on a Bank Holiday weekend you'd have to be mad!

First Common Carp caught on 360 rig

As the title would suggest you would have to be mad to fish Hurlston hall on a bank holiday weekend. But the weather wasn't too clever and was blowing an absolute howler. So I guessed that this would put off a lot of the numpty's that would normally grace the bank. I was right, it wasn't as packed as normal. I headed to the bottom of the lake to the middle peg which is more isolated. I set my bivvy up and settled down for the day. By 5.00pm I hadn't even had a bite. I decided to do something that whilst carping I hadn't done before, pack up and change peg. I favoured one of the pegs near the biggest patch of lilly pads. In all I caught 2 Carp both around the 7 to 8lb mark. Not the best of sessions today, and 60+ mph winds certainly had it's effects on the day.

Windy again!!!

Today was not the best of days for making my Anglezarke debut on my feeder rod. To say it was windy would be an understatement. Although I knew it would be tough going I decided to give it a go. The water was very choppy and was not ideal for fishing on the tip. I lasted around half an hour. There was no chance I was fishing into 60+ mph winds. I headed off to Beacon View Fishery for the rest of the day. Not too much action as I only caught 2 Bream. I may head back there Monday and have a Carping session.

Blank at Twin Lakes

A few hours at Twin Lakes drew a blank today. I'm convinced that this lake is not very well stocked, and there is certainly no head of Carp in there. After talking to other members they too have their suspicions. The majority of fish that come of the lake seem to be Skimmer Bream and Roach, perhaps this lake is better suited to Match Men. I'm not saying I'm never going to fish there again but it's time to give it a rest for a bit. As for the picture of Maggots, I bought a new camera today and was going to take some pictures using the Super Macro feature, the detail from the Fuji Fine Pic is stunning I was going to take some close up shots of a fish or two, alas I was thwarted.

Twin lakes and the usual couple of Eels

A few hours at Twin Lakes on my tip rod didn't produce too many fish. I caught another 2 Eels and one skimmer bream. I did notice though that I was getting a few bites further out than I normally cast, so I may head back tomorrow and cast a few yards futher.

Quick afternoon session at Sollom

Bream 3lb 5ozFirst Perch of the year

A pretty slow session on the canal today. I fished at Sollom and used my tip rod again. Not many bites at all, also too many Canal boats for my liking. I did though catch 2 fish, my first Perch of the year about 10 oz, and my biggest Bream of the year weighing in at 3lb 5oz.

First Night Session Wyreside On Saint Michael

This was to be it, Myself and Beef's first Carping night session. We'd booked onto Wyreside On Saint Michael Fishery. We arrived at 8.30pm and rods were in Bivvies set up all by 9.oopm. Beef was on peg 14 and myself on 15. The place is very nice and tidy, there is no litter, the pegs are wood chipped and kept in very nice order. There is an on site tackle shop that is very well stocked and there isn't much you're left wanting for. There is also a fantastic Cafe that serves up some delicious treats alas I was soon to learn that it is closed Monday's and Tuesday's (Much to Beef's delight!) As I hadn't packed any food DOH! I was OK though as I snaffled my way through Beef's ample supply of goodies. After discussing tactics for the next day we called it a night by about midnight, it was surprisingly cold and my sleeping bag was a welcome sight I was zipped right in like a caterpillar. It seem to take me an age to get to sleep, I've not really done much camping in the past so it took me a while to get used to the great outdoors. I'd finally gotten off to sleep when at around 3.ooam I was awoken by a Visitor to my Bivvy. It was Beef! "I've Just been snapped off" "Right I'm coming mate" I said in a tired stupor. I stumbled over to his bivvy and we worked out what had happened. He had been into a monster of a catfish which had fought the length of the island until finally his braided hook length gave way and snapped. It would seem that the abrasive pads from it's mouth had ground the braid down and finally gave way. To say he was gutted would be an understatement. Which got us talking about the often raised issue. When fishing is it better to have love and lost than never loved at all? I'm not so sure as Beef was rueful all day, many a time he was in deep thought as to what might have been. As it turns out that was about as exciting as it got as we didn't see any more action the whole time we were there. After we packed up we walked around the lake and compared notes with other anglers. It turns out that in the 24 hour period that we were there a total of 3 fish came off the lake. This is due to the unfortunate timing of our visit. We fished there just as they were starting to spawn. No matter what we threw at then they just were not interested. So then from this session I will take away a few positives. I enjoyed night fishing, I had time to practice a few new rigs and got to grips with the 360 degree rig (The uni knot) which can be absolutely deadly, and will be using it to full effect over the next few weeks, a certain winner! A revenge mission is already on the cards and hopefully we'll be booking the pegs for a visit in the next 2 weeks, lets let them finish off their spawning first ;-)