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| Andy and Tim with the 11lb 2oz common carp |
For the first time since November, Tim managed to find time to come fishing due to a new shift pattern. We arranged to meet at Beaver as he wanted to have a dabble in Major's Lake and I was happy to go along. There are a lot of bigger fish in the lake so we took carp rods to set as sleepers and the idea was to sit float fishing and chatting; that is how all this fishing lark came about. See
HERE.
My mate Duncan had showed me, and kindly given me, a carp 'chod' rig that I had used successfully when we spent
a day on Major's a few months ago. This week I have got around to making some of my own so we put out a couple of rods baited up using my newly made rigs and Ringer's Wafters.
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| Andy searches for the rod |
Tim had never used a carp rod before so I showed him how to progressively get closer to the target area by casting clipped up and then letting out a few feet of line until the range was spot on. I then added the hook bait and cast it out to where we had intended to fish. Great. We then set about sorting out Tims float rod. I turned my back to get on with sorting my own gear only to hear Tim shout out to draw my attention to the rod being dragged into the lake. Oh dear, that is inconvenient (cleaned up version) I said. We saw the tip of the rod appear in front of the lilly pads and then it slid back into the lake like the bow of a sinking ship.
A call to the bailiff, Andy, resulted in his appearance along with the fishery's camouflaged Kubota pick-up truck complete with boat and paddle. After a bit of the usual banter the boat was launched. Andy made his way to where we had last seen the rod and managed to find it. Brilliant! But that was not the end of the story. now it was time to find the other end of the rig. At first we thought it was just caught up in the vegetation and Andy started to feel his way down the line. It was at this point that we discovered why the rod had been pulled in. I was concentrating on showing Tim how the bait-runner style system works and had forgotten to release the clipped up line. Tim was now relieved and exonerated from blame.
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| "The fish is still on lads!" |
It was then realised, as the boat was being pulled into the pads, there must still be a fish on the hook. Andy battled his way through several patches of lilly pads before eventually getting the landing net under the fish. It was a nice sized common.
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| Andy nets the fish |
As to who claims the catch, I think it was a joint effort. I cast the bait out, Tim had been feeding it and Andy Landed it. Whatever way it happened it was our first double figure carp and it made our day. Thanks Andy!
Ralph.
