When it comes to consistency in the carp world there are few, our own regular diarist Rob Marsh aside, who can match Ted Bryan and the big man has stareted 2012 in the same way he ended 2011 – by putting a few lumps on the bank.
Over to Ted:
“Well, it was the first week of the New Year and I needed to get back out fishing so I decided to go carping on a club lake in Kent which is known for being rock hard in the winter – but I just had to get out for the weekend and have a go.
I got to the lake at about 3.30pm and rushed around to get set up before it got dark. I put all three rods about 50 yards out and baited up with about six pints of maggots and plenty of fish frenzy pellets and soft hook-able boilies in different sizes and colours. I also put out some flaked maize with Top Rod arousers, sweet corn and hemp; the plan being to have a lot of small feed items with lots of colour and flavour in my swim to catch the attention of any fish that may have been passing in mid water.
The fist night came and went with no bites and the next day I repeated the same baiting method but added a lot more maggots to the mix.
At around 9pm I had a take on my left hand rod and I was up and out in a flash. When I first picked up the rod, I thought it was a tench but then the fish woke up and the fight was on and after some ten minutes I put the net under a big Common.
I laid it on the unhooking mat and rang my mate two swims down and by the time he reached my swim I had the fish ready for weighing and we recorded it at 39lb 6oz – What a result! After the photos I got the rod back out, had a cup of tea and got back in bed.
At 7.30am I had a take on my right hand rod resulting in yet another big common, this one weighing in at 31lb 4oz.
At around 9am, I was in again, I couldn’t believe it. After another good fight yet ANOTHER common was laying in my net, this one weighing in at 33lb 6oz.
Three commons in the space of 12 hours from a lake that doesn’t fish well at all in the winter I would say is good going in anyone’s book so imagine my delight when, the next day as I was packing up to go home, I had…yes, another common, his one at 28lb 4oz.
You could say I was very pleased!
The tackle and bait I used was: three, 3lb test rods made by Nick Buss, Entoh reels loaded with 12lb Nash Bullet line, 2oz Nash in-line leads, Bullet hook links and size 8 Nash Fang ’X’ hooks with 10ml Amber Strawberry pop-ups and 2 Nash fake maggots.”
