Well firstly I must apologise, I really have been so busy since the New Year that I have not been able to sit down and actually work on my monthly blog. Every time I tried it was like a writer’s block; I think because I have so much going on: juggling family, work, tutorials and fishing commitments. To be honest it has been a bit much so I am going to bring you up to speed on just what I have been up to.
January was carp show time and I was working on the Free Spirit stand with the very popular Brentwood show first on the agenda and it was a great success. Then we drove out to a very snowy Zwolle in Holland with freezing conditions, -19 in fact, and from there it was off to the RICOH Arena in Coventry. By the time the shows were over it was with great relief; I do enjoy them but they are very tiring, especially with the social side of things in the hotels afterwards. Networking, having a few drinks with good friends into the early hours and then having to get up early for breakfast and back to the show before the doors open – it takes its toll.
As for the fishing, it certainly suffered and it was a relief to get the rods out again and I even managed to winkle a few smaller fish out during February. March, however, has always been a good month for me and I had a ticket come up to fish a very exclusive syndicate that my mate Lee Merritt had been on last year.
We were due to spend the weekend at the Five Lakes Show but both decided that we would rather have a weekend session on the lake. I met Lee there on Friday afternoon and, as it was quite busy, we ended up fishing down at the very far end of the lake. It was my first view of the venue and although still bare from winter, you could see it was very pretty.
That first night was very quiet and Lee moved first thing the following morning as another angler packed up; I stuck it out until midday and then moved next to Lee at the other end where it certainly looked more carpy. Soon it was dark and at around 8pm Lee landed a cracking upper double in its full winter colours.
During the night I heard several large fish crash in the area and at 6.30am I had a screaming take. The fish felt heavy and it was no surprise when Lee slipped the net under a 30lb plus mirror; my first fish from the water and a good one to boot. On the scales she went 32lb 12oz I was well happy and packed up with that sense of achievement you have when you catch your first fish from a new venue.
On Monday I knew I needed to get back to the lake for a quick overnighter which, with over an hour’s journey, was not very practical but in my mind it was a ‘must’. I arrived late afternoon to find the same swim free. Lee was on his way and would drop in next door.
Lee was first to catch with a low twenty at 11.30pm then, just as I was getting in the bag, my middle rod was away and after a short battle I slid the net under an upper double common – a Mainline Cell Fluro pop up its downfall. I got the rod back out and got my head back down.
Lee had to be away at 5.45am but I had another hour so I started a slow pack up at 6.15am and in the process my middle rod was away again, the fish fought well but was soon in the net and on the scales the fish, a common, went 28lb. I was well happy and continued packing up and then my right hand rod ripped off. As soon as I bent into this fish I knew it was a good un and as it rolled close in a beautiful dark mirror appeared.
As she touched the spreader block I could see it was a good 40lb plus and on the scales she went 43lb. I was over the moon; I did some self takes and slipped her back; I was late now so I packed up the last few bits quickly and got off to work. I had several more overnighters during the next couple of weeks and had a few fish up to 28lb so all in all it was a good start at the new water.
Next we were away to France for a week with the rest of the Free Spirit team to film a new DVD. I can’t go into much detail yet but it was a good week with some great laughs.
With April upon us it was time for myself and Lee’s BCAC qualifier at Todber Manor but with work and family commitments neither of us had actually been down to practise. Lee decided to take a few days off before the match to pop down and fish and to see what was going on and daily updates were passed back to me and I prepared a few bits ready for the match.
I arrived at the lake Thursday afternoon. Lee had packed up but had a good idea that there was one large shoal of fish around the middle of lake and we drew up a list knowing we needed to come out in the top five at the draw to stand any chance of qualifying with such a strong field. At the draw we actually came out 5th but, luckily, got our third choice of swim.
The plan was to chop and change between zigs and solid bags but right at the start of the match Lee hooked the first fish on a 3ft zig so quickly all the rods were fished in the same manner and before long we were in first place with just over 100lb.
The night was deathly quiet with us only landing one fish and we found ourselves in 2nd place by the morning but we soon got the fish going on the zigs again. By Saturday evening we were back in first place again but unfortunately our swim died during the night once more. We tried everything but to no avail and by morning we were back into 2nd with first place being a good 100lb ahead of us with 3rd and 4th just a few pounds behind.
It was squeaky bum time and we stuck with the zigs and got our first bite at first light – as did the team in the swim opposite. It was real cat and mouse stuff for a while and every time we had one so did they! Thankfully at 9.30 we had a real spurt and put four fish on the score sheet and that was enough to see us through to the semis and we made the long trek home – both well tired but extremely happy.
Well, that brings me up to the end of April and I will now be starting May’s Diary to keep Ian happy once again. I’m sorry it’s late but I will keep on top of it for the rest of the year and May has been good to me as well – so check it out soon!
