When looking for a runs water to turn up at and also stand a good chance of getting that bend in my rods, I like to pick a water that holds a good stock of English carp that are not too hard to catch. I recently spent 16 hours at lovely water near Exeter called Creedy Lakes, which is owned and run by Sandra & Stewart Turner.
Set in peaceful, picturesque surroundings, these two 18th century spring-fed waters offer some of the hardest fighting carp in Devon. Abundantly stocked with immaculate commons, mirror, and koi carp, together with green and golden tench, making it one of the best big fish day ticket water venues in the Southwest.
The main lake is about 4 acres and holds a good head of carp up to 31lb with the stock lake being 1 acre holding carp to 18lb. Both lakes are day ticket starting from 5.30am to 11pm with access to them at 5.00am to find your swim.
As I arrived in the car park about 4.45am there were already a fair number of other cars there and fishermen queued at the gate waiting to get on the lakes. As initial impressions go this said everything about my choice of water and made me realise I would have to have a plan in place. I couldn’t see the lakes as it was still dark and there was no background knowledge to rely upon so my plan of action resulted in having to wait until all the other fishermen had taken their pegs and first light had come.
Without any doubt this came around quick enough so I took a wander around the lakes and really liked what I saw. The lake was becoming more appealing by the minute and seemed a carp anglers dream. I carried out the usual carp spotting activities to see which swim I took a liking to the best. Saying that the choice was a little lacking after the regulars had taken their choice, especially on the car park side of the lake within casting distance of the island.
Fish were showing all over the lake, some might say this made my choice of swim easier but then on the other hand it also made the choice somewhat more difficult. I saw a good mirror crash head and shoulders towards the shallows nearing the inlet pipe that was steadily streaming into the lake and could have quite happily set up near there. Something was telling me though to continue round the lake and so I did.
In hindsight I’m glad I did because just as I walked behind the old boathouse I witnessed what seemed to be a carp feeding frenzy with carp rolling within a fairly close distance of the bank. My plan quickly emerged and I decided to work the open water to the back of the island, this way I could steer away from the pressure being put upon the island and find my own spots to fish to avoiding the obvious features that fish could have become wary of over time.
I went back to the van, loaded up the trolley with probably far more than is needed on a typical day session, which many carpers are guilty of doing from what I’ve seen, and headed back to the chosen peg.
As I got there I was greeted with a common that was almost asking to be caught so not wanting to miss an opportunity I quickly took a rod out of the rod bag. It took me minutes to attach a leader and rig that I already had prepared, checking the hook I finished off with a 10mm Special Crab boilie and carefully placed my rod over the top of the fish.
There wasn’t the instant effect I had pictured so I cautiously crept around my swim, so not to disturb any potential catches and began setting up my other rods as I knew this movement on the lake may not last for too much longer. Especially as the weather was due to be significantly warmer and drier than the previous day with the sun due to make an appearance around lunchtime.
I put my second rod a length and a half length out directly in front of me and was just about to cast my third rod towards the open water behind the island when I heard a single bleep on my alarms. This bleep was almost instantly followed up by a serious of bleeps with line flowing of the reel. I was in and playing a 15lb Common which isn’t the biggest fish in the lake by a long way, but still a result at the beginning of my session.
I put my ready set-up third rod back on the spot I had just caught from with the impression that where there is one feeding carp there has to be others. Knowing I had carefully played the other fish so as not to spook any others around.
I then set about putting my wrap around up, as quietly as I could, and took the time to get myself sorted. Making sure the landing net, unhooking mat and weigh sling were ready in anticipation for that next screaming run. A good 45 minutes passed and I was becoming unsure as to whether I had spooked the fish off.
So I sat and watched the water very closely trying to work it out the best I could. I played with ideas of moving one or even all of the rods to another area perhaps a short distance away from the original spots. Or maybe I could vary the bait on each rod as they were all presented with a bottom bait Special Crab boilie, maybe I could consider the rigs that I’m using and whether they also needed varying.
My train of thought was soon interrupted, which was probably for the best as sometimes the more clever you try to be the more detrimental it is in the long run when trying to land that prize fish. My alarms weren’t screaming but there was a series of bleeps! Too many to be a liner so I hit into it and soon found myself up against one of those hard fighting fish I had been told about on this lake.
It was hard to judge at this point what size of fish I was playing but it did feel substantially bigger than the previous one. This fish knew exactly how to play me and after trying to head straight out to open water turned around and headed straight towards the snags. I did everything I could to prevent this from happening and after short while it was nearing my net. It then came up to the top and I could see that it was another common I had hooked into and was definitely larger than the previous one.
After a few more minutes it was in the net and tipped the scales at 21lb. It was soon put back and quickly made a bid for freedom.
After that the fishing completely died off and the weather had significantly warmed up to about 14 degrees Celsius with a slight breeze around. The sun was out and there was little movement on the water from either the wind or the fish. I took this opportunity to assess the situation and think back to my original plan of fishing the deeper open water to the back of the island.
I wound one of my rods in, attached a light lead to the end of it and cast it out into the open water. I then spent the next half hour trying to find suitable areas to fish and working out the depths of the water. I discovered the majority of my swim was a fairly clear bottom with little in the way of features to fish too.
So I decided to wind the other rods in and attach the rigs I had made the previous night in order to minimise time fiddling around on the bank. At the moment I tend to favour the Combi rig with a size 10 hook as it has proven over time to catch me more fish. When fishing a water like this that has minimum snags and weed beds I like to use a long TF Gear leader combined with a new lead clip that I have been trying out.
Not long after lunch my rods were set up and just needed the leads attaching before they were ready to be cast out. Wherever I go fishing I like to make sure there is a good selection of leads in my tackle box. I tend to favour coated leads so that I can always try to disguise them with the lake bed.
On a lake of this size that sometimes sees a minimum of 15 anglers at a time you need to be considerate of where the boundaries of your swim lie and also the distance to which you are casting. Quite often you see people cast their rods as far as they possibly can, sometimes overlooking the margins that can be just as productive and less pressured than you think. With this in mind I cast my long range rod out to around 70 yards with a crab pop-up as my bait and a small PVA bag of crumbed crab boilies to surround it.
My middle rod was slightly to the left of the first rod at around 40 yards out with the same presentation of bait as the first one. I then decided that as so many fish had previously been seen nearer the margins I wouldn’t give up on this area and carefully flicked my line out over a spot slightly to the left of where the previous fish had been caught. I heavily baited this area by throwing in crab boiles some of which were whole and some had been chopped up to release the flavour quicker.
All I had to do then was wait, and wait is what I did for the following couple of hours, finding time to make myself a cup of tea and watch the slight breeze disappear completely of the lake. I was quietly confident in my approach and knew that as the afternoon progressed and the weather started to cool a little I could be in for a cracking afternoon session.
Disappointment did not follow and over the next three hours I landed four more commons, one of which came from the margins on my left hand rod and three from the long distance rod in the open water. I was more than pleased with all four of these fish but the one I won’t forget is the bigger one of the four. I knew as soon as my rod had screamed with this fish and I had hooked into it that is was unlike any of the others I had played that day.
It played me hard, much more so than the 21lb I had landed that morning. It used its weight to try and hold up in the water and I had no option but to let it play me and take more line of the reels when needed. After what seemed like a long tense struggle with the fish it was finally by the net, but was still not going to give up that easily and was still fighting hard. With a final struggle the fish was in the bottom of the net and already I knew that I had a fair sized carp in there.
When I put it on the unhooking mat it became apparent that this fish was not only pretty long, but also pretty wide and weighed in at 27lb 3oz. What a cracker of a fish it was and I couldn’t wait to have my photograph taken with it. I was proud to be able to put this fish back into the lake ready for someone else to catch another day.
As the day was coming to an end and the night was drawing in, I didn’t feel ready to pack up and leave the lake just yet. I decided to pack down as much as I could and load my trolley ready for the off, but keep my rods out and the essentials in case I was lucky enough to catch again. I could hear a fair number of beeps from other anglers alarms around the lake and this convinced me to stay even more, the carp were obviously getting their heads down to feed.
I said to myself that even though I could fish to 11pm I would be off the lake by about 8.30pm. As it was getting dark and I had a couple of hours drive home to contend with. If it was the middle of the summer I would have happily fished a lot later as the weather is warmer and it doesn’t get dark until a lot later.
Just after 8 o’clock I hit into that final fish I had being hoping and praying for (see headline picture). It was nothing like the struggle I had contended with in the afternoon but still held its own in the water. I’m glad I stayed because if I had packed up in the light I would have missed out on a final fish weighing in at just over 22lbs. I took its photo and soon after decided to not put that rod back out, but to get the other two in. In no time at all I had packed my rods away and found myself loading the van up with a smile on my face.
I know that I can’t expect action like this every time I visit a day ticket water but it is a good feeling when it does happen. I will never underestimate, and neither should anybody else, the success that can be achieved from a day ticket water.
Creedy Lakes Venue Spotlight by Dave Rothery
To visit Creedy Lakes Click here
