Last year my dad enrolled me in the Carp Society, with the intention of sending me on the Junior Carp School held at Horseshoe Lake at the beginning of June. After getting a place on the school the day finally arrived when I was to visit Horseshoe Lake in Gloucestershire. I got there on the Monday and had to go to the marquee where we were given a big white bucketful of bait and were told which peg to go to. Peg 5 was mine and so off I went, where I was welcomed by Paul Biochat. He told me to get set up and I would be instructed by Danny Fairbrass for the next three days.
Paul gave us a lesson on carp safety and handling, which was then followed by a lesson with the marker float and spodding by Bob Roberts. Friday was over and we were back at our swim’s fishing for the evening/night. After finding a clear gravel patch at about 40yds I baited my left hand rod up with popped-up maize and a golf ball sized PVA bag of trout pellet. My right hand rod went out to the same gravel patch with a homemade boilie. Rigs were semi-fixed 2oz pear leads with 5-inch 12lb mono hooklengths to a size 6 Ashima hook. All was quiet until 5.20 Tuesday morning when I was awoken by my alarm screaming off to a 22lb 4oz mirror carp, and a new PB by 4oz. I was very happy for I’d had no expectation of beating my new PB.
The recasting and settling down for the night started at about 7.00pm, but it didn’t last very long. At 7.45pm my left hand rod rattled off, again to the popped-up maize, after a dogged fight that lasted about 10 minutes another horseshoe carp came to the landing net. The fish was weighed and the scales read 19lb 7oz of mirror carp. The rod, armed with a golf ball sized PVA bag, was recast to the same gravel patch. At about 2.00am I was dragged from a deep sleep by the scruff of my neck by a very big Keith Napier. My alarm was shouting for help! I finally brought the lump of a fish, which pulled the needle of the scales round to 22lb 12oz, and another horseshoe mirror, and yet another new PB! Using the same method, the rod was recast and back to bed I went, my head buzzing – three fish, two of them PB’s! What more could I ask for? And still 16 hours left before the end of the carp school.
The fish ran left and had taken 50yds of line. After a long hard fight I regained my line and the fish continued to come towards me – yes, I was winning! The fish was close, the net was ready, and Danny was anxious (he knew it was a good fish). It saw the net and didn’t like it, and ran off again, right under an overhanging tree to my left. I applied side strain, but I was frightened that I was going to pull out of the fish. I continued with the pressure anyway and hoped the fish would come back towards me. It moved slowly and then stopped, but I never let up the pressure. Suddenly it moved again, this time straight towards me. Could this be it, had I won the battle? YES, I HAD DONE IT! The fish slid over the waiting net cord, and I could breathe again. Danny gave me a pat on the back, and we lifted the fish clear of the water. It was pitch black and the fish felt heavy, but I was still not sure of its size. The fish was placed onto the unhooking mat and carefully unhooked. In the glare of the headlamps it looked bigger than any of the other fish I had ever seen landed before. Into the weigh-sling and the needle dropped round to a fantastic weight of 28lb 12oz. What a brilliant fish, a fully scaled horseshoe mirror, and yet another new PB.
The rod was re-cast, same method, again out to the gravel patch, but this time I also brought in my right hand rod, which had seen no action at all, and on went the popped-up maize and out to my patch where the left hand rod fished. I settled down into my sleeping bag, but was now wide awake. It felt like Christmas Day, just waiting to get up to open all my presents. An hour or so later my right hand rod gave a single bleep, followed by the long, drawn out beeeeeeeeppppppp Once again I was out of the bivvy and striking hard, the rod arched round and another Horseshoe carp was running away from me. I managed to slow the fish quickly, and after several short runs the fish was slipped into the waiting net, this time the scales stopped at 21lb 7oz. I was so happy, I could not believe the red-letter session I was having. I thought I would only ever read about them, and that it would never happen to me! As the night went, and daylight arrived I started to feel very tired (now I know what my dad feels like when he does a night shift). My head was nodding forward as my bedchair was calling me. I finally fell asleep but was woken up by my right hand alarm again shouting for help and the indicator flying underneath the rod. I rolled off the bedchair and crawled to my Hooligun to see the spool was still letting out line as the fish on the end headed for the far bank at the mouth of Summerbay. I slowly lifted my rod and struck and again a very angry fish was running away from me. This time it went across to the right and was heading for the deeper water. Danny was stood with me and was telling me how hard to play the fish, but this one was not giving up easily. This one was fighting harder than any of the others except for the 28 and I was so tired I didn’t think I was going to get it in. But Danny kept talking to me and I managed to draw the fish in where he slipped the net under it. We went through the unhooking, weighing and photographing procedure again and, after releasing the 19lb 4oz mirror, I again re-cast and fell into bed. I was lucky, I managed to get about three hours sleep before my left hand rod went beeeeeeepppppp. The three hours sleep helped me feel a little bit better and I hit the fish. But I knew this one was to be the smallest of my fish so far. After a few short runs and a short fight under the rod tip the net closed round what was to be my last Horseshoe fish of the Junior Carp School. The scales told us that this mirror was 16lb 10oz. Packing up time arrived and we all met at the marquee for our presentation, where we were all given certificates and goody bags by Keith Napier. Various other prizes were given to members of the school. I would just like to say a very BIG thankyou to everyone involved in the running of the Junior Carp School, and especially to Danny Fairbrass of Korda Developments, who guided me through the session of which I had only ever dreamed about. Also thanks to Paul Biochat and Keith Napier for taking some brilliant pictures and organizing the school. P.S. About 6 weeks later I went to my newsagent for my weekly magazine and this is what I saw – me, on the front cover! |
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