It was an out of the blue invite from Kevin, who rang me in April 2015 to talk about something else before asking if I wanted to go down for a few days. It’s not very often you get the chance to fish the famous lake so, needless to say, I bit his hand off and was all packed and ready within no time.
Joining me was long-time carper Chris Felton, his first time fishing Church. I owed him a favour and thanks to an unusually quiet Church Lake diary we had the lake to ourselves for the whole five days.
We’d already agreed between ourselves that we were going to split the lake in two, with each of us fishing one end. I was at the Pylon end and within no time the marker rod was doing its work. I put a rod in the Lodge corner tight into the thick reeds. I fished the right-hander out into the middle where there was a lovely clear area and the middle rod I roved around on a Zig Bug. The two bottom bait rods were loaded with Key 20mm boilies, both baited with a tight scattering of freebies.
Conditions were absolutely perfect for a biggie and the first 48 hours saw me land a string of good fish including a 41lb common. It was at this point when I knew I’d spooked them and I needed a change of swim. The fish appeared to be more in Pylon Bay now so I moved the rods further along the bank to the right.
Most of the action came from first light onwards…
Within no time I had three in place after finding some lovely clear spots in and around the thick weed out in front. I’d decided to lengthen my rigs to compensate for the weed that was about. I switched to 15-inch links and did away with fishing hookbaits hard on the bottom like I had been doing. Instead I went for criticals so the hookbaits would sit gently on top of any bottom debris. It was a lot weedier than the other corner I’d been fishing and I wanted to ensure I had a good presentation.
The atmosphere was electric. Both of us were sat on our hands expecting something to happen. We had to wait until the Sunday for the next bit of action which was a lovely 30lb mirror. We’d just done the pictures and returned the fish when my middle rod was away with one of the A-Team members known as Penny Scale weighing a massive 48lb 6oz.
‘Penny Scale’ at 48lb 6oz
The light drizzle continued for 24 hours and despite it being really carpy, the lake went quiet until the next day. I was up well before the crack of dawn each morning to see if I could see any fish. Nothing broke the surface apart from a few patches of bubbles smack over the area I’d caught Penny Scale. I expected something to happen at any minute and then I had a single bleep on the left-hander. I looked at the rod which had been out for 48 hours and wondered whether to leave it as I knew the hook-bait would be OK. The bobbin then dropped again so I picked up the rod and wound into it.
I managed to get the fish moving only for it to wake up and strip 30 yards of line almost instantly! I gained it back only to lose it again as the fish went ploughing through the thickest weed bed in the middle of the bay before coming to the surface at the other side. I could feel the line grating on the weed all the time.
Carp began to show in the Pylon Bay to my right
Moments later, the fish hit the surface well away from where I expected it to be. It was really angry and stripped another 30 yards of line as it did its best to head out of the bay. I contemplated getting in the boat when it came to rest. I put the rod down for a couple of minutes before lifting it up to see if it was moving again, which thankfully it was.
This time I gained some line back before it went on another mad run to the right. My line was heading out in front yet the fish was to the right so I knew it had gone through weed. I just hoped once I gained some back I could get in direct control. Thankfully I managed to and for the next five minutes the fish put up one of the hardest battles I’ve ever encountered with a UK carp. It went left, then right, then back out to the spot where I hooked it.
The biggest carp in the lake – the beautiful ‘4×4’ at 56lb 12oz
I’d not caught sight of the fish properly so I had no idea how big it was. I didn’t catch a glimpse until several minutes later when it rolled to my right. I could see it was a good fish, but it wasn’t until I had it in the net when I realised I had the biggest and most-wanted resident known as The Four By Four. Not only did the fish look huge, it had some gorgeous big scales down its flanks making it even more desirable. It looked every ounce over my UK personal best of 51lb, and when we hoisted it up onto the scales they read out a healthy 56lb 12oz! I was speechless.
My thanks to Kevin Nash for making it happen and a big thanks to Chris Felton for his brilliant company during the trip.
