Starting Carping Part 10 – An Overnighter

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Putting things into practice – An Overnighter

Tackle for the overnighter

This session is an overnighter – end of March after work till before work. I’ve been kicked in the goolies by my ‘target’ water so far this year, it’s a dawn till dusk water, which in reality means I get to do one four hour session a week….. and I’ve yet to see a fish. I do like making it hard for myself! So I’ve decided to go to a water where I can do a night, and I know the water reasonably well, so I’m sure I can winkle one out. I’m only taking boilies with me as I’m not really going to have enough time to spod pellets, etc – and I don’t think I really need to anyway.

It was dark by about 7pm

I leave work at 5.30 and I’m at the water just after 6. It gets dark about 7, so I’m going to have to get my skates on! I carry as little kit as I can: a rucksack, rod bag, and a bedchair – it’s just about warm enough to use the brolly rather than a bivvy. First job is to choose a swim – the one I fancied on the way there is (as always!) taken, so I head down to the other end of the lake, where the northerly’s blowing into.

Clay at the back of the bar

I know from past trips there’s a bar that runs between two islands – a really nice, clean gravelly bottom, but I rarely get takes from it – the clay at the back of the bar is much better. Up with the brolly as it looks like some rains heading in, chuck the gear in, out with the marker rod and I pop a float up on the edge of the gravel/clay divide, and as I’m using dumbbells that don’t catapult accurately I have to run around to a spit on the far bank to bait up. I’m not baiting particularly tightly as I’m going to have to recast in the dark, and with a reasonably strong cross/headwind, I can’t be sure I’m going to get it ‘spot on’

A simple mono hooklength running rig dropped into a bag of crumb

True to form, after ‘pulting out about 100 baits the elastic snaps, so I’m going to have to stop there. I run back around and two of the rods are cast either side of the marker, and some braid tied on so I can hit the right distance again. One rod is a simple mono hooklength running rig dropped into a bag of crumb, the other rod a similar set up, but with a Kryston Mantis combi-rig. The right hand rod is placed on a really nice gravel patch about 15yds out and baited quite heavily – probably a kilo of bait. It’s now just about dark, so I finish sorting out the bedchair and tackle then sit on the unhooking mat watching for fish whilst listening to Scotland getting their bums kicked in the cricket.

Even with the slack lines I keep getting liners from the close spot, so things might be looking good for tonight. The sky clears, and it gets quite cold, so it’s into the bag as I’ve got to get to work in the morning.

400,000 geese, more liners, and a fish!

Shortly after I get in the bag, I’m woken by…..about 400,000 (honest!) geese deciding to descend on the lake for a punch up…..deep joy! I try to ignore the honking and get my head down.

The skimmer is quickly reeled in

About 20 minutes later, the geese disappear and the liners start up again, and I’m finally away on the right hand rod, the indicator hitting the butt, and falling back again in quick succession – a bream take if I’ve ever seen one. The skimmer is quickly reeled in, the rod re-baited and cast back out. 10 minutes later, and it’s away again, and this goes on for about an hour and a half, so I decide not to bother re-casting – leave the bream for a feed up and maybe recast later if I wake up. As the baits I’m using are very soft ones I decide to re-cast both of the other rods before getting back into bed.

I’m woken just before midnight by a quick three or four bleeps as one of the long rods tightens up, the bobbin holding until all the slack is taken up and the spool rips off – obviously a bream on steroids! Quickly out of the bag (noticing that the air is suddenly much warmer) and have to pile on the pressure as the fish has kited and is just about getting around the island to the right.

A deep, plodding fight

Heavy pressure brings it back around the island and a deep plodding fight carries on. I finally get it into the net, and quickly up on the scales – pulling it around to a shade over 17lbs – that’ll do me! I leave the fish in the Solar weigh sling/sack in the edge whilst I sort out the camera, snap off a couple of quick shots and its back in the water – though I am surprised how cold the water is as we haven’t really had much of the cold weather down here, though the lake is on the edge of the Moors.

17lb – that’ll do me!

Both rods are baited and recast again, along with the close spot – maybe a carp will come in to have a look at what the bream were munching on – hopefully!

The alarm goes off again, but…

I wake up just after two as the geese have obviously been on the Stella at the pub and are partaking in a bit of wife beating in the swim next to mine, I notice that it’s much, much colder than it was an hour or so ago, but I’m so knackered I’m straight back to sleep – an uninterrupted one as it turns out. At 5.40 the alarm goes off (my wake-up alarm that is), so it’s 10 minutes to pack all the gear away and off home for a shower before work.

Overnighters make up most of the fishing for me, sometimes they can be hard work, and you can almost try and find excuses not to go, but they are well worth the effort – especially mid-week when there aren’t as many people about. Some of my best catches have been on overnighters, but they don’t seem to understand at work when I come in all smelly with massive bags under my eyes!