Carp Fishing, Sky Lake

Fishing Magic!! Personal Bests And A 75lb New Lake Record

Sky Lake, France.

Sky Lake, France

After getting the opportunity to book my place to go big carp fishing at Sky Lake in France almost a year ago I've been eagerly waiting so so patiently. I've probably spent more money upgrading my tackle than I needed too, but then again I am pretty level headed and didn't go too mad opting for reliable mid range tackle. As you may, or not know, in 30 years of fishing in the UK, I havn't landed a fish weighing over 20lb, and although going abroad to do it, was feeling a bit like cheating, I've now come to the conclusion that if I wanted to catch big fish, then you need to go where there are lots of them Because as enjoyable as it is, chasing the few monsters in UK waters, is a life long dedication, and to be honest I'm still looking forward to spending another 30 years or more doing so.

Innovate Kream Krunch 16mm Boilies

I set off in the rain (again) to meet the rest of the fishing party at a football club social bar in Greater East London, I meet John outside, who was a work colleague, and the only person out of the 11 going who I knew, as I walked into the bar I was greeted with mountain of fishing luggage almost covering 10 square meters, as I looked up across the bar I saw the party wearing Sky Lake T shirts, I nervously tried my best to ignore the scooped rifle being handed along the bar for people to examine whilst I was introduced to the rest of the fishing party, but as soon as fishing was being discussed they made me feel comfortable and the extreme banter from the excited group reminded me of my old pike fishing club. Rob a co owner with Andy of Sky Lake picked us up, and with all the tackle loaded into the trailer, we set off for France via the Dover to Calais ferry and arrived at the lake at about 7 in the morning.

The Snow Man

My first impression of the lake was good, it was large but not as big as I'd imagined, my swim "No 10 The woods" was big and being central on the lake directly opposite the Lodge gave me lots of spots to comfortably fish. after a quick coffee and prep talk from Rob in the lodge on the rules we all made our way to our swims to set up. whilst we were setting up Rob came over to discuss tactics and areas to fish, he was extreamly helpful, he examined our rigs, obviously to check the rigs were within the rules, but to also check the knots. As the week went on I realised that he genuinely just wanted us to have the best chance to catch a big fish, and as I had no knowledge of the lake I listened to his advise, which was invaluable. I marked my spot with the marker float 80 yards out, it was large weed free patch 11' deep with silt bottom. I then cast two rods to the mark and baited with 2.5 kilo of Innovate 16mm Kream Krunch boilies.

Aiming At The Money Spot

Luckily just after I'd finished setting up it started to rain, which of course it always does when I'm on holiday, and during the week it probably rained for at least 72hours, I got my head down in the bivvy and wrapped myself up nice and cosy in the sleeping bag. on the first night I had one run at 11pm and then was woken at 7am with another. I had struck and played both takes, but after a few minutes the hook pulled for no apparent reason? pulling to hard with my new 3lb test fox ranger rods? too small size 8 hook? At breakfast I asked Rob, "Your rigs are fine" he replied "some times the fish just pick up the boilie, just bad luck." The rods were quite all day, I sat on them confidently knowing that they were baited and in the baited area, but must admit this was very different from the 1 or 2 hours I was used to waiting before checking my bait in the UK. The first night saw Aidan land a 35lb carp, whilst the rest of us were still waiting to get off the starting block.

A Beautiful 30lb Mirror

The second day was better, I think three more of us landed fish, my fishing neighbour John, who had been patiently sitting on his rods since first arriving, landed a PB beautiful Common Carp of 33lb, I hooked and landed my third take, first thing in the morning waking me up from my sleep. An immaculate PB 30lb 5oz Mirror Carp. The fish gave a good account of its self, definitely more exaggerated because I played it so gingerly as the thought of losing the other two fish kept flashing through my mind. Finally I'd beat my PB, I was over the moon, no! I was on it, and in it!!!, The pressure was off! I'd done what I came to do, what I'd been trying to do for so many years.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

The next few days were quiet for me, I left my two rods at my original baited mark and put in another 2.5 kilo of boilies, but I pulled the third rod out of the margins, it had done absolutely nothing from day one. I found a new spot about 45 yards out and at 45 degrees to the left from my swim,  a few fish had crashed here during the early night, and with a new PB, I was more relaxed and willing to experiment more with my third rod, I opted to try a double critically balanced pop up corn over a 10 kilo bed of spod mix. To be honest I think I just wanted to have an excuse to use the boat, which I used to row out to my marker and pour the spod mix over my baited rig.

What A Beautiful Pike

The rest of the party were getting into full swing by the 4th day, only three hadn't caught yet, a 50lb had been landed, several fortys, with 4 PB's being beat, and lucky Terry seemed to be constantly on the fish and had landed about 6 to 29lb, I didn't have one take for the next three days since catching my 30lb, All the fish were crashing at the other side of the lake and maybe due to the heavy rain, it seemed to stop the fish feeding because I only recall one fish being landed during the rain showers. I stuck to my guns with the two boilie rods still in my original baited area, and with my third rod, to keep me occupied I decided to catch some live bait for some piking, I'd been watching a pike for a few days now, chasing small fish right in front of me, about 5m from the bank. I caught about 12 Rudd on a small float rig, using sweetcorn as bait, I kept a few of the smaller ones as bait, My rod had only been in the water for 20 Minutes before my first run, I landed one of the most immaculate and beautifully coloured Pike with the blackest eyes I'd ever seen. I don't think it had ever been caught before or even seen a trace.

My New PB A Mirror At 37lb.

It was day 6 that my swim seemed to come alive, fish were constantly crashing on my side of the lake for the first time, and at the range I was fishing, my bite alarms bleeped once every 20mins, just to let me know there was movement in my swim, I decided that Rather than go to sleep in my bivvy at around 3am, I would sleep in my chair next to the rods as some of the takes the rest of the party were having, were very short, this payed out for me as after a few warning bleeps, the swinger gently rose to the rod and with less than a meter of line taken off the spool, I struck and hooked into a big fish. This fight was very different from the others I'd seen, after an initial 30 meter run it stopped fighting or even trying to swim, I reeled in the dead weight with great difficulty through the weed and as John attempted to land the fish it came alive and tore off again taking about 40meters of line, I couldn't even stop it!, well this fish defiantly had a plan! it repeatedly done absolutely nothing and played dead until it reached the net, then with all its saved energy he torn off uncontrollably stripping another 40m of line. The fish frustratingly done this about 7 times, I lost count, but with John now dangerously hanging off the bank at full reach with the landing net and the fish tiring we eventually landed the fish. It was big! A new PB for me, and 3lb short of 40lb. I felt quite bad because it was the second time I'd called Rob out in the middle of the night for a under 40lb fish, but he didn't seem to mind, even admitting it looked over 40lb when I apologised.

Tiddy with Reg at 75lb "New Sky Lake Record!"

I had no more runs for the reminder of the holiday, but the rest of the lads were still landing a few here and there, on the last night, I heard quiet shouts of excitement from across the lake, my ears pricked up because this time they sounded unusual from the normal banter, more serious!, maybe they were drunk? then I heard "It's Reg!" I listened harder to the muffled excited voices "It's the biggest fish I've ever seen!" "Its Reg alright!". Then someone shouted for the lake to hear "HE'S ONLY GONE AND GOT REG!!!!" I didn't need to hear again, I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. Reg was the biggest fish in the lake. We had all been joking all week, saying we would catch him, was it a wind up? my mind did wonder during the sprint around the lake, but no! as I arrived at Tiddy's swim, "How do you know its Reg?" I asked, Aidan replied "seriously? look It's a right big ****!" I looked in the water and they had a colossus fish in the net. It was big, not just in length and I couldn't believe how wide he was. One by one, the rest of the party arrived. Nathan and Rob confirmed that it was Reg, the excitement was almost uncontrollable from the group . The fish was weighed twice using a tripod and came in at a magnificent 75lb, beating the 7 year old lake record by 3lb, Tiddy had done it! The photo shoot followed, with Tiddy getting more than his fair share of water being thrown over him. The celebration went late into the night, between us we cleared the Lodge of beers, then the vodka and followed by 2 bottle of Jack Daniels, We had been so well behaved up until now, but what an excuse to let go, after all it is a holiday too. What a end to the week, and a magical fishing moment that I was extreamly lucky to see. I will never forget this week for so many reasons. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to photo or see everyone's fish, but here are the ones I did.

Between the 11 of us, We had a new lake record at 75lb, 2 x 50lb, 4 x 40lb, 8 x 30lb and rest were made up of 20lb fish, no one blanked, and 7 of us had new PBs. I really don't think the week could of gone any better. I would like to thank the rest of the lads John, Danny, Terry, Tony, Paul, Tiddy, Wayne, Darren, Karl and Aidan, for letting me join the group, the laughs, the memory's, and for the help in landing fish and for giving me the opportunity to catch my PB. And thank you to Andy, Rob, Nathan and Bernice at Sky Lake for all you help and lovely food, I had a fantastic time, that I'll never forget, and I'm all ready looking forward to seeing you all again next year!!.

Caution needed with Weever Fish

Venomous little fish.

During a short session beach fishing, I only managed to land one tiny fish, it was the first time I'd ever seen or caught one. The fish in question, is a Weever Fish.

Note the spines on the black dorsal fin.

As anglers are the most likely to come into contact with this fish, I would just like to introduce or reacquaint yourselves with the Weever Fish . I have to admit that when I first saw this fish spinning around on the end of my hook, I quickly presumed that it was a smaller than average whiting, and just by chance it quickly raised and lowered its dorsal fin with spines, the tiny black flash caught my eye, and after a closer inspection realised that it wasn't what I thought it was.

looking harmless with dorsal fin down!!

I'd been warned about this fish many years ago as a young boy by my father, and without the Internet or actually seeing a Weever Fish I was surprised at how harmless/bland the fish actually looked, especially with its dorsal fin down, I kind of had visions of it looking like a Scorpion Fish. But this little fish could put a end to your fishing trip if you was stung by the spines on its dorsal fin or gills. Although it is highly unlikely to kill you, the sting is worst than a bee or wasp sting, and could cause extreme pain. If stung, the infected area should be immersed in hot water for as long as 30mins, the pain should subside as the water cools. remember to check that you haven't  got any broken spine still stuck in you.

The lesson here, is identify your fish before handling, and if in doubt use a wet towel folded into quaters to place around the fish, so you can hold the fish firmly from underneath with the spines facing away from you, whilst you unhook it with long nose pliers or forceps.

Carp and Catfish Fishing, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold

One Rod Army!!!

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Horsham, West Sussex. UK.

Furnace Lakes Fishery

A week off work!! what to do?!? now that's a silly question if you know me! Fishing! With the bitter after taste of losing a monster Catfish estimated 60lb+ earlier on in the season, burning inside me, which I blogged about The One That Got Away.  It is revenge I want! And a new PB, I've fished this place enough times by now, and somehow I haven't managed to catch my first fish over 20lb., and it's really beginning to bug me now. Its full of big fish! and I cant think of anywhere better to catch my first 20lb, so the plan was simple, fish big, for the biggest fish!

The superb Shimano super baitrunner XTR

I set off at silly o'clock, which is probably normal for most anglers, and arrived at 7am, armed with a lot of new tackle and equipment which I've been amassing over the last few months for a imminent Carp fishing trip to France. not only did this give me a brilliant opportunity to test the equipment, but was exactly what I needed for fishing here. 3 x 12" Fox Ranger XTS 3lb test, 3 x Shimano Super Baitrunner XTR 8000RA spooled with 20lb Korda Subline. All I needed now was a fish!

homemade boilie rig.

I was to fish one rod, very close in the margins with a simple running leger with ridiculously large 4" cubes of Spam (luncheon meat) hair rigged onto a homemade rig, made from 40lb Catlink and a eagle wave 2/0 barbless hook, this was to be heavily ground baited with loose cubes of Spam. My second rod was to be a live bait rod, using a ready made Catfish pro polyball live bait rig which was to be fished here, there, and everywhere I could. And my third rod......well, I couldn't resist! I left this for carp, a homemade 15lb braid, size 8 hook boilie rig. to be fished tight against the far bank, with 12 boilies be catapulted out every cast.

Ready and waiting.

After 2 arduous hours of setting up! I was finally ready to fish! I cast out my boilie and Spam rods, and using the live bait rod set up a quick and very crude float rig with the smallest size hook I had on me, a size 10!!!, bad planning, I know! Using 1" pieces of lobs worms I set about catching my bait. Luckily! the  tiny fish didn't seem bothered by the 20lb line and big hook, and it wasn't long before I enough Roach to start live baiting. I lost the first live bait straight away as it simply shook itself off the barbless hook and landed in the water to make his escape even before I'd even cast!! so a quick think and rummage through my tackle box saw me find a very small rubber corn which I placed on the hook and pushed down to the bend of the hook after the fish to keep them on. First cast was 1 meter from the far bank underneath a over hanging willow tree. I let the poly ball float on the surface as a visual aid, it didn't matter to much I was barely fishing in 2' of water.

First fish, a beautiful common carp

All three rods were out. as I took the time to relax. I could see the backs of several big carp just breaking the surface swimming along the far bank, I fired 2 boilies at my baited area with the catapult, the distinctive sound made from the elastic snap followed by a  "plonk, Plonk" as the boilies hit the water. Immediately two of the carp accelerated towards my baited area, and a third fish even turned around to follow them before they disappeared under the surface. I couldn't believe what I'd just seen,  I rubbed my hand in excitement and waited, I could see the fishes tails break the surface occasionally in the baited area, I knew they were feeding. My plan to spread loose boilies over a large area had worked, and now I had the fish confidently looking around and feeding on my loose Monster Tigernut 15mm boilies. It wasn't long before I had my first run. In the next four hours, I took 6 carp from 13lb to 18lb all from the same area.

Last carp of the session

The night was a different story, my boilie rod fell silent as the Carp seemed to change their habit, probably going on patrol around the lakes island. I hadn't had a touch on either of the Catfish rods yet, but I felt this would change during the night. It didn't!, just the occasional big tug of the live bait was just enough to make the alarm bleep once, The rods were silent all night. Even though, I stuck to my guns, I knew these tactics were working for other anglers on the lake, one of which had 7 Catfish to 32lb during the same night only a few swims down from me. At 3am the boilie rod kicked off again keeping me up for the rest of the night, but it wasn't Carp this time, small bream had taken their place, I managed to hook and land 6 even though I missed most of the runs because the fish were fairly small and probaly couln't get the boilie in their mouth. and then a surprise catch, again on the boilie rod the smallest kitten Catfish I'd ever seen, about 1' long and weighing a whopping 1 lb 3 oz, OK it wasn't the monster I was after! Not even close lol, but it was so cute! I really wanted to show a picture, but due to a broken camera that couldn't focus, and low battery on my phone that refused to allow the flash to work, I had to release him without a photo shoot, his day will come I'm sure!

The fish with the biggest smile :-)

Morning was quiet, the Catfish rods were still doing nothing, I landed one more Carp about 14lb on the boilie rod, but that was going to end shortly as I was down to my last handful of boilies. So I decided to pack up before the heavy rain showers that were forecast reached me. With the other two rods packed away, the boilie rod baited with my very last boilie, went screaming off, I took my time to strike this time, to savour the moment and enjoy what was going to be my last fish. I struck................the rod bent, bent a bit more and what was on the end pulled harder and swam further than any of the fish I'd caught so far. Was this Carp over 20lb?, it definitely felt like it! I played the fish tentatively as I didn't want to loose it. The fish didn't surface till the very end and by the way the fight went with slow powerful runs, and lots of those horrible moments when it feels like your fishing line is being pluked like a giant guitar string, causing a nervous wobble of the rod tip, I wasn't suprised to see a Catfish poke his smiling head out the water. Finally what I'd come for!!! still not a monster! and definitely not my PB weighing in at little over 8lb, but a very fitting end to a surreal 24hour session. I would almost count on catching catfish here at Roman lake, whilst the crafty carp are very difficult to catch, but today that got turned on its head. Just like the fact that I've never been so successful with boilies, I've never been a big fan, normally opting for baits such as worms, sweetcorn or bread, but they proved their worth today. And with all the tackle and bait I had with me, all I needed was just one rod, and 1 kilo of boilies. I still haven't beat my PB, and I'm really beginning to wonder why??? I think god may have other plans for me. but in the meantime there's nothing more fun, than trying!

Kayak Hand Lining, Port Isaac, Cornwall

The English weather forecast is Pollocks!

Port Isaac, Cornwall, UK

The kayak route as seen from Port Isaac

It was coming to my attention that I was finding the fishing very difficult in Cornwall for many reasons. mainly due to the lack of info and experience I had, I had great expectations of catching new species and teasing Bass and Wrasse out of rock gully's on lures, but even the locals were saying there's been too much rain which has ruined the fishing, It had been raining for three weeks before my holiday, rained during my holiday and its still raining two weeks later. Even I have to admit that as bad as the English weather is, this was unusual. Whether the rain water had pushed the fish out to sea, or made climbing on wet slippery rocks and navigating up/down sheep tracks on cliff faces near impossible and dam right dangerous, it was getting to me. If the fish won't come to me, then I will go to the fish!

The master plan by Eddie Van Goff

A boat trip? of coarse, yes! but that got cancelled! guess why? the sea was too rough! oh and when a boat did get to go out, not enough lunatics wanted to go sea fishing on a boat in the rain, except me, so that got cancelled too. Pulling my hair out now! All was not lost though, me and Sarah had a kayak trip booked, and it hadn't been cancelled. Ok, it wasn't a fishing trip, but we had been told we could hand line with feathers for Mackerel as we toddled along with the other kayaks whilst following the coastline exploring otherwise inaccessable caves and bays. It was the best that was going to be. So with a bit of cunning, sheer determination and a lot of desperation, I devised a multipurpose hand line rig, capable of fishing multiple depths at once for three target species, Mackerel, Bass and Pollock, This took me all of one minute to think about, "the master plan" was put on paper to show Sarah. The idea was tow along a standard mackerel feather trace with a 2 oz lead attached and then attach 2 meters of 20lb fluorocarbon with a Sidewinder small 6" green sand eel shaking it's stuff behind at a lower depth and swimming down to the bottom when we stopped, I figured that the feathers would appeal to Mackerel and possibly a Pollock, and that the Sand Eel would appeal to Bass and Pollock which I must say my "Van Goff" clearly shows.

Hand line rig for kayak fishing

We managed to buy a crab hand line for a bargain of £1.89 from a souvenir/bakers shop, I modified the rig for the trip, I dismantled the crab catching devise/rig so quickly I didn't even have time to figure out how it worked with a pebble, wire boon and a little sack that resembled what you put your washing tablets in for your laundry. With 5 minutes to spare we grabbed the wet suits and made our way to meet the rest of the party and pick up the kayaks. We actually set off from Port Gaverne with Cornish Coast Adventures, with a quick tutorial for the six of us, we precariously boarded our tandem kayak and demonstrated basic turning and stopping skills, which was a little bit harder as it took some teamwork, before heading out of the bay and up and down the coast past Port Isaac on our little adventure.

I didn't put the hand line out until about halfway into our paddling tour, but when I did it was clear the 1oz lead wasn't heavy enough to sink the rig whilst we were paddling along, it just skidded across the surface, but I had anticipated this and had taken a few different weight leads, so when we landed on a inaccessible tiny beach I retied a 3oz lead which sunk the rig enough, but to be honest I think a four oz would of been better. When we left the beach, I actually managed to capsize the kayak trying to get on, sending me and Sarah head first into the water, losing the hand line as it disappeared in the surf, amazingly I spotted it wash up on the shore after two minutes of frantic searching, now it was time for the slow paddle back to port. We stopped along the way a few times to wait for other people, I took the opportunity to jig the rig with my arm trying to attracted fish. then it was the home stretch, I had been purposely not rowing to slow us down, letting Sarah do all the work, mostly to give us more time out at water, She didn't know, the benefits of being at the back! Then I felt the line tugging against my leg, was it? Yes! I have! My first ever Pollock about 1lb 6oz taken on the Sidewinder 6" green Sand Eel. The fish was hooked, landed, photographed, unhooked and released in under a 30 seconds by an over excited angler. a world record maybe?. Sarah "Didn't you want to keep it for dinner?" I forgot that part. I was just happy to have caught a fish.

My first Pollock

I have to say, although not technically a fishing trip I enjoyed the kayak trip immensely, and saw some magnificent Cornish coastline from a different view, And catching my first ever Pollock was a big bonus. It has got me thinking about trying some proper kayak fishing sometime, but if you noticed in the video, my paddle floated away as I unhooked the fish, I cant help but think I might need a bit of practice lol

Beach Casting, Widemouth Bay, Bude

Horizontal rain and pain

Widemouth Bay, Cornwall. EX23. UK

Widemouth Bay

Summers here!, and holiday it is, an old friend from school had moved to Cornwall and bought a camping and caravan park, ashamedly I've never been further west than Reading, And this was an opportunity to visit this beautiful part of the country, try a bit of surfing, and put a few lines into the water.

I had unsuccessfully tried some jigging and spinning from rocks, and as a result I decided to try a bit of familiar beach casting, but which beach? I didn't have a clue, I had asked the locals and the general consensus was - too early in the year to fish, too much rain, sea too rough, too big spring tide. so the question as to where to fish still eluded me, as we never got that far into the discussion. But I didn't have the option of returning when the conditions were favourable and the fish were about.  So with absolute stubbornness I decided to push my luck, I picked the closest beach to our campsite and with 4 hours to fish, the tides, sunset and surfers dictated that I would be fishing 2 hours down to low water and two back up.

Sand Eels, look out they're hiding under your feet!

I arrived 30minutes before dusk, the surfers had all gone, it was very windy and wet. The rain wasn't falling down but going horizontally, from left to right across the beach. I looked out towards the surf, and then it dawned on me. It was a mile away, well not that far yet!! I think at this point I realised how shallow it was, This maybe wouldn't of bothered me too much, Bass would be lurking between the breakers, but with the very strong cross wind I knew I would seriously struggle to reach over 80 meters, maybe even 60. And by my calculation that wasn't even past the first breaker. I had no waders or even wellies purely because I had never needed them before.Which would of at least allowed me to wade out at least maybe another 15 meters to cast.

leger rig with boon

Undetermined I set up in front of the water, my 11'6" Shakespere Salt Extreme Bass rods with my new Shimano Biomasters 8000 spooled with 15lb Ultimer F1 titanium mono line with crystal clear tapered leaders 15lb to 60lb. I fished with a running leger. a 5oz grip lead on a boom, with 20lb fluorocarbon 18" snoods, the idea that the fluorocarbon and a single Aberdeen size 2 hook. Bait was a small sand eel with the head and tail chopped off then threaded onto the hook and wrapped in a slither of mackerel fillet and bound with bait elastic which would give it strength to stay intact and on the hook after powerful casts . The idea was to keep the rig as simple and tangle proof as possible by using a simple 1 hook running ledger, this would also keep the bait on the sea bed, as I was hoping a ray might come along, even though I'd been told it was to early in the year for them. The fluorocarbon snood is stiffer than mono and less likely to tangle in the surf, and the extra length of the snood and boom would allow a more natural movement of the bait.

It was time to cast, and as I readied the rod, I noticed a scrap piece of mackerel stuck to the back of my hand, I shook my hand and screamed in pain as my baited hook violently flapped about on the end of my hand. the whole point and barb of the hook had embedded itself in the end of my finger, which by the way it's still hurting typing this six days later.  I was now ready to cast using my bleeding and bruised finger, but the sea by now had moved a good 30 meters away, so I packed everything into move mode, and made my way to the waters edge again, another lesson learnt, being this mobile with two rods on one tripod is very difficult. I ended up mostly fishing one rod as a result, I have to admit that the speed of the tide was a world away from the steep shingle banks in Kent that I was used to fishing. It was quite amusing looking at where I'd been walking, lots of tiny 2" sand eels had come to the surface of the wet sand, obviously the stomping on the sand had tricked them into coming out, I'd never seen this before, and spent a good hour of the night amusing myself with playing sand eel stomping, even joking at least I can say I caught a sand eel. It was a shame none were big enough to use as bait.

Now where's that sea going?

I moved forward about 15 meters every cast following the tide, I had no bites at all, I could of used the same two baits all night, except I did try a whole sand eel on its own, and strips of mackerel on its own before going back to using them together. The tide had turned and with the occasional rouge waves that I had managed to avoid up until now, all I could do was watch as the biggest breaker I'd seen all night, it gleamed across the horizon like a wall in the moon light, It came in so quick I didn't even attempt to move, I just stood there with my rod in casting position, I lowered my stance to stable myself as the water hit, it slowly and calmly rose over my boots, and stopped just short of my groin, before retreating 20 meters in front of me.I have to admit it was going to happen at one point or another, I done well to stay clear of the water for as long as I did.

Now I was bleeding, in pain, soaking wet from head to toe, and no fish to show for it. I decided it was time to call it a night, at least I'd managed my four hours. I reeled in and as a consolation found a 20" Dogfish attached to the hook. I didn't see the bite, proberly due the fact that this rod had been cast out for over an hour, since low tide and I had been making my way backwards up the beach letting the line off reel to leave the bait out at distance which by this time had enough seaweed caught around the line to feed an army.

Woof woof, a suprise dogggie

I'd like to think I am a good angler, and to be fair I probably am on the waters that I have experience on, but fishing a shallow surf beach in bad weather, facing a stormy Atlantic ocean on a big spring tide, ill prepared, under researched and against the locals advise was a big learning curve for myself. Yes I admit that swerve balls in fishing can pay dividends, and if you got a hook in the water than you've got a chance. But isn't that just what we tell ourselves to help maintain the belief that the big fish could be the next cast. In reality it will almost certainly end in failure more times than even the most hardcore fisherman would be willing to try, but that's only if you measure failure by the amount of fish you catch, which I don't. As I've said before, one fish can make the difference, I'd feel more happier catching one new species from a difficult/unknown venue than lots of fish from from a easy/dead cert venue. I had visions of putting up blogs of successful fishing trips full of big fish, but that would involve maybe two or three blogs per year if I was lucky, and yes, you could specialise in one type of fishing to increase your success rate dramatically, but where would the adventure be??? I'm not afraid of failure, but I'm constantly learning and that is one of the things about fishing that is so appealing whether you realise it or not, throw in a bit luck, some beautiful locations and the comradery and competitiveness of fellow anglers,  this is a very unique sport with absolutely no hard and set rules, some which may work one day but not the next. You'll just never ever know! unless you try.

Carp Fishing, Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold

The one that got away

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold, West Sussex. RH13 0QZ

Furnace Lake Fishery

Having spent the winter Pike and sea fishing, It was just about warm enough to do a nights carp fishing at my absolute favourite fishery, Furnace lakes. Apart from being a well managed and beautiful venue and in my opinion each lake has just the right amount of swims on to make it not seem to crowded. It also boasts some of the cleanest toilet facility's that I know in any establishment, not so much a concern for us men, but something that the girls really appreciate. You get a little ride from the car park to your swim with your tackle on a quad bike and trailer, and the place just stinks of big fish. On a quite summer night with no wind you can hear the fish crashing about all over the complex, it resembles someone throwing paving slabs into the water, and adding to the excitement of this magical place, your next bite could easily be a new personal best fish. Of which I have to admit that although I've caught 20 odd carp in the high teens, I actually haven't had a 20lb+ carp.

Here fishy fish!

Me and Sarah arrived early afternoon for a 24 hour session, after a frantic mornings shopping for tackle, bait and food, and a big spring clean of the tackle as it was the first time it had seen the light of day for at least 5 months. The plan was to fish for carp, three 12" Fox Ranger XTS 3lb test rods, two Shimano Baitrunner ST6000RA reels loaded with 15lb Fox Soft Steel mono, and an very old unbranded  baitrunner reel with about 18lb mono line, that I was reluctantly forced to use as I had forgotten about breaking one of my Shimanos and just hadn't got round to replacing it.

Long hair, chopped lob worm, Yum!

At the lodge we decided to fish Roman lake rather than the usual Kiln lake, for no reason other than a change. I never quite know how to fish with three rods, but I figured for a short 24 hour session, it would be best to cover as many options as possible. So I opted to fish one rod close in against the reeds in the margin, single popped up corn bait over a bed of sweetcorn, hemp and spod mix, very easy to accurately cast and feed during the night without big splashes, just a initial dump of bait on arrival and a little handful thrown from the bank over the reeds every hour. The second rod, in the middle of the lake in open water, with halibut pellet bait fished over a heavily halibut flavoured large ground baited area with lots of loose pellets the same size as the bait. The third rod was to be Worm bait, fished tight to the far bank under a over hanging tree against a lily pad, with no feed. I had been watching the lily pads moving whilst setting up, and thought that disturbing the fish with loose bait wouldn't be of benefit, and I'm absolutely certain that no fish can pass up the opportunity of eating a big, fat, wriggling, juicy lob worm, well that's what I tell myself. It's a tactic that has winkled out more carp for me than any other bait.

Caught all by herself, why am I here?

I have to admit, apart from one missed run halfway through the night on the pellet rod, it was dead. Not a bleep, no fish crashing, and unusually not a sound from any bite alarm on any lake. At around midnight after our bbq, I recast all three rods with fresh bait and extra feed, and tucked myself into the sleeping bag with Sarah and had the best nights undisturbed sleep whilst carp fishing I can ever remember. Night turned to day and still nothing! Sarah was Fishing the far bank rod, and we decided that maybe a change of bait was needed, she wanted to try a 20mm cube of luncheon meat, which at least was getting action, the small fish loved it, nibbling away at the edges, until it became a small marble sized ball, it was kind of annoying listening to all the little beeps on the alarm, but at least it kept us on our toes. I changed the margin rod to Red Robin 10mm pellets, and the middle rod to 12mm Monster Crab boilies, but no runs, although Sarah managed to hook and land a small bream all by herself, on the luncheon meat rod whilst I was in the toilet.

Homemade balanced pop up rig

Then an hour before leaving time, the annoying bleeping luncheon meat rod alarm continuously bleeped, and the bobbin gently rose until it reached the rod, the baitrunner kicked in, and slowly gave about 2 meters of line before I struck. I was in! It felt big, but it didn't scream off, instead the fish felt like it was just slowly swimming around without a care in the world, I had my suspicion that this was a catfish rather than a carp, or it was a big carp that really didn't know it was hooked yet? As the fish swam along the far bank, there was nothing I could do to stop it, stripping line slowly off the reel. It was then I realised why I had replaced this old reel, It was shit! The clutch kind of snapped violently releasing about a meter on line each time before stopping sharply, making the rod bounce! Not good with a small barbless hooks, and if that wasn't enough, I had made the cardinal sin of not taking the line out of the reel clip, which luckily snapped clean off the reel when it needed to. The fight continued, I was starting to ache, my back especially this forced me to find comfort kneeling on the ground, but my arms were shaking, I couldn't hide it, the whole rod was shaking. I gained 10 meters of line, he took it back, and vice versa, it was a very amicable tic for tack battle, during which I learnt to control the reel clutch by winding it down very light and use my hand to control the clutch, and was now able to use the minimum amount of pressure to pull back with out bulling the fish. This worked for about 30 minutes until I had the fish very close in, and he knew it! but I'd been expecting this! he run! and run he did! across to the island past my swim past my neighbours swim, hitting all his lines with a chorus a bite alarms, and then continued to the adjacent corner of the lake before stopping. I was back to the start but with a lot more line to recover! and this fish hadn't even surfaced yet! but now I knew he was big, very big, bigger than anything I had ever played before. I returned to the tic for tack fight tactics, I think the run knackered the fish, I was gaining line a lot more easier now and at about 30m out he finally surfaced. It was a big catfish! "F**k me!!! ohhh shit!" was Sarah's very out of character response to the gigantic fish! It was only the tail that showed and I still wasn't really aware of how big this fish might be.




It took another 10 minutes to get the fish ready for landing, Sarah had stopped filming and had swapped our 42" landing net for a larger 50" net which our neighbours kindly bought us, and then the fish's head came out the water, a big 12" wide mouth appearing to smile at me, I was now standing about 5 meters away from the edge of the bank so if he decided to run I would have enough line to stretch with it. Sarah attempted to land the fish, but was stopped moments from doing so, "Don't use the net! Its too big, I'll grab him!" shouted one of the bailiffs as he leaped off his four wheeled buggy. I was kind of relieved, I didn't know what to do!, I was in delirious state of ecstatic shock, Sarah hasn't the experience in landing big fish, or any fish to think about it, and the other people there seemed content with just watching. I wasn't even sure the borrowed net was even big enough! the fish's head came up again and the bailiff whilst laying on his stomach grabbed the line with his right hand and with his left reached out towards the open mouth and bang!! the hook pinged out!!! It took a moment for it to sink in, a deathly silence for a moment whilst the fish slowly sunk backwards into the depths and out of reach. The silence then continued until the bailiff slowly turned round holding the flailing rig "That's my fault." he said.

A very despondent angler :(

The fish had gone, my personal best lost, the excitement had turned to utter disbelief and a gutted feeling that churned my stomach for the rest of the day. It was just an accident, one of those things. I said to the bailiff "that would of been my personal best! it was about 40lb?" he replied shaking his head, "Mate, I don't know if I want to tell you this, that fish was over 60lb" I guess it didn't matter now. I really wasn't too sure weather to include this trip on this blog, but hey, Its fishing, I've lost more big fish that I've landed, blanked more times than I care to remember, its unpredictable and full of shocks and surprises, it's frustrating, and a sheer joy, where one fish can make a world of difference, I love fishing for all of this! and to be honest, fishing wouldn't be fishing without the old aged traditional tales of  "The one that got away."

Bass Fishing, Hastings Beach, Hastings

England v Germany

Hastings Beach, Rock-a-Noir Parade, Hasting, East Sussex. TN34, UK

Typical English bank holiday weather!

Easter bank holiday, my partners German brother and girlfriend were staying over for a week, a hotel booked in Hastings, what could go wrong????? That's right! The weather! OMG! now I know that its a given that bank holiday equals bad weather, but even this was extreme, We arrived at 8am on Sunday to torrential rain mixed with marble sized hail stones and gales force winds with gust of 50mph, As I parked the van, I looked at the sea and knew there was no way of fishing, The surf was too big, the wind was way too strong, and to top if off the hail stones bloody hurt, So we spent the day darting in and out of various restaurants, museums and arcades, and systematically on the hour, every hour checking the forecast for a break in the weather, hoping for the best. Our planned night fishing fell on its face as well, the weather stayed the same through out the night, and combined with the big spring tide the surf was actually hitting the road, which made fishing from my hotel window now possible, but I couldn't as I needed both hands to hold the window because the wind would of ripped it off its hinges, so I just watched the storm with ore, and dreamt of fish.

The morning after

I woke up far too early, went straight to the window and opened the curtains to check the weather, I do it every time I go fishing. Its the excitement, "fishing fever" as Sarah calls it. And what a change! the sun was beaming through the curtains, I looked out to whispering clouds dotting a bright blue sky, with the low tide and big surf! I thought bass! I'd heard rumours that they had started showing, and I knew the fishing should be better after a big blow, but was the blow too big? there was only one way to find out. I woke the other camp in the room next door and before we knew it, we were all drinking coffee and eating bacon rolls with our rods in the water.

Great surf for a bass

Myself and Emil had Shakespeare 11'6" Salt extreme bass rods, with Shakespeare Salt Surf reels loaded with 15lb Ultima Power Braid each, whilst Sarah opted for Spinning with A Shakespeare 9" Ugly Stik Lite rod with a Shakespeare 035 front drag Mach 3 reel, A small,  but very strong, light and extremely well made reel, which was loaded with 10lb fox soft steel mono. The rigs were standard 2 clip down, size 2 hooks, 6 oz breakaway leads. and we had plenty of fresh lug and squid, with a few mackerel.

Fresh lug worm, Top all round bait!

Ive not used braid sea fishing before and was keen to see if it made a big difference to my casting, my first cast and I spooled out!!!! What the hell! that's about 180m of line in the sea and none left on the reel. Then the penny dropped! I didn't see the lead hit the sea but then I realised that it was the gigantic bow in the line caused by the strong wind which had taken all the line, later casts were at best in the windy conditions reaching maybe 60m being cast hard and low with some heavy feathering to keep the line as straight as possible , but this wasn't the time to test fishing lines although my first impression was good, it reeled in a lot smoother than mono and flew silently of the spool.

Aka "the match rig"

Low tide was very quite bite wise, but then 2 hours into the flooding tide they started coming thick and fast, Mainly Whiting and Rockling, I really hate Rockling, the little buggers have got such a tough jaw and usually swallow the hook into their tiny mouths making unhooking them a absolute nightmare and eventually leaving you with a bent and twisted Aberdeen hook that needs replacing! Then my German counterpart hit his first bite and landed a small Dogfish,  whilst my unhooking nightmare just continued, as I landed an Eel. Emile realised that because I was casting further than him I was getting more bites. I then watched as he launched a lead with all his might, 20 degrees straight up at the sky, I panicked for a second as I gauged where the lead would land in the strong wind, thankfully I was about right, it hit the sea about 30m in front of us, he looked at me as if to say that was a big cast, and believe me it was!. I stuck my thumbs up and smiled at him, although I didn't think he had a clue where he actually cast, I knew he had casted just behind the first breaker into bass territory. I was happy for him to leave it there because I was aching to try close in for bass, but the bites were coming further out, and fishing with one rod didn't give me the option to do both. He then asked me to look after his rod saying "If I fish over there with Sarah, I will get a bite!" he took the spare spinning rod and joined his sister in spinning for bass with Dexter wedges and spoons off the groin. It was nice to see them chatting and spending time together, as they don't get to see each other very often.

Here Bassy Bass

 He had only been gone 5 minutes then I watched his rod tip slam down violently! I hadn't seen a bite like this beach casting since the summer, it went again so violently that the rod lifted up into the air and pivoted on the tripod. I grabbed the rod butt just before it came crashing down on the stones. I didn't need to strike, and the braid fishing line meant I could feel a fish fighting straight away, It felt a lot bigger than the other fish, I shouted and screamed relentlessly at Emil and Sarah to get their attention, but the wind made my screams fall silent, I watched them obliviously fishing no more than 15m away as I played the fish. By now it was close in and I concentrated my efforts to beach the fish in the very rough surf, rather than shouting. It was a lot smaller than I thought for the fight and violent bite, but it was a bass and the best fish I've really caught beach fishing so far this year. Me and Emil shook hands and agreed that it was an joint English/German catch, I was just happy to see a Bass!.

I'm a Dab hand!! lol

I managed to catch even more annoying Rocklings, a few Dabs, and even a plate sized Flounder before the bites dried out just before high tide. To be honest, even though it was fairly sunny it was very cold and the wind made it even colder and I was ready to leave. It had been a good session and I hoped that Emil would remember his English fishing trip with a smile, and why wouldn't he? between us we had landed about 25 fish, 7 species and 4 keepers for dinner, which was more than enough to make the previous day and night wash out a distant memory. I've usually had good fishing at Hastings, and this was perhaphs one of the best, but god am I looking forward to some warm weather, please hurry up summer!