Another Good Nights Sleep!

Evening all! John Here.

Well , I went fishing at Newlands on Monday night. Quite an eventful session, I can tell you.

It all started badly when I couldn't be arsed to get my act together. I'd planned to get up around 5.30am and get to the lake around 6.30 - 7am. As it happened I didn't get up til 8am, hummed and aarrrred, eventually getting to the lake at 1pm - reluctantly!

I set up on the road bank, 2nd swim in. I'd seen a fish top in the middle of the lake, opposite the swim I was in, so that decided me. I'd heard on the local radio that rain was forecast for that afternoon so I put up my bivvy first thing, along with all my luxuries. It seemed to take forever! Two hours later the bivvy was up and I was finally ready to cast out. Then it took me ages to set up my rods.

My LH rod was fished about 50-60 yds out, about the same distance as the sticks but 10-15 yds left of them. My RH rod was only a short distance out, into the entrance to the bay. I spodded out some boilies to my left rod and some pellets and a sprinkling of boilies to my right rod. Ok, now we're cooking on gas.

While I was looking at the lake a fella came and had a chat from further down the lake. He was studying at Brookes University and was fishing Newlands during his time off from his summer job and the start of next term. He'd already spent 2-3 nights at the lake but only had a mid double mirror for all his efforts. He had been taking a walk around the lake to see if he could see some carp, as they'd apparently moved from his area (top half of the lake). While we were talking, a few fish crashed out, right in front of us. It was like a display, the fish were topping, jumping and doing lots of carpy things. I thought I might have a fish or two here! He said he'd definitely be moving down to here but didn't know where I was fishing. He didn't want to interfere with the area I was fishing. I explained where I was and he went and set up on the high bank. You don't see much of fishing etiquette nowadays, so it was quite refreshing to see that at least some of the younger carp anglers (he was 20 ish) are considerate of other anglers.

After about 40 minutes my right hand rod screamed off. Fortunately I was stood right next to it and picked it up straight away. Alas, it was on for around 10 seconds, then - boiinngg - it came off. By this time, the lad from Brookes had set up on the high bank and had already cast out his rods. Now, after that run, all activity seemed to stop. No fish showed, no fish jumped. no sign of any fish on the top. It might have been coincidence or it might have been that losing the fish scared them off. It might have been the extra lines in the water upset the carp coming in towards us. I don't know. All I know is that nothing happened after and I woke up next morning fishless, even though I'd been so confident of catching a fish the previous night.

I made breakfast and recast the rods. After spodding out some more boilies and pellets to the respective rods I settled down to wait. It wasn't long before I had a run on my left rod. I struck into it and it felt like a really good fish. As I was getting my landing net to hand I suddenly felt the rod and line go slack. NO, please no! But it was true. The damn thing had got off again. I threw down my rod in a hissing fit and walked away. I came back after a while and reeled in the line and examined the end. The line had parted above the clear leader and looked as if someone had roughed up the end with a bit of rough sandpaper. I'd been done. I had been using the Korda leaders so that the weight could be shed by the fish should the unthinkable happen. I text Steve and Vic, who were quite sympathetic about it all. Steve's been fishing for decades so knows what it feels like and Vic is a ex match angler who has got the carp bug.

That was about it until around midday when I noticed a lot of carp activity heading towards my swim. The wind was blowing into my face again and it seemed to excite the carp as they were jumping, topping, etc. I held on for as long as I could but I had to call it a day at 13.30pm. Somebody would have a good session soon.

Thats it for now,


John