My son Gareth had been nagging me for weeks to go to the Club Lake at Orchid lakes. It cost a tenner for a day or £20 for 24 hours. As we were only going to be there for a day we chose the cheaper option!
We got a lift round to the lake (still £3 per angler) and set up in what is known as the high bank. There was already two blokes fishing, one of them definitely fishing for the catfish that are resident there. The other were small fish anglers.
The Club Lake is not very big, being only 2 acres in size so finding the fish wasn't a problem. They were literally yards from your bait! I was using plastic corn on one rod and a pop up on the other. I was fishing across to the other bank as we'd seen a carp jump near there earlier on, while we were setting up.
It was a pleasant day, not too sunny, but at least it was dry. Gareth was fishing with one bait runner and one quiver tip. His quiver rod was set up to cover the small bay to his right. His other rod was covering the far bank opposite his swim. The bloke to my right packed up around midday when 2 young lads came and setup 2 pegs down. They thrashed the water trying to cast out, their bite alarms didn't have an on/off button (or if they did, they didn't know how to work it). They were casting out literally every 10-15 minutes. They were only around 12 -14 years old. I thought our chances of catching had been severely curtailed thanks to the young lads antics. Eventually, they settled down and then I began to get line bites, bleeps and the odd aborted take. A few times I'd reeled my baits in to find that the hook was bare or the rig was in tangles. These were wary fish and had seen most tricks.
Then at around 15.45 my alarm sings out and I'm into a fish. I'm on lighter gear than I am normally used to, so I probably made a meal out of landing the fish but after my last dismal record I didn't want this to go tits up. I finally manage to land it and it turns out to be a common of 15lb 7oz.
I was ecstatic. My first carp of the year. Now maybe I can get on and do some proper fishing and not have to worry about blanking!!!
The fish looks great but don't be too critical of me please, I bruise easily (as the song goes!)
Here's another piccy, taken on Gareths phone
Its a shame the pictures don't do the fish justice as its a really pretty fish, in pristine condition and well proportioned. You'll just have to take my word for it!
All went quiet for a while and then I had a take on the quiver tip. I reeled it in and it was a small skimmer bream. All slime and snot. Needless to say it was unhooked in the water and put straight back. That was it for our session but around 6pm the heavens opened. It lashed and lashed it down. Luckily I'd brought my brolly so we were quite dry although everything was spattered in dirt from the rain splashing on the ground. Luckily it managed to stop raining before the gates were shut so we packed up and went home around 18.55 pm.
Right, time for bed and to dream of my next fish - hopefully at Newlands!
CYA
John
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