TUNING UP
David John Lovell
A very crafty 23lb common out witted after many changes.
I recently fished a day ticket water where night fishing is not permitted in the south west of England. I think it's fair to say that when travelling to other waters it's difficult to decide on bait and tactics because no local information is to hand, and this means having to work at things a little harder. I had a small carp the day before but I did want to take one of the larger fish because I had a friend with me and she had never been fishing, particularly specialist fishing, so I had some teaching to do, explaining how the equipment operates and all the other things we seem to use without thought. She did comment that it seemed second nature to me, and I suppose that's true due to experience.
There is a ban on nuts and seeds on the water but I was carrying many alternatives, though I did not take sweet corn which many other anglers were using. As I mentioned, there is no night fishing so the bivvy was set up in the camping area away from the lake and an oval brolly used for the duration of the fishing. There are plenty of carp to catch and indeed I did lose a good fish after a cut off on some unseen snag, probably a branch or stone, early into the short 4 day visit. I was doing some testing with a few bits and pieces and was very pleased with the performance of them.
The weather was changeable and this meant re-zeroing the scales periodically as the unhooking mat dried up after a shower, which were ever threatening between periods of very hot sunshine. After many changes to bait. rigs and tactics I made the decision to make a final few changes and tweak the set up. I remember explaining to my partner that carp fishing can be compared to motor racing, with the lake being the track and the set up the car, and I make changes to achieve a performance.
Now, I will say here that I've seen some crafty carp in my time but this particular fish took some beating. I was actually putting some baits into the water around the rigs which were in 2 feet of water and a foot from the bank next to a overhanging tree when the right hand rod screamed off. This hook bait was different and no samples of the hook bait were applied. This fish went for the odd one out assuming that the hook bait was a left over from a previous day. She really went for it and did manage to get under the branches but I was having none of her antics and muscled her out and she was mine. Hook and hold tactics are my specialty and the adrenalin rush is always incredible.
I did enjoy the visit though it was tiring having to take the equipment back and forth to the lake each day. I am now looking forward to visiting another new water where once again into the breach I go.
