Walnut Farm Fisheries - Evening Session 28th May 2008
Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 10:35 pm by Nigel Hannant
What a hoot! It has been over three years since I last went fishing, and my return to the bankside was much over-due.
You will be able to see by the picture of the beautiful Mirror Carp, that it was also not a blank! I really did have a great time, even though there were plenty of beginner mistakes.
It started well, and badly. I arrived at an empty venue, if you can call a bailiff wading around clearing swims and a JCB digger clearing the banks empty. Not quite the peaceful fishing world I was expecting. However, it is good to see they are clearly trying to maintain and improve the fishery. Oh, it was also windy enough to cancel a cross channel ferry!
However, I was not going to be put off, and once cleared with the bailiff the fishery was still open I chose a swim on the Canal and set up. The swim was close to the car park, and also out of the wind as much as possible. I decided I was going to start ledgering with hair rigged sweetcorn, and in no time I had cast in close to the far bank, which was no more than 2 or 3 rod lengths out. Pleased I was fishing once again I was certainly not expecting or prepared for the rod to almost jump off the bank sticks after just a few minutes.
I reeled down into something that did not feel heavy, but was putting up more than a fair account for itself. Then I realised I did not have the landing net set up - first mistake of the evening! Fortunately the bailiff appeared, and I handed him the rod while I set up the net, a touch embarrassing, but he did not appear to mind. After a couple of minutes we landed a mini Carp, and guessing at the full set of polished scales, a Common Carp. It could have been no more than a pound, but I was delighted! What a great start and return to fishing. It was also my first ever capture of the species. What was amusing, was the bailiff could not believe I had caught it on sweetcorn, so I was doubly pleased.
After missing a few bites on the ledger, and with the fish starting to roll in the swim I decided to give the floaters I had bought a go, another fishing-first. It was clear the fish were more than used to feeding on the surface, and the free floaters were quickly being slurped and sucked from the surface, often followed by big swirls, these fish were not single pounders!
Tentatively I cast in a hair rigged floater using a controller surface float. By now the free offerings had gone, and mine was the only one out there, up came a pair of lips, swallowed, I struck, and my float rocketed out of the swim into the bankside bushes like an Exocet missle! I don’t know who was more shocked, me or the fish! Needled to say I had not mastered the art of surface fishing. These shenanigans continued, and I failed to hook anything, despite many takes.
By now the over-cast evening was starting to turn in, and light was starting to fade. I noticed that just a few feet from the bank Carp were starting to cruise, so I decided to change tack. I moved my chair back from the edge, threw in a few floaters and dropped mine in amongst them. One-by-one they each disappeared to a greedy pair of lips, then the moment of truth, mine was the last bait on offer and almost with realising, it disappeared before my very eyes. Pandemonium ensued! This fish blistered off and the clutch was screaming, heart pounding I wondered what on earth was going on, this was a new fishing experience for me, even Tench are not quite as bonkers as this! Now for the next comical event of the evening, it was like something from a Chaplin film. The fish broke right and I could do nothing to stop it getting stuck into some submerged tree branches to the right of the swim close to the bank. Deadlock! Nothing moved. But I could see from the taps on the rod tip something was still attached. What now…well I put the rod down and decided that I might be able to free it if I could just move the branches. Quick thinking I unscrewed the landing net, extended the pole to maximum length and gently eased it down to the branches. I was not sure quite what I was expecting to happen, but you probably can. The next thing I knew the fish broke out and blasted for the middle, almost dragging the rod in! So the fight was back on, but you can probably see the flaw in the plan before I did. Suddenly I didn’t have a landing net on a pole. Anyway, eventually I managed to land the fish hand holding the net into the water, how I did not manage to fall in I am not sure.
This comic moment however resulted in a lovely fish, as you can see in the picture above. I should have weighed it really, but in the panic and excitement I didn’t. I am guessing it was probably between 6 and 8lbs. By now the light was really failing but I could not resist another cast. This time with less fuss I landed an amazing ’silver bullet’. It was like a longer Common Carp, but completely silver. I don’t think it was a Ghost Carp, probably an exotic.
It was a fabulous return to fishing, and I am grateful that the venue provided such fine sport, even to a rusty fisherman like me. I know I shall return, next time hopefully a bit more clued up!
Tags: Carp, floaters, hair rig, ledger, sweetcorn, Tench, Walnut Farm Fisheries
