A positive note!

Quality time with my youngest, Natasha...hard earned!!

Hi guys......well after such a crappy few days with the animal mishaps and other stresses etc it felt like our short family break was in dire need!

We had 4 days down south with family and it was truly fantastic to see all our loved ones again after a 6 month gap. I got to spend some quality time with my best pal Stu and his gorgeous girls.




We had the opportunity to chat lots about general stuff but even more so about the oncoming river season! Seems the 6 week wait still left can't do one quick enough for us all!

Stu, Nik and Milly! xxxx

After the little break it was back home to the grafting of bait rolling and sending out orders....business is now very good with regular customers coming back for more every week! We told you guys it was good bait!! lol

Just before we went on our excursion I did a quick overnighter on the new pool. I got down the waters edge mid afternoon with the idea of spending a few hours fish watching. This didn't come to light as another guy was on the water and we spent a few hours chatting and drinking copious amounts of coffee! This only meant one thing for me.....about 12 trips to the nearest tree for a pee due to my stupidly small slack bladder!

Eventually I managed to get my kit sorted for the night and after all the pleasantries were exchanged I made haste to get my rods out before darkness fell. I just managed to get sorted in time and got under the covers for a nice nights kip. This was interrupted no less than 4 times by Mr Bream!

All around the 5-6lb mark but not what I intended to catch this time around! The sun started to break through the early morning mist around 7.15am and just as I was starting to come to life, a stunning dark coloured common cleared the water just over my baited area. I sat up and watched intently and as if by my own control the right hand rods bobbin almost shattered the rod blank! I sprang up and grabbed the rod to be met by a solid resistance. The fish had found the weed and was holding deep in it!

Eventually a lovely common on the Mimicker hooklink and leadcore!

A good thorough helping of pressure from my end gently eased the fish back and before I knew it I was sinking my net under another beautiful common of just under 11lbs. Not a monster by any standards but my what a stunning looking fish! I'd decided due to the shyness of the fish, that I'd start using the new Katran Mimicker hooklink and leadcore with one of our 3.5oz cog leads and a size 8 saber hook. This really nailed the fish and showed the effectiveness of the rig for my next trip.

The next outing was to be on Monday 28th and after spending the day rolling bait I decided to get the gear back down the pool for another go at the place. It was almost dark on my arrival and after putting out about a kilo of red x a managed to get the brolly and bed up together before the heavens opened! And by crikey did they! Not the best time to find out you have a leaky brolly! After 7 years of abuse she'd finally given up the ghost. Oh well, a makeshift plastic bag on the inner arms diverted the flow of rain water into a corner away from my already soaked bedchair cover.

I just managed to get my head down for some well earned shut eye when the left hand rod slammed off at a rate of knots! The take was so violent that it snapped the screw holding my stage stand in place clearly off, taking the whole bloody thing over! I was up and on it in a flash thank god, or I might have been a rod and reel down! The fish fought very hard for a few minutes before succumbing to the net with a weed covered nose. The new rig was doing the trick from  the off! I'd also decided to up the size of my hooks and hook baits from a size8 to a size 4 and the baits from a 16mm to a 22mm! This had the desired effect of removing the pest bream from the equation! I weighed and photographed the fish up the bank and after inspection I settled on 19lb 14oz. Another very pristine common carp. My forth from the tough little venue. I released the fish away from my swim and got another rig tied up ready to go out to the spot. I put around a hundred freebies dotted about the swim and made the cast into the inky blackness. Plop, bank on the dollars I thought!

19lb 14oz of golden beauty! AMEN

I got back into bed and made myself a hot drink whilst surveying the chances of another fish???? Could the swim do 2 in one night after producing one so early on? I'd have to wait and see.....I settled down for the night but found it remarkably difficult to sleep even though I was totally smashed. I lay there thinking about the list of jobs I had to complete the following day amongst other silly thoughts! Eventually the thoughts turned to those of the mind of someone past consciousness and my next recollection was that of a belting take on the same rod at 4.10am! Another blistering take that clattered the bobbin against the rod butt with incredible power! I stumbled out of bed feeling drunk from sleep and hit into another very strong fish. Fortunately she came out the weed with little grief and all to quickly she was in the net looking back at me through the light of my head torch. At 19lb 3oz another common, I was thoroughly pleased to have cracked 2 in one night from a water that struggles to do a fish a month at times!

19lb 3oz and two for the night! Made up!

I packed up around 9am and left about a kilo of Red X in the swim and headed home for a shower and a days work in the unit rolling bait for customers. It got to 5pm and I was just itching to get back down the pool for another go! I finished my work for the day at 6pm, had some tea, kissed the wife and kids before reloading the kit into the motor for round 2! I arrived at the pool around 7.15pm and again found myself to be the only one there....Lovely! The gear was quickly unloaded and ferried round to the swim before unleashing another torrent of Red X 22mm's for em to munch on! The left hand rod was into action within almost no time at all and at just 9.15pm I had my first take. Another monster of a bite! This one felt a lot bigger than all the fish I'd hooked in there to date and she found the weed and lily pads with too much ease. I applied as much pressure as I dared and with slow and steady effort she came towards me. I kept the pressure on steadily and she came out into open water. I got the net ready and held on with a tight grip as she came to the surface of the water. As I reached out to net her the hook lost its hold and I was left to see her slip back into the darkness with my rig unattached! I felt sick!

After the loss of the big fish, I just had the feeling that was going to be my lot for the night but I still made the effort to tie up another rig and PVA bag before retiring to bed for the night. I awoke around 7am to find that I'd had no more action on either rod. As I awoke I saw a huge mirror crash out over my right hand spot but I had to be away at 7.30am so sitting around to wait for a take wasn't going to happen this time! Gutted! Never mind, she'll be there for my next session I hope!

Tight lines all
Keith