More Carp Fishing

By Steve Graham

'More Carp Fishing' describes a very exiting period in Sieve`s carp fishing life. There are chapters on a real diversity of different waters, including two very low stock lakes in England, other English syndicate and club waters, and also several different venues in France. The chapters relating to the largest low-stocked lake in particular are absolutely gripping. At the outset the stock of carp in the lake was totally unknown, which is exciting enough in this day and age. The amount of natural food in the lake was extremely high, and the fishing proved to be very difficult, but the results were well worth the effort.
It is the author’s second book, and continues the story of his fishing life and his quest for those most elusive of fish - Big Carp.
At the time of writing Steve has been an angler for fifty years, and for the last twenty-five years he has fished almost exclusively for carp. He has caught many large fish over the years including a personal best English common carp of 42 lbs.8 oz. and a personal best mirror carp of 48 lbs.6 oz. and has fished many different venues both in England and abroad.
This book describes the many tremendous highs, and also the devastating lows that he experiences in search of his obsession, and also all of the people that he has met along the way. Page after page describes the journey through his fishing life in gripping detail, some parts full of humour, other parts tragic and some filled with pure elation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Graham
• Release date: Feb 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301299768

Steve Graham

Steve Graham is a retired financial adviser, who now lives in Staffordshire. He is married to Anita and they have four children – Lynne, John, Diana and Gary, and three grandchildren – Logan, Dylan and Sami. Not forgetting their dog Stan, a Springer Spaniel / Border Collie cross, that is loved by them all. Now that he has retired, Steve spends most of his time doing the things that he enjoys most, which includes writing, walking. Carp fishing, and looking after his grandchildren.

Book preview

More Carp Fishing

(Still Trying After All These Years)

By Steve Graham

Smashwords edition

Copyright 2013 Steve Graham

All rights reserved

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Contents

Chapter One – The Tine

Chapter Two – Copton

Chapter Three – Hindford

Chapter Four – Melton

Chapter Five – The Little S

Chapter Six – Moorlands 2010

Chapter Seven – Hindford (First Full Year)

Chapter Eight – Lake Albert

Chapter Nine – Hindford (Second Season)

Chapter Ten – Loeuilly

Chapter Eleven – Back To Albert

Chapter Twelve – Loeuilly Again

Chapter Thirteen – Conty

Chapter Fourteen – Loeuilly 2012

About The Author

Other Books By Steve Graham

To my grandson Logan.

I hope he enjoys reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Perhaps it will inspire him to follow in my footsteps and enjoy the wonderful sport of Carp Fishing.

CHAPTER ONE – THE TINE

In February 2009, I was fortunate to obtain a ticket to a local estate lake which we will call The Tine. This was a beautiful lake of about twelve acres, set in the same private estate as a lake that I had fished many years before – Church Lake.

There was a syndicate of twenty people, which seemed quite a lot for a small water with a limited number of swims, but Scott who ran the syndicate, explained that few of the members fished it much as, like me, most of them had access to several other waters. This was to turn out to be very true, and most times that I fished there that season I had the place entirely to myself.

Heaven!

My ticket started at the beginning of April and at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on April 1st, there I was walking the banks. The Tine looked stunning. Later in the year the near end was to become choked with pads, to such an extent that it made part of it unfishable, but on that first afternoon the pads had yet to establish themselves fully, and I was able to have a good look around.

I walked along the small winding path by the side of the lake, between the trees, and past some of the swims. Swims perhaps gives the wrong impression here, because they were just small holes in the undergrowth that had been made so that you could just poke a couple of rods through.

Real back to basics stuff.

It was so exciting, after some of the waters that I had fished, and the further I walked, the more I liked it. There was no one else about, and it was just like having my own private lake.

The Tine

There had been a syndicate on the water a few years before, but since then it had only been fished by a few friends of the landowner, and very infrequently at that. From asking around, I soon discovered that when the previous syndicate was in place, there were some large tench and a few bream plus a stock of about fifty carp (both commons and mirrors) and that the largest was about a mid-twenty. Since then, the landowner had sold a few of the fish, so we estimated that there were probably in the region of about twenty-five to thirty fish left. This was quite a low stock, which I expected to give me a challenge that I was really looking forward to. One of the exciting things about it was that we didn’t know how much the fish had grown since they were last fished for seriously.

Would there be any thirties?

Would they be even bigger?

We just didn’t know, and that only added to the excitement.

I found a swim that I really liked the look of at the far end of the lake, and it looked as if it hadn’t been fished for some time, which was all the better. I spent a couple of hours here with a marker rod, trying to learn some of the features of the swim, and then scattered some bait before making my way back home. Fortunately, The Tine was only about twenty minutes or so away from where I lived, so I was able to bait up on a regular basis. I visited the water for the next three days, Thursday Friday and Saturday, each time baiting the same swim, then I decided not to bait up on the Sunday, as I intended to fish for the first time on the Monday. During these visits to bait up, I had seen a couple of carp in the area which was very encouraging, and I was so excited that I didn’t get much sleep on the Sunday night.

I arrived at the water just after seven in the morning and conditions were ideal. It was mild and overcast, with a light southerly wind which was blowing towards the area that I intended to fish.

Perfect!

First though, I had to get the mountain of gear that I’d brought with me, to the swim. If you remember, the swim that I had chosen was at the far end of the lake, so I was just about as far away as I could possibly be. It shouldn’t be too bad though I thought, because I had the barrow with me after all, so I loaded it up and off I set. Now, if you have never tried pushing a fully loaded barrow up and down slopes, along narrow bramble-lined paths, between trees and over various branches and other debris, then I don’t recommend it. How the whole lot didn’t end up in the lake I’ll never know, and I vowed to remove all the unnecessary items from my kit, to lighten the load before my next trip.

Eventually I arrived at my chosen swim, and collapsed gasping for breath. I sat there quietly for a few minutes, and although I didn’t see any fish, it looked good. I decided to call this swim ‘The Holly’ as there was a large holly bush at the side. A few quick casts with a light marker soon found the spots that I intended to fish, and before long I had the rods clipped up to the correct distances, the lines marked with pole elastic, and the spots lightly baited with chopped boilies and particle. I didn’t start fishing straight away, but instead took my time setting up the bivvy and getting all my kit organised. There was no rush because I had two full days in front of me. Although I had found my spots and baited them with as little disturbance as I could manage, I still wanted to give the swim a chance to settle, and for any fish present to gain confidence with no lines in the water. Despite conditions remaining very good, I received no action at all to the rods that afternoon or evening, and that night I got into the sleeping bag, still hoping.

Tuesday morning saw me up just before first light. I sat there with the first cup of tea of the day, watching the water and willing the indicators to move. A couple of hours later my prayers were answered, as the indicator on the left-hand rod slowly lifted to the butt. With my heart in my mouth, I lifted the rod and yes – I was in. The euphoria didn’t last long however, as whatever was on the end of the line was not fighting like a carp, and sure enough, just a few moments later a large tench slid over the net cord. The disappointment soon faded as I reasoned that at least I had caught something, and where there are tench, there may also be carp. The tench had taken a critically-balanced bottom bait, so at least I knew that they liked the boilies, and I re-cast the rod with renewed hope. That afternoon I caught a bream, again on a bottom-bait, but that was to be the last fish of the day.

The following morning saw me catch two more bream, but all too soon it was time to pack up, and make that long journey with the barrow, back to the car. I wasn’t too disappointed as at least I had caught tench and bream on my bait, and after all it was only my first session on a low-stock water.

Rome was not built in a day and all that.

That last morning, I had seen what I thought was a carp just over fifty feet out to my left. I couldn’t be sure because I had only caught just a glimpse of it, but before I left I put the marker through the area and discovered a lovely little silty patch.

That would be a spot that I would put a hook-bait on next session for sure!

On the Tuesday of the following week I was back once again in the same swim. I had pre-baited heavily with boilies for five consecutive days, with the last lot of bait going in forty-eight hours earlier, and I was just hoping that it would pay off. Conditions were again very good, as it was warm with a light south-westerly wind, so I had every chance. Once again, after baiting up lightly, I rested the swim before starting to fish, and it was almost three o`clock in the afternoon before I finally cast in.

I caught two more tench that evening, and the following morning saw me sat there with a cup of tea in my hand, wondering what I was doing wrong. I had only caught tench again, and this session seemed to be going the same way as the last. Then at just after eight o’clock, the left-hand rod was away. The take came from that silty patch that I had found during the previous session. As soon as I picked up the rod, I knew that I was attached to a carp at last, and a good one. The fish put up a tremendous battle, and it was fully ten minutes before I was able to ease it over the net cord. I punched the air in my excitement, and my feelings were a mixture of euphoria and relief. As I looked into the net I could see a good common and it looked as old as the hills. On the scales it went 23 lbs.4oz. and I took a few photos before returning the fish a little further up the lake.

What a great start to my campaign on The Tine!

The fish took a large cork-ball pop-up on a simple ‘D’-rig and a coated braid.

23 lbs.4 oz.

Now could I catch any more?

Later that day I was to catch four more fish, but unfortunately they were all tench. They were large tench though, with two of them being in excess of six pounds, so that night I went to sleep happy. I was woken just after one a.m. by a screaming buzzer. It was the left-hand rod again, and the culprit put up just as good a scrap as the first carp. It was another common, a little smaller than the last, but very welcome all the same. It had taken a large cork-ball pop-up again from the same spot and on the same rig.

I was on a roll!

This one weighed 15 lbs.2oz. and I sacked it up carefully so that I could do some decent photos in daylight. Some people don’t like sacking fish, but I have never had a problem with it. I always sack a fish in fairly deep water, use a long cord on the sack and make sure that the fish is upright and happy before leaving it. I then frequently check that all is well. If at any time I felt that a fish was struggling, then I would release it without any photos. If carp are sacked in this way then there should not be any problems. The only time that I really worry is in very hot weather, when there might be less dissolved oxygen in the water, but in normal conditions all should be fine if you take care.

I took the photos at first light, and then the fish was released