For the first time this year we were treated to warm spring sunshine and it was too good an opportunity to miss. Isaac took a lot of persuading to get out of bed but very little coaxing to have couple of hours fishing. We arrived at the ‘Puddle’ a little after midday, all set to hammer the Carp on floaters. Warm weather and sunshine make life, and fishing, so much easier but we hadn’t bargained for the wind which was much stronger than forecast. Our first two choices of swim were already taken so we ended up fishing a new spot which had the wind blowing from left to right. With this in mind I began feeding floating pellets upwind of our swim, knowing the waves would carry them towards us. Usually there is an instant response but today it took a while to get a few fish moving and taking our freebies.
With the strong wind Isaac struggled to get his freelined bait out whilst avoiding the trees behind us, more lessons we all have to learn but I did help him a little today. It took a while to get fish taking floaters in front of us but by feeding little and often one or two fish obliged. Isaac was first to hook up and despite being a little rusty with playing fish he soon had a small common in the net, shortly followed by a second fish which was slightly bigger.
It seems the actions of a couple of fish feeding attract others and in time there were several fish moving into our swim, slurping down a few floaters, then moving off. A few minutes later this group of fish would circle into our swim again. I hooked the next fish and at this point Isaac’s competitive streak reared its head, with a cheeky grin he refused to hand me the landing net! I managed without help and netted the biggest fish of the day so far. We continued feeding little and often, the Carp continued to move in and out of our swim but bites did not come regularly, Isaac managed to catch a couple more and I added another to my tally. After a couple of hours we’d had enough, I’d caught the biggest fish but Isaac claimed victory with the most. It had not been as prolific as we’d come to expect but we’d enjoyed ourselves and I was very pleased to see Isaac playing his fish with confidence. I hope this is the first of many such trips this year.
The following day I was back, this time with Shelley for company. The weather was still pleasant and spring like so enjoying some comfortable time outdoors is still a novelty that we couldn’t pass up. The wind had dropped since the day before, we settled into a quiet corner and I began to chuck a few floaters in. As usual it didn’t take too long before Carp homed in on the food and as usual the action of fish feeding soon attracted others to join in. We caught fish regularly, mostly Commons which looked under nourished and sadly many had mouth damage from previous captures but Shelley caught a little Mirror that was absolutely mint.
We moved on to another lake where the fish are fewer but hopefully bigger. There were few Carp moving here but we found a sheltered, likely looking spot and settled back in comfortable chairs with mugs of hot tea. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and watching the birdlife. Blackbirds were busy in the bushes and a Woodpecker made an appearance opposite us, departing before we could get our cameras ready. Crows cawed in the trees and somewhere out of sight the Pheasants were making a right old racket, it was good to be out in the countryside. The fishing didn’t seem to matter but I did manage another small Common. Spring has been a long time coming which makes us even more determined to enjoy it while it’s here! The sun began to sink and the year’s first bats took to the air, we fished on until it was too dark to see then happily headed for home.
With the strong wind Isaac struggled to get his freelined bait out whilst avoiding the trees behind us, more lessons we all have to learn but I did help him a little today. It took a while to get fish taking floaters in front of us but by feeding little and often one or two fish obliged. Isaac was first to hook up and despite being a little rusty with playing fish he soon had a small common in the net, shortly followed by a second fish which was slightly bigger.
It seems the actions of a couple of fish feeding attract others and in time there were several fish moving into our swim, slurping down a few floaters, then moving off. A few minutes later this group of fish would circle into our swim again. I hooked the next fish and at this point Isaac’s competitive streak reared its head, with a cheeky grin he refused to hand me the landing net! I managed without help and netted the biggest fish of the day so far. We continued feeding little and often, the Carp continued to move in and out of our swim but bites did not come regularly, Isaac managed to catch a couple more and I added another to my tally. After a couple of hours we’d had enough, I’d caught the biggest fish but Isaac claimed victory with the most. It had not been as prolific as we’d come to expect but we’d enjoyed ourselves and I was very pleased to see Isaac playing his fish with confidence. I hope this is the first of many such trips this year.
The following day I was back, this time with Shelley for company. The weather was still pleasant and spring like so enjoying some comfortable time outdoors is still a novelty that we couldn’t pass up. The wind had dropped since the day before, we settled into a quiet corner and I began to chuck a few floaters in. As usual it didn’t take too long before Carp homed in on the food and as usual the action of fish feeding soon attracted others to join in. We caught fish regularly, mostly Commons which looked under nourished and sadly many had mouth damage from previous captures but Shelley caught a little Mirror that was absolutely mint.
We moved on to another lake where the fish are fewer but hopefully bigger. There were few Carp moving here but we found a sheltered, likely looking spot and settled back in comfortable chairs with mugs of hot tea. We spent the rest of the evening chatting and watching the birdlife. Blackbirds were busy in the bushes and a Woodpecker made an appearance opposite us, departing before we could get our cameras ready. Crows cawed in the trees and somewhere out of sight the Pheasants were making a right old racket, it was good to be out in the countryside. The fishing didn’t seem to matter but I did manage another small Common. Spring has been a long time coming which makes us even more determined to enjoy it while it’s here! The sun began to sink and the year’s first bats took to the air, we fished on until it was too dark to see then happily headed for home.
I've well and truly shaken off the Carpy cobwebs, now for something more challenging.
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