September 2011 - Guest diary by Ryan Boyda
Over the past few weeks I’ve been really looking forward to writing this diary peace as fishing is a huge part of my life, also this is the first chance that I’ve had to write about my own angling so I would like to say a thank you to John for giving me this opportunity.
Now, moving onto my guest diary piece for this month, In all honesty I have been having a right head banger over the past two months. The naturals have really kicked off this year to an extent I have never seen on the venue before which the carp are taking full advantage of. Also the water clarity has been very poor due to a huge amount of work which is being carried out on the venue that started a little over a year ago. In this time the anglers have lost 10acres of the lake as a causeway has split it in two. One side has been drained down and had the lake bed reworked from 20ft to 5ft to create a boating lake, the same process is due to take place on the remaining 10acres after the other half is completed.
Anyway, taking things back to August, I popped up the lake for my midweek bait up after work. It was a lovely warm day with a gentle south westerly blowing towards the shallows which is also the snaggiest area of the lake, so with that I set off up the bank with my bait bucket and Polaroid’s. Upon arrival at the snags I caught sight of a back of a carp just poking out above the surface taking in the sunshine. It was one of the bigguns, I creped through the bushes and climbed a tree which just lent over the water’s edge which took me directly above the fish. I quickly noticed it was the carp that brought me here I dearly wanted to catch this one. I could see his golden linear scales and red flanks just shining up at me in the sunlight. What a fish!
I spent 30 minunits or so watching before he slowly waddled off deep under the snags before I lost sight of him. I waited for a length of time to see if he would come back around but with a no show, I decided to take the opportunity to bait my area which was a rod length away from where the fish had been sitting. After a slow walk around the rest of the lake thinking about the fish, I headed back home to prepare for my weekends fishing in a couple of days.
Now, bearing in mind I am only a weekend angler I do like to prepare myself for when I am on the bank. So during my evenings away from the lake I like to tie a variety of rigs to suit any situations I may be faced with, so if an opportunity does occur I can take full advantage without wasting any time.
So it’s now Friday and the weather had been very similar as to when I had seen my target fish. The shallow were the obvious place to be. I arrived at the lake at 8.30ish so the light was slowly fading but i really wanted to check the snags before setting up. So after loading the barrow I galloped up the bank in my last bid to check the snags before the light had dropped too much, at the snags I peered through the murky water and could see two shapes sitting very close the lake bed, the biggest of which was looking around the 30lb mark. After getting around to the swim two multi rigs were pulled out the rig wallet and were balanced out with an Aquatix Anchovy Cork Ball Pop-up before being cast across my baited area about 12ft short of the far tree line, I was full of confidence for the night ahead expecting to be awoken to my Neville singing, but it wasn’t to be.
After an uneventful night I was left to wonder what had gone wrong and to tell you the truth I wasn’t sure. On inspecting the snags a group of 8 fish were having a bit of a munch on the naturals underneath the trees just beyond my area, including my target fish. The rest of the day was spent trying to persuade the fish to come out from the trees with some crumbled Aquatix Anchovy baits, after a short while a couple of fish began to show interest having a few mouthfuls and then returning back into the snag to join the others. After a few more hours watching I made my way back around to the swim to get the rods out for the night as this was a great opportunity for me.
One rig was placed on the spot I had the fish visiting throughout the day and the other I decided to keep on my baited area. That night I was really buzzing, but yet again another long night passed and not so much as a bleep. It was gutting as I really thought I had it right but also I had to leave in a couple hours as my weekend was over. After I got home I spent a few hours thinking about all that had happened over the weekend. I really didn’t want to miss out on any opportunities, so I decided to push a little harder and start fishing work nights in the hope of being rewarded with my target fish.
Anyway cutting the long story short, over the next week I managed to fish 6 nights all of which were in the shallows, but frustratingly I still never managed to tempt a single bite for my efforts. With a change in weather the fish soon moved out of this area and really didn’t want to give themselves away, so over my next string of nights I spent a bit of time moving around in the hope of landing amongst a group of carp but still with no joy other than a tench. During these nights another angler managed to land a lovely 18lb common which I gladly help to photograph. It was nice just to see one on the bank after such a quiet spell on the lake.
By now it was coming to the end of August and the work had really started to affect the remaining 10acres of the lake due to a temporary bund splitting it into two sections. Also one side had started to be drained down but the water was being pumped into the other section, with this the pump was churning up the side of the backfill so the water began to turn the colour of tea so visibility was very limited.
After all these blank nights I was starting to feel a million miles away from my next bite, but I wasn’t going to give up, so the rods were out again for the weekend.
After no signs of a carp through Friday night and the early part of Saturday I decided to reel in and have a wonder at around 2pm as the weather had started to brighten up, I made my way around to where the pump was and I soon spotted two carp grazing along the shelf of the backfill, on closer inspection I realised one of the fish was the lakes big common. After creping around the work bank for the next couple of hours i come across another five carp. I wasn’t missing out on this chance, so I quickly pack up and made my way up the backfill trying to be as quiet as i could but it wasn’t an easy task as the ground was really crunchy. I didn’t want to risk spooking the carp, so I waited until darkness to get the rods out as I had to lean over the edge of the backfill to position the rigs.
With the rods out I decided to hit the sack as all these work nights had started to catch up with me. Now, I couldn’t have been asleep for much more than an hour when I was awoken to an extremely violent take, as I picked up the rod their was a huge explosion of water and a very powerful battle commenced, after five or six minutes I manage to slip the net under the fish. Upon parting the mesh I realised a donkey of a carp was sat before me, it was the big common. After a phone call to my brother he soon arrived to give me a helping hand with her, on the scales she pulled the needle round to 37lb 08oz, what a result! With a couple of photos taken she was slipped back. Over the rest of the night it seem very quiet as I think all the commotion from catching the fish had spooked anything else away from the area. But despite all this I was very happy to be finishing my session with a carp under my belt. Top buzz!
Over the last two or three weeks in September I’ve only managed to fish around six nights, other than seeing a few fish head and shoulder I’ve not been lucky enough to put any more carp on the bank. Now, my last few sessions I really haven’t enjoyed due to how much the lake is changing it’s just not the same place anymore. So at this point of not enjoying my fishing I’ve been getting itchy feet and started to walk another lake that’s been on my mind. Although I haven’t managed to bag my target carp I’m happy to walk away for now.
Over the last year I’ve had some good times and managed to catch some stunning carp including a couple of personal best mirrors of 37.05 and 39.06, anyway maybe I will return in the future for another bash.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have enjoyed what I have put down.
So until next time, Good luck and tight lines
Ryan Boyda
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