Syndicate Lake - 21/05/11

Another short evening session on the lake. Not quite ready for an overnighter yet. Takes too much organising and I'm liking my bed too much at the moment! Arrived to find that fish spotting would be impossible due the "chop" on the lake (Is anybody else fed up with this wind? It feels as if it's been blowing since March!). I therefore settled into the same swim as last time in the hope that there'd be at least one carp mooching around the margin of the island. Set up as before, carefully avoiding the huge deposits of Canada Goose sh*t! Had to wait until it was just getting dark before any sign of a fish. The geese were just making their usual, very noisy, way onto the island to roost for the night when the right hand rod rattled off out of the blue. Could tell by the dashing around that it was a common, rather than one of the plodding mirrors. On the bank it went a shade over 12lb (note I managed to capture a nice "deposit" in the top right of the picture).

A carp!

Packed up shortly afterwards and left the geese to their bedtime routine.

Syndicate Lake - 13/05/2011

Have been a member of a carp syndicate on a small estate lake for the last couple of years. Haven't exactly set the world on fire in that time, just through not getting the hours in, and was thinking of giving the ticket up this year. However, something made me decide to give it one more go, so I parted with the cash and dragged myself out for a short evening session. Set up in my favourite peg opposite a small island. Two rods with flavoured, artificial corn on KD rigs (www.korda.co.uk/rigz/?id=8) went out over a few spods of hemp and sweetcorn. The third rod fished a small fluoro pop up out in open water. Was soon getting indications on the bobbins and a stuttering take on one of the rods up to the island signalled the first fish. Not a carp, but a pigeon-chested bream of 8lb 2oz.

Snotty

Rod went back out to the same spot and it wasn't long before the bobbin was jangling away again, resulting in a carbon copy of the first fish, albeit an ounce lighter. Unfortunately, it went very quiet after this. Fished on until just after dark, but had no further interest. Was perhaps a bit much to expect a carp first session, but those two bream certainly lifted me out of the doldrums.