Carp Catchers Blog

Regular customer Sean Bowen sent in this catch report.

Hi all,
hope you all well, just got back from a 3 night session on Welham Lake, my first session in the UK since last September. Pre-baited a spot a few days prior and was lucky enough to get back on it, which resulted in 17 carp being banked with a mixture of commons and mirrors, two of which where 20′s.
All fish where taken on T1′s and rigs used where claw style made up of ESP Big T’s size 7, tied to 15lb Jelly Wire and Korda Supernatural Braid.
Back over to France next week to fish the river Gav with my mate so will see you soon.
Sean.

Nice fish, well done Sean.

Best Fishes,

John

Here’s a session report from little David who’s featured on the Carp Catchers Blog before.

“A couple of weeks ago I decided to give my rods a dabble at Welham lake as I was hoping to fish there this winter. After arriving I decided to fish peg 11 and started to spread 100 free offerings at 50yds range with Dynamite Baits  The Source Shelf Life Boilies after setting my traps over a shallow silt bed, all I had to do was sit back and wait for my alarm to scream into life. Whilst waiting for this “screaming take” I saw a gorgeous looking ghost carp patrolling round one of the lily pads to my right with a few hefty lookin mates too,I didnt have to think twice about moving over to peg 8 with the “carpy” looking lilys to my left this time finding much smoother patch with the marker doing the same again using my ever trusty Gardner Scorpion Stik  throwing out 100 free offerings,but this time a lot more spread out to get the carp moving more hopefully resulting in a take. A few hours past and I was starting to lose hope when suddenly that screaming take finally came. The minute I picked up the rod and started doing battle I could tell it was a big fish possibly one of the gorgeous looking mirrors I’d seen. After ten minutes the fish rose and I was amazed to see a golden carp on the surface heading towards my net, I lifted my rod ready to net my prize when Snap! then silence and after staring at my rod for a second I couldnt believe it the Big ,un had come off! After recasting my rod Ian and big David (Im little Dave!) came down and fished the swin next to mine,I told them about this beautiful ghostie on the end of my line. After having a talk with Ian and big David I decided to have a rig change and swapped to a size 10  Gardner Incizor  hook, hoping that the bigger hook would stick better in the fishes mouth an hour passed and it was time to go home,losing that fish was extremly frustrating but I was very happy to see that my tactics are working and I hope to reach my target by catching the big ghostie by next summer! I would like to say thank you very much to Ian and Big David they gave me some great advice both a couple of great fellas! I will try to keep you informed of my quest for the biggie im sure he’ll be in my net soon! ”

We’ll keep track of little Davids quest over the coming months.

Best Fishes,

John

After arriving at one of my lakes for a weekend session and finding it busy I made the choice to take a trip over to Welham lake. We arrived at Welham about 2am after picking up a mate from work to find it relatively empty for a weekend. We settled on a couple of swims at the bottom end of the lake away from the other anglers. The swim I choose gave me a nice margin spot, a far margin snag next to the lillies and an open water spot which had all produce for me back when I had fished there years before.

The rods did’nt go out till first light and I got my head down for a very much needed few hours sleep. After no action during the day except the usual bream I proceeded to place the rods back out on the spots for the evening with a handful of freebies over each rod. The left hand rod was waded along the margin and placed gently on top of the soft silt. The middle rod was cast to the far margin snag next to the lillies and the right hand rod was again placed on the open water spot.

The setup I was using consisted of Armaled LocJaw Safety Lead Clips and Armaled LocJaw Tail Rubbers with 3oz Korda Pear leads. A 7 inch length of Sufix Stiff Silt with 2 inchs stripped back, a Korda Wide Gape  hook size 8, a small piece of silicone tubing on the shank of the hook and an extended curved shank using Korda Shrink Tubing

At around 12 pm I had a run on the middle rod resulting in a 14lb mirror and after returning the fish to the water I recast the rod and got my head down. I was woken during the night again by the middle rod but this time a small bream was the culprit. The following morning the margin rod was fizzing and bubbling away and I knew another take was on the cards. About 10 minutes later it tore off and I was in again. This time the fish felt a little better and after a very hard fight with several big lunges for the bush I was fishing upto she was mine. A modest 17.5lb common carp was quickly weighed, pictured and returned.

Later that day I lost a good fish on a zig rig after spending an hour or so observing the fish and the route they were taking through my swim. The rod had been placed a few inches under the surface along a route the majority of the carp appeared to be taking.  After that I recieved no further action and packed up mid afternoon.

Although there were no big’uns , it was nice to get a bend in the rods.

Tight Lines

Dave