Still enjoying the sunshine at Gowerton

This is a compilation post covering Friday and Saturday evening, I'm still making the most of the sunshine while its still about as the weather forecast for next week is looking a bit grim.

I continued using two rods one in the margins and the other set up for freelining as the margin rod had served my well in the two previous visits and freelining mixer biscuit has got to be my favorite method of Carp fishing.

Friday, 9th May 2008:
I wasn't sure if I was wasting my time today as the air pressure was quite high and there had been a thunder storm the night before. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be, I started off with a few small short jerks from little fish on the margin rod and one actually manage hook itself, so the first fish of the session was a little Common carp not more that half a pound.

After catching my smallest Carp from Gowerton I changed the bait on the margin rod to a 12mm tutti fruiti boilie to stop the bait being picked up by little fish, although not as a effective a luncheon meat it worked catching me a nice 10lb Common, unfortunately I didn't check the camera before putting the fish back and the picture hadnt't saved.

I had one more fish before it got too dark, a fat little Common about 4lb.

A nice shot of the fish beneath the surface.

My chubby catch, I'm guessing that it hasn't spawned yet so I didn't keep it out of the water long.

Saturday, 10th May 2008:
Another bright sunny day and although the fish were feeding off the surface they were incredibly line shy.

I started off the session by taking a walk round talking the some of the other anglers at the lake once again it seem that not many fish had been caught during the day but this didn't really bother me as in the past when I've fished a full day at Gowerton I have caught the majority of my fish during the afternoon and evening .

I set up and dropped a bait in the margins and before I had had a chance to set up my match rod I had a run this has got to have been the fastest take I've every had ledgering bottom baits (less that minute), I felt quite pleased with myself as the guys who I'd just been talking too stared open mouthed as I netted my first fish of the session a modest Common around 4lb.

A quick catch.

And as if that wasn't enough, after a quick photo and the return of the fish I re-baited and dropped the bait back in the margins about two meters further along from the first time, this time I had enough time to set up my match rod for some freelining, but before I could bait the hook the bite alarm was off again , less than 5 minutes and I was into my second fish of the day, and as an added bonus it was one of few Ghost Carp in the lake.

My second ever Ghost Carp to be caught at Gowerton.

Unfortunately, this pattern of quick hook ups didn't carry on and I didn't get anymore action from the margin rod for the rest of the session. As the evening progressed I became the last angler on the lake this gave me the perfect opportunity for a bit of stalking and there were loads of Carp just sitting in the edges some were just sitting there in the warmer layers of the water other were busy head down foraging about, I did manage to hook into a further three Carp but sadly I only managed to land one a nice fully scaled mirror.

Basking in the sun.

The spoils of stalking.

I really enjoyed myself this weekend I had loads of action and I just hope this weather continues, I nearly forgot about the big one that I lost on Thursday but I guess that'll annoy for a while yet.

The one that got away at Gowerton.

This session started out nothing like the one I had had on Wednesday with the few remaining anglers on the lake departing not long after I arrived, the two I had spoken to had been there all day and had only seen one fish caught during the day, set up knowing that this might be a very hard session.

It turned out to be one of the most bitter-sweet session Ive had since I started Carp fishing, the only action I got for the first three hours was a few short tugs on the hair-rigged luncheon meat after every little knock I checked the baits and every time the bait was gone it was stating to get a bit frustrating. I changed tactics after getting a response from a handful of mixer biscuits I'd thrown in at the start of the session started getting taken, I left one of the carp rods in the margin and set up my match rod to freeline some mixer biscuits

Without any wind I managed to cast my double mixer biscuit very close to the island and after a few misses a huge head broke the surface and sucked down my bait..... I waited until I saw the line pull on the surface and as it did I struck, I had finally hooked one, this felt very different to the other fish I had hooked at Gowerton as it just didn't move I managed to drag what felt like a dead weight about three foot before it woke up, then it just bolted tearing line from the reel at a ridiculous rate I tightened the drag on the reel but this only slowed it down a bit, by this time the rod was bent over further than it had ever been before and it creaking and making cracking noises that it never done before, I couldn't do anything with it I couldn't try to put any more pressure on it as the line or the rod would have probably snapped and it was still taking line I just had to hope that it run out of steam sooner than my tackle did, I managed to hold it in the middle of the lake for a while but that was short lived as it made another unstoppable run this time it had made it to the far back almost a hundred yards away and buried itself in largest patch of lily pads on the lake, the line went solid as fish wrapped the line deep within the lilies.
I let the line go slack and walked round the lake then tightened up when I got round to the lilies as I tightened and managed to pull the line though a few lilies then the fish took off again dragging the rod tip down into the water and then snapping the line.

I was absolutely gutted! but as a small consolation when I started the long walk back my I suddenly heard the bite alarm on the rod I'd left in the margin, I run back to the rod and picked it up and after a brief fight I bank my first fish of the session.

I tied another hook on onto my match rod and managed to catch another one small one off the surface before it started to rain putting an end to the session.

Watching the water.

My consolation prize a small leather with a wonky dorsal fin.

Another small one.

As I said at the beginning of the post this must be one of the most bitter-sweet sessions I've ever had, I know that the biggest fish caught from Gowerton last year was around the 19lb mark and the fish I lost today was defiantly the biggest that Ive hooked so far and fought a lot harder than the 15lb Carp I caught last year. On a positive note I did manage to bank two Carp even though they were only small this was more than anyone else had caught at the lake today.

Back off holiday and back into the action.

I got back from my holiday yesterday and the weather was amazing and if it wasn't for the fact that I hadn't slept for nearly 48 hours I probably would have tried to fit a little session in but tiredness got the better of me and I had to get some sleep.

On waking this morning, I felt pretty rough but as it was another beautiful day outside I couldn't not take advantage of my last day off work. My intial plan for the day was to visit Gelli-Hir in Three Crosses but the headache which I'd had since waking didn't subside until around 4 o'clock, so as usual I headed for the closest venue and ended up at Gowerton Coarse Fishery at about half past 5.

I set up using the same rigs as last time hair-rigging large chunks of luncheon meat while scattering a few pre-soaked mixer biscuits in the hope of attracting some surface action.

Just after setting up I went over to help Martin one of the regulars at Gowerton net his biggest fish of the day, a nice sized common weighting in at just under 13lb.

Going back nicely.

It wasn't long that I saw some action of my own with a small dip on one of the drop backs and as it slowly started to go back up, I pick up the rod and was into my first fish of the session, when it finally broke to the surface I thought I was a bigger fish than it turned out to be, but I was happy when the scales pulled round to dead on 10lb.

First double of the day just hitting the 10lb mark.

While the weather was nice and warm making it ideal for surface fishing there was a slight breeze creating a ripple on the water making it pointless trying to freeline a mixer biscuit, luckily there was short spells where the wind completely drop, this gave me little windows whens the conditions were ideal and I did manage to catch a small common off the surface.

Zoomed in. Watching the free offering getting slurped down.

My one and only fish off the surface I'm guessing it was around the 5lb mark.

After that the wind picked up again, so that put an end to my surface fishing for the day, but it didn't really matter as the baits fished on the bottom started doing their job with a further three runs resulting in another three fish on the bank the first one being a real scrapper pulling the heavily set drag on my bait runner I was a bit suprised when it finally came to net and only weighing in at just under 7lb, I was expecting something a bit bigger with the power it took off with.

The mini power house of the session.

The last two fish were caught minutes apart the first one weighing in at a pleasing 10lb 2oz and the second and last fish of the day gave me a new 2008 personal best weighing in at 11lb 8oz, I made my way home at about 9:30 by that time the sun had completely set and I had to pack things away using a torch, which is an essential for packing up in the dark as I've left so many things behind in the past.

My second fully scaled mirror of the day 10lb 2oz.The biggest fish of the year so far and one of the few leather carp at Gowerton, 11lb 8oz.

Another outstanding short session which nearly never happened, in three hours I'd landed five fish and the fact that three of them were double figure carp was a total confidence booster and made me glad to be home.

Gowerton and another good little session.

With my first holiday in years being just over a day away (and no, unfortunately it isn't Carp fishing in France) I managed to sneak out for a quick session at Gowerton Coarse Fishery.

When I arrived at the lake there was already a fair amount of people already fishing but luckily they had all congregated on the nearest pegs to the entrance so I walked around the lake and and joined Martin the only other person fishing on the far bank.

Before I had finished setting up, Martin who is a regular at the lake was into a fish, a nice leather Carp and like all the fish Ive caught at Gowerton this year it fought harder than a fish double its size.

Martin's fish finally up on the surface.
Showing off his second fish within half an hour of arriving.

I stayed and chatted for a while before it suddenly dawned on me that I'm not going to catch anything without a line in the water. I set up the rods with the same rigs that I had used on the pit last week I sort of wanted to check that I had been tying the fluorocarbon hair rigs correctly.

All set up, all I need now is a fish.

It didn't take long after casting out before I had my first run, enough proof for me that I had tied the rigs properly, again this fish fought hard and took its time coming to the surface, when I did manage to get its head up the Carp had a second wind and took off pulling about 20 yards of line from the spool this tired it out as after the final burst of strength it came to the net soon after.

My First Carp of the session a fat common, I didn't weight it to but I don't think it hit double figures so I'm guessing between 8 and 9 pounds.

After this I missed another two runs one of which must have run thirty yards but when I picked up the rod the line went slack, I often wonder how can they pull so much line out when their not even hooked?

My fourth and final run of the session was the best scrap Ive had in ages, I was fishing in the margins no more than two rod lengths out, the drop back slowly lifted and I lifted the rod and clicked off the bait runner, it seemed the fish was unaware that it had been hooked until then when it suddenly woke up pulling the rod from side to side, surprisingly it never made any line on me but then again I didn't either for what seemed like ages, finally I gave up and was netted. thinking that after I fight like that I had finally caught one of the larger Carp at Gowerton I was proved wrong when the scales gave it a modest 10lb 2oz.

Long and lean my second double of the year.

For me this was a good short session I'd seen more action in just under four hours than I had in the past two weeks. Well, I wont be out on the banks for a while so I'm glad that I managed to sneak this little session in, so this is it until after my holiday see you soon.

Blanking at the pit.

Well it had to happen some time, The Pit served us well last year but now it seems that word has got round that this small lake holds a good head of doubles and a few twenties!, and the once overlooked lake at the white springs complex is now being hammered.

Unlike last week, I set out quite early and managed to get a spot on The Pit there were already five other anglers perched on the bank and by mid morning there was a further four anglers so that's a total of nine plus myself on a lake that is probably just over an acre is size. All apart from the few who were float fishing were heavily baiting and as the water temperature was very cold I would guess that if there were any fish on the feed they would have had their fill long before they found their way to any hook bait. On the plus side with the amount of free offering going in when I finally do catch a 2008 pit Carp it will be well feed and may even boost my PB.

Giving the rod some practice time.

Knowing that there was probably going to be a hit or miss session I opted for the smelliest boilies I could lay my hands on which were 12mm monster crab boilies that I had soaked for 24 hours in a concentrated crab syrup hoping that the sheer stink would attract some attention.

I fished the whole day with only one drop back bite which didn't result a fish on the bank, I was left the lake surprisingly content knowing all the blank sessions during the winter months will be quickly forgotten about once summer starts to set its anchor.

I'm smiling inside...honest

Even though I didn't catch anything after talking one of the pair of anglers who had night fished the pit the previous night I was glad hear that during the early hours they caught the only fish of the session and it had set a new pit record with a Mirror Carp weighing in just over the 24lb mark, I will be watching the White Springs website in the near future for any picture posted of this new record fish.

Some of the young Canada Geese patrolling the edges of the specimen lake.

My first session on the Pleasure lake at White Springs 2008.

Today I had intended to meet up with a colleague from work to fish The Pit, but due to the fishing column of South Wales Evening Post reporting several 20 pounder's being landed from the pit by the time I arrived the small lake was already over compliment.

So, I made the choice to fish the pleasure lake as over half the the lake was vacant, usually I avoid this lake on the weekends due to the vast amounts of kids but at a first glance it seemed that today this wouldn't be a problem...

My choice of swim.

The session started out well, after setting up the landing net I set up the first rod baited with a single tutti-frutti boilie, after casting out I used the slingshot to put a handful for free offerings out round the my hookbait. While I was thread line through the eyes of my second rod I had my first run of the day and manage to land a pretty mirror around the two and a half pound mark.

The first fish of the session.

I manage to catch another two small Carp within the first hour I was thinking this could turn out to be one of the most productive sessions of the year so far.

My second and third Carp of the day both around the 2lb mark.

Unfortunately, as the morning carried on the pleasure lake was slowly populated by the younger generation along with the non-stop beeping from bite alarms, repetitive reeling in and casting out, shouting and mass baiting. Exactly why I try and a avoid this lake during the weekends and school holiday.

One thing that did amuse me with the kids was the undenyable urge to sell or swop everything they own and it made me laugh when I was even offered several items of tackle in exchange for the seat I was sitting in which I graciously refused.

I carried on fishing into the afternoon casting my baits as far away as I could from the commotion on the bank and the day ended with a further two runs one of which felt like a better fish but came off during the fight and other run didn't connect. Not a bad session and if I was really concerned about the impact of a noisy rabble on the bank I could have moved but hey we've all gotta start somewhere.

The line decorated tree in the middle of the island, with the addition of a freshly added feeder.

Preparations for the summer.

With summer approaching I'm thinking its time to take a look at my gear and make improvements where its financially possible.

So, first on the list was a new tent, ok the old one done it job and sort of fitted the part but with the new one I don't have to endure the damp moldy smell or worry about the rain getting in after losing the guide ropes.

I manage to grab myself a bargain off ebay and like many times before I have I paid nowhere near the what the shop retail price would be. If you interest in picking one up for yourself or looking for a bit of bargain tackle check out this shop on ebay; Skinnyfish.

Just out of the wrapper
Half way there.
And finished and I didn't even need any help.
And all packed up again ready for the next 24 hours session.