Making a Start at Winter Carp Fishing.

Lately it seems like whenever I get a chance to get out on the bank there is always something against me, for example the standard restrictions that all angling have to face up to like cost, time, availability of the swims you'd like to target but the biggest rival against time on the bank has to be the weather. This year started with the 'Big Freeze' with temperatures dropping to -10 °C and the predicted hottest summer on record never happened and instead we got monsoon rain and thunderstorms, and now it looks like we are in for another cold winter which is the last thing we need.

I just hate it when I get the opportunity to wet a line and it means either giving a miss or I'll probably end up having to hang up every bit of kit up to dry.

Well this sessions is one of those that I nearly give is a miss after I was contemplating fishing at Whitesprings but then remembered there was a Carp match on so I veered away from that, then I turned up at the Fendrod to find the water levels higher than I'd ever seen them before making fishing from an actual peg impossible.

My final port of call was the Half Round Ponds, I arrived to find no one else fishing and even though you are restricted certain areas when night fishing and the rules are a two rod maximum I thought I'd give it a go as I had nothing to lose.

After speaking with one of the bailiffs I quickly unloaded the car and headed to a peg on the weedy pond and started setting up, it was starting get dark and I was far from ready but I thought it would be a good idea to walk round the pond so that I could memorise the clear spots in the weed while I could still make them out.

With all the clear spots fresh in my memory I finished off setting up and gave an underarm cast out the first rod into a close clear spot and cast the second rod out into a spot further out. I had minimized my tackle right down to compensate for the weed and was fishing a small inline lead with a basic braid hook length no tubing or any extras that may cause problems if I managed to get a hook up.The bait was half a Lammo's Peanut and Caramel boilie topped off with half a pop-up.

As the night settled in so did the cold, it was almost as if I could physically feel the temperature dropping and without even realising a layer of frost had formed on the bivvy and the ground around me.

I climbed in the bivvy lit the stove and ate my pasty that I brought with me for breakfast. Once the stove had been burning for a while it was really nice and cosy inside the bivvy. I was happy with where the baits were and had no reason to be outside so I climbed into my sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep.


The next thing I remember was a screaming run at about half twelve. I was slow to respond wrestling myself out of the sleeping bag then struggling to force my boots on, all the while the run was still steaming off. When I finally got my hands on the rod I struck and could feel a forceful jolt as whatever was on the end carried on trying to run. It was probably the worst thing that could have happened on this pond, the slow response from me meant that as well as the fish I also had to content with the dense weed and letting a fish run is just asking for trouble.

A few minutes into the fight the inevitable happened and I was snagged tight into the weed. I had two options either trying to pulled through the weed or slackening off and hope the fish pulls free of the snag. Luckily I've had previous experience dealing with the weed in this pond and decided I would try and pull through the weed or even try to take the fish under it. I held the rod tip low almost touching the water and moved back and forth trying all sorts of different angles with the rod and it was stuck fast. To add a bit more stress to the situation I couldn't feel any knocks or pulls so I thought the fish had come off.

I continued to pull through the weed slowly keeping the line tight and walking up and down the bank, it was a slow trudge as I slowly gained line, it felt like I was doing this for ages. I finally broke free of the weed and couldn't believe my luck when as soon as I came clear of the weed it began to fight back again. I'd been at a deadlock with the weed for ages and the fish was still on! It continued to battle on as I tried my best to steer in the clear spot and as soon as it was close enough I grabbed the landing net and scooped up the fish.

It was in the net and the battle was over, I looked into the net and could see a classic Half Round Pond mirror Carp my first guess was just over double thinking it was somewhere between 10 and 12lb. I place the fish in the margins while I going the sling, scales and camera ready.

On the bank the scales pulled round to exactly 18lb, I'd seriously under estimated the weight and was over the moon, 18lb is the biggest of the year and is something I genuinely wasn't expecting.

The biggest for 2010, smack on 18lb.

Majorly underestimated 'Guessing around 10 to 12lb'

Smile for the camera.

I filmed a bit of a night blog then watched my biggest for on the year swim off into the darkness.

Time to go back.

Once the fish was back I rebaited but my memory of where I put the bait originally was not as good as I'd hoped and now that the lake was in darkness I couldn't tell where the clear spots were so, I took a guess and cast it out into the approximate area and just hoped that I'd landed in a clear spot.

The sky had clouded over and the temperature was less bitterly cold than in the early evening and I was happy to sit out for a while reflecting on how lucky I'd been to land the fish.

When I eventually climbed back into bed I went out like a light until I woke up around 4am freezing cold. Winter is definitely here and I was feeling the pinch of using a small single skin bivvy. I lit the stove to warmed up the bivvy again then wrapped by jacket over the sleeping bag before going back to sleep.

I was awoken by a single been on the alarms at around 6am. After poking my head out of the bivvy I watch the reel click a few times and I was just about to spring out of the bivvy when it stopped. I waited for a while before sinking back in to my sleeping bag.

The Video Blog of the session.

As the sun started to rise got up and packed up all the gear and moved down the lake as I could fish to the clear spots a lot easier from there.

As the morning progressed I seriously regretted eating my breakfast pasty in the night as I was now starving and the only other consumable I had with me was coffee but that was also becoming limited as I'd used up most of the gas heating the bivvy during the night. With regular shaking of the gas cannister I managed to get the kettle to boil three more times before the gas died but coffee just doesn't bite it when all you can think about is proper food.

As you may have guessed my thoughts for the morning were consumed with my hunger. Rachel and William came to visit me during the morning but after being set up on the middle bank throughout the morning with only a few knocks I decided to pack up and go home for some dinner.

On the way home I stopped off a got myself I take away Turkey dinner, not exactly fine dining but it was a great choice as it certainly hit the spot.

So, I've made a start at winter Carp fishing and my first frosty session has resulted in a cracking 18lb mirror. What more can I ask for. I started off moaning about the weather and it turned out to be doing me a favour, if the Fendrod had not been flooded I probably wouldn't have even considered the Half Round Ponds or seen my biggest fish of 2010. I know that I haven't even come close to achieving any of the target I've set for 2010 but its sessions like this that keep me coming back for more.