A Fendrod Ghostie.

Many of my sessions during 2010 were brief and as soon as a small window of spare time opened I loaded the car and was off towards a lake in pursuit of a Carp or two.

This time was no different with another very late start, arriving at the lake and not setting foot on the bank until well after the sun had set. It was well past 9 pm when I finally got the rods out and for a change I'd opted to fish mainly pop-ups while banging out a single method feeder into the near side margins. With the exceptionally late start the rods were my first priority and it was well into the night before I was completely set up with the bivvy, bed and stove.

This time my use of pop-ups got the reaction I wanted. I was still in the middle of putting the bed up when I heard a single beep on the middle alarm, I turned to watch the line that I had pulled slack quickly become taught and the spool on the reel began spinning as a fish powered away with one of my baits.

I picked up the rod and connected with my first Fendrod fish of 2011 and it wasn't going to come in without a fight! Its was hammering away on the end of the line pulling out more line and veering from left to right ignoring my efforts to gain control. My initial thoughts as soon as I could feel it pulling with such force is that I was about to see one of the larger residents of the Fendrod but as the battle wore on the movements became more jagged and it began to feel like a stockie that was punching above its weight. It fought hard right up until the end and by the time it was in the net my arm was truly aching. I was well out of practice a fighting a fish that wanted to fight back.

The first Carp of the year was in the net I didn't care to much about the size, for me it was all about getting one on the bank especially after the hard winter. I peered into the net and was delighted to see the broad back of a common ghost Carp. I left it in the net while I scrambled about getting the mat open, grabbing the camera then wetting the weigh sling. Once everything was ready I pulled the net out of the margins and placed the fish on the mat then into the weigh sling. The the scales pulled round to just a tad over fifteen pounds, nice result considering the rod had been out for less than an hour.

First Fendrod Carp of the year. Starting off the year with a 15lb Ghost Common. Lovely!

I filmed a quick blog entry, took some photos then applied about half a bottle of klink carp care to a large patch of missing scales, it was an old wound but it was quite sore looking and I thought a bit of antiseptic would aid the healing process. Once I finished with the antiseptic it was time to go back. I'm still not convinced that all these carp care products don't just wash away as soon as they are back in the lake but I suppose a little bit of help is better than nothing at all.

Unphased by its time on the bank the very welcome ghost Carp was eager to go. As soon as the water passed through its gill its was off and was soon out of sight.

Back in the water.

Getting her breath back.

Going.

Going.

Gone!

I was very pleased with my catch as it bested anything I'd had out of the Fendrod in 2010. So, with the knowledge that I could no longer blank I carried on setting things up.

Sadly, the rest of the night was my normal standard on the Fendrod, I managed to get a good nights sleep only waking to cover up my face as the temperatures bottomed out around 4 am. I did have one regret of not bringing one of the baits close in after I has fish turning over right next to the peg around midnight but we live and learn.

The morning was bright and sunny and I just didn't feel any confidence as I've never had a good response when there's bright sunlight. I managed to stretch the session out until mid afternoon but the any baiting or fiddling with rigs didn't make any difference.

I packed up still on a bit of a high, the one fish in the first hour had cemented the session restoring a bit of faith back in the Fendrod, lets just hope the rest of 2011 pans out with a few more of the Fendrod residents making an appearance.

The video blog of the session.