48 Hour Birthday Session at Celtic Lakes Resort - Day One - The Grass Carp.

So, it was time for my birthday session again! the years just seem to be flying by. As with the past four years  I wanted to fish a venue that would provide a bit of sport but also give me the chance to see something different on the bank.

Celtic Lakes Resort was my choice for the second year in a row. I knew that I'd be in with a good chance of getting a few Carp on the bank and also the opportunity of ticking off one the targets I'd set myself over the past few year by trying to get an elusive Catfish on the bank.

Unlike last year the weather was almost perfect, lovely and sunny with a few spots of cloud just to take the edge off the bright sun. My journey from Swansea took about an hour and a half and with it being midweek the roads were pretty quiet meaning it was quite a pleasant drive again it was a lot nicer drive than last years trip through fog filled country lanes. 

After signing in with the fishery manager I picked the same peg I had for my last birthday session. I had a whole corner of the lake to myself which could only be a good thing and I had 48 hours to work at getting a Cat on the bank.

Setting up was an exciting event as I started to unload things from the car I spotted a few fish cruising a few metres out from the edge of the peg. I threw out a few small pieces of bread and was surprised how quickly the Carp turned on to it. I knew I had a chance of getting a fish on the bank so I abandoned unloading the car and quickly set up a rod to free line. Casting out a small piece of bread slackened off the line and placed the rod on the pod.

I had only just turned round to grab a few more things from the car when a fish hit the bread. I watched as the line started to pull before scrambling back to the rod. Flipping the bail arm shut I lifted the rod and connected with a fish. I couldn't believe how quickly this had happened, less than twenty minutes after arriving and I was battling my first fish in to the net.

BANG! a double in the net and I hadn't even finished unloading the car.

Off the mark with my first Common weighting 11lb 4oz.

Once the fish was back in the water the surface action ground to a halt. It wasn't such a bad thing though as it gave me time to get the bivvy up and everything ready for two nights on the bank.

I began my baiting for the session and I wasn't going to be feeding lightly. My plan was to create to separate baited area targeting Carp on one spot and Cat on the other.

My main feed for the Carp was a full builders bucket of pigeon conditioner which I'd prepared on the weekend. I'd boiled the whole lot then left it to soak in their own juices and an the contents of a tin of treacle then left the whole lot stew for four days. To be fair it stunk the car out on the trip but it seemed perfect like a perfect Carp bait. My baiting for the Cats was pellets, pellets and more pellets about six or seven kilo in total. I had a mix of Halibuts and Trout pellets in all different sizes ranging from 3mm right up to 22mm.

I concentrated my bait into two areas piling out about four kilo of the particles across the right side margin then scattering a massive spread of pellets in a line running out from the left hand margin. I felt pretty confident that creating two separate baited spots would get fish feeding on both sides of my swim and placed my hook baits out feeling that it'll only be a matter of time before the fish turn on.

I was all ready for the next bit of action when the heavens opened and I had to scurry around throwing things in the bivvy and out of the rain, I quickly put up the brolly and was lucky to have to have it with me as I nearly took it out of the rod bag thinking that I wouldn't need it.

Rainbow over Celtic Lakes.

As the rain died off a rainbow formed in the sky, I tried to take a few photos of it arcing over the lake but I only manage to a few shots before one of the rods screamed off. Another hard fighting Common soon graced the mat.

Not as big as the first one but it was another double figure Carp and I'd already bested my last birthday session at Celtic and I was only four hours into the session.

The second fish of the session 10lb 10oz.

I decided to get my head down fairly early and get some sleep as a was secretly expecting to woken up numerous times during the night but strangely there was only a handful of single beeps on the alarms.

One of the bats that were fly far to close my head not long after sunset.

I was a little disappointed when the sun came up and my rods had remained motionless throughout the hours of darkness but it was my birthday and I had the whole day ahead of me so I knew I had to make the most of it.

I pottered around during the morning to knowing what to do, I was wondering if the few kilos of bait I had put in had killed the swim or maybe it wasn't enough? There had been fish topping all over the spot where I'd put out the particle but I hadn't had a run since from the spot in over twelve hours. I finally decided to go in guns blazing and empty the whole bucket of particles over the spot I was fishing.

Before I'd had a chance to start piling out the bait I spotted the back of a fish breaking the surface and decided to reel in the bottom bait and get a bit of free lined bread on the surface and see if I couldn't get at least one on the bank for my birthday.

What an excellent change of tactics it turned out to be. I cast a big chuck of bread out and watched it be destroyed by shoals of small silver fish, but as it began to break up and few Carp moved in and started to pick off all the small pieces. I nearly reeled in but as I picked up the rod I could still see a small bit of bread wrapped round the hook, I focused my eyes on it as a fish smashed in to it. I held back for a few seconds until I seen the line pull then struck!

I'd connected with a fish and could feel it yanking away on the end of the line. I can honestly say it felt different. After a fairly swift battle involving a few near misses with the marginal lilies it finally broke the surface and I could see that I'd  hooked something a little bit special. It was then I knew I had to do everything right as I knew I didn't want to lose this one. After a bit more careful manoeuvring my first ever Grass Carp was finally pulled over the net.

I rested it in the net before getting the mat open and the cameras ready. The weight wasn't a big issue as I knew whatever it weighed it would be a new PB. My initial thoughts were around the eight pound mark as this was the first Grass Carp I'd seen since Steve and I visited France back in 2009 and this was a lot smaller and a lot leaner than any of the Carp I'd landed so far. I was actually quite surprised when the scales tipped round to 12lb 8oz, I didn't really take into account how long the fish was.

My first ever Grass Carp. A lovely birthday surprise.

Long, Lean fighting machine.

One more photo on the mat.

So, I'd landed a new species for me and was more than happy with that. I know I'd been hoping for a Catfish but what ever happened from now until the end of the session I knew it could class the session as a success.

Once the Grass Carp was safely back in the lake I began my baiting. I literally went for an all or nothing approach. I emptied the whole bucket of particles in a three metre path running along the marginal lilies then proceeded to scattered the rest of my pellets in area to the left of the peg that I'd baited when I set up. It was quite hard work putting out all that bait and decided that with all the commotion I'd caused it would be a good idea to rest the swim. 

I reeled in the rods and decided I'd take a walk round the complex but before I left the peg I got the rods ready with fresh baits and tied about six pva bags of pellets and a further six bags with a mix of crushed i40 boilies and pellets. I knew I'd be ready to get the baits back out as soon as I got back.

I managed to make it round Elysium(Lake6) and stopped for a chat with the fishery manager before another burst of rain started to hammer down. This stopped my plans for walking round all six lakes and I started to make my way back to my bivvy.

The rain didn't last too long and I decide to get the baits back out, I know I wanted to rest the swim but I also was very aware that I would catch anything without a bait in the water.

It felt like I'd only just for the rods back out and I was into another fish. This time it was bit smaller at 8lb 1oz but it also started to round things off nicely with my first Mirror Carp of the session.

Carp number four. A nice little mirror.

I was coming up to half way mark of my 48 hour session and I'd had quite a good run with four fish on the bank and not forgetting a new PB Grass Carp.

I still had another 24 hours left to go and big bed of bait to fish over, I was really hoping that I'd get what I came for..

The video blog of day one.