november-2026-big-carp-part-1 - Flipbook - Page 45
BIG CARP / ON THE WATER
NOVEMBER 2026
THE FIRST BITE
FROM THE WATER
I got back down a fortnight later and chose to fish a part of the lake that
had been quite prolific for someone else on my last trip, and there were a
few about still! With the traps all set, I went to bed full of anticipation and
also eager to just catch one . When you know you can catch one from a new
lake, you know you can catch many more! 6:30 am and I m standing in the
lake, shaking like a shitting dog, looking down into my net at my first welly
carp, not a welly monster by any means but an upper 30 common and my
first from the new water!
I went on to have another 6 bites that session! Nothing big but a few thirty s
and a lovely way to open my account .. the swim itself is synonymous with
doing a lot of smaller ones and the odd biggun, but not that time.
That really started me off, and I caught relatively consistently after that but
only ones or twos. I d find a few in and edge somewhere and pitch up near
to them and winkle the odd one out, sight fishing really. But all the time I
was learning more and more. I d go into empty swims near the ones I had
my rods out of and have a lead about, noting down spots etc. on my phone.
The learning curve was steep, and I was right on it! One of the biggest things
I think I had to get my head around was how shallow the place is!
I d been fishing pits in the Colne Valley where you could almost knock up a
brew waiting for a drop, and now I m in 5 feet, and that s the deep stuff!! It
really changed my thinking about presentation and line lay etc. What was
really weird also was that you just don t see many showing.
BIG CARP
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