november-2026-free-line-part-2 - Flipbook - Page 98
FREE LINE / FIELD JOURNAL
JAY NEWTON
FIELD NOTES
This location was ideal for the school night overnighters, being close to the
car park.
I had a big session coming up, so I d be dropping on in preparation for this,
not to mention the countless shows from the carp breaking the surface I had
spotted on early morning walks no-brainer. Midweek, just as planned, I
finished work at 7pm, which saw me lakeside around 8pm. Singles was the
plan for the first night almost as if to put the feelers out. I was losing light
by the time I was set up, so I would settle with a peaceful night under the
stars. At least this way I would be able to stay in tune with the lake and
fish movements. The 5am sunrise was perfect for doing just this. That is,
of course before I would have to reluctantly pack up and shoot off back
to work.
The carp gods must have been watching me as the following morning I was
off again, fishing singles at range to showing fish had resulted in another
Wraysbury carp. The relevance of this capture was to prove monumental in
terms of what it gave away. I was then to build my next big session around
this and began to prebait the area.
Friday 3rd of May. The beginning of my three-day session. I managed to get
back in my prebaited area where I nicked the overnight fish. Same routine
carefully wrapped my rods and get clipped ready to go. The difference to
this session was going to be bait not my normal approach, but I knew the
fish were in the area and up for a feed, so I went all out delivering a couple
of kilos of bait to the area, which I believe was key to what was to come.
The first night, and it all kicked off. It was an absolute rollercoaster of
emotions as I lost two fish on the bounce in quick succession, one to a hook
pull, and the other (seemingly bigger fish) lost to a snag in the shape of a
fallen tree on the left margin from the swim. The weather that night had
really moved in, and wind and heavy rain smashed straight into my face. I
sat on the floor filled with negativity as I tried to splice a new leader onto
my main line with my hands shaking with the cold.
FREE LINE
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