"The Syndicate" was going to be my
new target water for the 2007/08 season along with
two fellow anglers known to some of you as "The Stig"
and "Coxy" aka Russell Summers and Mark Cox.
The lake itself is a wet and wild 19 acres with a
stock of 60-70 fish consisting of 15-20 originals
made up of commons and mirrors several of which are
over 30lbs with the biggest of these pushing the
upper 30 bracket. One of which I particularly wanted
to catch "The Fully Scaled". The rest of the stock
is made up of Simmo's that were stocked in 2000 with
none weighing more than 5lb but which now average
28lb with several also over the 30lb mark going up
to mid thirty's. Not a huge stock but enough to go
at or so we thought. The fish are growing at such a
rate I am certain that in only 2 more seasons the
lake will hold a handful of 40lb fish both stocky's
and originals.
Having been a Nash Bait user for the past couple
of seasons I felt like a change and gave Geoff "Braidman"
Cooper of Premier Baits a call to enquire about
getting some of the Matrix mix to try. Instead of
the Matrix Geoff asked if I would like to try a new
bait that was yet to be released onto the market,
but was producing well for those already
field-testing it. Never one to look a gift horse in
the mouth I duly placed my first order for a
consignment of the said bait. Russ and Coxy decided
to come in on the bait with me and so two more bait
orders were soon winging their way to Geoff.
We still had a couple of weeks until the start of
the new season starting in April, but the time was
not wasted with each of us thrashing the water to a
foam plumbing and baiting in preparation for the
off. To see the season in, we all booked a few days
leave for the opening week and plotted up camp in
the same area for a bit of a social and hopefully
bank a carp or two. Now we knew beforehand that the
lake had gained a reputation for being a bit moody
and that you had to work for your fish, I am sure I
was not alone in thinking that we were going to have
one or two fish on that first session. However five
days later we were all packing up without even
seeing a carp let alone putting one on the bank.
The fishing continued in a similar vein for the
rest of April apart from a couple of lost fish due
to hook pulls. We were not despondent though as the
rest of the syndicate were suffering the same fate
including numerous hook pulls, due I think to the
fish having soft mouths by continuously feeding in
the soft silt and sand that made up the majority of
the lake bed. We were now into May and I was down
for my twelfth night, and like most of my fishing it
was going to be a short overnighter and then off to
work in the morning.
Fat and ugly
The night passed uneventfully, but just as dawn
was breaking I had a stuttering take on my close in
rod that had me out of the bag in anticipation of
what I was going to feel on the end of the line when
I picked the rod up. I wasn't to be disappointed as
the unseen carp gave a good account of itself with
me praying to the carp gods that this one didn't
drop off. My prayers were answered as I dragged her
over the spreader block and punched the air in
celebration, GET IN!!
Even though the mirror was one of the stocky's
and probably the fattest and ugliest carp I had ever
caught, I doubt there was a happier angler any where
in the country at that moment then me. After
weighing her at 28lb 4oz I placed her in a sack
while I sorted out the camera equipment for some
self takes as the only other angler on the lake was
fishing over the other side and I didn't want him to
be reeling his rods in at bite time. The capture
also won me the £20 wager we had for the first
person to bank a fish between the three of us.
Although I had to threaten our resident bailiff Russ
with legal action before he paid up some six weeks
later, when I say bailiff I am not talking about the
fishing kind either.
Jewel
May, June and July came and went as did Coxy
(lightweight) but myself and Russ never stopped
looking, prodding, baiting and then more looking. We
could find the fish easy enough but getting one to
slip up and pick our hook baits up was proving to be
a lot more difficult then we had envisaged at the
start of the season. There was an upside to this
situation and that was most had now given up and
there were just a handful of us still fishing the
lake. Because of this decrease in anglers fishing I
had noticed a couple of swims that had been left
alone and had now started to grow over, with this in
mind I started a baiting campaign in the margins of
one with a view to fishing it when the conditions
look right.
We were now into August with just the
one fish to show for my efforts and Russ was
still to bank one of the elusive residents.
The spots in the overgrown swim were now
being cleaned off regularly and I thought it
was time to drop a baited rig onto the
spots. The next night down and I'm plotted
up in the swim with 2 baits on the
pre-baited margin spots with the other two
fishing at range in the deeper water. Early
the next morning I bank my second Fen carp
and this time its one of the originals and
probably the smallest in the lake, a
pristine common of 13lbs, onwards and
upwards as they say.
A week later and I'm back again in the same swim
with Russ fishing the swim next to me. Sometime in
the middle of the night I am awoken by the sound of
a micron going into meltdown as an angry carp is
motoring away from my margin spot with my bait and
hook in its gob, the cheeky bugger! I'm not sure how
long the buzzer was going but I could hear Russ
shouting up the lake " are you going to hit that
Muddy" never being one to panic when I have a run I
was merely putting on my shoes tying the laces and
combing my hair ready to do battle. After a very
spirited fight with no major dramas, one of the
lakes elusive residents rolled over the spreader
block.
Muddy with the awesome fully scaled at 28lb 6oz
Due to the darkness of the overgrown swim I was
in I had no idea at this time what exactly I had in
the bottom of the landing net until I shone the
torch in and the big plated scales of "The Fully
Scaled" bounced the light back to me RESULT!!!
Shortly after weighing her at a spawned out 28lb
6oz I get a text from an excited Russ telling me he
had just had a 17lb common his first fish from the
lake! I sent him a text back saying that his common
will go nicely with my fully scaled for the photo
shoot in the morning.
Needless to say we both had
huge grins in the morning although Russ's might have
had more to do with the fact he had the wife fishing
with him for the night. After the photos were taken
Russ quipped that he could wait until October and
catch "The Fully Scaled" at 31lb, prophetic words
indeed.
Arthur
I fished through the rest of August, September
and October with only one more lost fish to show for
my not inconsiderable efforts until pulling off at
the start of November. Winter time for
me is now
taken up with coaching my boys under 8's football
team which must be said gives me just as much
enjoyment as my carp fishing.
Russ with Arthur at 31lbs
During the remaining
of the summer and autumn months Russ however had a
couple of red letter days banking one of the
originals "Arthur" at 31lbs and then as he predicted
catching "The Fully Scaled" in October at 31lbs on
the nose (you really need to get those scales
recalibrated mate).
It was now March and not having fished the lake
all winter I find myself with a couple of free
weekends due to there being no matches for by sons
football team. But both nights end in the same
result as most of the summer a big fat blank.
With
the new season only 3 days away I thought I would
give it one last night in the old season, before
starting afresh in a few days time.
I arrived at the lake Saturday afternoon to find
two anglers already there, one had done a night
already with nothing to report and the other had got
there just before me and was in the process of
setting up so I left him to it and thought I would
scrounge a coffee from the other angler who was
already fishing. Two hours later and with darkness
not far away I still haven't picked a swim so I
needed to make a decision quick if I wanted to get
my rods out in the daylight. The swim I initially
fancied was between the two lads already there but
due to the fact they were both fishing 4 rods I
thought I might be cut off from the fish if I set up
there, so for some unknown reason I decided to fish
a swim up the other end of the lake, that as far as
I knew hadn't produced a fish all season, good
angling?
The left and right hand rods went on a couple of
nice hard spots close in and the two middle rods
were cast 90 yards out towards an island drop off in
slightly shallower water. 100 baits were spread out
with the throwing stick among the four rods and it
was then time to get the brolly set up followed by
the first brew of the evening. After a good meal
cooked on the bank followed by a bit of reading I
decide to turn in for night as I had to be away at
8am for the kids football match.
During the night two beeps from the micron and
the bobbin rising a couple of inches had me awake
immediately and just as I'm thinking undertow in the
windy conditions the bobbin hits the deck, GAME ON
!! After a short fight with the fish kiting on a
long line for most of it I soon have the carp
kissing the spreader block.
Muddy with a new PB mirror, 32lb 8oz
Because the fight was so
uneventful I'm thinking its probably a low twenty in
the net but when I go to lift the net with one hand
I soon realize my initial estimation was way off the
mark. On the scales the mirror pulls the needle
round and finally settles on 32lb 8oz what a great
end to the season and a new PB into the bargain!
After safely sacking her in the deep margins
ready for some photos at first light, I text a few
mates to let them know about my good fortune. It's
not long before Russ is calling me back and
congratulating me on the capture, cheers mate it's
appreciated. And that as they say was "The End" of
my first season on "The Syndicate" hard fishing by most
people's standards but with the capture of my number
one target "The Fully Scaled" and a new PB into the
bargain I was more then happy with my season's
results. Roll on the new season and hopefully a few
more chunks will grace mine and Russ's nets. I will let you know how we get on next year.....
