Carp Journals

At the end of the last piece I was having fun on my early morning sessions targeting carp from a few club waters close to home. The fish were not massive, but the fun in finding ways to overcome obstacles on new waters proved extremely rewarding and by the end of July it was safe to say I had the measure of the Park Lake fish. The early morning sessions proved a big hit, and fishing from dawn till 9am on midweek sessions before work saw a constant stream of quality fish brought to the bank.   The culmination was a session toward the end of July ... [full story]

I can’t believe it’s been almost two years since my last Carp Journals piece. Time certainly has flown and things are very much different than they were back then. I decided to take a break from the journals as I was not doing much fishing at the time, what with my up-and-coming wedding, renovations on the house and a million and one other things I was involved with at the time. I had always intended to return to them when things got back on an even keel but I never imagined it would take this long! To cut a long story short, as soon as we ... [full story]

August had seen another enjoyable trip to Birch Grove and yours truly winning the third Carp Match at Blackwood towards the end of the month, however, it was now September and I was eager to get back up to the Top Pool to try and bag a few autumn kippers. My first trip back on was Saturday 5th September and I arrived at the water to find it empty, bar Kev who was fishing the Left Point swim. I chatted with Kev, who had only started fishing the water this year, and was delighted to hear that he’d had his ... [full story]

Sometimes you have to pinch yourself just to make sure it's happening to you. A week into the new season and I’d already managed three twenties, a nineteen plus, and a nice double off the Top Pool, with Victor in amongst them, one of my main target fish from the water - A dream start indeed! However, this just made me all the more eager to get straight back up and ‘have at’em’. The estate was closed for the first two weekends due to some big gigs they were putting on. They had been erecting a massive stadium by the Main Lake ... [full story]

The closed season had just kicked in at the end of the last piece and I’d managed to sneak a couple out before the close, in-between days spent building a new kitchen. I was keen to get out on the bank on a regular basis during the closed season to keep my hand in. Last years results on the bank had been quite bad, and I felt much of this was because there was no continuity in my fishing. Work on the house meant I had taken sessions in between big projects and it meant I would do a few ... [full story]

Welcome to the first journal of 2004. At the end of the last piece Christmas was approaching and time on the bank had been limited over the latter part of the year. Results for the year had been patchy at best and I’d certainly not spent as much time on the bank as I would have liked but commitments at home had to come first. The problem was that I seemed to be doing a few sessions then having to pull off to do more work at home, then when I got back on a water I needed to get my ... [full story]

Welcome to the third piece in the series; Christmas is just a few weeks away and yet it only seems seconds since I got back from Birch Grove in August; time is going way too quickly of late! My fishing since then has been rather sporadic and I hardly managed to get out at all during September, but hey, that's life! One trip out I did manage was the September carp match at Blackwood Pool. At that point I’d only fished the place once or twice during the year so it was ... [full story]

At the end of my previous piece I’d just had my first two carp for the year from the Top Pool. I was made up with the result although neither fish were of the size one would normally expect; at 12lb 4oz & 8lb 12oz. No matter though, I’d attained the target I’d set myself at the beginning of the season of having a fish out before I went on holiday at the end of June. The holiday was still a week away and so I couldn’t resist sneaking back on to try and tempt a bigger fish before I ... [full story]

Up until August of last year everything was going fine; I was getting plenty of fishing in on the Top Pool, the 20’s were coming to the bank on a regular basis, and the plan was that it would stay that way until the season ended. However, that plan was soon to fall apart when on the last day of August Lisa and I picked up the keys to our new house - The plan had been to do a little decorating here and there whilst aiming to get out on the bank for at least two weekends in four ... [full story]