Keeping it in the Family
I’ve got some really fond memories of a little Farm Pond just on the outskirts of Saughall village. I remember well when my dad took me fishing there for the first time when I was a kid, many years ago, and we sat catching lots of rudd and perch.
Twenty odd years later and I’m the one who’s the father, so I decided to take my own son, Jack, down to the same water to try and offer some similar happy memories. Armed with a 9ft float rod and a box of maggots we started to catch. He loved it and now we have another budding carp angler in the making!
A couple of hours into the session I noticed a number of ‘carpy’ looking swirls underneath an old oak tree, so with my son safely tied to a gate (only kidding) I began to climb the tree to get a better look at what was going on below, and to my surprise, I immediately spotted four double figure carp basking in the sun. The gear we had was not up to the job of landing one of these beasts but later that night sitting at home I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
You won’t be surprised to hear that the next day I picked Jack up from school and the pair of us went straight over to the farm pond to try and tempt one of the lumps I had seen the day before, and this time we were armed with the right tackle. I baited under the tree with some misshaped boilies which the wife had bought from the market for a quid a bag (bargain!) and after a few hours we managed to pull out an 18lb 5oz common. The fish was in immaculate condition and we were well chuffed, although it has to be said that the wife was not so chuffed when we got home as Jacks school clothes were covered in carp slime! But we didn’t care, we were smiling for days and Jack couldn’t wait to go back on.
I knew there were still bigger fish to be had, so after many reconnaissance sessions spent sitting up in the tree, I eventually saw the carp I wanted. I started to pre-bait an area over three days, feeding the swim with broken boilies and spod mix left over from the Northern Monkeys Social I’d been to the week before.
The following Wednesday and I was hard at work - Not! I couldn’t stop thinking about the fish I had seen, and after talking to a mate about it we decided to go after work. I got the gear in the car and went straight there. I had a quick look around before offering my rig down to the chosen spot. My rig consisted of an inline weight, a 6 inch Snakebite hook link tied to a size 6 Fox Short Shank hook, and a broken boilie in a golf ball sized PVA bag full of broken boilies.
Once my rod was in I sat back to wait. Several midge bites later, my alarm sounded and the rod screamed off. With so many snags I had to get it from under the tree as quickly as possible, I pressured hard applying a full bend into the rod and I managed to turn it away from the snag. My heart was thumping as I shouted over to my friend to come and help out.
‘Dave this feels big’ I shouted as he came over to grab the net. The fish was still moving from side to side tossing and turning but eventually it started to come my way. The grin on my face got bigger after I lifted the rod a bit higher and its head came into view. On seeing us it turned and buried his head once again diving deeper below. What a feeling; heart thumping, rod bending, line screaming off the reel - I just love carp fishing!
After a period of back and forth, I eventually managed to coax the fish to the net and then ever so gently guided it over the cord. I’d done it! ‘YES’ I shouted as I lifted the fish over to my unhooking mat before placing it down carefully. I just couldn’t wait to weight it - had I broken my Personal Best? With the carp in the weigh sling and up on the scales the needle went round to 20llb, dead on. I had equalled my PB.
That has to be the best few hours fishing I’ve ever had - and it just goes to show that three hours fishing, a £1 bag of misshaped boilies, and a small pond in a farmers field is all you need to give you your best days fishing!
Tight Lines,
Danny Sheppard
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