I arrived to find our good mate Neil " the tench" in the willow swim so i opted to go into the swim next door and fish to the rhododendron bush to my right.I had a good chat with Neil first as we hadn't met up for ages,then proceeded to free line a ball of soft bread tight into the bush,wasn't long before a common took it and a good scrap broke out,unfortunately the appearance of the common was shocking,it was badly damaged with a proper parrot mouth.poor thing.Whilst unhooking the common a fish showed in the opposite margin so i ran round there like an overweight Bambi and set about floating a bit of bread close in.This produced a further 3 fish ,which was quite pleasing but something was troubling me,upsetting my balance almost...couldn't quite put my finger on it..........
I returned various times over the next 2 weeks,had fish every visit including some stunning big tench, but i couldn't focus,relax even and after my most recent visit i have decided to move on,I've fished this place for over 10 years and caught some great fish but most of them now are badly damaged, especially on the day ticket lake,the members lake not a problem at all, but i feel the end has come for my love affair for carron row farm,no doubt ill return for the odd visit as many others do, as it is almost a guaranteed bend in the rod but i need to move on now.and move on i did,what a start......
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| one of crfs finest from lake 3. |
Monday 23rd after work found me at tithe barn and i had looked round on the Sunday with Claire and i was gagging to fish there.I had a good walk round and decided to fish for some of the ones sunning themselves in the holes in the weed.I set up my new korum all rounder with a size 4 wide gape and folded some bread flake over as i do and cast it towards what would hopefully be my first prize from this lovely place.My intended quarry just floated inches from my offering ,totally uninterested and i started to wonder if i should have buttered the bread! lol ,i stood there in an almost stalemate situation when all of a sudden the fish literally leapt forward and gulped the bread down and proceeded to strip line from my new reel! Jesus it was strong,i suppose they don't expect to be caught whilst in the sanctuary of the weed but hey ho! this fish twisted and turned every step of the way and i was quite relieved to net him to be honest ,wasn't a monster but it was in amazing condition,absolute minter!,so there i was at a new venue with a fish on the bank within half an hour! hadn't smiled that much whilst fishing for a long long time,took few shots on the mate and returned her to her underwater world once more..
I decided after all the disturbance to venture round to the other side and fish under a likely looking bush,which seemed like a good spot to ambush one,i sat there for ages,drifting a crust in when a group of about 5 fish came out from under the bush and scoffed all the freebies then disappeared without a trace! i was gobsmacked by this but i decided to stay and after hearing that lovely slurping again i was focused once more.
i didn't wait long when as i leant over for a peak at the area i saw a common trying to back paddle to suck in my crust ,so with a tiny tweak i pulled it almost into its mouth,and bingo i was in once more,another epic battle and i was pleased to add a common to my new venues tally. over the chuffing moon!!
This was the end of my evening and i vowed to return the following evenings which i can sum up in a very few words,Tuesday,blanked,Wednesday blanked,Thursday ,soaked to the skin and lost a lump in the weed and Friday ? you got it ,blanked! i turned in early on Friday eve and vowed to return on Saturday,which i did but due to a change in the weather i opted for a bottom bait consisting of the golden grain,I set up alongside a fallen tree and within an hour the rod was away ,literally as it was locked up and as i regained control i could feel a strong prize on the end,the new rod was bent at full arc trying to keep it out the nearby weed bed and after a few seconds the rod started to straighten and i gained line ,this next fish turned out to be a mirror and i didn't do it the injustice of weighing it,the way it looked was far more important than the weight of it ,again a few mat shots and off she swam.
I recast once more and once again the rod was away and i was into a common of a similar size and also in amazing condition,been years since I've used sweetcorn as a hook bait but will use it more now!!
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sorry to waffle on but its been a while since i blogged last and i lost my way a little for a while, safe to say I'm now well back on track,cant wait to take Claire next time i visit ,she will love watching the kingfishers and the carp display team in action!! stay safe .
