I'm beginning to realize that my search for a sheltered spot in order to be warm, and float fish, can often take me to where the carp are. As soon as I moved I had a great fight on with a 10lb carp from the over hanging tree on the island, on the ledger rod.
Very shortly after I had another slightly bigger carp, with a screaming run and a terrifying fight that took all of my concentration to control. It lasted well over forty five minutes:this carp would not give up, to the point that I was convinced that it was fowl hooked. It was probably the hardest fighting carp I have ever caught.
After this struggle I thought my swim had been mashed up and disturbed too much, so I moved the float rod to the next swim, a tiny over grown bay that looked like it was rarely fished. After ten minutes I had a gentle, slow bite, which I thought was probably a bream. But all hell broke loose.
This big carp took me all around the lake, and tested my new Shimano Classic Barbel rod to the max. I prayed my knot would hold, and bullied it out of the (many) snags. After half an hour it finally gave up and came to the surface. It was massive, and I was shaking with excitement. It was 15lbs, but looked much larger. A beautiful fish. Then, tired and happy, I did one last cast, back in the original swim, and bang, another 14lb carp. I went home exhausted and very happy.
