Looks like rain on the horizon. Finally. Hopefully back on the rivers soon. In the meantime - still enjoying the carp fishing - mirror carp stalked out of The Farm Pond & The Puddle in a couple of quick trips.
On August 7thAdam C (of the excellent blog Fishin' Impossible) commented "Four to go? You will be done by August 16th is my guess." Regarding cracking 20 double carp this season - well, it was tight - but double #20 above at 10lb 11oz! Then this happened...
Double #21 - 13lb 5oz
Double #22 - 15lb 1oz
Double #23 - 15lb 4oz - best of the season (so far).
Plus carp of 9lb 5oz & about 6lb - lovely afternoon on the Farm Pond!!
The nights are drawing in but pike-time seems a long way off - still in drought and yet another heatwave. Couple of hours before it got dark on The Puddle and double #19 on crust - an almost black common at 11lb 4oz (my 10th Puddle carp) - just need one more - and some rain...
Cracking on with the Double Challenge, three carp landed from 12-18 inches of water (boilies & crust) - including double #18 at 10lb 5oz. Is it a common carp? The scales look too big & fewer of them - somewhere between a common and a fully scaled mirror?! Lovely looking fish.
A couple of hours wandering around The Puddle - and two carp stalked off the top on floating crust. Including double #17 - a (very nearly) leather carp at 10lb 15oz. Wonder what else is in there?
Still no perch. Perhaps I should just concentrate on the carp until the weather changes, see if I can get 20 doubles before pike-time? Two carp landed including double #16 above at 12lb 0oz - four more to go...
I was watching the perch in The Wye - can't wait to get cracking at a three plus Wye perch. In the meantime where have the Farm Pond perch gone? Haven't had a run since mid-June - with lots of effort!
With five hours on the clock I thought I might find one - nope. But while the livebait was being ignored, the carp wanted to play - five carp on boilies & crust to keep me occupied - I'll find those perch...
Decided to make life difficult for myself; a carp on the fly. Thought it wouldn't be too hard with so many carp - but despite lots of fish investigating a variety of flys it took 1½ hours before one hit a Squirmy Wormy - totally worth it though!
I then switched to float fished bread (far, far easier) banking another 20 carp over the next two hours - including double #15 at 10lb 2oz - a surprise stunner. And my Dad landed 18 carp in the swim next door - a great few hours on the commerical!
With the hot weather continuing more and more of the bed of the Farm Pond is being revealed - look at the size of this swan mussel, probably the biggest I've found. Too much bird activity for floating crust, but three mint carp landed on boilies. Can we have some rain please?
Back to the Farm Pond - one livebait out for perch, one alternating between crust & boilie. Nothing on the livebait, but the carp were on it - the one above falling for a bit of crust on the surface...
Double #12 - 11lb 10oz (boilie).
Double #13 - 13lb 3oz (boilie) - unlucky thirteen out the way!
Struggling to drag myself away (crust) - terrible headlights photo.
Nine barbel found the net - taking my season total up to 21. But the water is starting to warm up - best leave them alone for a while. Probably try and stalk a carp out of The Puddle (nowhere near a pub).
I've caught 139 carp so far this season - and none of them made me work harder than this Small River gem. What a beauty! And it wouldn't be a wander without a few little barbel (7) and a pint!
Couple of hours on the Small River searching for a carp. Spotted a few but they weren't playing - but 5 splasher barbel made the hot wander worth while! Water was nice & cool and they went back well.
Too hot to hit the rivers, but a couple of quick trips to the commerical - the first with my Dad, the second with my mate Wayne. Loads of carp - shooting fish in a barrel! Nice to have constant action - but probably time to try and bag another big perch, and possibly a few barbel...