Well after over a week away from the water its looking good for tomorrow but only a day session.

Well ive had to cancel todays pike trip as there are storm warnings in my neck of the woods, the weekend looks fantastic to be on the bank but im seeing family this weekend so the next free time i'll have will be Monday and I hoping i'll be able to do a night session!

I'll let you all know how I get on! Hopefully i'll have some great carp photos to show you all!

Looks like the weather will be warming up tomorrow, might try my hand at a little pike fishing on the river. Watch this space for a full report :)

My home from home

Just thought Id post a pic of my bivvy, Ive spent some very cosy night in here waiting for a fish or 2.

2 sessions 1 fish + lots of other wild life.

So far on my new club water I have done 2 over nighters. The first being devoid of fish but it was a good chance to get to know the lake as well as to get to know my fellow angler that night Colin. The club rules state that no one must night fish alone so Clive the baliff put me in touch with Colin who is all ways keen to fish when ever he can, he is a wonderful source of information about the lake and also has a wealth of good fishing stories to share. Whilst this first over nighter might have been fishless the days were cold but bright and sunny so it was a good chance to have a play with my new camera. I have posted a couple of the photos below, hope you enjoy.

The second over nighter was over cast from start to finish which meant the temperature was slightly higher than the last one. I met Colin by the lake at about lunch time and we picked our swims and settled in for the duration. I cast my left hand rod to the area where I had spotted a fish crash shortly before just off the tip of an over hanging tree (see below). I armed this rod with a white chocolate bollie along with a pva stringer of around 5 freebies. The rig was a simple 2oz inline lead with a 18inch fluro hair rig. I kept the rig slightly longer that I normally would as I wasn't sure what the bottom was like in the area where the fish jumped.

My second rod was armed with a naked chod and baited with a single nash tutti, this was cast over a gravel patch. 

The afternoon soon turned to evening and I cooked up my favourite fishing supper of rice pudding washed down with hot chocolate. Then once the night was upon me I tuned into radio 4 and climbed into my sleeping bag. At about 7pm I heard my left hand rod give a few screams, I shot out of my bivvy (not even bothering to put boots on, big mistake very wet feet.) I grabbed my rod and lifted into what at first I thought was one of the lakes many bream due to the lack luster fight it put up, "OK" I thought to myself  "a bream is better than nothing". Just as I brought the fish close to the bank it burst into life and shot off to my right along the margin. I soon realised that it wasnt a bream and was my intended quary. I quickly brought the fish under control and into the net. Well not the biggest in the world, some where in the low doubles, but that didn't matter it was a carp from a new venue in the middle of winter. Lets face it any fish on the bank when there is ice in the air is a bonus!

Sadly the pic bellow isn't the best in the world, I tried to shout for Colin to help take a snap of me posing with my capture but he was snug in his bag watching a movie! 

After taking the snaps and releasing the fish I made up another small stringer or around 4 or 5 white chocolate bollies and recast the rod to the same spot, just off the end of the tree.

I treated myself to a celebratory hot chocy then climbed back into my bag and settled in for the night.

For the rest of the night and the rest of the session no more fish graced my net but I was more than happy with the one I had caught. 

I packed up my kit at around mid day and said good bye to Colin and made my way home to my wife and a nice hot bath.

Well this is my first post on my brand new blog Piscatorial Ponderings. I decided to write this blog to share with you my love of carp fishing and my love of just being by the water and watching the natural world.

Now you have to understand dear reader that I am no expert angler, neither am I an expert naturalist (for that matter I'm a bit of a shit writer as well). I just enjoy being in lovely surroundings wetting a line and maybe catching a fish or two.

I'm not one of these carpers that is obsessed with weight, I don't care how much I eat whilst on the bank. Whilst I do love a good scrap with a whacking great fish, the beauty of a fish is more important in the end than size.

This is a good time for me to start this blog as I have just joined a new club. So far I'm concentrating my fishing on just one lake, the only lake out of the 3 club waters that members are able to night fish, and the lake with the biggest carp in, the lake record is reported as 28lbs.