A calm, misty September morning was the setting for an autumnal day session for Pete and me at a local day ticket fishery. Knowing the lakes on this particular complex can be very busy, we elected to arrive just before sunrise in the hope of locating a group of carp, as they unwilling give away their whereabouts as the low autumn sun burns through the mist. After a short walk down the southern bank of our favoured lake, it was clear a number of carp were patrolling a short marginal route, which also happened to be the first part of the lake warmed by the morning sun.
A short while later, Pete and I were set up in our chosen pegs near where the carp had been spotted. Filled with confidence, and coffee, we sat impatiently waiting for signs of action. However, since setting up the carp were noticeably less forthcoming and had seemingly dropped down in the water, making spotting them much harder. After staring at lifeless bite alarms and indicators for what seemed like days, in reality about 2 hours, we knew a change of plan may be in order. In these short day sessions, made even shorter by the time of year, it’s so important to make every hour count. With this in mind, Pete repositioned his rods much closer to the far margin, close to some overhanging bushes which could be providing the carp with shelter from the angling pressure. I on the other hand, had been receiving a few liners, indicating the fish may be closer to me. I dropped one rod short, away from my baited area in the hope of picking up a quick bite, and importantly, showing me where the carp are!
After roughly 20 minutes, the rod I had recently dropped short was away! A short battle later, I had a small common in the net. It was only a stocky of around 8lb but very welcome all the same. In the knowledge that there were fish at this range, I positioned both rods in the area that had produced the small common, with a small scattering of bait over each rod. Another couple of hours passed with very little to show for our efforts, until one of my bite alarms sprung into life! It was the same rod that had produced the small common earlier, however this time I was greeted with a very unique and totally monochrome ghost common carp, with the majority of scales above its lateral line being black and the majority below being white! Although only a mid-double, this was a capture that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Previous experience on this lake has taught us that it tends to fish better as the light starts to dim, and this occasion was no different – at roughly 5pm as the light levels were dropping, Pete’s margin rod was away! After a scrappy fight in the near margin Pete landed a pristine 18.5lb mirror, result! It wasn’t long later when Pete’s second rod received positive indication of a bite, this rod was being fished at range against the far margin. Pete guided his second fish nicely into waiting landing net, although not as big as his first at 14.8lb, this was another pristine fish with no wounds or scars.
By this point the daylight was rapidly disappearing as the sun dropped below the tree line, Pete and I knew we probably only had about 20 minutes left before we’d have to pack away. Whilst stood recapping our day, my right-hand rod, which was being fished long towards the far margin, ripped into life! The carp instantly took about 40 yards of line whilst at range, indicating this was a larger, more powerful fish than what we’d caught previously. A quite dogged battle ensued, with the fish rapidly changing direction and steaming away into the depths taking back any advantage I’d made, this continued for another 5 minutes before the carp finally broke the surface and took a big gulp of air, indicating it was almost ready for netting. Finally, what was clearly the largest fish of the day slid over the net cord, and as the last of the daylight vanished we weighed the fish and was pleased to see the scales slide round to just under 24lb – making it one of the lakes biggest residents. After taking a few photos we released the fish back to its watery home and finished packing up.
Autumnal day sessions like these can produce some brilliant fishing if you can locate the carp, and often the fish are looking their best after a summer of sunning themselves. We love fishing at this time of year and short sessions also fit really well into our busy lives when we may not have time for 48 hours on the bank. We’ll be sure to document our future sessions as we hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this one!
