My first session on the complex was just a short day trip accompanied once again by Kevin Dobson. With a brief mild spell after consistent frosts we felt certain of a few chances but knew that we would have to take it easy on the feed. The plan of action was to travel fairly light and try a number of different swims on the complex. During the winter Carp are far less active and often spend weeks in the same parts of the lake. These areas of the lake are often the warmest but could also be areas where the fish feel safe such as snags. With this in mind we headed to Persey's pool in search of areas with depth and cover. As we walked up the hill from the back of snails and up to Persey's we could see we had the whole lake to ourselves. But with no obvious areas and a lack of knowledge of this particular lake this actually just made things harder. We stood and watched the water for 15 minutes or so when suddenly a mid-double mirror came clattering out of the water in a swim just to are left. " I will go here then" I said, met by laughter from Kev. However as Kev chuckled another fish head and shouldered out directly in front of him!! " Ha I will go here then" soon followed. So we had found some fish,but how were we going to catch them?
I set about tying up two rigs both identical but with different hook-baits. Reluctant to spook the fish by leading around I chose a rig that could be presented over any bottom, that rig being the chod rig. The chod rig really has revolutionised my own Carp fishing and has accounted for nearly all my biggest fish in previous years. The version I would be using on this session though was scaled down to accommodate a 10mm pink northern special pop up. For variation the other rod would be presented with a white northern special pop-up .
Taking note of the area I had seen the fish, I cast the rigs out and felt the lead down on to a fairly soft bottom. Both areas were then baited with a couple pouches of 10mm CC Moore live system boilies. I then sat back confident of a take from one of the digger lakes Carp. An hour had soon passed and both mine and Kevs rods had remained biteless. Without seeing another fish roll on Persey's we began to formulate a plan for the Snails lake below us. As we talked out of the blue my right hand rod let rip a screamer of a take! I bent into the fish expecting to feel much lighter resistance as the average size of fish in Persey's is about 8lb. The fish plodded around in open water for about 10 minutes which is often the sign of a better fish as smaller carp tend to tare around all over the lake. The fish came to the surface and we were pleasantly surprised to see what looked like an upper double or maybe if we were lucky a low twenty. She was soon in the net and Kev grabbed the sling so we could weigh her. The scales went round to 18lb 12oz I believe. What a great way to start the digger lakes sessions. It was one of the biggest fish in the Persey's pool which was the highest stocked of the two. Before we did any more with the fish we treated a wound she was carrying on her side which looked almost like a gunshot wound. We gently applied some anti-septic to the areas and hopefully she could fully recover in the coming weeks.After a few shots we slipped the fish back and re-cast the rigs hopeful of another quick bite.
A couple of hours soon passed and we hadn't had another indication. Time was now not on our side as is often the way on short day sessions. We quickly packed up our gear and headed down on to the much lower stocked Snails lake below. Snails is a far more feature filled lake which can only really be likened to a maze. Snails is a series of intricate channels leading to open pools and can often be quite mind blowing when first fished. We worked our way down the lake trying a number of different areas for about 20 minutes or so using the same methods as we did on persey's. It wasn't long till we had reached a swim at the start of the lake near the carp park. The swim was a Carp anglers paradise, two islands, a channel into another bay,reed fringed margins and a large group of snaggy overhanging trees on the left margin. My confidence had suddenly shot straight back up as every area of the swim looked certain to hold a few fish. I quickly re-baited the two rods and flicked one chod to the end of the island in front and the other to the snaggy trees on the left. Full of anticipation I then went around to Kev's swim to see what his plans were. I hadn't got more than 10 yards away when the rod cast to the trees had an absolute belter of a take! I ran back to the rod and hit into what again felt like a decent weight fish. This fish was a lot more energetic however and was using all its muscle to try and ditch the rig in every feature of the swim. After a battle that seemed to last a lifetime she was in the net. We peeled back the mesh to reveal a smaller mid double but a much prettier fish with apple slice scales and a broken linear pattern down its flank. The fished was weighed at 16lb and returned. I was absolutely buzzing the first trip to Digger had produced a fish from each lake.
As with the Perch fishing it wasn't long before the light had faded and it was time to go. We loaded up the car and set off on our 20 minute dive back to Exeter. On the way home we had already started planning the next trip, which we hoped would be a much longer session to try to get in contact with the bigger fish on the complex. When we got home the discussions continued over a few games of Call of Duty and we had even convinced one of our good college friends to come down and join us.
It was not until a month and a half or so after the first session till we returned to Digger lakes though. It was now early spring and the temperatures far warmer. We set about taking our friend from college John Jackson on to Persey's pool for his first proper Carp fishing session. John had caught plenty of decent Carp before but was still calling this his first serious carp session. We set up in three swims located in the area that I had caught the fish on the last session. John on the right hand swim had open water options and an island directly in front. Kev's swim was almost identical to Johns but in addition had a sheltered corner of the lake to his left with a large reed bed to fish to. My swim was located directly in between two islands with a small amount of open water to fish. We set up in late afternoon with the intention of fishing the swims for the next 48 hours. I had chosen to fish the same rigs as the previous session. John was using a method known as solid bag fishing, a method which presents a small patch of feed directly around your hook bait. Full of confidence we cast our rigs out and waited for the first bit of action, in the meantime we sat in the middle of the swims and had a drink and a catch up. It wasn't long before darkness had come and we still remained fishless. We got an early night certain of some action throughout the hours of darkness. At about 1 I was awoken by a slow shuddery take on the left hand rod. About 5 minutes later I had the first fish of the session in the net, A small mirror of about 7lb.It was a start, however I couldn't wait to get back in the big snooze sleeping bag as the ground was now covered in a thick frost.
It wasn't till daylight until I was awoken again, this time by an absolute flyer. Not on my rods though, it was Johns. So I got up to give him a hand and was happy to find out he also had some success through the night. I grabbed the net and landed what looked like a low double common. The session was coming together nicely. It wasn't long before we heard Kev's rods screaming off and he got up to land a lovely scaley little mirror!! It was a good start to the day for him as he ended the previous day on some what of a wet note shall we say ;).
It was soon mid-day on the second day and John had been having a great session with consistent takes every couple of hours all on his solid bag presentation. Pleased by what we had caught we couldn't help but wonder if we were going to see any bigger fish put in an appearance. As I wasn't getting as many takes and was fishing in a different style I felt certain a bigger fish would fall to my boilie approach. In the early hours of the afternoon though John connected with a slow take on his left hand rod, as he bent into the fish he said "this feels a bit better". With Kev and myself beside him he started to battle the fish which was plodding slowly around the pool in front of him. We all began to wonder was this the better fish we had been waiting for? The fish began to pull hard for the bottom and we all became certain it was a decent fish, John however was still saying it's not that big. We began joking around saying what if its the "Fat Lin" which is the biggest fish in Persey's pool and a fish of over 30lb in weight. The more we joked the harder the fish battled to escape. Until eventually John had tired the fish out enough so we could just get a quick glance. "Oh my god" I said as my eyes caught a glimpse of a very fat linear mirror. "He's got it, he's got it" I was saying just knowing that he had on the end the fish I had been dreaming of catching. John at this point was shaking a bit more than usual, however was saying "No its not". Then out of the depths rolled over a truly breathtaking and enormous Carp. "Get it in the net!" Kev yelled as I think we had all just paused for the moment. She went in first time and we all gave out a big yell. The next few moments were just superb and my initial jealousy of knowing what John had caught quickly faded as we could all just see how buzzing he and all of us were. This was the first time the "Fat Lin" had been caught from Persey's pool since being moved from Snails. It was a great moment, we weighed the fish to reveal it had smashed Johns personal best of 21 lb and his new pb was over 31 pounds. We then tried to get some great photo's to capture the moment as best as possible. John had now taken to the water with the fish in true Carp fishing style and then returned the fish slowly by hand back into the lake.
What a day it had been for John and we couldn't have been more happy for him. The session wasn't over yet though and we still had another night to go. As we sat down for are takeaway maccy d's and reflected on an amazing day Kev's rod let rip a bizarre take where the bobbin lifted dropped, lifted and then held. Kev jumped up and hit into it and said "Yes, that's on the zig!" the take was actually a typical zig take but it was the first time any of us had tried them this session. Kev battle a fish which had his rod bent doubled! He began to say "This is big and I think its foul hooked". The fish then began about tearing line off of Kev's reel and gave him one hell of a battle. The fish then popped up to the surface and I think the next moment completely took the wind out of our sails. It was the fat lin again! However this time we could see the hook had gone right into the base of the pectoral fin. Worried about the welfare of the fish we quickly removed the hook and began reviving the fish in the margins. We were all a bit gutted but none more so than Kev, it would have been his first UK thirty and a new personal best. Kev's mind was well and truly on the fish though and as he picked it up to return her we took a quick shot to reflect what might of been and as Kev held her in the margins she gently swam off back into the lake. A strange end to what had been a great day's fishing. I then wandered down on to snails to see my Dad and look after his rods for the evening.
The night came and went without any action for the three of us on Persey's and we began packing up after what had been a truly memorable session. As I walked the barrow back to the car though I couldn't help but feel I'm not done yet. So as we approached the car park area of Snails lake I dumped my gear in a swim known as Tyler's bay. An angler had just left the swim with reports of a couple of fish. That was enough for me. So I stayed to do yet another night. Confident in the presentations I was using I cast them out to the far side of the bay and felt them down into what only could be described as deep silt. This kind of bottom meant the chods would be perfectly presented and would have a distinct advantage over other rigs in this particular spot. I baited the area hard with nearly a kilo of Live system. I wasn't messing around this time and it wasn't long before I was rewarded. Only an hour or so after setting up in the new swim my rod cast tight to the far margin was away. A short battle followed and I had a pretty mid double in the bottom of the landing net. This was the type of fish that was typical of Snails a stunning scaley little mirror.
The fish was a massive confidence booster for the night ahead and had restored any confidence I had lost in the chod rig. The night however flew by and before I knew it, it was mid morning the following day and I hadn't caught another fish. Perhaps maybe the initial disturbance had spooked the fish out of what was a small and secluded bay. It was then I decided to move back onto Persey's for the remaining few hours of the session. I headed straight to the far end of the Persey's pool where I had seen a number of fishing topping the days before. The lake was now completely empty and the chance of a bite looked very high. The top end of the lake had also been extremely muddied up as the fish mopped up what was left of the weekends bait. With this in mind I didn't want to bait heavily and risk spooking the fish. So I lowered two P.V.A bags down in amongst the mud clouds. Not ten minutes later was my left hand rod away with a pristine little common. As I was returning that fish the right hand rod was away with an equally stunning common of a similar size. Well why couldn't it of been like that all weekend? !!!. After about an hour or so I packed up as the quick bites had blatantly spooked the area and slowed the action. I headed back to the car after a long hard time on the bank however my mind was again already on the return visit.
Time just seems to go so quickly and again it wasn't another three weeks or so until I returned to the Digger lakes complex. This time I was on my own as I had a couple day's off from the stresses of work. I decided that my target would be the bigger fish in the Snails lake. On arrival to the lake I began to walk around and could already see a number of the key areas were already occupied by other anglers. Not being disheartened I stopped in the swim where I had caught from on the previous visit, I waited for about 10 minutes when I saw a decent size fish crash straight out of the water at the bottom of the bay. This was soon followed by another three or four shows before a fish delicately head and shouldered on the left hand side of the swim also. I had found the fish for sure. I headed back to the car and grabbed the gear as quick as possible. I set up in the swim as quietly as I could mean while another five fish had showed around the bay. The rods were still set up from the previous session but I was not leaving anything to chance and tied to fresh chods to go onto the pre-tied lead core leaders. I also began to gradually bait the areas where the fish were showing with a dozen or so boilies every few minutes. This was hopefully enough bait to get the fish interested but not enough to spook them. By the time I was fully set up the light had almost completely gone and it wasn't till the hours of darkness when I made my first cast. I cast the right hand rod to the bottom of the bay where the fish had been showing and began slacking the line off as you always should when fishing the chod rig. Whilst I was gently slackening the line the line pulled bow string tight and line began to peel off the clutch. A little stunned I paused before picking up the rod and striking into completely fin air. Was this a missed chance? I began to worry that what had just happened would affect the swim so I baited with a few more boilies and re-positioned both rods.
A couple of hours had passed and the heavens had now opened. I lied in my sleeping bag wondering if I had again blown my chances and spooked the fish out of the bay. As I slowly began to nod off my right had rod went into absolute melt down shortly followed by my left hand rod. Surely not? I jumped out of the bag and grabbed the left hand rod first. My strike was again met with no resistance and was met with a large amount of swearing from myself. The right hand rod however was still ticking away and I picked it up to lean into a solid weight. My mind went into overdrive and for some reason I just knew that I had one of the biggest fish in the lake on the end. The fish plodded about the pool for a while before turning over to the left of my swim. I could see it was a big fish but how big? I slipped the net under the fish and before I even parted the mesh to see the fish I knew it was the big girl. I opened the net to see a massive mirror carp with little scales. The fish was "Baby M" the queen of Snails lake. With the fish in the margins I jumped up and down and shouted before then trying to figure out how I was going to deal with the fish. I left the fish securely in the net and walked just round the corner to the gentleman in the next swim who kindly came to assist me. He had himself caught Baby M before so knew straight away it was her, We weighed the fish to reveal she was at her biggest ever weight!!! She went over 36 pounds in weight. It was my second biggest Carp ever and I was just gob smacked . It was also a new fishery record. What a buzz. After getting the best photos we could in the pouring rain and treating a nasty wound on her tail she was returned and I began to tell everyone the good news!!.
Not being sure how that moment could be topped and now being absolutely soaking wet I returned to bed but just couldn't sleep. Another quiet night passed and it wasn't till early evening the next night when I caught my next fish. It was another mirror and a decent fish of 19lb. Still buzzing from the previous night I probably didn't appreciate this fish as much as I should of done as at the end of the day they are all special.
I packed up the following morning as happy as you could be. Most other people would probably think I should have been locked away for staying out in those conditions to catch big slime covered fish. Once again though for me however it was target achieved and the Digger lakes complex had cemented its self in my mind as not only one of the best fisheries in Devon but the UK also.
Tight Lines
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