I was signed off work for two weeks and told to spend more time outside doing things I enjoyed. I decided then and there that I was quitting and never going back to night shifts. Being jobless and single, obviously meant I had plenty of time to fish but I needed to get my head straight first.
When the time did come and I found myself in Yateley Angling centre asking Kingy for my membership card, I think he could tell of my nervousness. He reassured me that at the end of the day, its just another lake and its inhabitants are just carp at the end of the day. It made me feel much better and I knew that if I remembered that, I could catch from the Car Park Lake.
It wasn’t long before I began my first lap of the lake, water bottle in hand. Due to its immense history, the Car Park was the only lake where I knew every swim name and location before I had even stepped foot on the place.
I first reached the Islands swim which looked inviting but with no signs of life, I carried on, and was soon stood in the famous Dessie’s swim. The angler occupying it was another new member, Jason and being keen to get to know a few people, I stayed and chatted for a bit before carrying on my lap.
I skipped past the rarely fished Traybins and surveyed the Curly swim. The Curly offers a long chuck out into the middle of the lake and was an option.
Next up was the Bars swim. Having read Darrells’ book and of the success he enjoyed in this swim, it was quite a cool feeling standing in the very swim where it all went down.
Next up was the snags swim. As the name suggests, quite confined with a snaggy margin either side of you and a small island just an underarm flick out in the 10 o clock position. I didn’t see anything in the snags and being my first session, if I couldn’t find fish, I wanted a swim with a good view of the lake. As a result, I wrote off the snags swim on this occasion.
Next up was the Chair swim. This was occupied by a guy who introduced himself as Scotty. I soon learnt nearly everyone on the Car Park had nicknames and so to this day, I still don’t know if Scotty is called Scott, or it's just because he’s Scottish. Either way, Scotty told me how, come early spring, this end was generally the place to be, as it was the shallower end and the fish sought the warm water on top of the bars.
With this useful information I bid Scotty farewell and continued my search. After completing the first lap, I really had nothing to go on so using Scotty’s information, I decided to spend at least my first night in the Bars. This gave a good view of the open water and gave me multiple options for my rigs. The leading rod soon revealed the location of the bar and I leaded until I could find the base of it. The first rod would go there, the second would go to the right with a couple handfuls of boilies spread between the two.
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| "I decided to spend at least my first night in the Bars" |
I was in no rush to get the rods out, so set up the brolly and bed chair and started tying some fresh rigs. When I looked up and scanned the water, something caught my eye. Was it bubbling? It certainly looked like it. As my eyes focussed on the spot, a massive mirror rose out of the bubbles, side on, right up to the wrist of the tail before going over on its side. I just sat there stunned. That was clearly one of the bigguns, if not the biggest: 2 scale.
Eventually I snapped out of it and quickly began tying a choddy to flick towards where it showed. I didn’t get much of a drop but I didn’t want to risk a second cast so left it as it was. The remaining rod went out to the bottom of the bar that I found earlier. It had only been out an hour or so before it ripped off!
Again, I just sat there in disbelief staring at the spinning clutch before realising I should do something about it. A bite from the Car Park after a couple hours of being there? Surely not?
Of course, it wasn’t. After picking up the rod, the line was pointing directly round to the right before pinging off and I retrieved the rig from where it was cast. Clearly a trailer was responsible, and my nerves soon calmed. The rest of the session was largely uneventful. Despite being up at first light each morning, I failed to see another carp but the number of tench showing was truly incredible. I had never seen anything like it.
I returned the following weekend and set up my plot in the Islands swim. Again, this session was largely uneventful, until a quick opportunity on the Pads Lake yielded a 20lb 2oz common from the swim directly behind me. Syndicate members are allowed to fish the Pads as long as there is no group booked on. The number of fizzers in front of the swim behind me couldn’t be ignored and when my double tiger nut rig was cast past the fizz, then drawn back mid water, it only took 20 minutes to get a bite.
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| "A quick opportunity on the Pads Lake yielded a 20lb 2oz common" |
Needless to say, the lake had changed drastically since I had been away. The weed was right up to the surface and all the known spots that I had been told about were now glowing. There are some awesome climbing trees on the Car Park, giving a mega view of the lake and its spots. There were a few other anglers fishing but after a quick lap, I settled in the Curly. It didn’t look like it had been fished for while and there was some bubbling out on the long spot. I thought it was most likely tench but it was more than I had seen the rest of my lap.
I held off on investigating the area with a lead. It was too early in the morning for that and I didn’t want to ruin it for those around me. Over on the Match Lake, I had learnt that if the fish fed on a spot in the morning, and were not disturbed, they would generally come back the following morning. I hoped this was also the case on the Car Park.
The day was spent just killing time and meeting a couple more of the Car Park members. Rigs went out about 4pm, just like on the Match. Baiting wise, I went in quite conservatively. With a stock of roughly 35 fish, I felt that the chance of having a group of fish feed on the spot was pretty slim, so I just needed enough bait to get a bite from one fish. Then once I had got that, I would fish for a second.
I ended up crashing out just after dinner and when my 4am alarm went off, I felt ripe and ready to go! The kettle was soon boiling and as the light became good enough to see, I checked the long spot with the binoculars, only to find it bubbling out there. No surely not? I put it down to tench and hoped their feeding activity would bring the carp to the spot. I didn’t need the binoculars to see the next set of bubbles though.
A massive jacuzzi of bubbles hit the surface, just as the Neville screamed and the bobbin cracked into the butt of the rod. This was no tench! Despite the weed, the fight went exactly to plan and as I scooped up my first Car Park carp, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Phil, the bailiff, fishing in the Bars, and Tony, in the Snags, both heard the violent take and were now by my side to help weigh and photograph. On the scales she went 22lbs 8oz, a small fish by the lakes standards but I was just relieved to be off the mark.
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| "I was just relieved to be off the mark" |
Despite it still being relatively early in the morning, I opted not to redo that rod. The spot was 65 yards out and not that big and felt that the chances of me hitting it first time were very remote. Therefore, I decide to let them feed on whatever was left out there undisturbed and maybe, just maybe, they would come back again in the morning.
This risk paid off, as right on first light, the rod on the long spot ripped off again and just like the previous morning, didn’t cause me many problems. Upon picking up the rod, it kited straight into the thick weed bed to the right. It went solid momentarily, but gentle pressure pulled it free, along with a big ball of weed. Once the weed covered its head, it was just a case of slowly bringing the ball within netting range. Once the net was underneath it gave a massive kick, but it was too late. She was mine. Immediately I knew it was a better fish and went to wake up Dean, who had moved into the Bars after Phil left. On the mat, Dean identified her as “The Suicide Fish”, one of the lakes big girls that had broken the 40lb barrier the previous year.
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| "The Suicide Fish" |
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| "I packed up and drove home a very happy man" |
Until next time
Be lucky
Joe
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