An evening with Carp

It seems like ages since I last had a chance to get on the bank but it is only a fortnight, just far too busy at the moment! This evening I grabbed a Carp rod and a bucket of dog biscuits and popped down to a local puddle for a bit of fun. I knew there was little chance of landing a monster but there has been a rumour circling round that an unknown thirty pound leather has recently come out of the water in question. I had no designs on landing that particular fish, just a pull back on the line would be satisfactory. Upon arrival I stopped for a quick chat with an old bloke who was also floater fishing. He was blanking but I am not sure why, he had fish topping all over the place in front of him!

I set up a couple of swims away, close enough to join in the fun but hopefully not really stepping on his toes. 

It didn't take long before I also had fish in front of me and within ten minutes a decent fish fell for my banded floater. It put up a spirited battle trying several times to snag me in tree roots but eventually it tired and rolled across the net cord. It scraped into double figures weighing 10lb 11oz, an old warrior of a mirror Carp.

The fish became a little spooky after the disturbance but eventually started feeding again in ernest, only trouble was the light was fading and I was struggling to pick out my bait amongst the freebies. I hooked and lost a smaller fish before deciding on a change of bait. I tied on a fake 'dog biscuit fly' which was much more visible in the impending gloom.

A deer hair pattern with a red wooly sighter trimmed to size on a size 10 barbless hook. 

To begin with the fish shied away from it but as it got wetter it sat lower in the water and they took more interest. I missed a couple of takes before eventually I connected with another battling Carp. By the time I landed it it was really dark so I took a quick net shot and returned it to it's water home.

Another scraper double, this time an immaculate Common weighing 10lb 2oz. The promised rain had just started so I called it quits and buggered off home.

I was never going to break any records but floater fishing for Carp is a good way to spend a couple of hours. I certainly caught a more than the idiots blasting out music on the other lake!