I started fishing as a small boy around the Birmingham area, mostly on the canals and small lakes in the public parks. It did not take me long to catch my first Carp and of all things it came from the canal just half a mile from where I used to live. I can remember thinking what the hell have I got here as my little 6ft spinning rod doubled over and the line ripped from my reel at the speed of a roaring train. I landed the fish at it was a 10lb 2oz mirror, from that day I was hooked (excuse the pun!) and Carp fishing took over my life, as it does with many of us !.
It was not long before I became obsessed with catching my first 20lb carp and I went everywhere trying, the canal did produce other carp for me but none of them hit the 20lb mark and I spent many lonely nights on the canal bank, sometimes feeling very isolated and scared, fishing the canals in Birmingham can be a scary thing and I would not recommend doing this these days, make sure you have some friends with you!
There were many day fisheries springing up all over the country boasting of 20lb and 30lb fish and I knew they were there but could I catch that twenty, NO I always ended up just short and went home disappointed to fight another day.
So, to cut a very long story short a mate of mine told me about Horseshoe lake which boated big fish and there were lots being caught, I guess part of the answer for me was if I really wanted to catch a twenty I had to fish where they were, and Horseshoe is where they were !.
Armed with every carp bait you could imagine off we went to Horseshoe, we had booked a mid-week session as we were not members and we fished from Monday to Wednesday, we were luck and managed to get the double peg in the winter bay. Horseshoe is exactly what it suggests and lake in the shape of a horseshoe, with a summer bay which is quite shallow and a deeper winter bay where the fish move into when the weather gets colder.
We were fishing in the winter bay on the double peg about half way up the bay. Horseshoe is very weedy and you have to find a gravel spot by casting out and slowly pulling your tackle back, I found my spot about 80 yards out, a clear patch probably no bigger than 3 foot long and 4 foot wide. I clipped up and put two rods out hitting the patch after about 7 or 8 casts!!.
I had read so much about complex rigs and super wonder baits but the truth is if Carp are in the mood they are in the mood and will eat anything, this has always been my experience. So, out went both rods with the same bait on tiger nut flavour boilies, my mate decided to use his tried and trusted Maze.
Having cast out the rods, then came the really hard work, horseshoe is no easy lake, you have to work hard, I know people who have spent a whole week at this lake and never had a run!!, this was my first visit and that was not going to happen to me, or was it!!
I had a spod mix of maze, hemp, corn and shopped boilies and I must have spodded out about 50lb well it seemed like that anyway, and my arm was dropping off after the first night. So, the rods were out, Tiger nut boilies on both of them, the areas was baited up and the wait was on. The first night I had a run at about 02:00, yep she was on and I lost her, the hook pulled out I was devastated, she was a big-un I could tell. No action during the day so we eagerly await the next night, bingo my left hand rod went off like a train and I landed my first carp, was it my first twenty NO, she weighed in at 18lb, dam just two pound short !!.
I was beginning to think it was not going to happen, we were on our last night, this was my last chance was that twenty going to come. I sat up for most of that last night praying for a run, the last thing I remember was looking at the clock 04:00 and I must have fell asleep.
I was woken by my left hand rod screaming off at 06:30, I could not believe it, we were packing up in just two hours and I was in to what felt like a very big fish, no mad dashing around the lake just heavy thumping on the rod top. After about 10 minutes I had the fish in the net and I knew it was a 20lb yippeeee. The fish actually weighed 29lb 4oz so not only did I catch my first 20lb I nearly had my first 30lb !!.
Horseshoe was kind to me, two fish in three days and a 29lb fish to end with.
So what’s the morale of this story, if you want to catch a twenty or thirty go and fish where they are !! Keep it simple and pray...
Steve Kempsonhttp://www.FishingGuide4u.com email - L.kempson@btinternet.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Kempson
Got your own experiences you wish to share then E-Mail me at wetnets@googlemail.com
