ADTV Amandas Angling - Back to My First 30lb Carp Lake… and It Was a STRUGGLE!

When I first arrived at the lake, I had a walk around to look for signs of fish. It did not take too long before I saw one show out in open water, so I decided to cast a bright single towards it on a stiff hinge rig. I love using stiff hinge rigs in this sort of situation because you can cast them at showing fish with confidence. They sit nicely over most lake beds and give you the peace of mind that your rig is fishing effectively.

My second rod went towards a spot near a willow tree, close to the edge of some lilies. I scattered a few Pacific Tuna boilies around the area and fished a matching hook bait over the top. With both rods out, I felt fairly confident. I had seen fish showing in front of me, and from that swim I could see a good portion of the lake. The plan was to stay mobile, watch the water, and move if the signs told me to.

I gave it around three hours in that first swim without a bite, it felt like time for a move. Although I had seen a fish show near my baited area, the swim was totally quiet, and I started to think the carp might have moved into the shallower water With the sun out and the lake warming up, I had a hunch that they could be near some lily pads in three or four feet of water. One of the best things about fishing light and keeping everything on the barrow is that you can move quickly when you need to.

As I walked around, a fish showed itself in the margin, almost as if it was giving me the answer. I got one rod straight onto that spot and put the other out near the lilies in the shallow water. Again, I gave it a couple of hours. When nothing happened, I moved again and committed both rods to the shallow water with a spread of boilies, sitting back and watching for any further signs. These fish had to be feeding somewhere…

Later in the day, I had one last walk around before deciding where to spend the night. Eventually, I chose a spot where I had seen a few more fish show near the lilies. As we moved into the evening, which is always a prime bite time, I felt a bit more confident.

Back in 2021, when I had only been fishing for about a year, I came to Bridge Innfor my very first solo session. My mum was in hospital having surgery, but because it was during Covid times, I could not go in to visit her. Fishing felt like the perfect way to take my mind off things. I started fishing late that morning and put a simple hair rig with some bait into a margin gully under a tree, following a tip from Chris Ansell. And about an hour later, the rod pulled round and I was into a carp.

As the light started to fade, I thought it had to be worth trying one rod down in the same margin gully where I had caught that 31lb carp years earlier. I made up a small bait mix with CC Moores Pacific tuna boilies, pellets, sweetcorn, liquid, and some lake water, then baited under the tree.

Despite seeing fish over me and getting signs during the night, the carp just did not seem to want to feed properly. I had liners on the margin rod and even saw a fish show on the spot in the morning, but somehow the bite did not come. What was I doing wrong?

It was frustrating, especially with signs of fish so close to the bait, but that’s spring carp fishing. Sometimes the fish are obviously there, but getting them to pick up a hook bait can still be really difficult.

For this session I have been using stiff hinge rigs. It is a rig I have used a lot over the last couple of years, especially in spring and autumn, after seeing how effective it can be while filming carp sessions with Chris Ansell.

The rig consisted of a chod hook link with a size 6 Krank Choddy hook, a bait swivel, and a coated hook link, fished on a standard lead clip system. I also used tubing, as it is allowed on most of the lakes I fish, along with a 3oz Advanta lead.

For hook baits, I used Pacific Tuna pop-ups to match the boilies I was feeding and on occasion a bright yellow high-visibility pop-up. Yellow is always a popular spring choice, but I like to mix things up and see what works on the day

After a night full of liners but no takes, the sun came out again and I noticed fish up in the shallow water near the lily pads. I reeled in, walked down a couple of swims, and found quite a few carp on top in a shallow gravel area.

This time it didn’t take long at all.

After all the moving, watching, waiting, and second-guessing, the rod went off within minutes. It just proved how important location is, especially in spring. Once you are on the fish, things can happen very quickly.

This fish wasn’t exactly the carp I was after but it was a really good sized tench. It would have been a PB on the tench gear.

I could now see a few carp showing among the lilypads a couple of swims down. At this point, I decided to bring out the RidgeMonkey bait boat. Rather than crashing leads around over their heads, I wanted to go in softly with just enough bait to get a bite.

I changed my hook bait to a washed-out pink Pacific Tuna pop-up on a spinner rig and sent it out as quietly as possible with just enough bait to nick a bite.

Once again the rod went off within minutes. It just proved how important location is, especially in spring. Once you are on the fish, things can happen very quickly. The first carp was not a giant, but I honestly did not care. After such a difficult session, I was just happy to get a bite and finally have a proper fish in the net.

After that first fish, I decided to switch both rods to the same setup. Fresh spinner rigs with pink pop-ups. One went back on the spot where I had just caught, and the other went just to the right of it. Before long, the second rod was away.This fish felt better straight away. It had plenty of power, kept holding its ground, and when I got a glimpse of it, I could see it was a bigger mirror.Eventually, it went into the net, and it completely turned the session around. We weighed it at 22lb, and after a tough start, it felt like an absolute session maker.