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Wayne Glossop AJS and Classic Carp – Girton
With the bulk of my fishing in previous years aimed at the River Trent and barbel fishing, it certainly wasn’t high on my priority to get the rod tips pointing skywards on the Trent. As the new river season was fast approaching, I had a quest in my head for a big carp and the dream was a 30lber. I spent days at work wondering how to approach a water I’d only ever seen once, never mind about wetting a line there. I wasted no time in firstly making sure I had got the right equipment and tools needed to approach this big water. After clearing the funds with the wife, she gave me the green light to buy what I needed to chase my quarry. I instantly bought the tackle needed, mainly a suitable, large and well padded unhooking mat and a safety retainer sling, which I never needed for my usual river fishing.
On the Sunday I was working; I got to work a little earlier to spool my reels up with Fox Exocet 18lb distance casting line, as I knew it was 70+ acres and distance could be needed, and through my angling retail experience I knew that the Fox Exocet was the absolute go to line to tick every box.
At the end of that short Sunday trading day, I arrived at the big pit. I can remember seeing the first part of the lake and and thinking to myself “where do I start here??” After I closed the otter gate behind me I decided firstly to take a drive round the lake, watching the water for any signs of fish. I never saw one show. I then took to the phone for a little bit of guidance from a customer of the shop who advised me to get on one of the points, explaining that there’s a nice plateau at range. I wasted no time in setting a rod up with a lead to find the plateau, which was around 120+ yards. I settled two rods on the plateau and decided to fish the margin on the third rod. As the light started to fade I began to get a few liners; my confidence at this point was booming. As the night progressed I woke up to motionless rods, however at around mid morning I had a pick up on my right hand rod at range. I almost couldn’t believe it, I was just watching the line tighten up and saw it moving to my right. At this time I was fully clothed and wasn't prepared for wading. However, wading was the only option. With my phone in my pocket I set about just taking my footwear off and entering the lake with the net in one hand and the rod in the other. As I waded round the corner to where the fish had gone, all I could think of was this fish could be 50lb+. I was nervous and shaking, but remained calm. After a short battle I saw the fish and relaxed, knowing it wasn’t the biggest in the lake. After safely netting it, I did a quick weigh and photo and released it. I was so appreciative of the lovely, stocky common. My confidence was raised as I was off to a flying start. I left the following day with no more fish but still buzzing from the day before.
A few weeks passed by and I was approaching a week’s annual leave from work; it has been a known thing for me to take a week off in the middle of June to fish the river. Of course this was far from my priority, so I decided I was going to spend five days targeting the big 70+ acre pit. Having fished it and caught I was certainly in a better frame of mind on how to approach it. Knowing the margins were so rich in caddis flies and water snails I really wasn’t feeling like approaching it with boilies. So I opted for a jar of Dynamite Baits frenzied tiger nuts. Through experience I know you don’t need a lot of tiger nuts to trip fish up. I suppose a bit like humans with peanuts, once we have a mouthful we crave more. I thought to myself that once a carp picks up a couple of tiger nuts they will continue to eat them until they’ve gone.
I returned to the big pit in soaring temperatures, wondering if the fish were going to be spawning in the shallows. After a drive around the pit and same again, no shows and no signs of spawning fish, I set up on a point swim different to where I fished previously. It wasn’t long before I decided to move so I could get a better view of the water. I knew I had to be looking for fish every minute of the day.
The next day I got a call from a friend who was on a point opposite me, he asked if I had any spare coffee as he had forgotten it. Being in my little campervan I was short of nothing. I agreed to wind the rods in at mid day and take him some coffee. On my way there I was always looking for fish; polarised glasses and binoculars coming with me, never lapsing in concentration. I looked over some reeds on the way there and saw about 6+ mid to upper doubles. I walked round to the nearest available peg and saw the two fishery managers, one up a tree and one on the bank, they had seen exactly what I was looking for, some carp including the lake’s largest resident known as “Butthead" which last came out the day after my previous session at 56lb 5oz. I was overwhelmed with excitement. I ran back to my peg and instantly chucked my tackle in the van. I got to the peg where the fish had been seen shortly afterwards. After flicking a few floaters out the fish certainly showed no signs of feeding nor spawning. It was simply a case of sunning it up. I spent 24hrs in the peg fishing 2 rods as it wasn’t safe to fish 3 rods in such a tight close knit area.
The next morning I was up at first light, waiting for the fish to return and hopefully get their heads down. Return they did, but feed they didn’t. I knew this wasn’t the place to trip one up, so I decided to up sticks and try a different peg which had been disturbed by some work carried out on the lake on the previous day. I decided to stick all three rods close in on the off chance a carp could be investigating the disturbance. The following morning there was a little bit more disturbance from the on going work. I thought my chance had gone of any quizzing carp in the vicinity. However, between the gap of disturbance my left hand rod gave me a few bleeps on the alarm, I walked to the edge and saw my bobbin drop back and pick up. I lifted the rod up and tightened it up to find a kick at the other end. After a short battle, I landed a stunning dark low double common. I got the rod back on the spot and never had another sign of fish for 24hr, I decided to move pegs yet again as work was due to continue the following morning, and with the change in wind direction, I followed the wind to the other end of the lake and waded two rigs out in the margins (left and right) and put my third rod out on a nice hard spot at 40 yards. After 4 or 5 hours and no signs of fish, and with the wind chill dropping, I really wasn’t feeling it.
7pm came and I just thought I couldn’t spend a night in this peg and be happy, so again on my travels I went, this time to a peg in between where I had caught and where I had seen fish.
I arrived at the peg and put one rod out at range. The other two in the margins, one with tiger nut and an offering of 6 or 7 whole tigers round it. My faith in tiger nuts, and my confidence, were still very high as I know how many I have sold to anglers over the years, and know they have been responsible for tripping up some amazing big carp over the years. I was a bit like a dog with a bone and I wouldn’t let myself be drawn in to blaming the bait, as many of anglers do. I persisted and out of pure luck, I saw a fish show at 20 yards out and instantly wound one of my margin rods in to flick over the spot (not a big resident but a carp at the very least). I then popped a spomb of frenzied crushed tiger nuts directly over a single tiger nut on a German rig tied from Fox Camotex soft 25lb to a size 5 Fox edges curve shank. As the light faded and the half moon shone directly in to my peg, I looked up at the moon and thought, “this could be the big common moon tonight”, whilst having a laugh to myself. I snuggled up in bed ready for a good night’s sleep and before I knew it, I had a one toner first light. I jumped up and ran to the rod with my waders round my waist, so excited I never even clipped a strap in to the buckle. I lifted in to the fish and felt a big heavy weight plodding slowly to my left. As the battle went on I felt the line twang off of something more than once (possibly a fin.) I was maintaining a constant pressure on the fish, and then the line went slack.
As I started to wind down, I saw a boil on the surface where my lead surfaced. At that moment I was absolutely gutted and could have literally cried. I stood in the water for a minute or two, half wet from not strapping the waders over my shoulder with the brace, holding my lead in one hand and the rod in the other. I walked back to the van and within that time I was looking at my rig. I instantly pulled myself together and thought “let’s start again". I pulled the tackle box out and gathered the components to tie up a fresh rig, exactly the same, within seconds it was baited and ready. I flicked the rod back out over the same spot and popped another spod of frenzied crushed tiger nuts over it. I watched and waited for a show for about 30 minutes although it seemed like forever, with no signs of fish, I started to think my chance had gone. I got laid down again wide awake and my eyes wide open, wondering what I could have done differently only to settle on the fact that it’s fishing and this does happen from time to time. I reflected on the Fox Challenge, where Mark Pitchers lost a carp on the River Nene.
Shortly afterwards I dozed off, to be woken by another one toner at around 8:30am on the same rod. This time I was prepared, with the straps already buckled on my waders, off I went into the water, this time taking no prisoners. I lifted in to the fish and it felt a very similar battle to the one a few hours earlier, although no twanging of the line. Totally unaware of what had picked my single tiger nut up, after a few minutes of playing the fish and plodding deep, my arm started to ache a little bit. I managed to surface the fish at 30 yards and saw big boil, but didn’t actually see the fish itself. Another few minutes went by and at this time I was growing quite excited, but remained a little nervous, as the fish came closer to me.
I had my polarised shades on, and fishing such a rich and clear water, I can remember seeing it under the water and thinking, “wow this could be a p.b.” I then managed to get it up to the surface a few yards out and just saw this big gaping mouth, before it made another dive to the bottom. As the fish came to the surface I went for the net; it wasn’t wearing that one bit, my clutch was ticking away under tension all the time, as I knew I couldn’t apply too much pressure to it. This went on for a minute or so, and then surfaced again. This time the net was waiting, and it slipped over the cord.
Relieved was an understatement but adrenaline overtook the moment. I stood there totally shocked and overwhelmed at this point I knew it was a big fish, but still wasn’t quite sure how big. As I lifted the net slightly I saw what I could only describe as a proper lump. After a minute of being stood in the water like a heron, I rolled the net up and reached for the retainer. Slipping the net in, I knew it was safe and able to rest. I left it briefly while I got all the relevant fish care tackle ready and prepared, including a bucket of lake water. I can then remember picking the sling up out of the water and thinking, “this is 40lb”; whilst I let the carp rest and revive, I called Mark Pitchers to tell him the news as It was only a few hours earlier, I felt gutted, just like he did on the Nene.
Overwhelmed and excited I told him this has to be 40lb+, he was as buzzing as I was. I remember saying “I’ll let you know a confirmed weight.” Shortly afterwards, I popped this magnificent carp on the mat and unravelled the net to reveal an amazing golden looking common. I couldn’t see the single tiger nut, but I soon realised it was nailed about an inch back in the bottom of the mouth. I popped the hook so it was ready for the weighing, shaking and purely running on adrenaline. The sling was securely hooked on the scales, and I braced myself for them to settle. It seemed like a lifetime, and when they settled at 37lb 7oz I was absolutely over the moon. This smashed my personal best to smithereens by 11lb.
After watching all this unfold I was well and truly hooked on this amazing place. The memories of this amazing fish will live long for me, as my quest continues on Girton.