Autumn Glory - Carl Sharp

This entry was posted on 29th October, 2015

I arrived in Cambs on the Monday morning knowing that I had got 6 nights of fishing ahead of me. The first port of call was to spend a night on the soon to be open Poacher Pool, part of the Holme Fen Fishery complex that will be open to the public next year.

I chose my swim with some snags / reeds down my left hand side, and fished various spots towards these areas using PCF Pickled Krill boilies in conjunction with Stella Yella pop ups. The rigs were supple hinged rigs incorporating various items from the Fox Edges range including their Camotex Soft as the boom.

I had two bites that first night resulting in a 28lb mirror, followed by a lovely 32lb 4oz mirror (unfortunately I had made a schoolboy error in leaving my self take photography kit at home and the pics came out blurry and not in focus...)

The next day, I met up with Martin Dawson from Earith Lakes, to head off onto a no publicity big pit for a nights fishing. With respect for the owner, I can't give too many details other than I caught 8 carp that night from under my rod tips with the biggest only just tipping mid doubles, but every carp was just stunning! I have included a pic of 'one' of the fully scaled mirrors to give you an example of how lovely they are! Again the captures came on the PCF Stella Yella pop ups over the Pickled Krill boilies.



The third day of my adventure saw me heading over to my syndicate lake 'Rosemere' for 2 nights, to pit my wits with these wily carp that are getting cuter and more tricky each visit.

I managed to get into one of the better swims as there was only one person there when I arrived, and he was just packing away, bonus!

I had a little lead about in the various holes in the weed until I was certain that my traps would be set to absolute precision. I wanted the rigs to land on the 'money' as I would not be reeling them in for the duration of my stay (40+ hours), something that I felt may give me an edge as opposed to the obligatory change of bait 24 hours into the session.

Pickled Krill Hard Hookers were used on all 3 rods to make sure that I would be fishing effectively the whole time. The first day and night passed without so much as a bleep, I stuck to my guns though and left the rods in place hoping that the carp may think I had departed with no disturbance created whatsoever. I was still unsure as I went into the final night on the lake when just before first light (some 36 hours after placing the rigs on the spots) the middle rod hooped over, resulting in one of the lakes most sought after prizes, 'Flat Head' at an impressive 39lb 5oz (she has been 44lb+ in the past) in all her Autumn glory. I slipped the fish into the retainer and got on the phone to Coxy the bailiff (who had already arranged that should I be lucky enough to catch one, he would drive the 20 minutes up the road to do the pictures for me so that I don't make the same mistake as previous with my unfocussed self takes, Thanks Coxy!). Whilst on his way, my left hand rod burst into life, resulting in a recapture of a carp known as 'Little Harris' at a bigger weight of 35lb 10oz. Dawn was just breaking as we clicked away with the camera, and I think the shots came out pretty well.



As soon as the carp were returned, I thanked the lake and quickly packed away for what would be my last trip of the year on Rosemere until next year (I have a Winter water closer to home this year to concentrate on) and made my way across to PCF's Abbey Lake where I would be meeting my family and friends for the last 2 nights of the 'Tour'.

I am very familiar with Abbey having fished it a few times now (although this was my first and only trip this year), and got the rods out with minimal fuss onto the spots that had produced for me in the past. Over the course of my stay, I ended up with 5 carp including 3 x 20's up to 24lb 12oz. Even Liz my fiancée got in on the action, landing 3 carp on the final morning up to 21lb 8oz. All captures were on various PCF pop ups (Stella Yella / Stinky Pinky / Crystal Whites) over a mixture of hemp / corn / pellets / Pickled Krill using the supple hinge rigs once again that seem to be doing so well for me lately.

All in all, a memorable 6 nights in one of my favourites parts of the Country. Thank you Cambridgeshire!

Best Wishes, Carl Sharp