Carp Syndicate Success - Scott Kingsley

This entry was posted on 28th April, 2015

The day was finally here, the opening day of my new syndicate.

I had booked a few days off work and added them to the days I already had off. This allowed me 5 night and 6 days fishing, enough time to have a proper look around the complex and to fish a couple of different swims in, different areas, hopefully allowing me to get a feel for it.

Being the opening day I knew it would be busy, but sometimes you can use this to your advantage.

I started in a swim with plenty of water, somewhere I could fit in between a couple of anglers with a reasonably good view of the lake.

I plumbed the area using a light 1.5oz lead, trying to create as little disturbance as possible, but hopefully building up a picture of the lake bed in front of me. I found a nice gravel bar around 35-40 yards out, which was surrounded by silt, one rod was fished directly in this silt in around 13ft of water and the other was fished directly on top of the gravel, in around 8ft of water.



I chose to fish the rod behind the bar with a Stiff Hinge rig consisting of Gardner components; A super sharp size 5 Covert Chod hook, 25lb Tripwire with a boom section made from 6 inches of 15lb Camo Brown Disruption Skin, fished on a helicopter setup, once again constructed from Gardner components. A 15mm CC Moore Equinox Airball Pop-up was flossed to the rig and a scattering of around 60 Equinox Boilies were catapulted to the spot.

Normally in spring I would fish bright attractive pop-ups but in this circumstance, knowing the fish were probably on their guard due to angling pressure, I chose a more subtle approach; matching my pop-up to the free offerings.



The second rod, fished on top of the gravel, was my usual snowman setup. A size 8 Covert Mugga hook and the new 15lb Silt Ultra Skin fished on a Covert Lead Clip arrangement, mounted to the hair was a glugged 15mm Equinox Boilie coupled with a 12mm Citrus Blast Hellraiser Pop-up. A small bag of crumbed Equinox Boilie was hooked on the rig for presentation purposes, to prevent the rig from tangling on the cast, as well as a piece of dissolving foam so no debris could mask the hook-point when landing on the spot.

With the rods out I started to watch the water and take in my surroundings.

There wasn't much activity throughout the warm, sunny day and as the lake was fairly pressured, I knew the fishing wouldn't be easy.

Evening soon came and I repositioned the rods, refreshed the baits and topped up each area with another 30-40 more freebies. I stayed up till around 1am to listening for any signs of fish, but once again it was all very quiet and I decided to make one more brew before finagling retiring to the sleeping bag.



Morning came and I was up at the dawn, first light around 5.30am and still there was no sign of fish. It wasn't until around 2pm that afternoon that I saw my first Carp, as a good one rolled about 20 yard from the bank in my water. I decided to stay put for another night and put a rod where I had seen the fish roll. Same tactics were used one rod over the bar and one this time in my margin, the margin rod was the snowman fished over a light scattering of Equinox.

I was now feeling a bit more confident as I had seen a carp in the swim, but unfortunately this confidence was misplaced, as once again my alarms remained silent and by morning there was nothing to report.

I gave it until about 11am before I decided to have a walk round the lake and to chat with a few fellow anglers, I recall having done about 6 laps in the blazing heat, on what was another lovely bright, sunny, warm day.

On my walk round I was desperately looking for any signs, but nothing stood out, and chatting with others they were telling me just how tricky the lake can be. There was just one area, one area that caught my eye, a section of the lake that had received little to no angling pressure, and this area was tempting me. However I didn't want to jump in all guns blazing, so I decided to watch the water for one more day, moving into a different swim which gave me a better view of this potential spot.



All the gear was soon setup and I managed to find a couple of nice spots, again using the same tactics from the previous nights.

Just into dark a huge fish boshed out in the less pressured area that I had been keeping my eye on. My gut instinct had been correct, as a good Mirror launched itself clean out of the water, not once but twice and I was in two minds whether to move immediately or to stay put, I chose the later.

I was woken up at first light to a belting take and after a rattly battle, a Tench of around 4lb was landed and quickly returned, the rod was cast back to the same spot and the first brew of the day was soon boiling away. As I enjoyed the cuppa I was contemplating my next move, when all of a sudden another Carp showed itself in the same area as the fish the previous night, my mind was made up, I knew I had to move, my instinct had been correct.

But… and here comes the bad bit, someone had already beaten me to it! I was kicking myself, I knew I should have moved on the second day!

Running out of supplies and needing to refresh my body and mind I ventured home, restocked and had a wash, before returning that evening, hoping by then the area may be free.



As I pulled up in the complex I grabbed my bucket and walked straight to the area where I'd seen the action and to my surprise it was empty, the angler that had been there in the morning had left and I had it to myself.

I knew I was finally closer to some fish and that they were visiting the area, all I had to do was present a bait to them. Not wanting to cause any disturbance, the rods were rigged up using light 1.5oz leads and flicked to a couple of different spots.

I fished my right hand rod about 12ft off the corner of the island and my left hand rod, very tight to it, about 20yds apart. The rigs were fished in the same style they had been all throughout the session and around 40 baits were catapulted over the top.

With the light quickly fading I popped the brolly up and retreated to the warmth of the sleeping bag, watching the water for an hour or so before dozing off.

The morning soon came and I was up around 5.30am, undertaking some 'Rig Therapy' I knew it was going to be a warm day, so I started to tie up some zig rigs.

I sat by my rods, enjoyed a cuppa and continued to watch the water. Around 7.30 my right hand rod gave some indication, the Delkim sounded and the bobbin rose to the blank before slowly dropping back to the ground. My first thoughts was liner, that was until it slowly lifted back up and held firm, I picked up the rod and my first thoughts were Tench or possibly a Bream, but that was until I felt its first powerful run.



After a heavy scrap, with the fish running me ragged, it eventually boiled about half way out and I knew then I was into a good carp, I could see it was a high twenty at least. Making it's way to the net I couldn't quite get its head up, the fish boring through the deep margin in front of me. My legs started to shake; my fourth night on my new water and I was battling a chunk!

Finally, after some rather tense heart in mouth moments, the prize was safely over the cord and in my waiting landing net.

I called another angler over from the swim next door, explaining I had one in the net and asking if he wouldn't mind taking some photo's. Kindly, he was more than happy to help out and within a few moments we were both admiring the big mirror in its spring colours, both buzzing that there was a good one on the bank - It had been a very quiet week and this was only the second fish out.

When lifting the fish out of the water and onto the mat I knew it was a heavy one, I didn't want to say exactly how big, but I thought it could possibly be thirty.

I carefully eased the big girl on the scales and the needle swung round to 36lb before finally settling on 35lb 8oz. I didn't quite believe it, so asked Scott, who was taking pictures, if I could weigh it on his scales too he kindly obliged and they read exactly the same! After some really good pictures and a bit of banter I slipped her back and returned her to her watery home, it was a case of mission accomplished in more ways than one - My first Carp from the water, one of the target fish, one of the biggest fish in the lake, known as Two Tone and a new PB to boot!



To say I was buzzing would be an understatement, with the high pressure, lack of activity and the thoughts of others telling me how tricky the lake was, it felt a real achievement and it just goes to show watching the water and making a move on your gut instincts does pay off, as well as using the tackle and bait you have confidence in. I find that when you're feeling confident in your fishing fishing, the magic will happen, when you're really in that moment .

I couldn't of asked for anymore on my first session. Two Tone definitely had a taste of the Equinox.

Tight Lines, Scott.

The Tackle Box Covert Lead Clip Pack Covert Chod Hooks Critical Mass Putty Wide Boy Micro Mesh Mini PVA Dissolving Rig Foam Point Doctor

The Bait Box Hellraiser Pop-Ups Equinox Boilies