The Season So Far... Part 2 - Steve Swan

This entry was posted on 19th September, 2016

Since the last time I wrote I’ve been getting into some action down at the lake. The first catch after writing was the end of June when we were getting all those thunder storms and lots and lots of rain. We had that much rain down the Wensum valley that the lake came up more than two foot over the space of a weekend, which was fun for the people who were fishing down there at the time. The river came up and was flowing in at the middle and top parts of the lake and out of the lake down the bottom end. I caught in Glen’s swim; the water was rushing though the reeds into the bay to the right of the swim so I had a little look around to found some clear spots where I could position my rods. I decided to flick two rods into the bay where the water was coming in and the third out into open water. After three hours of waiting, the middle rod in the bay burst into life and I was away. With little resistance on the end I thought it was a tench until it was pretty much under the rod tip. All of sudden the fish ripped off about 20-30 yards of line and I knew it wasn’t a tench but a small carp. After turning, it then came straight into the waiting net and it turned out to be a nice little stocky common at 14lb 8oz. I unhooked the fish in the water so I could get the rod back out again and some more bait around it in double quick time, took a quick photo, and weighed the fish before popping her back in.

Two hours later, the same rod was away again. This time I knew instantly that it was another carp. Much more powerful than the first one, it tried its best to get me into the reeds but I managed to stop it and get it to kite into open water. After a 15 minute battle the fish was in the net. It looked bigger than the first one but not by much. I could see that it was a male common carp this time with a whitish head which was all ruffed up. Getting it on the scales it weighed 18lb 8oz. I thought it would probably be a 20lber when it was full but it was well spawned out. That doesn’t matter to me; it’s still a fish out of the lake. Once the fish was returned to the water I quickly used the distance sticks to get the rod back out and some more boilies as well.

Two or two and half hours later it was away, but unfortunately this time I couldn’t stop it reaching the reed bed and the hook pulled shortly after. I quickly tied up another rig and back out it went. Then an hour later it was off again! This time I clamped right down to it and didn’t give it inch. After a few seconds of it erupting on the surface, right next to the reeds, the fish kited out into open water. It tried to get into the snag in my right hand margin but I managed to turn it and then it just plodded around under the rod tip. I could see that it was a mirror this time and looked bigger again. Soon it was in the net and on the scales; this one went 21lb 4oz so they were slowly getting bigger.



Back he went, as it was another male again, and back out with the rod. The fish shortly left the swim and I could see them rolling away from me down the lake, so I packed up all the gear and headed off home but was totally happy how the weekend had turned out. I returned a couple of days after to give it a try for an evening session. The river had dropped and the lake was still very full but back within its banks. I fished the same swim as I had put some more bait out as I was leaving the previous weekend. I fished up until dark but didn’t receive a single bleep apart from the wind. Again I put some boilies out as I left, hoping the carp would get on it and be in the area for the following weekend.

The weekend after, I got down there late on the Saturday afternoon, meeting up with my mate Paul. He had called me to say that he had found some fish down the bottom end of the lake where the wind was blowing and surprisingly there was no one down there. He suggested that we double up in the swim; he would fish the left side of the swim and I would fish the right. After a couple of hours my mate had one of the smaller stockies. Two hours later he had another one, again a small one. After that it went all quite that night but by 7am the next morning his rod was away again. This time it was a bigger one it gave him a right good battle. Getting it in and on the scales we could see it was a nice mirror of 28lb and a few oz. I didn’t receive any takes that weekend but, returning the following weekend with the weather conditions the same, I choose to fish the same swim and was rewarded with a lovely looking 18lb common and a new personal best bream of 16lb 4oz (well chuffed).



The next time I got into some action down the lake was two or three weekends later. I chose to fish on Party Point swim with Paul next door in the channel swim. The fish were all over us, swimming up and down between us and going in and out of the bay to Paul’s left. We set all the traps and sat back watching the fish, sinking a couple of beers. It wasn’t until 4am the next morning when my left hand rod was away. This rod was positioned just off the island in about three or four feet of water. It was a slow take and lifting into the fish it seem to be a small one but, after getting it into the waiting landing net and peeling the net back, I could see that in fact it wasn’t a small but a fish I caught twice last year (Mini Mallins). This time on the scales he went round to 35lb 8oz, I was quick with some photos and then sent him back into his watery home. That was the only fish caught that weekend as the lake had gone dead with hardly anyone fishing it.

I didn’t get down the lake much for the next month but I did manage to do a three night session in early August. Due to being away from the lake I didn’t know if there had been many fish out but I decided to fish a swim one end where the wind was blowing into. It was a new wind and after walking into the swim and seeing three fish stick their heads out I thought it would be as good as bet as any. After blanking the first night but seeing some more fish showing the next morning, I chose to stay put and just replenish the area with some more bait and wait. The next morning, at around 6ish, I received a screamer on the right hand rod. This turned out to be a small stockie common at 17lb. After that it went all quite but due to the lake now being busy with people I didn’t move and the next morning at the same time I got another run this time on the middle rod; again a small stockie but this time a small mirror. Since then I haven’t managed to get down there so much but I hopefully will get some time to go in the next few weeks before it starts to get too much into September. The next blog I will write will be my season review before I start pike fishing in the winter.

Tight lines, Steve Swan