Last week Stuart Court experienced the session of a lifetime on the legendary Savay Lake in the Colne Valley. Any fish from this super tricky lake is highly prized but to catch five in the space of around 48 hours is almost unheard of! Here Stu gives his account, top angling mate!
My luck was certainly in during my last rota at Savay but things started badly when an upper 30 mirror escaped from my net before I could weigh or photograph it, not something you want happening on a water like that where every bite is so precious. I was absolutely devastated by this silly error but a second take from an ancient looking 30lb 8oz mirror, then a third from a beautiful dark 30lb 12oz common went some way to lifting my mood, things were looking up! Having 3 takes in a little over 24 hours on Savay is a very rare occurrence so I couldn’t quite believe it when this amazing run of good fortune continued the next morning.
In the early hours I was woken by a liner on my middle rod but instead of doing what I normally do at that time of the morning, peer out into the gloom with blurry eyes then turn over and fall back to sleep, for some reason I found myself wide awake. I put the kettle on and started hearing the odd fish showing out in the darkness, then another liner, and another. It was one of those moments in fishing when the atmosphere is absolutely electric. Anybody who isn’t an angler simply wouldn’t understand what I mean but I know most carp anglers have felt it at some point. You’re sitting there on the edge of your bedchair looking out into pitch black with big carp crashing around you, the buzzers occasionally letting off a few bleeps as a fish brushes against your line somewhere out there in the darkness. The tension is almost unbearable because you just know you’re going to get a take at any moment, it might just be the fish of your dreams. You can’t pay for experiences like that, it’s so pure, just you and nature truly tuned in as one. My umpteenth cup of tea was almost drunk and the liners were becoming more and more frequent, then, a liner lingered for longer than the others and the clutch started screaming. Finally, after all the tension, the moment I had been sat there waiting for. A screaming take and I was bent into what was clearly a heavy fish, the slow deliberate fight was a dead give away that this was no feisty 20. Ten minutes of careful maneuvering to avoid the sharp gravel bars which run across the front of my swim a big long grey mirror rolled steadily into my net. I looked down at it in the mesh and knew immediately that it was a good fish so I secured the net with a bankstick between the spreader block, my weigh sling draped over the top and my unhooking mat placed on the net handle to weigh it down, this one was not going to escape!!!
Meanwhile, there were fish still showing out there in the darkness so I decided to nip the hook out of the fishes mouth while it was still in the water and get the rig back on the spot. With a big fish chilling at the front of the swim and the possibility of catching another I remembered that I had a second landing net in my rod bag, this is not something I normally carry but for some strange reason I did on this occasion.
I walked the line along the bank until it reached my mark, clipped it up, then stood with the rod above my head looking at my tree marker on the horizon. Just as I was about to pull the trigger a fish crashed out bang on the spot I was aiming at so I put the lead straight into the rings and sunk the line down, perfect!!!
I called a mate who was fishing another part of the lake and he kindly agreed to come up and help me with the photos of the mirror. The fish in my swim were still making their presence obvious with lots of liners coming to the 2 rods I had positioned fairly close together, then my left hand rod went into complete meltdown!!!
This fish was really moving, I was almost scared to tighten the clutch down as I picked up the rod so I gently used finger pressure on the rapidly revolving spool to gradually slow it down before it reached any kind of obstacle. It started to come in steadily then went on a couple of hair raising runs under the trees along my left margin but I was in control by this time and gently turned her back my way with careful pressure. As the fish came over the net cord I caught a glimpse of some common scales in the half light, then when she was safely nestled at the bottom of the mesh I flick the torch on and saw my prize…….a filthy great big common carp
I remember noticing a nick on the top lobe of the tail when I photographed The Wimbledon common last year for another angler so I maneuvered the mesh to try and see the tail on this beast and sure enough there it was. I knew I had her but when I called my mate to ask him to hurry along I didn’t want to say it just incase it turned out not to be her, I just told him I now had 2 lumps waiting for his arrival.
We set about doing the photos just as the morning sun was rising over the Colne Valley tree tops. First the long old mirror which weighed in at 40lb on the button, then The Wimbledon which registered 45lb 10oz on the scales.
Life doesn’t get any better than that!!!
Cheers
Stu