Southampton based carp connoisseur David Meek has been stacking them up like breeze blocks this year, not least on his latest session on a southern stillwater where the action was so frenetic that he barely had time to finish his lunch…
‘I arrived in the afternoon, finding that the swim I would have liked to have fished was taken. I know that you should never know what swim you want before you leave home, but I was having a good run of results from there and wanted to keep harvesting the spot. So with my tail a little between my legs I went into the swim I spent most of my winter in. For the weed was up in here! I opted to fish on rod a few yards off the tree line and the other two over a nice smooth area. All pretty close stuff no more than 45 yards out. After putting out a large bucket of bait, I passed a luke warm can of Guinness to Hadley and we (he) built a fire.
The night was uneventful, and I woke to the sun fusing my contact lenses onto my eye! Man it was bright! I could see fish laying over in the distance. So I watched them for a while.
Completely out of the blue my right hand rod goes, and after a nervous battle a beautiful mirror was lying in the folds of my net. Whilst in the water we got the fish in the sack and I set about making a drink.
Before I even had chance the left hand rod was bending in the rests. On lifting the rod I was met with a couple of lungs then solid. It was festooned in weed. So I commenced bringing in an underwater privet hedge, Inch by inch. With the help of Hadley hand lining every now and again after a good 30 minutes we netted what was left of the weed. We thrashed the weed over our shoulders, and then I felt flesh, it was in the mesh. We waded back to the bank and I nearly looked like Old Gregg layered in weed, and looked at one of the most lovely well proportioned carp I have ever caught. Photos were done shortly afterwards, and I packed down. I was moving!
I didn’t fancy a rod on that tree line for the course of my stay. All that weed was a nightmare. And I could see myself losing one. So with the grand stroll of fifty yards I moved my kit next door.
I planned to lay a spread over a main area in front. That would be as appetising to the carp as a cheap wedding buffet to a drunk best man. A lovely gravel spot to my right would have to be fished, as every so often the dark shadows would drift over this spot too.
Happy with my ambush. I sat back on the low chair to await events. The evening passed and the sun rose, and then my left hand rod was away. A spirited small single scaled mirror was in the net, after a couple of quick pics I let him go. The morning passed and I went to the shops to get a few bits. I put another bucket out and chilled for the rest of the evening. A good friend came down and we decided to get a takeaway. After that was eaten I had two fish within maybe ten minutes of landing each other. A beautiful linear and a slate grey mirror. Rods back out in the light (ideal) and a nice early night.
I was woken at about 4 in the morning to a take. But upon lifting into it something was amiss. I could feel line on line. So seemed to be a trailer was the culprit. Some how both rods become weeded up. It took maybe fifteen minutes to get it all in. So rods were marked out and flung out hoping my morning chance hadn’t been scarpered. A little while later my right hand rod was away, and as soon as the tail slapped on the water like a humpback whale I knew it was another better one. A little while later i had a lovely one awaiting pics. Such an incredible carp.
Maybe thirty mins after my friend left me the same rod was away. After another patient battle a short dumpy one was being held up for some stills.
All the fish fell to a very consistent rig that I have been employing comprising a new, as yet to be released ESP beaked point pattern in size 7 along with a new tungsten coated hook link which will be launched later this year, plus of course the ever trusty ESP Leadcore and Syncro Loaded’.