Kev Hewitt can barely put a foot wrong so far this year and his impressive run of form continued this week on his first ever visit to Sandhurst Lake on the Yateley complex. Despite the wintry weather Kev had an incredible hit of fish during his 48 hours stay where he slipped the net under a total of 14 carp including 2 doubles, 11 twenties to 28Lb 12oz and a stunning 35Lb 12oz mirror. Here Kev gives a full account of this eventful session:
Let’s be honest, the weather has been horrendous this march, the worst I have ever seen it. We have barely had a day where it has got into double figures and the carp fishing has been a bit of a struggle for most. I managed to catch three fish from Linear fisheries St.Johns lake on zigs during a bitterly cold 24 hour session and decided to go back for another attempt the following weekend. Shortly after setting up, the heavens opened up with the biggest snow storm I have ever witnessed. The ground was two inches thick with the white stuff within an hour and during the night temperatures plummeted to -5 degrees. The Oxfordshire countryside was well and truly frozen and with cat ice forming in the margins it was no wonder I was blanking and really not feeling confident for a bite. I gave it till 2pm the following day before packing up after not receiving so much as a liner or even seeing a fish show.
I decided to move lakes and thought about heading to Oxlease but all of a sudden YateleIys Sandhurst crossed my mind and I thought “why not, everywhere is dead round here and I’ve nothing to lose”. Having never seen Sandhurst before, I made the one hour journey from Linear to Yateley knowing it was going to be tough. I had always wanted to fish Sandhurst but had never got round to finding the time to get down there so now I had the perfect opportunity to get down there and get a feel for the place if nothing else.
I stopped off at Yateley Angling Center and handed over my hard earned cash in exchange for a session on a lake I had never seen before. The lady at the till informed me that there were only six people on the lake so there will be plenty of space. When I finally arrived in the car park I was greeted by a mature tree lined lake. It is not the largest of lakes, maybe around 12 acres in size I would guess. The weather was following its usual erratic pattern and it was pouring with rain. I had a quick look round to find it very busy at the top end and there was only one angler up the first end you come to. He had bagged a nice fish earlier in the day and nothing had been out up the top end. I decided to drop in on the far bank where it was nice and quiet and I trudged round to my swim and quickly cast a couple of zigs out around 70 yards range to open water before getting the bivvy up and everything in the dry. It was late on in the day and the light was just fading as I clipped the bobbin onto my third rod which was fished on a chod rig. I had to wait no longer than 10 minutes before I had a twitchy take on the right hander. Despite it only bleeping once, I could just see the line had tightened a little and held so I lifted the rod up and bent into my first Sandhurst carp. She gave a good fight in water of around five foot deep and I soon slipped the net under lovely 23Lb 12oz common. The perfect start to a session on a new water. I had another take at 9pm but unfortunately this on fell off.
The rest of the night was uneventful but the gentle chorus of the early bird was shattered by a one toner on my left hander. I was straight on it and with steady pressure had the fish coming towards me. BEEEEEPPP and the middle rod was away just 15 seconds after the left hander had ripped off. I held both rods back to back and took it in turns to wind. I managed to get both fish into the net and only for the third rod to rip off but unfortunately I lost that one in the weed. The two fish in the net were a 23Lb mirror and 28Lb 12oz common with a distinctive kink in its back. I was understandably over the moon and having landed three carp and really wasn’t expecting the events of the next two hours to pan out the way they did.
All hell broke loose and in a mad two hour spell I put six fish on the bank all over the 20Lb barrier and lost three. The rest of the day was quiet and it seemed like the fish had moved but late afternoon I had another mad hour where it switched on and I had a further five fish, two doubles and three twenties before darkness.
Again the hours of darkness were uneventful and just like the previous morning, I had a take at 6.05am but fortunately for this carp she managed to shake the hook. I was hoping for it to kick off like the morning before but the next couple of hours passed without so much as a bleep. That was until the chod rig on the left hander peeled off with a steady take.
This one was different from the off and it plodded steadily up the lake with a lot of power. I just knew I was finally hooked up to one of the better fish at last. I took my time and got the carp half way in and my middle rod signalled a take. Now I had a dilemma, I knew I was connected to a very big carp on the left hander but felt like I had her under control so I put the rod back on the pod with the clutch set quite tight and picked up the middle rod. It was quite weedy where I was fishing and knew the closer I got the fish in the better chance I had of landing it. So I cranked up the pressure and got the fish coming towards me and got her half way in and clear of the thicker weed before putting the rod back on the buzz bars and picked up the left hander. She had kited round to the right on a tight line and I soon had her close in and as she gently rolled I saw the length and width of her and at a glance estimated her at mid thirties. I took my time and as she slipped over the net cord I had a quick glance into the net at a stunning carp before picking up the middle rod which was still attached to an angry carp.
A few minutes later and I was looking at a mid twenty common and mid thirty mirror both nestled in the bottom of my net. Before I had chance to do anything the unthinkable happened and the right hander ripped off. It really was fantasy fishing at its best! Well that was until she found sanctuary in a weed bed and shed the hook. It nearly broke my back lifting the two carp from the water. With a bit of help from a couple of other anglers on the lake we slipped the two fish into separate retainer slings before sorting out the scales and photographic equipment.
I weighed the common first and she went 24Lb 12oz and after a few photos slipped her back. Next up was big mirror. Once I had the chance to see her in all her glory on the mat I realised what a special creature I had been fortunate enough to catch. The flanks were pristine, scale perfect and chestnut in colour. I have been fortunate to have caught some stunning carp in my time but this had to be up there with the best of them.
Once on the scales the needle settled on 35Lb 12oz and as you can imagine I was over the moon. It was carp number fourteen in my first 36 hours on the venue and one I certainly won’t be forgetting in a while.
