After the capture of his carp from the HRPs last time out I managed to persuade Barry to join Brynmill for the year. We then decided we’d give the HRPs a go on Friday night. We headed down the ponds for about 19:30 and set up as quickly as we could on the central walkway between the two ponds.
We both started initially fishing into the lily pond in adjacent swims. I was using my trusted Vitabaits boilies and but Barry was using lobworms with a float and starlight with the hope of also tempting some evening tench as well as carp.
It started well as I had a take almost before we had completely set up and landed a small carp of about 8 lb or so just as the light was beginning to fade. It was then a bit of a wait but I had another take and landed another mirror which we weighed this time at 10lb 12oz so just making it into double figures. I then re-baited and put the rod this time into the other pool so that I was fishing one into the margins of both pools. Barry by this time had given up with the float and done the same.
I was woken some time later after a fish had picked up the bait on the rod that I had put into the other pond. This time the fish felt much more powerful and I’m sure it was a good fish. Unfortunately it got me snagged and I lost it. After that disappointment I we settled down again and I was starting to dose when I heard a faint beeping and noise of a reel clutch from one of Barry’s rods. I jumped up and started to run over and gave him a shout. He had nodded off and by the time he was up I had graded the rod and was into a fish. It turned out to be another mirror carp that just made it into double figures at 10lb 8oz. I should point out that it wasn’t really his fault he didn’t hear the alarm as he had borrowed them from me and it only gave a very faint beep when we tested it as the battery really needs changing.
Some time later I had another take on the rod in the lily pond and we netted the biggest fish of the night at 12lb 4oz. Due to our success this far we were in good spirit even though we had had hardly any sleep but then the rain came. I didn’t have a watch so I’m guessing this was around 3 am and this made things pretty miserable as we had no bivvy to shelter in. We had been out in the open on bedchairs and had to cower under umbrellas as best we could. It was also a colder night than we had anticipated and it soon became uncomfortable.
After enduring the cold and rain for a while we decided to move so that we were both fishing at the bottom of the walkway near the car park. I was fishing both into the lily pond and Barry the other pond. I reversed the car close to the walkway barriers and we got into the car to shelter with the windows down so we could hear the alarms. At around 5:30- 6:00 a couple of other anglers turned up and I think they spoke to us as they went passed but in my half asleep state I didn’t manage much of a response. It must have bee quite comical for them especially as I had a take not long after and the doors of the car flung open as we charged towards my rods. It turned out to be small carp in the 6-8 pound region.
At about 8 am we packed up and headed home so that we wouldn’t be in the way of the Saturday coaching session. All in all it had been a good night apart from the cold and rain with six carp landed and one lost.
Following Friday nights success we decided to return for Saturday night and we arrived back at the ponds at about 19:00. This time we set up on the opposite bank of the lily pond so that we could erect the bivvy so as not to be as uncomfortable as the previous night should it decide to rain. Again it wasn’t long before I was into a fish and landed a mirror around the 8 lb mark as the light was fading.
We waited up until maybe 1 am but without any action so after checking baits etc we decided to get our heads down. We both jumped up sometime later as I had a take on my other rod. I dashed to the rod and as I looked at the alarms in my half asleep state I could see that both latching LEDs were on and I made an instant decision to strike the right hand rod as the run had apparently stopped. Unfortunately it was the wrong rod and Barry grabbed the rod with the fish on. The rod I had struck was only placed in the margin and the rig flicked over the other line when I struck and somehow caused a calamitous tangle. To make things worse Barry was struggling with the fish that had buried itself in the lilies.
Eventually we lost the fish and I was left with a birds nest tangle to sort out. This took a while and meant that I had to set both rods up again after. Even so once fishing again I was still confident that we would get some more action. I was proved right when Barry had a take on a rod that was fishing almost right under our feet placed only about a foot from the bank.
Again it turned into a bit of a calamity as he tripped and was sent sprawling as he leapt out of the bivvy. We weren’t sleeping in the sleeping bags but were just throwing them over us but I guess he had it hooked under his feet as he jumped up. After landing on his knees and sliding into the rod pod knocking it over he did manage to grab the right rod unlike myself previously. The fish turned out to be the smallest we had landed from the ponds so far at about 6 lb.
As we got our heads down again it was beginning to get light and it wasn’t too much longer before I heard the first car arrive. I was then a bit surprised when I had another run and landed another carp again in the 8lb region which turned out to be our last bit of action.
I was a bit surprised at the number of single figure carp we landed over the two nights. I fished the ponds a fair bit last September and caught a few and the average was bigger. I had a few around the 11 lb mark with one or two bigger ones but I only remember landing one single figure carp. I’m not complaining of course as I’m well please landing 9 carp in two nights isn’t bad. I’m not too disappointed with only losing two considering the volume of lilies in the pond.
One point I would note is that I personally find it much easier to land the fish when fishing over the top of the lilies and not casting to them. By this I mean fishing in the margins where it is possible to keep the line as vertical as possible above the fish if it dives into lilies left or right. By casting over towards lilies the line is at a much steeper angle and the longer the fish is allowed to run the more it can wrap itself around stems etc. The two fish lost were when the fish was hooked further out and managed to dive into weeds or snags. We landed all fish hooked in the margins as I was much easier to prevent the fish snagging.
I apologise for the lack of photos but at the time I still hadn’t replaced the batteries in my camera. We did have Barry’s camera but for most of the fish we decided just to return them as we didn’t want to mess about with cameras in the dark unless we caught a real monster. The following picture is one we took of the very last fish we caught on the second morning as it was daylight at the time of capture. The weight is estimated and although it appears small all the HRP fish are chunky and I consistently under estimated the size of the ones that we did weigh.
We both started initially fishing into the lily pond in adjacent swims. I was using my trusted Vitabaits boilies and but Barry was using lobworms with a float and starlight with the hope of also tempting some evening tench as well as carp.
It started well as I had a take almost before we had completely set up and landed a small carp of about 8 lb or so just as the light was beginning to fade. It was then a bit of a wait but I had another take and landed another mirror which we weighed this time at 10lb 12oz so just making it into double figures. I then re-baited and put the rod this time into the other pool so that I was fishing one into the margins of both pools. Barry by this time had given up with the float and done the same.
I was woken some time later after a fish had picked up the bait on the rod that I had put into the other pond. This time the fish felt much more powerful and I’m sure it was a good fish. Unfortunately it got me snagged and I lost it. After that disappointment I we settled down again and I was starting to dose when I heard a faint beeping and noise of a reel clutch from one of Barry’s rods. I jumped up and started to run over and gave him a shout. He had nodded off and by the time he was up I had graded the rod and was into a fish. It turned out to be another mirror carp that just made it into double figures at 10lb 8oz. I should point out that it wasn’t really his fault he didn’t hear the alarm as he had borrowed them from me and it only gave a very faint beep when we tested it as the battery really needs changing.
Some time later I had another take on the rod in the lily pond and we netted the biggest fish of the night at 12lb 4oz. Due to our success this far we were in good spirit even though we had had hardly any sleep but then the rain came. I didn’t have a watch so I’m guessing this was around 3 am and this made things pretty miserable as we had no bivvy to shelter in. We had been out in the open on bedchairs and had to cower under umbrellas as best we could. It was also a colder night than we had anticipated and it soon became uncomfortable.
After enduring the cold and rain for a while we decided to move so that we were both fishing at the bottom of the walkway near the car park. I was fishing both into the lily pond and Barry the other pond. I reversed the car close to the walkway barriers and we got into the car to shelter with the windows down so we could hear the alarms. At around 5:30- 6:00 a couple of other anglers turned up and I think they spoke to us as they went passed but in my half asleep state I didn’t manage much of a response. It must have bee quite comical for them especially as I had a take not long after and the doors of the car flung open as we charged towards my rods. It turned out to be small carp in the 6-8 pound region.
At about 8 am we packed up and headed home so that we wouldn’t be in the way of the Saturday coaching session. All in all it had been a good night apart from the cold and rain with six carp landed and one lost.
Following Friday nights success we decided to return for Saturday night and we arrived back at the ponds at about 19:00. This time we set up on the opposite bank of the lily pond so that we could erect the bivvy so as not to be as uncomfortable as the previous night should it decide to rain. Again it wasn’t long before I was into a fish and landed a mirror around the 8 lb mark as the light was fading.
We waited up until maybe 1 am but without any action so after checking baits etc we decided to get our heads down. We both jumped up sometime later as I had a take on my other rod. I dashed to the rod and as I looked at the alarms in my half asleep state I could see that both latching LEDs were on and I made an instant decision to strike the right hand rod as the run had apparently stopped. Unfortunately it was the wrong rod and Barry grabbed the rod with the fish on. The rod I had struck was only placed in the margin and the rig flicked over the other line when I struck and somehow caused a calamitous tangle. To make things worse Barry was struggling with the fish that had buried itself in the lilies.
Eventually we lost the fish and I was left with a birds nest tangle to sort out. This took a while and meant that I had to set both rods up again after. Even so once fishing again I was still confident that we would get some more action. I was proved right when Barry had a take on a rod that was fishing almost right under our feet placed only about a foot from the bank.
Again it turned into a bit of a calamity as he tripped and was sent sprawling as he leapt out of the bivvy. We weren’t sleeping in the sleeping bags but were just throwing them over us but I guess he had it hooked under his feet as he jumped up. After landing on his knees and sliding into the rod pod knocking it over he did manage to grab the right rod unlike myself previously. The fish turned out to be the smallest we had landed from the ponds so far at about 6 lb.
As we got our heads down again it was beginning to get light and it wasn’t too much longer before I heard the first car arrive. I was then a bit surprised when I had another run and landed another carp again in the 8lb region which turned out to be our last bit of action.
I was a bit surprised at the number of single figure carp we landed over the two nights. I fished the ponds a fair bit last September and caught a few and the average was bigger. I had a few around the 11 lb mark with one or two bigger ones but I only remember landing one single figure carp. I’m not complaining of course as I’m well please landing 9 carp in two nights isn’t bad. I’m not too disappointed with only losing two considering the volume of lilies in the pond.
One point I would note is that I personally find it much easier to land the fish when fishing over the top of the lilies and not casting to them. By this I mean fishing in the margins where it is possible to keep the line as vertical as possible above the fish if it dives into lilies left or right. By casting over towards lilies the line is at a much steeper angle and the longer the fish is allowed to run the more it can wrap itself around stems etc. The two fish lost were when the fish was hooked further out and managed to dive into weeds or snags. We landed all fish hooked in the margins as I was much easier to prevent the fish snagging.
I apologise for the lack of photos but at the time I still hadn’t replaced the batteries in my camera. We did have Barry’s camera but for most of the fish we decided just to return them as we didn’t want to mess about with cameras in the dark unless we caught a real monster. The following picture is one we took of the very last fish we caught on the second morning as it was daylight at the time of capture. The weight is estimated and although it appears small all the HRP fish are chunky and I consistently under estimated the size of the ones that we did weigh.
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