Even though the alarm was set for 4am I was awake much earlier - after 20 years of carping I still have nights when I can't sleep due to the anticipation and excitement of going fishing. Long may it continue.
I crept out to the motor, taking care not to wake the wife and kids and headed south.
The choice for swims - 3 already taken - saw me plump for a pitch that saw me land a couple of fish last October - it had some deeper water and looked pretty good for a bite or two.
I had a quick lead around - clipped up all three rods to the baited spot and got the rigs into position. I fished a Form boilie on a size 10 Gamatasku G Point Super, 15lb Strip Tease and 16lb Berkley Flouro mainline.
The day passed uneventfully and by 6pm I was ready for the bag - a combination of no sleep, an early start, hastening my departure to the land of nod.
I awoke around 6 - got up, stuck the kettle on and sat outside to watch the water - I avoided the temptation to recast as in my experience, you can ruin your best chance of the day by re-chucking early doors.
By 10am I was beginning to bemoan the lack of any sort of fishy activity in the area when the ATT sounder started to wail. The first fish of a session always makes my legs go a bit wobbly and although I played it very gingerly it came adrift very early in the fight. Gutted.
Rod rebaited and recast and I was just settling down, when the right hand rod did the off. Conscious of the fact that the last one came off I took my time and played it very carefully - 27 hours in and without a fish in the bag I wanted to make sure that this one stayed put.
I remarked to Dan Mason that "It wasn't very big" just before he slipped the net underneath it and proved me wrong. It went 28lb 8oz - what a cracking start!
I was feeling pretty pleased with myself - recast the right hand rod - dropped in a bit of bait and sat back to survey the scenes. A mate had just turned up for a cuppa and a natter when the right hand rod did the off again.
Immediately I knew it was a good fish - it just held bottom and gradually I got it within a rod length of the bank but there was absolutely nothing at all I could do with it - I'd never been attached to anything so powerful - and my silence probably betrayed my thoughts on what I was attached to.
I summoned up some bravery to lean on the fish a bit more - the 3.25 Chimera's are forgiving under the tip but I was still a bit worried having already lost one and knowing I only had a size 10 hook keeping me in contact focused my mind somewhat.
After around 20 minutes the fish (which I still hadn't seen) was beginning to capitulate - I'd still not seen any colour but the amount of water it was shifting - and the distance between the mainline and the maelstrom that it was stirring up was indicative of it's bulk.
It's head popped up and Dan netted it first time of asking. "It's the biggun mate - look at that C shaped scale" I fair went to bits. It was indeed the biggun and at 53lb 8oz was a personal best by a country mile and then some.

Well as you might imagine I was on cloud 9 - I never imagined that such a beast would ever grace my net and I spent the next hour phoning, texting and letting my buddies know what I'd just been fortunate enough to catch.

I got the rod back out in a daze and was sat with a well earned drink in my hand when the right hand rod - the one I rechucked less than an hour earlier rattled off again. I guestimated the fish to be around 11-12lb - it went 21lb 10oz. Funny how your sense of perspective can become dazzeled so quickly So this was three fish on the bounce and all on the same rod. To put this into some kind of perspective all three were no more than 10ft apart but only the right hand rod was producing. Oh and that was two twenties and a fifty on the same hook which showed absolutely no signs of needing changing - well if it ain't broke..
The rod went back out and just on dusk it ripped off again - this time a 22lb 10oz.
That night there were a bit celebratory and stories told before climbing into bed. At 1:30 the right hand rod (how did you guess) roared into life - it was pouring with rain so I made time to put my coat and boots on before I picked up the rod. However I had forgotten to put on my glasses and without my head torch I could see the square root of sod all. I played the fish hard and then based on what I could hear and (think) I could see I slide the fish onto the spreader block. I dropped my net into the margin, collected my thoughts and my glasses, and went back to peer into the net. What lay there took my breath away - I knew that I had just smashed my common PB within 12 hours of obliterating my mirror PB.
It went 37lb 8oz and was an absolute peach of a fish. Dan didn't even mind being woken up at 1:30 in the pissing rain to take some pictures.
Well I climbed back into the bag - my head was swimming. I drifted off with a massive grin plastered across my boat race...
Sunday dawned wet - very wet. During a brief respite in the rain I sat outside and made myself a brew and a bacon sarnie. The right hand rod ripped off again and after a very strong scrap this cracking fish found itself in the folds of my net. Another stunning winter carp at 29lb 10oz.
Rod recast and I finished off my breakfast – I was sat down when Dan wandered into the swim – just in time to see the right hand rod rattle off again. A bit of a protracted scrap ensued and yet another high twenty was smiling for the camera’s – this one at 29lb 6oz.

I couldn’t believe it – it was really the stuff of dreams – a massive thirty in the night followed by two high twenties the next morning. And all this in mid November – in the winter!

As if to remind us of exactly what time of year it was Mother Nature played her trump card overnight.. As I sat on that last morning watching the last of the frost melt from my rod handles I was completely content –but the lake wanted to give me one last gift – a parting present in the shape of this stunning 28lb common carp.




A few things were really hammered home to me on this session:

1) The difference between a red letter day and a blank can be a matter of a couple of feet – all but one of the fish came from the right hand rod – all from the same, apparently featureless, spot.

2) Pick a good hook – I caught all but one of those fish on the same hook. It never turned over, it never lost it’s sharpness – it performed utterly faultlessly. All hail the Gamatasku G Point Super.

3) A good bait is the biggest edge you can take to the lakeside – but being on something different, and something others aren’t using is a massive edge. Get on THE FORM!

4) You really know who your mates are when you are hauling – they are the ones who are as excited for you as you are.
They are the ones who slap you on the back and give you a celebratory fag. They are the ones who get up at 1am in the pissing rain to photograph your fish. They know who they are.

Really the session of a lifetime fellas - thanks for reading.

Matt