If only I had found this place sooner, Bitterwell a great introduction to my son for Carp on fly

Last few weeks of summer have seen my son and I re-invigorating the Friday fish. I having been dashing home at school exit time and with a quick turn we were fishing for Carp on the fly at Bitterwell Lake near Bristol by 16:30. This nice little lake is not picky about fly fishermen using artificial flies and it is a great venue for late evening sport. Both James and I have landed some good double figure fish. The only difficulty is the ducks and swans competing with the carp for your floating bait. After I while I realised liberal amounts were required to cause distraction and subdue appetites! To my surprise there are a few other regular carp fly enthusiasts joining us.

Carp on fly and a new venue

Despite the trout streams looking good after a bit of rain I was fixated on tackling carp on the fly having not had a good session for some years. I convinced Red it was good idea and set off with a small bag of dog biscuits and half a dozen deer hair flies. We were on Avon Tribs exchange with Warminster Angling at a small lake near Frome. On arrival the carp were drifting, breaking water in the shallows and looking decidedly catchable. However once aware of our presence they soon became skittish and retreated to the snaggy fringes. Patience persisted though as we fed the biscuits little and often and soon the fish were with in easy casting distance and confidently feeding. It turned into a busy session with our fly reels screaming as the small but feisty carp sped off across the lake. Between us we landed a handful of fish in the 4-6lb range with Red losing a good double figure fish. The poor water clarity allowed a good strong leader of 12lb fluro which was a bonus when stopping the fish heading for the numerous snags in the lake.

Well now the coarse season is upon us I thought I would try a bit of Carp on the fly

Nice afternoon with a bit of a breeze saw me trying to tempt some wily old Common Carp on the fly. A little bag of mixers, a couple of spun deer hair flies and 8' 8lb fluro leader on a 8/9 wt is all you need. My tactics are to find some active fish and cast directly in front of their nose. Two or more usually sees a bit of competition with less dominant fish allowing the bigger ones to come through and have first dibs. Occasionally I provide a few offerings but if you bisect their course quite often you'll get some interest without baiting. Now spawning is subsiding I notice they are more positive on the take and keeping low against the bank helps avoid suspicion. I rarely strike but just let the fish turn on the fly. Be prepared to give line quickly as even an 8lb leader can give on the take especially on a heavily weighted rod. I have found increasing the line strength during the afternoon will ensure you won't get a take but may pay dividends later in the evening where you targeting in the immediate vicinity of lilies. Be patient in the fight as even amongst the lilies the fish can be eased out. First fish a 5-6lb'er and second a near double figure fish that must of made an initial 40 yrd run down the lake stripping line enough to burn my thumb as an impromptu drag.

Mixing it up the summer months from Black Bream, to Mullet, to Carp..

Some lovely summer weather has diverted my attention away from the trout to other quarry. My brother and I had a great session focussed on Black Bream from the kayak. Armed with squid and sabiki we headed for the Solent to a mark half a mile out. Within minutes of anchoring up we were into fish and this continued for an hour until the tide went slack. Incredible little fighters and good eating fish made this a rewarding day out. No Bass but plenty of Mullet in the shallows however they were not just not interested. Knowing the tides here is a must too much and its unfishable too little and the fish just aren't there find a happy medium and you will be rewarded.

 

Talking of Mullet huge numbers now up the Severn but still no luck. I am going to down size to Size 18 shrimp patterns as I observed large numbers chasing tiny organisms on the incoming tide. More success with the carp on local lake with warm evenings providing great sport off the top on dog biscuit flies.

 

First Carp of 2012

Lovely spring day left inspired me to leave work at 15.30 and get a couple of hours in. Fished for Carp on fly today as very few trout were moving or showing any signs of interest. Unfortunately I didn't have any bread so just had to use an opportunist cast of my bread fly to a surface feeding fish. This is no easy task as few fish come to the surface without a food source and when they do pop up they are incredibly fussy. I must have had 10 or so takes with only one conversion - a nice little 2lb fish which was good sport on my little XFlite. The lake was cloudier than ever as the larger fish were spawning in the shallows. Wonderful evening with Primroses covering some of the banks and plenty of birdsong.

Summers return in November and the Carp on the feed..

A really mild sunny day on the lake today with Common Darter dragonflies sunning themselves on the bank side vegetation. Red and I started on the Rainbows. I managed two on an olive Shipmans and Red had one on small olive Klink.

Common Darter - thinking its spring!

After an hour or so a few Carp just started to break surface. I noticed a nice double figure fish just under the surface 20' out. I had a dilemma do I stick with my 8'6" Greys Xflite 5 weight or do I rig up the 9 weight. In the heat of the moment I went for the easy option and quickly switched leader to an 8lb fluro chucked on my foam bread fly and cast right on its nose. It turned inspected then engulfed the fly in slowmo. I lifted and hit rock solid resistance. It never really ran but sort of used its dead weight to lunge from side to side. After a bit of a tussle Red helped me net, only just about in the net incidentally, a pristine Common Carp of over 10lb - my biggest on the fly to date. I caught another Common at about 2lb before the now resident inquisitive Mute Swan's finally forced me to head for the river.

Fished the Chew for the last few hours of light on coarse gear. The river was in good form with a nice flow and some colour. Loads of trout rising. Caught a couple of Dace on worm after I'd scaled down my tackle to a Size 16 on 3lb line. Met Rich Denning Keynsham Club president who had had good days fishing catching Chub, Dace and Grayling.

Dace from the Chew

River Chew and then matching the batch..

Fished Chew at Compton Dando with Red. Warm and muggy but generally overcast. Banks massively overgrown with Himalayan Balsam and low water. Although the amount of debris on the banks gave away what must have been some high water a week or so back. Fish were difficult to locate and missed a few takes both on the dry and nymph. Ended up with a small Brownie and Chub both on the goldhead. Talked Red into a couple of hours carp fishing on the fly which was a laugh as we watched numerous double figure carp either nose or half heartedly take the fly without success. We both caught good sized Rainbows on the top and I managed a 1/2lb baby Carp on the bread fly.

The Carp like it hot..

Evening session. Increasingly darker nights now mean evening is restricted to a couple of hours. Relatively busy tonight with two others around the lake. The carp seemed to come on the feed after a warm late summers day shutting off at about 8.00pm when the trout started to rise. Takes were more positive and a wide gape hook with thumb nail sized sponge fly doing the trick. First fish I lost and then a beautiful 1/2lb common carp came to the net after being somewhat bullied to the net on my 9wt rod. This was followed by my best carp on the fly to date at around 8lb. Finished up with a nice little 2lb common. No trout tonight despite several rising to free bread offerings.

More Carp and Rainbows in the rain...

Evening session produced another Common Carp about 3lb and three Rainbows, biggest I kept, all on the fly. I've come to the conclusion the carp really don't like it when the trout start feeding. Heavy rain showers but mild and muggy. Some big carp (10lb+) moving around but none taking my fly!

Carp on the fly again....

Still not an easy task put persistence paid off. My focus was the carp on my artificial foam flies. After initial success a couple of weeks previous in not ideal conditions I thought the mild evening tonight might make life easier but hooking a carp took some time. Little and often with the bread and then place your fly between the last remaining flakes. After a couple of Rainbows hammered my fly finally a nice common took it. I wasn't prepared for the fight that ensued as it really tested my 8 weight rod and forearm. Stripping line from the reel I was glad I hadn't compromised on the 10lb fluro leader. A pristeen Common Carp of around 6lb was netted. After this although I had several rises from carp none were hooked. I changed to a new design made of a smaller amount of foam but like a shipmans (segmented down the shank) with antron either end. The carp just weren't fooled but the trout went mad for it. Three Rainbows returned and several more hooked and lost - if anything they were a bit of a nuisance!

First Carp on the fly

My first real effort to catch carp on the fly rod. Not a great day to start as not particularly warm with heavy showers. Started feeding with a few handfuls of white bread. Used a white foam fly I had tied for Mullet. After many frustrating takes, a snapped 6lb leader on a big fish, a couple of returned Rainbows, I finally hooked played and netted a nice 2lb Common Carp. The fly needed clipping down to get a good hook hold on the takes - the curve of the hook had to be exposed. I ended up with just the one Carp and three Rainbows al on the foam bread fly! Little and often with the real bread, leave until nearly all is consumed and cast your fly to the vicinity of the boils. The little carp gave a good account of itself burying itself in the weed beds.

Chew Magna and Publow visit

Had day off work today as I had leave left and had to take my lad to Bristol City coaching session at Failand in the afternoon. Decided to try Chew Magna for some sedate lake fishing. Fished the right hand bank, weather warm and bright with light winds. Fished intermediate line with Goldhead orange blob as no visible fish. Talk of not stocking for a while, lots of blanks in the book and no pulls raised doubts over my optimism for a fish. Suddenly a few fish started to move a third of the way out. Buzzers started to dimple on the surface. Time for the suspended Buzzer beneath the Klink on the floating line. Three fish (two 2lbs+) in less than hour, one snapping my 4lb leader unfortunately.  Three fisherman around lake had not caught so left pleased. Thought I'd try for some Carp on the surface at Publow but they just weren't interested in surface baits/flies. A few trout rose so on went the Shipmans and I immediately caught a 1.5lb Rainbow safely returned. As usual Publow was empty - a lovely little lake that is somewhat neglected compared to other lakes on the ticket. Left feeling confident about my lake skills.