Stuart Morgan has had a very successful past few weeks catching specimen-sized carp and also bream too!

I ended my last blog with a nice little result from a 24 hour session on my syndicate water that I have been fishing throughout most of the winter. As you can imagine, I was rather keen to get back down especially as the weather was improving by the day. I arrived for my next 24 hour trip to an empty lake but knew some others were due down so a quick decision was to be made. After finding nothing on a quick walk round, I had a hunch that the Point Swim, that I fished the previous trip, would be holding a few fish so decided that would be worth a go. On most of the trips to this lake, I have spent a great deal of time walking the banks in search of the fish, so it made a nice change to be all set up and sorted after a couple of hours. This proved to be a good decision, as just two hours later my middle rod melted off and after a great tussle, a lovely golden 23lb 8oz common was in the net. Even though it’s not all about catching for me, an early fish really does settle you down and allow you to relax and enjoy the session that little bit more. Around midday the fishery manager was sat in my swim and whilst we chatted away my right had rod trundled off. Once I had picked up the rod, the fish didn’t really do a lot and I even commented to the fishery manager that I thought it was maybe a small one. A couple of minutes later the fish was in netting range and we both noticed that it wasn’t that small at all! After we carefully removed the size 5 Edges Curve Shank hook from the bottom lip, we hoisted the lovely immaculate mirror up on the scales and agreed on 31lb 8oz. After returning the fish, it was time to get sorted for the night ahead so I tied a couple of fresh blowback rigs (same as the ones in last month’s blog) and a pop up rig utilising a short section of 25lb Trans Khaki Rigidity, a length of 25lb Weedy Green Coretex Matt and a size 5 Edges Stiff Rig Straight hook. With the rods all sorted well before dark, it made a nice change to not be rushing around to get everything done before the light goes. 

The night passed with no action other than a couple of liners but just after first light a few fish showed near my spots so I was expectant of some action before long. I have found, in the short amount of time I have fished this water that the bite times seem to be very similar from day to day so it was with no surprise that my middle rod screamed off almost to the minute as it did the day before. Another great fight ensued, with the fish staying deep and kiting all over the swim but after 10 minutes another really good mirror rolled into the net. I thought that this one was bigger than the one from yesterday but on inspection it didn’t quite have the width and depth albeit it was longer. On the scales it went 29lb 6oz and after a few self takes she was returned back home. After a couple more hours it was time to have a slow pack up and return home. It was a great way to end my last trip as a winter ticket holder but luckily I had done enough to secure a full ticket for the coming season so happy days!I was able to get out again the following week for a 24 hour session but strangely, considering the last trip, felt like a change of venue but couldn’t decide on where to go until a good friend Marcus rang me up asking if I fancied doing something. We decided on a venue that neither of us had really fished before but contained a rather sort after 40lb common. We both met up as arranged in the car park on an extremely windy Monday morning with only a handful of other anglers already present. We had a stroll round the 25 acre pit, stopping every now and then to have a chat with the guys already set up, we even witnessed one angler land a lovely 29lb common. After we helped with the weighing and photographing, the fella also let on that he had landed a large bream as well but that no one else had caught anything.

 As a third friend (Brett) was also due to join us for our spur of the moment social we picked an area of the lake on the end wind that we could all fit in without affecting any of the other anglers already fishing. This may surprise some of you but even though I mainly fish for carp, I do class myself as an all-rounder and after hearing about that large bream I thought I would change my tactics slightly to get some of them feeding first, in the hope the carp would then follow. I already had a bucket of my normal spod mix with me but added a good helping of trout pellets and a bag of sweetcorn to the mix. I also dropped a couple of hook sizes for my blowback rigs, opting for a size 7 Edges Wide Gape Beaked point hook, which was tied on to a 15lb Weedy Green Coretex Matt hooklink.

Getting the rods sorted in the strong wind was interesting but before long I was happy with how they went out, and with a few spods of mix over the top, it was time to sit down and enjoy a pasta dish cooked expertly by Brett. Just into dark, my right hand rod gave me a massive drop back and my plan had worked as a new personal best bream of 13lb 12oz was in the net. We all carried on having a good catch up until the early hours and just as we decided to drift off back to our beds, the same rod was away again. On picking up the rod, I knew it was a bream but it just felt so much heavier than the last one. As it came into netting range, we all got a bit shocked with the sheer size of it! I wasn’t surprised when both Brett and Marcus agreed on a weight of 17lb 2oz! Still feeling shocked, I struggled to get to sleep and was still awake at 2am when an 11lb 12oz bream came on the other rod. Nothing else occurred for any of us for the remaining time we were fishing and by early afternoon we had all left to go our separate ways. With both of my jobs in the bait trade and aquatics industry getting really busy at this time of year, I have unfortunately not been able to get out since but will be righting that very soon….. Well hopefully! Until next time, I wish you all the very best of luck!