Sam & Mark's Carping Escapades Episode 1
Firstly welcome to the first in this mini series of blogs from myself and The Man, The Myth and The Legend…Mr Mark Ellicock.
So a little about us, I am 22 years old and I have been fishing since I was 10, not seriously or all that often to start with but thats when I started wetting a line. I've fished various venues, from runs water day tickets, to big, open deep reservoirs to where I am now on my first syndicate. Mark got into carp fishing through a very good friend of his at the age of 16 and cut his teeth on the famous and historic Walthamstow complex, catching any of the famed fish, and fishing various other waters to the syndicate that I am currently on. It was Mark that got me on to the water that we are both currently fishing. Finally and obviously we are both proud to be a part of Hydra Baits.
Right, now onto the fishing side of things. I want to roll back the clock a couple of months ago to late June. The water we are currently fishing still implements a closed season from the 31st of March until the 1st of June, so with that in mind we have both booked holiday from work to get to the lake on the 1st and fish for 4 days until the Sunday. Or so we thought. Through events that took place over the winter and some unfortunate ill health from the owner of the lake, the start of the season was pushed back until the Sunday that we were both planning on finishing our sessions on, not starting. I was very fortunate with my work and was able to change my holiday days and take the whole of the following week off, and fish Sunday-Saturday but the same couldn't be said for Mark who could only do a few hours on the Sunday after the draw. Myself and Mark both marked the same peg as the one we would favour most if we came out first in the draw, so we devised a plan that although Mark was only there for the day he would still enter the draw, basically giving me two chances.
I came out second in the draw luckily enough and opted for a peg I knew well and have fished numerous times, it was my second choice of peg so no dramas, as did Mark in another peg. After a short period of time with the marker rod I had mapped out my 2 spots in the under water jungle that is the weed in this lake. Rods clipped up, Liver Pro pop ups on and rods out. The same series of events took place for Mark with the difference that he was fishing with TNT pop ups. The time came for Mark to break down the rods and leave me for my long session ahead and unfortunately without a fish. My first 48 hours were uneventful with an angler to my left landing a mid 20 and the owner catching one of the originals at 28lb on the first evening. Then finally early in the morning I had a take but I was disastrously cut off. Fuming, and to add insult to injury the guy to my left had another at 31lb. Rod back on the spot and it took another 24 hours to get another bite but this time she tipped over the cord on my net after a spirited (and nervous) fight. The scales spun round to 27lb 5oz, RESULT!
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| 27lb 5oz Common |
Back in the bivvy preparing that rod to go back out I heard the most almighty crash and I shot out to have a look, I was greeted with the awesome sight of a froth on the surface from something feeding directly on my spot. Needless to say I was excited. 10 minutes later and another flying take before I'd had a chance to get the other rod back out. The result was a target fish of mine which is an old original called the Fat Belly Common, and to make it even better at one of her best weights of 29lb 7oz.
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| Fat Belly Common, 29lb 7oz |
The last couple of days were uneventful I had no more fish and 2 days after I left the complex the fish started to spawn.
So thats the start of the season and myself and Mark have been back twice now but to get the details you'll have to read the next instalment.
All the best
Sam & Mark
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