Specimen Hybrid.

 After a lovely break in Cyprus for just over a week, we had a little bit of a downer on the return flight when our original plane had been cancelled and had another flight organised for us but with a 7 hour delay which wasn't ideal and I hate airports nearly as much as hospitals, due to sheer boredom that they provide you with, so midnight came and went and we had only just boarded the plane, 1am was just arriving ( Cypriot time ) and we had just taken off so I guessed we would get back to the UK for around 4.30am GMT which went if I was to go asleep I'd miss most of the day so after dropping off the missus I shot home and grabbed a rod and my gear and headed off out in search of a early morning Carp.

 It didn't take long for me to find them but they were playing very cautiously which made life for me a little more difficult and partnered with the fact the wind was blowing an absolute gale, the fishing was slow going but as soon as the wind eased off at around 730 I got my first enquiry in the form of a rip roaring take on the float and I was locked into battle with a good Common Carp that fought very well and showed me what I've been missing for the last few weeks, about 5 minutes later a spawned out female was sat reviving in the net.

I hadn't changed the timer on the camera so it was two hours earlier than stated and a nice fish at 16lb 5oz, Carp in this lake tend to average 14-17lbs so this one was standard fish but plenty of 20lb + Carp do live here and only a couple minutes after putting back the 16lber a large Common around the 25lb mark cruised straight through my swim but it showed no interest in anything I did and after a while it exited stage left.

 Some of the Carp and Bream were feeding in shoals of 15 -20 and I saw a couple of monster Bream aswell to what could have been 12-13lbs, if I manage to snare one of those it will be a new personal best! I'd love to catch another double figure Bream and I've never had one from here either and only ever heard of 1 getting caught and that went 12.4, so I know they get big but nobody wants to catch them apart from me as far as I can make out, but I'll be happy being the only one targeting them, more for me!!.

 The fish did carry on feeding and after around an hour n half I had another Common, a shade smaller than the last at 14lb 1oz, but again well proportioned and much better condition than the first probably due to the fact this one hadn't spawned yet or only a little bit because it looked very plump still, but the session chucked up a very interesting curve ball in the shade of what I thought was a Bream, but I'm almost certain it is a Roach-Bream Hybrid, the first I've had in a very long time and at the weight of 4lb 13oz which was by far the largest hybrid I've ever seen or caught, I was over the moon with this fish, but a small element of doubt is in the back of my mind that it may not be, if anyone knows a more concrete answer please let me know.....

                                 

 This water used to be very well known for it's Hybrid's and extremely large Rudd, but over the last 15 years they seem to have all gone but this one has thrown a spanner in the works on that theory, silvers have always struggled against the constant predation of the cormorant colony that can hit 80 strong, a water of this size would probably get cleared of anything under 10'' in a matter of weeks rather than months or years, going back to the "hybrid", another reason why I believe it is one simply was down to the fight, it actually fought which Bream don't really do and try their best to impersonate a plastic bag being dragged in. I really hope it is a Hybrid because it is a special fish if so. After the excitement of that fish and releasing it back to the unknown I packed up and headed off.