Spring Carping: Part Three, Best of Both Worlds.

 On this trip I split my day on the water between the park lake and a large section of canal. The weather was fair with high pressure dominating again, the bright conditions were perfect for a bit of early season stalking. Current stiff winds at times have made it difficult to present surface baits successfully, however on this particular occasion the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place.

 A clear sunny morning had carp showing on the top for most of the time I was searching, not just any fish would do, I was actively searching out the bigger fish, twenty pound plus was the target and if the chance of a bigger specimen came about then I would concentrate on that. In my mind upon arrival I said to myself that there was a certain area that I wanted to fish but once I had arrived it was clear I'd struggle to get any peg! wall to wall carp anglers with three rods each....

 ....it was not what I wanted, so with that I got in where I could and made the best of it. Within an hour a succession of carp passed through that were watched but not fished for, that was until a nice chunky mirror carp came ambling through, I threaded on a bit of crust and gambled a little on its trajectory, luckily me for me it was spot on, the carp came up to the crust, looked at it but then drifted past it, just a few seconds later without leaving the immediate area she back-peddled so that her eye was level with the crust and processed what ever it was thinking, satisfied it posed no threat she back-peddled a further 3 or 4 inches and nudged the crust, again with it behaving naturally this time she sucked in the crust! I immediately struck and all hell broke loose!

 I was pleasantly surprised by the battle and made the most of it as once I had released this carp I'd already made my mind up to leave and head elsewhere, the very thought of me surrounded by other anglers and hemmed into one peg annoyed me.

 On the scales this chunky warrior weighed 21lbs 6oz and my best so far, a couple of pics in the early morning sun cheered me up no end and with a swift stroke of her paddle she waddled off into the deep. Smiles all around.

 A quick check to see I'd packed everything I headed for the car and I was once again on my travels. Not knowing exactly where I would end up I parked up fairly central to the patch I looked to work and with such good conditions spotting carp in what is relatively baron water is a huge bonus, overcast days can often fill you with dread that they have all gone. Funny place our canals.

 Last late spring/early summer I walked approx 130 miles, with nearly a marathon done in a single day. Without that sort of time on hand here now I aimed to get into double figures. Touch wood I'd make good of what were the best conditions of the season yet.

 For over two hours I marched at breakneck speed whilst scanning miles of water before I caught a whiff of a fish, albeit not my target it was good to see a few bream. Possibly a mile upstream more bream showed themselves amongst the reeded pilings which gave me hope that soon I'd find a carp and I did just that. A marauding mirror, probably a mid-double was cruising on the surface, nudging anything on the surface that looked remotely like food.

 This mirror looked awesome in the water, a beautifully dark fish and a nice light underbelly. I thought the capture of this fish was inevitable but the canal has taught to not be expectant on numerous occasions so I bore that in mind and played it slowly. Dropping my crust well away from the carp in an area I expected it to swim proved to be tricky as she often made random changes of direction which prompted me to recast on multiple occasions.

 After a game of cat and mouse which lasted possibly 10 minutes she finally headed on a straight line, one that my crust lye in! within seconds she had made up the gap and with no hesitation she opened her mouth and gently sucked in the crust. Filled with excitement we fought for a good few minutes, she certainly didn't want to come in. Having scaled down a wall to slip the net under my prize I got a closer look at this awesome fish, not a monster but that didn't matter at all.

My first canal carp of the season, 15lb 10oz.

 What an awesome canal warrior, very pleased with that and I was very right to enjoy the moment as much as possible because I spent a good 2 hours afterwards searching for one fleeting moment where a low 20 common showed herself before vanishing again. I can't say I was disappointed, bring on more!

Effort sometimes equals reward!