A new carpy puzzle

New ticket, new water, new adventures and new carp to catch.

Having acquired a club ticket for some Sussex lakes I made my first foray in search of carp this bank holiday weekend.

Arriving at 5am I unloaded the car and with a degree of trepidation I pushed the barrow along the density wooded banks. I counted four other anglers so there was still a good choice of swims available.

My first thought was the top end, shallow and sheltered, and with the recent warm weather the carp could be there but perhaps only to spawn.

I stopped and chatted to the angler in the penultimate swim – Dan – he had had two out at sundown – he said the shallows were about 2ft and silty as the lake was fed from that end and best for stalking and surface action.

With that knowledge I retraced my steps and settled on a swim I could see across to a bay in the western side of the lake and if I wadded out could see either end of the lake to my left (south) and right (north).

As this was the first visit watching the water would be one of the main objectives. And what a quiet water it proved to be, no shows, shoulders, booshes or boils, nothing to aim the rods at.

Rod wise, I switched to the Sonik S3’s 3.5lb knowing that 100yd casts could be required.

An hour had passed and still no signs so I cast around feature finding. Mid way across the lake seemed the deepest, probably the old stream bed and this side of that point was a weedy patch about 10yds wide. The other side of the old stream bed was firm silt and no weed – 80yds.

Also I guessed the grebes were over the weedy patches as they would occasionally appear with a small roach.

With this in mind I cast two pop ups passed the bird life. One a Mainline milky toffee soaked in Scopex and the other a glugged Richworth Tutti Frutti, each with a small mixed bag of chops and pellets.

For the next two hours nothing, again no shows, a liner perhaps? But otherwise quiet.

By now it was 9am and there looked like a hatch starting, with nature waking and the liner on the left rod I set up a black foam zig at 4ft and cast shorter. Were the carp up in the layers?

Again nothing, frustrating but enjoyable all the same being on a new water and planning summer visits.

This recon session ended with a blank but it was more about the hours of fact finding and chatting to other anglers.

As I walked back along the path I met Tim who had had two lower doubles out of the snags near the big tree at the dam end. While chatting we could hear the bream thrashing in the margins and agreed the carp would be spawning over the next couple of weeks. This would tie in nicely with the next planned visit when they should be hungry after their exertions. And with that in mind I placed an order with Baitworks for the summer campaign, appropriately Royal Marine!

Here’s hoping this jungle will prove fruitful and not bring me to my knees! As the RM adverts says “It’s a state of mind”

Tightlines and good times.