Getting Back Into The Game

After a short break from carp, Paul codman successfully returns to his lake to find weed problems and muggy nights.

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After a little break from carp fishing, when I spent some time on the river after chub and barbel and some summertime socialising, I decided it was time to get my carp head back on.

That mega hot weather we experienced actually put me off fishing for a while. Now that we’re approaching September the temperature is starting to cool and we’ve actually had some pretty dark, grey days already. It’s usually more comfortable at night when sleeping by the lake and you don’t wake up feeling so sweaty and horrible in the mornings. I do feel a little sad when the summer fades as it highlights another year passing and cold, dark days to follow. But then I remember that I also quite like those darker days when it’s raining and you can sit in your bivvy when everything’s set up and get yourself all warm and dry, and simply watch the rain falling.

I was surprised by how much the lake had changed since my last visit. The level was lower, it was coloured and some hideous new weed had appeared. It wasn’t the classic Canadian pondweed, which I don’t mind at all actually, it was a kind of blanket weed that clung to anything it touched and generally made life difficult. Every time I wound in I was having to pull through clumps of it and then spend 10 minutes picking it off the line. It was really heavy stuff too, so it was quite hard work pulling it in. What I was trying to do was pick up the line slowly and as I felt the lead move, start to wind it in as quick as I could to keep the lead above the weed. As soon as it dropped down into the weed it became a tug of war.