Fishing Republic : New Quest on Elm Tree

This entry was posted on November 6, 2017by Fishing Republic.

I recently heard about a small carp lake quite local to where I live. After checking the pictures of the fish on the Facebook page, I was astounded to find pictures of some beautiful carp. Straight away a decision was made. I just had to go down and have a look for myself.

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Heading out for a day session, I arrived at the lake on the Friday morning. There was only one other guy fishing it. After a lap of the lake and a quick chat with the guy, I was informed he hadn't had anything himself since his arrival. I watched the lake for a short period of time in different positions, to which I saw no signs of movement. With swims 1, 2 and 6 having been pre-booked, I eventually decided to drop into swim 8. This decision was brought on by the idea of the open water out in front, with the aerator to the left and a nice spot down the right margin.

I flicked a couple of rods out on the spots, sat back, watched the lake and trickled bait in little and often. Mark, who owns the location, popped down with information about the lake and the stock. 'It's no easy water' he'd stated. The lake record currently stands at 24lb 8oz, but there are bigger fish in the lake that haven't been out yet. I felt determination within me.

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The day passed slowly with no action and no signs of fish. As 6:20pm approached I made the decision to pack up my gear as I had to vacate the premises by 7pm. However, the images I had viewed on Facebook were still fresh on my mind. With the mystery being so intriguing to me, I made the decision that I would do a season on there, and immediately booked a 24hr session for the following Wednesday.

The next session quickly came around and it was a really warm, sunny day. I got to the lake about 1pm. The fish were visible on the surface all over the lake. I could see them swimming in and around the lily pads. I was ecstatic.

There was already a guy fishing at location: swim 1, along with another guy in swim 6 at the opposite end of the lake, but the SW wind was pushing up the pads, so I jumped into swim 2. I already liked the look of this location from the previous week.

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Before I got all my gear set up, I decided to just flick one rod out free lining a piece of crust to the edge of the pads, aiming to pick up a quick bite. Around an hour and half passed with numerous fish approaching my bait but none attempted to take, it became apparent that these fish are very wary and would not be easy to hook. At this point I decided to get some bait out on my spots over the far reed lined margin and get the rest of my gear set up. The left-hand rod was set up with my new version of a hinge rig with a stretchy boom section and zig bug as bait. This was fished with a 3oz lead running shocker system. I cast the bare lead over onto the far bank, then went around with the rig and placed it tight to the reeds just right of the pads, with a few handfuls of Tor Baits squido boilies and some particle mix.

The middle rod was set up with the same 3oz lead running shocker system but this one was fished with a snowman KD rig. This rod was also cast over onto the bank and placed tight to the margin under a tree with some boilies and particle mix. I put a chod rig setup on the right-hand rod with a Tor Baits pink squido pop-up, which I threw out towards the aerator in open water with a few handfuls of squido boilies spread around it. It was around 4pm once I had all the rods in position. I got the bivvy up and sat watching the lake opting to sit on my hands rather than trickling bait in little and often, as I had seen how easily the fish spooked by just my lead going over as I cast onto the far bank. The heat kept beating down on the lake all afternoon and as nightfall approached with no action, I decided to freshen up the rigs with some more flavouring on the zig bug rig and new bait on the other two rods. I also put a good few handfuls of boilies and particle mix over each spot. I sat up watching the lake until midnight before deciding to get my head down for a few hours ready for first light.

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Just before 4am I was awoken by the sound of my bite alarm. After quickly jumping out of my bivvy I saw the bobbin on the left-hand rod bouncing. I jumped on the rod and lifted into a fish. The fish was spirited but felt like a small carp. A couple of minutes later as I crouched down with net to land the fish, I was surprised to see a decent size tench. With the fish unhooked and on the mat, I put it in the sling to weigh, showing just over 6lb on the scales. I quickly got the fish returned and the rod back on the spot with a bit more bait, then got laid back on my bed with bivvy door open watching the lake with optimism.

Light broke around 5am and already looked to be another nice day. At around 6am, as I was about to put the kettle on, the left-hand rod burst into life once again. As I was fishing close to the pads I had the reel locked up, the bobbin had pulled to the top and held then the rod started to arc round. I quickly lifted into a very powerful fish, which plodded around deep and took line when it wanted, not showing itself all fight. After a great battle for around 10-15min I got my first glimpse of a stunning nearly black mirror, that looked to be a decent size fish too as the net slid under her. I brought the fish out of the water and onto the mat, where I parted the net to see my prize, my first Elm Tree carp and a real gem. The rig had nailed it in the centre of the bottom lip. Once I had her unhooked I put her in the sling and back in the water, as the lad from swim 6 had called Mark to come and verify the fish for me. A few minutes later Mark arrived and I brought the fish back out of the water to be weighed, tipping the scales at 23lb 10oz, happy days! We gave her a soaking of water to keep her wet, then got the all-important pictures of this Elm Tree gem before safely returning her to the water, I was buzzing!!

I quickly reset the trap in hope of bagging another before i had to be off at dinner, but the morning passed by with no more action and the weather quickly warmed up into another nice sunny day bringing the fish up in the layers. As dinner time arrived i packed my gear away and headed off, but what a fish to open my account at Elm Tree and can't wait to get back on, to try and snare another one of the Elm Tree gems.

Martin Bowers

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