My day out at Hunts Corner Carp Lake, Part One

Part One
I’ve had a long weekend coming up and a usual decided to spend this time fishing for carp. So I grabbed my friend Charley, a box load of carp fishing tackle and off we went. This time we though we would try something different to our usual lake. So after one and a half hour drive we have finally arrived at Hunts Corner.

Hunts Corner is situated at the far end of the complex alongside the Windrush Valley and is run by Richworth Linear Fisheries. Allegedly, it is stocked with well over 300 carp and at least half are estimated to be over twenty pounds in weight. So we though to ourselves, with such impressive figures we are going to have an exiting weekend out there.

The lake is hidden amongst a mature long rectangular shaped gravel pit. There are ten swims in total and all ten have been placed in such a way so to give the carp angler loads of seclusion in almost an acre of water. Each swim is exclusively set so that it cannot be cast over by neighbouring anglers.

As Charley and I were walking along the lake, looking for somewhere nice to set our tent and fishing gear, we saw an angler in the second swim, I decided to stop for a chat. His name was John and judging by his fishing gear, he is an experienced carp angler. John told us that he has managed to catch 5 good size carp in the last 2 days and a couple of smaller ones. Looking over his shoulder I can see tips of his carp rods lightly nodding in the cool breeze. And before we could even ask, John suggested that we set our tent and fishing gear behind him a he was about to leave anyway. We decided to look no further and accept Johns kind offer.

As we set our tent, John was kind enough to offer us what was left of his maggots. I thanked him and said that lately boilies are the choice of carp fishing tackle for me, but the fact that he managed to catch most of his carp on maggots alone I though I might give it a try as well.

As John folds his fishing bivvy down I push my barrow into the swim and slide one of my carp rods out from its sleeve, I have brought three with me this time. The one that is out is set up with a chod rig. The hook nicks straight into my fingernail so I think to myself it is good to go. I carefully tie on one of my carp tackle hook baits and punch it across the brisk wind. The line on my carp rod bows significantly but I can still feel a soft impact as it lands.

I propped my fishing rods on the floor and balanced a couple of stones on each of the spools to alert me to any interest as I set the rest of my fishing gear up. Then, literally five minutes after casting, the urgent buzz of the spool has me dropping everything and a quickly run to grab my fishing rod. Stones placed on the spool clearly failed to work. I got very exited and could feel the tension rising and so I started to gently play the fish in order to full it safely out of water. Judging by weight, it felt like it was going to be a good size.

Charley has arrived by now from his walk around the lake and so I quickly shouted for him to get net for me, and so he did. Some moment later there it was. A nice size carp. At is turns out 28 lb. Very impressive. So we quickly return him back to the water. No sign of movement on my other, so time to relax.

Rumour has it, Hunts Lake has lost a few of its older 40lb plus carp and other stunning originals over the years so it is mainly the little mirrors now in the water. It is not bad, because as they grow on this good quality carp feed and other fishing tackle, they gain character and become hard-fighting.

With my carp rod back out there, I decide to have a little look around the place for somewhere to move my other two rods. These days I like the lake bed to tell me which rigs to use with my rods so, initially, I am just looking for a couple of spots which just feel right. John has shown me the spot which he has been bating with the maggots, so I feel like it would be wise for me to at least try and bait there for a bit. There is a long stretch of margin between the angler in the swim to my right and me, so I think I am good to go.

I am not going to position the rig tight under the willows, instead, I will look for something a little way off. The spot that I find in probably a good 20 yards out. The marker slides over the silt before bumping up into a gravel seam. I am interested in the silt primarily, so I drop the lead a good few yards behind the bumpy stuff. I am going to give them a bit of everything of my carp fishing tackle I have brought with me, so I have a very good feeling about this carp rod, hedging my bets if you will.