Norfolk's greatest Carp Lakes, Part 2

The time came to February 1st. The weather was forecast to go over the 12 degrees during the day. That morning, at the first light, I went over to the lake. Even though the sun was out, I could still feel a hint of frost in the morning air. It is going to take me a while to worm up. I have taken my fishing bivvy and my winter sleeping bag with me to keep me warm and my fishing umbrella just in case it is going to rain.

Once I got to the lake, I spent the morning walking around, climbed a few trees and watched the water. At around mid-day it finally started to get warmer. The wind had also picked up and was blowing into the area where we had seen the large fish in the autumn. Somehow I knew that the fish would eventually turn up there, so I sat up a tree with a decent view and waited. I could see a small, clear area in the weed just off the reed line. I had some boilies in my pocket and some left overs bits of my sea fishing tackle so I dropped a handful on that spot hopping that I would see if any fish would show up to feed. I sat there for a couple of hours without seeing any fish. Rather disappointed, I decided to do another lap of the lake and maybe then unpack my carp rods 聽and may be start setting up my fishing bivvy for the night.

When I returned and climbed back up the tree, within 10 minutes an orange coloured fish loomed into the baited area. Not long after, two more fish came in and one of them defiantly went down. It came up off the bottom and, as it swam towards me, I could see its white lips moving as it chewed my boilies and leftover bits of my sea fishing tackle. This was looking good for a bite. I started to get my carp rods unpacked. So all I need to do now is set up my bivvy and get my umbrella out and I will be good to go.

My kit is out and fully set up. Armed with my carp rods I squeezed myself in the trees. The swim was really tight and I had to wade out to cast. I flicked the rod out a few times but it was solid weed. I knew that there was a small, clear spot and finally the lead cracked down, right next to a single reed stem. This made a handy marker for baiting up. Despite the slight warmth of the day, it went really cold that night 鈥?well down to freezing. Because the lake is out of the way I made a small fire to keep myself warm and cook my dinner. It was really very pleasant, a type of angling that I enjoy more and more. I went to bed happy but not overly confident of action.

I woke to the sound of the buzzer of my bite alarm. My carp rods was placed in the margins and I had to run through deep mud and water to get to it. I picked it up and played the fish, which didn鈥檛 fight particularly hard.聽 I wasn鈥檛 even sure that it was a carp at first. It rolled at the net and I saw a flash of scales. Not knowing what else was in there, apart from the commons, I was certain that it was the fish which I had earlier seen feeding on the bait. I called Dave and asked him to come over and take some picture of me and the fish. I waded out where I had staked out the net and rolled up the mesh to lift it out. At this point I hadn鈥檛 really looked at the fish, and as I lifted it I realised that it was bigger than I first thought. I will never forget that first look at it on the mat. Both Dave and I were blown away 鈥?it looked absolutely prehistoric. It was the most gorgeous, scaly carp, the like of which are not generally found in Norfolk. Weighing 33 lb 8oz, it was not the biggest carp that I had ever caught, but who cares when they look like that.

I had work the next day. But decided to do another night and pack up early in the morning. After all, my fishing bivvy and my sleeping bag kept me really warm so I will have no trouble staying another night.

That night there was a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. It is a good job that I was not travelling light. I had to get out a couple of time to check on my bite alarm so it was a good job I had my fishing umbrella with me in such terrible weather. At first light I decided to start packing up my kit. The water and the air felt absolutely freezing. Joking aside, my feet were so cold that I really thought I might get frostbite. The only thing around me that was dry was sleeping bag. So I took it off the bed chair and put my feet inside it to keep them worm. I looked at my watch and realised that it was time to go.