Catching ‘One Eye’
Martin Noble
By about 8pm I was all set up with my oval brolly & bad
chair tucked in underneath with all my gear. Looking at the forecast the
weather looked to be fine through the night so I didn’t bother setting up my
bivvy. The sky was gin clear with no moon & the stars were out in abundance.
I had 3 rods out, my left rod just up the bank tucked tight
in my own margins to a little overhanging bush, the middle rod to an over
hanging branch on island margins to which I had had success from over a NYE
session & the right hand rod cast tight to island margins just in front of
some dying reeds.
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| Combi Rig |
With the traps set it was time to sit back quietly and wait
for a take. Reuben & I sat back & spoke of fishing stories & about
the fish that we would like to catch from the lake which we had seen in past
photographs.
Around 11pm my middles rods swinger slowly started to rise
up to the rod, with no time to waste I struck straight into it & instantly
knew what was on the other end…a bream! I quickly got a fresh rig on & got
the rod back out to the spot after a couple of casts. It was getting on for
11.30pm & we decided to call it a day & retired to our sleeping bags. I
must have been tired because I slept like a log through the night with nothing
happening on the rods.
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| Scaly Mirror in the net! |
I was still in deep sleep when I was awoken by a screaming
run at 6am on my left hand margin rod which was bend right round as the fish
powered off up the back. I quickly was out the sleeping back & into what
was definitely a carp this time!
After about a 10 minute battled & taking out the lines
on my 2 other rods I slipped the net under a beautiful scaly Mirror carp that
looked around the 20lb mark! Reuben was awoken by the commotion & came over
to take a look & get some snaps!
As we lifted it in the sling the scales went to 19lb 4oz!
Not quite 20lb but didn’t matted as it was a beauty! After a few snaps I gently
slipped it back & started to get the rods sorted after being wiped out. By
this time it was starting to get light which made getting to my spot perfect
this time round. With all 3 rods recast I put about another 20 freebies around
each spot & put the kettle on!
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| 19lb 4oz Mirror taken in the margins a few yards up from my swim! |
The sky was starting to rapidly cloud over & it looked
like it wouldn’t be long before the rain was going to set in. Around 10am the
heavens opened and the rain started coming down along with gale force winds.
Throughout the day the rain didn’t give up and a couple of times my umbrella
took off in the winds even though it was pegged firmly down. In the end I found
a length of rope in my van & tied it down to a fence post in the swim to
try & stop loosing it completely.
There was not much
happened through the day & it was hard to see for signs of fish with the
winds battering the water, trees & reeds. I spent most of the day tucked up
in my sleeping bag trying to stay warm & out of the never ending rain.
Finally around 3pm the rain finally eased off and the sun
started trying to break through the clouds. Finally I could get out from under
the brolly & stretch my legs. I considered recasting with fresh baits for
the last couple of hours before dark came in again, but I knew I was bang on my
spots & decided to leave them as they were, which was a good thing because
around 4pm my right hand rod on the
island margins went tearing off. I struck straight into it & it instantly
embedded itself deep down in a clump of reeds. I kept the pressure on and moved
to different spots to try to try & ease it out. After a few minutes it
suddenly came free, along with a clump or reeds attached. It stayed down deep
but it felt fairly good. Finally after about 10 minutes it came to the surface,
a solid bar of gold common & one I didn’t recognise. I manage to slip the
net under it along with the clump of reeds, it was a stunning looking fish.
Once I got it onto the mat realised that it only had 1 eye,
its missing eye had completely healed over so must have lost it a long time
ago.
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| One Eye Common |
I got in the sling & it went 18lb 14oz on the scales. I
was over the moon with this fish, not only was it a beautiful fish but it also
looked like it wasn’t caught very often & was also one I had never seen
before in past photos.
I gently slipped her back & got the rod straight back
out but by this time the light was already starting to fade.
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| 18lb 14oz of pure gold common! - 'One Eye' |
Around 6pm we
decided to call it a day as the darkness fell. It was a nice little session
even though the weather was terrible. These short little over nighters have
proved to be very productive over the last couple of weeks although I’m looking
forward to the summer months again with the long light evenings & early
sunrises!
Martin Noble – Noble’s Fishing
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