Syndicate Stunners - George West

Syndicate Stunners

George West

 

It was that time of year again when  myself and Tom Pothecary go on our yearly social for a few nights. We had decided to take the hour and a half trip up to Farlows, after hearing a lot of good things about it. We spoke to the bailiff the week before and informed us that the lake would be quiet when we arrived on the Friday morning. How wrong was he! After arriving at the lake nice and early it was apparent it was very busy. After doing a circuit of the lake it was evident there wasn’t a single swim free and people were even queuing up behind others to get into a swim, what a joke and really not my sort of thing!




One in the sling already!

In the long run this turned out to be the best thing that could have happened for me but after a quick chat with Tom, we decided to head over to my syndicate for the planned 4 nights. We made the long drive back down south towards Ringwood and the syndicate was a complete contrast to Farlows with only one other angler on.

After a quick look round, we both saw a number of fish sticking there heads out in a swim known as “Armchair”, so decided to set up here for now.

I quickly attached a single white pop up on and cast to the showing fish, which had worked well for me in the past on there. Within 20 minutes this rod was away and a fish known as Cluster was landed at 26lb 4, what a start!



“Cluster” 26lb 4oz


After a quick lead around I found a small gravel strip in amongst weed down to my right hand margin and I had noticed a few fish moving in and around this area, so quickly tied my ever faithful multi rig up with a white pop up over a kilo of Steve Renyard’s Contrast and cast onto the spot.

After a quiet night I decided to re do this rod and got a nice hard thud on the end of the rod tip, to indicate I was on the gravel and not in the weed. An hour later, the rod bent viciously round to the right and I was attached to my second fish. After a hectic battle under the tree line to my right, an angry male carp of 26lb 10 was landed and what a stunner it was!




26lb 10oz of angry male carp!




How they should be, mint!

Another 2 fish were landed on this rod within the next couple of hours and it was evident a lot of fish were moving down to my right into a shallow bay and that I was picking them up as they came through. The other 2 fish were nice scaley ones at 27lb 9 and 17lb 8.

27lb 9oz of big plated Mirror Carp!

 

“The Big Finned Linear” at 17lb 8oz

After a hectic afternoon me and Tom were just about to get stuck into some Gammon Steaks, when my right hand rod pulled up tight yet again. Again the fish kited into my right hand margin but as ever the multi rig did its job and the fish was nailed.

Previously I was speaking to Tom about one particular fish I desperately wanted and he kept joking around that he was going to have it before me. The fish was landed and safely in the net and we both guessed it as an upper twenty. I went up to sort the scales and sling out and it wasn’t until I heard “You haven’t seen the other side yet” from Tom that I realised I may have landed something special.  As I peered into the net and looked at the distinctive scale pattern on one side it quickly clicked that I’d only gone and caught my target fish. We were both buzzing, as the fish was simply stunning. The fish,  known as “HND” weighed in at it’s top weight of 32lb 14. It was well worth delaying dinner for a while anyway. We got some good water shots and then watched her waddle off in the crystal clear water, what a buzz!

Target fish “HND” at 32lb 14oz, what a fish!

 

“HND” 32lb 14oz Water Shot!

The action didn’t stop there and I had a recapture of a fish called Fingers at over 36lb, which wasn’t ideal. The worrying thing was there was otter damage to it, which could spell disaster for the fishery, unless something drastic is done. Worrying times!

The previous day, the action slowed up, which was expected as the weather had changed for the worse, with increased pressure and light winds. I did manage another one at 26lb 12 late afternoon though, which gave me a real beating. If I would have lost it I would have thought it would have definitely been one of the big girls but I still wasn’t complaining as it was another stunner.

26lb 12oz

No wonder why it fought so hard, massive wrist and tail on it.

That was it on the carp front for the rest of the session but I did manage a tufty and a Tench in the early morning, not the one! We woke up to a lovely sunrise on the final morning so the lack of action for that night really didn’t bother me, was just nice being out there. What a session, with good company. Big up Tom Pothecary for the photos as well!

 

Early Morning Sunrise!

 

George West - Noble's Fishing