The beauty of Ashmead

[GregF]

[Chris Bettis]

What a superb video! She is obviously a very talented lady and very much in the Hugh Miles line. A real pleasure to watch.

[Skeff]

Thanks for the kind words about the carp brace gentlemen. I'd love to say that a level of skill unparalleled in carp angling led to the brace, but that wouldn't quite be true. Later this evening I'll post up the story behind the capture..... A tale of Muppetry, buffoonery and lunacy of the highest order, crowned by a little bit of good luck!

Heather has a real talent doesn't she Chris? On the back of her work with us she has secured a job on Springwatch and I expect we will see more from her in the future. I'm thinking of doing some more filming next year, about the Ashmead wetland year and more explicitly linked to the angling. If she's not too busy, I may even be able to rope Heather in on the project.

[Skeff]

Last Friday I arrived at Ashmead about an hour before darkness fell. I'd been delayed by horses, kids and "stuff" as well as being caught out by the shortening autumnal days.

I'd seen fish earlier in the week, ripping up the bottom under some weed in the corner of Goat Willow Pool and I planned to prepare a couple of spots there to try for them. Sure enough, there were signs that they were still there that evening.

Then I got diverted by chatting to a friend for a bit and as the sunset was now underway I thought "I can't be bothered with all that swim preparation nonsense". So I just cast a couple of baits out onto two spots I already knew about in a swim called The Gallops, where I had blanked the previous weekend. Quality swim selection skills, I'm sure you'll agree.... The baiting pattern was equally well thought out - "Stuff it, a few handfuls of bait scattered about will do".

At 1am I got a blistering run and after a great fight I landed the 32lb common. I thought it was a completely different fish to the one it was (I thought it was one which hadn't been out for a couple of years and was therefore a "new" Ashmead 30); so I sacked it for photos at first light.

I was so happy with fluking the fish that I couldn't be bothered to recast but after an hour I decided that I might as well stick the rod back out, so I cast vaguely towards the spot and threw in another handful of bait for good luck.

There was a moment of true excitement at 3.45am when a huge fish (I'm now sure it was the 39!) crashed out over my other rod. At 4am I had a stuttering run on the recast rod and when I struck into it, I found it had run through the weed and I could hear a small slapping noise on the surface of the swim, near the island. "Damn it!" I thought "I've hooked a rudd or little common and it's going to spook the big fish I just heard!"

I reeled the fish back very easily to the weedbed but there it went solid. I pulled but nothing gave, so I put the rod in the rest, hoping the fish would pull free of the weed or drop off, thus avoiding spooking the swim. Eventually it took a few feet of line but when I wound down it went solid again in the same weed as before. This went on for twenty minutes before I set off to get the boat from the far side of the lake.

I got the boat onto the bank of my swim but i didn't want to put it into the water because that would certainly ruin the swim, so I sat and waited for another ten minutes, hoping that either the little carp would drop off or that the big carp I'd heard would pick up the other bait. No such luck! So cursing and swearing I put the boat into the water, tightened the clutch right up and reeled myself out to the fish.

As I got above the fish, it started to give and I expected a small, splashy common to pop to the surface. Instead, the water erupted and a huge common turned over under the boat and proceeded to tow me off around the island, as I was unable to give line from the reel and was juggling the rod, net and oars..... I got her in the end, after trying to get her to shed the hook for half an hour and showing a level of Muppetry of which I'm tremendously proud.

A common called Petals at 39.04, after ten years of chasing.... If I'd succeeded in getting her to drop off, I would have grinned at the fact that I'd lost a 3lb'er without ruining the swim!

The last laugh was that my friend Cider came down early the next morning to take some photos and found that the road was shut near Langport. He pleaded with the workman to let him through but all to no avail, until he pleaded "But my mates just caught a big carp called Petals". At that, the workman blew his whistle, raised the barrier, and the diggers parted like the seas for Moses to allow Brian to sail through unimpeded to the lake.... The photos weren't too bad either!

All these stories of preparation, skill, tactics and ability that you read of in carp fishing books are pure fantasy.... All you really need is Muppetry, buffoonery and incompetence. And a little bit of luck!

[GregF]

Great story Skeff. That's the way to do it!

[Julian]

Fantastic way to catch a stunning fish Skeff

[Mushy]

Stunning commons

[Barbulus]

Laughing here over my Malt. Lovely write up there ! Really says it all. Marvellous . So rumours of a quake with the epicentre near the Levels were true the other night. 9.9 on the Richter Scale Skeff. Fantastic !

[Skeff]

9.9 on the Richter Scale....

[Shaun Harrison]

Superb Skeff and those autumnal colours are coming through lovely. By far my favourite time of the year to be catching carp.