My Hardy Altex no. 2 Mk IV
Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:15 am
I received a rather special reel recently, it was a birthday present to myself. I thought to christen it on my birthday. As the weather was glorious, I grabbed some hooks, a bit of bread and jumped in the Land Rover. It was mid week and the lake was very quiet. I wandered around looking for carp. In the first swim I saw two carp under some bushes. My first cast with the new reel. It felt a bit strange as my other reels are all left hand wind. The cast with a soggy piece of crust, went straight under the bushes and lodged against a dead rush. Perfect. To my amazement a carp came straight up to the crust and took it down. I lifted into the fish and dragged it out from under the bush, the clutch purred, almost unheard. The fish took quite a bit of line but I eventually bullied it into my Hardy net.
I unhooked the fish in the net and slipped it back in the water. I moved further round the lake and decided to drift a crust across to the opposite bank under some reeds. The lake bed is heavy, yellow, Weald clay and the water was coloured by the recent rain. Consequently, it was hard to see approaching carp. As the crust reached the far bank, a carp appeared under the crust, looked at it and disappeared. That process was repeated until two fish turned up and competed with each other to grab the bait. Why do the smaller fish always get there first ? The clutch hummed, I eventually drew the fish towards the net, stepped forwards one pace and nearly fell in the water ! A bankside hole was hidden by collapsed rushes. I unhooked the fish and let it swim out of the net.
Further up the bank I saw a better fish cruising along the far bank and flicked a crust at it. It eventually took and proved to be the best fish of the day. I took a photo and returned the carp with best wishes from Hardy.
I packed up and had a long chat with the farmer about trout fishing. Yesterday I went trout fishing for the first time this season. I caught two nice roach. How ironic. You can read the full story here . . . .
https://sussex-trout-fishing.com/2017/0 ... first-day/
I unhooked the fish in the net and slipped it back in the water. I moved further round the lake and decided to drift a crust across to the opposite bank under some reeds. The lake bed is heavy, yellow, Weald clay and the water was coloured by the recent rain. Consequently, it was hard to see approaching carp. As the crust reached the far bank, a carp appeared under the crust, looked at it and disappeared. That process was repeated until two fish turned up and competed with each other to grab the bait. Why do the smaller fish always get there first ? The clutch hummed, I eventually drew the fish towards the net, stepped forwards one pace and nearly fell in the water ! A bankside hole was hidden by collapsed rushes. I unhooked the fish and let it swim out of the net.
Further up the bank I saw a better fish cruising along the far bank and flicked a crust at it. It eventually took and proved to be the best fish of the day. I took a photo and returned the carp with best wishes from Hardy.
I packed up and had a long chat with the farmer about trout fishing. Yesterday I went trout fishing for the first time this season. I caught two nice roach. How ironic. You can read the full story here . . . .
https://sussex-trout-fishing.com/2017/0 ... first-day/
