I'd been toying around with the idea of going back to the lake containing those monstrous carp a tad earlier than usual this year to see if my two latest theories would lead to fruition....The first hunch was that the fish would be more spread out and not stacked up in one of the four bays; thus a good chance no matter what swim we ended up in. The second being that the weather during the first week of April would be better than it's been in recent years due to the fact that we were overdue a "milder" Winter! How wrong can one be! Hey ho, luckily the first hunch would be more accurate!
Upon meeting and greeting the other ten excited Anglers down at Relyon Parking in Dover, it was time to sit back, relax and sleep off the beers consumed whilst waiting for the coach and on the midnight ferry crossing to Calais. It appeared as though the arduous journey went much quicker than normal mainly due to the good banter being had with the Fella's which mainly consisted of Southern “Softies” with a couple of Northern “Monkeys” thrown in for good measure! It was nice to hear that one of the Northern lads Michael had been reading up on my blog for information that brought a smug grin to my face at the mercy of much piss taking from my other two “Dear Mates” Lee and Colin!!!
We soon arrived earlier than usual although more unusual was the fact that we were the first group of 2010! The first two weeks seemed unpopular this year mainly down to the harshest Winter for some time and subsequent low water temps, although the forecast and brisk wind direction looked very promising indeed. We greeted Jake the bailiff with plenty of banter and joyful reminiscence and set-off for the guided tour around the barren looking lake.
The first swim we came to was the new’ish swim along the field bank called “Manny’s” that covers the bay to the left of the Bailliffs Point. As the group marched on we held back for a longer look as the chilly wind whipped into the carpy looking bay, when suddenly a dark fish popped his head out amidst the mini waves! “That's encouraging!” I exclaimed to Lee.
We completed Jakes entertaining swim tour and knowledgeable feature tutorial and gathered around for the draw. I ended up picking out of the bag around 6th or 7th with my two mates out earlier although I wasn’t too bothered fishing for the Social as it’s the lumps we are mostly after thus any celebrating could wait! My number one choice is always "New Biffo's" as I’ve never fished there; followed closely by "The Bailliff's Point" which I had fished before. Unfortunately they had both already gone although I was well pleased that my partner in crime Lee had managed to get into my second choice and was pleased again, after I drew ball number 11 and found that Manny’s, where I’d seen that fish show and the wind was banging into, was still available! Happy Days!
Manny's
Saturday is always a tiring day thus I just like to fish singles with no bait and within minutes had four rods cast out, with limited disturbance from the marker rod, at four varying ranges.....one was covering the bay where I’d seen the show, one to my far left along a reed lined margin, one straight out “pub chuck” style and the last one to my right hand margin under-armed out. I was fishing for lumps again and happy and confident so opened up a cool can of Stella and meticulously set-up my home under “the” tree looking out towards the Bay. It's a nice comfortable swim Mannys with steps down to a stage therefore bringing the Worldwide pod was a bonus! The lake appeared very sparse and barren after what seemed like a de-forestation throughout the Winter as it was strange to see the majority of the swims with far less foliage and leafage at this early part of the Season.
After about only one hour of having the rods out the one cast towards the show pulled up to the top with what turned out to be an aggressive liner and not a take…..I was onto it in a flash and cursed when no resistance was felt! The rod went back roughly into position with a satisfying thud as the rig was feathered down into approximately 10ft to15ft of depth. Confidence had been boosted to that lovely warm buzzing nervy shaky full of anticipation state that we carpers love to experience!
Quite surprisingly I had no more occurrences throughout the remainder of the day so by dusk I reeled in and had a cast about with the marker rod in front of and to the left of me consciously leaving the bay undisturbed in case I’d spook whatever was on wind. I found some prominent features at depths of 12ft and 14ft and lightly baited with a mix of the latest A-Bait and Cell that had served me so well on my previous trips. I went to bed absolutely shattered with a belly full of Jakes “new” curry washed down with a few more Stella’s in a confident and contented mood.
The night passed by like it never happened such was the depth of sleep I had with no alerts from the receiver only inches away from my ears!…..the kettle was fired up and it was time to get back to watching the water for anymore “head poppers” to show. My Mates Lee and Colin came around to my swim on their way to breakfast to chat about any happenings worthy of note either in the Shithouse Bay or the Bailliffs point when whack! The rod on the gravelly spot in 14ft was away! I sprang out of the Armo and flew down the steps to the churning Mag Tech and gently leaned into the fish…..this felt big!
The sky was steely grey with the early morning biting chill instantly freezing my hands but I didn’t care as I carefully controlled the clutch to ensure the powerful surges were not overstraining my 16lbs Tigerline! I’ve lost big fish at Teillats before so was playing this one extra carefully taking no chances and soon had the other rods reeled in and out of harms way! Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed before we got a first glimpse of the Mirror…..I was starting to shake again and it was nothing to do with the cold! Another nervy five minutes passed by before the fish was safely in the net when a sudden rush and sense of relief washed over me! At this point I then realised that I couldn’t feel my hands! “Forty?” I asked Lee whom landed the fish…..”At least” I think was his reply! “Nice one!” I said excitedly!
It wasn’t until the preparations for the fish were made and the first time I picked up the net from the water that I realised just how bloody heavy this fish was! “This is well over forty Mate” I said puffing out my cheeks. We hoisted the lump onto the tripod and just by looking at Lee’s face I could tell it was something a bit special……I glimpsed at the 120lbs Reubens and could see that the needle was in a position that looked like it was back at zero! At 58lbs 4oz I was well and truly overjoyed!
58lbs 4oz Mirror.
After about only one hour of having the rods out the one cast towards the show pulled up to the top with what turned out to be an aggressive liner and not a take…..I was onto it in a flash and cursed when no resistance was felt! The rod went back roughly into position with a satisfying thud as the rig was feathered down into approximately 10ft to15ft of depth. Confidence had been boosted to that lovely warm buzzing nervy shaky full of anticipation state that we carpers love to experience!
Quite surprisingly I had no more occurrences throughout the remainder of the day so by dusk I reeled in and had a cast about with the marker rod in front of and to the left of me consciously leaving the bay undisturbed in case I’d spook whatever was on wind. I found some prominent features at depths of 12ft and 14ft and lightly baited with a mix of the latest A-Bait and Cell that had served me so well on my previous trips. I went to bed absolutely shattered with a belly full of Jakes “new” curry washed down with a few more Stella’s in a confident and contented mood.
The night passed by like it never happened such was the depth of sleep I had with no alerts from the receiver only inches away from my ears!…..the kettle was fired up and it was time to get back to watching the water for anymore “head poppers” to show. My Mates Lee and Colin came around to my swim on their way to breakfast to chat about any happenings worthy of note either in the Shithouse Bay or the Bailliffs point when whack! The rod on the gravelly spot in 14ft was away! I sprang out of the Armo and flew down the steps to the churning Mag Tech and gently leaned into the fish…..this felt big!
The sky was steely grey with the early morning biting chill instantly freezing my hands but I didn’t care as I carefully controlled the clutch to ensure the powerful surges were not overstraining my 16lbs Tigerline! I’ve lost big fish at Teillats before so was playing this one extra carefully taking no chances and soon had the other rods reeled in and out of harms way! Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed before we got a first glimpse of the Mirror…..I was starting to shake again and it was nothing to do with the cold! Another nervy five minutes passed by before the fish was safely in the net when a sudden rush and sense of relief washed over me! At this point I then realised that I couldn’t feel my hands! “Forty?” I asked Lee whom landed the fish…..”At least” I think was his reply! “Nice one!” I said excitedly!
It wasn’t until the preparations for the fish were made and the first time I picked up the net from the water that I realised just how bloody heavy this fish was! “This is well over forty Mate” I said puffing out my cheeks. We hoisted the lump onto the tripod and just by looking at Lee’s face I could tell it was something a bit special……I glimpsed at the 120lbs Reubens and could see that the needle was in a position that looked like it was back at zero! At 58lbs 4oz I was well and truly overjoyed!
58lbs 4oz Mirror.
Breakfast tasted great with a few hot brews as I re-lived the capture and the feelings of smashing my PB and becoming a new member of the 50’s club with Jake and the Fella’s in the hide….if only you could bottle that “excited kid at Christmas” kind of feeling! I happily made my way back round to Manny’s with a plan to fish three rods to that depth and within 5, 10, 15 yards of the gravelly spot…..another few handfuls of A-Bait and Cell were despatched and a very, very happy camper sat back thinking about the earlier moments and how great it was for the week ahead!
Lee and I decided to have a celebratory drink or three so paced out the half-way point between the Bailliffs Point and Mannys where we sat down and clinked bottles together looking out across the windswept bay. It always amazes me how a take will come out of the blue when you least expect it as within minutes of sitting down my ATTS receiver squealed it’s shrilling call….I was instantly doing a “Boult”!
It only took me seconds to get back to the offending rod which was satisfyingly next to the one I repositioned close to the 58 spot. This time the fish felt smaller but a fish nonetheless and was not prepared to lose it. Lee soon had the tips in the water as I didn’t want to reel any of the others in…..I looked down at the rod on the left of the spot and saw that the line was caught on the alarm so I asked Lee to untangle it just in case. The fish continued to fight well when all of a sudden the other rod started churning away!!! Lee was soon bent into what he said was another lump!
I always take two landing nets so was keen to get the smaller of the two safely into the net so that I could take over on the larger prize! Lee was keeping the fish at distance whilst I netted what looked like a nice scaly Mirror. Lee handed over the rod and said it felt like another good fish…..he was right.
The fish plodded and plodded and on occasion the line flicked off the dorsal fin where for a split second or two it feels as though it’s somehow dropped off and your heart misses a beat and I always sigh….Please don’t do that FFS!!! Another 5 -10minutes had passed before we caught the first glimpse of a Common where all kinds of thoughts race through your mind! Is it my turn? I thought to myself….my turn to land one of the big girls…..a fish of a lifetime! Calm down, calm down I said to myself and just focus on getting however big it is safely in the net!
A cheer came out as my third fish of the trip slipped into the other net greeted by a firm handshake and a slap on the back from Lee…..”Cheers Mate!” “It’s not quite the Generals Mate but at 42lbs 8oz I was more than happy and also happy with the “mini” scaly Mirror of 23lbs and ounces.
42.08 Common and 23 Mirror
Time to celebrate again with a few beers with Lee whom was genuinely made up for me…”Nice one Mate and many thanks for the camera work, just hope I can repay the compliment” I said. I soon had the three rod trick back out to the spots and topped up with more of the winning formula. I was ecstatic with my start to the week and had all sorts of glorious thoughts whizzing around my head! (Maybe something to do with the Strongbow!) That night zoomed by without anymore action although there was some really strong winds now hacking into the Bay which made me even more confident but all of a sudden the weather took a change for the worse when the wind dropped and high pressure took charge.
Bank holiday Monday morning soon rolled round with clear blue skies and an unwelcome frost although the familiar Teillats “Ghosts” were shimmering slowly across the ripple less surface….Heaven! With brew in hand I watched the water again for any signs of fish but could only see the odd lump splashing out in front of Jakes Bivvy and New Biffos which had done a few smaller fish but unfortunately everyone else appeared to be struggling.
The Spring like day was spent watching the water and drinking beer in the now much warmer climate….bliss! I was not complaining too much that the swim had slowed down but was thinking about how long I would sit it out in Manny’s before making a move when something caught my attention in front of Lee’s swim…..I paged him on the radio phone and asked if what looked like a Coypu in front of his swim was doing the breast stroke or butterfly??? His response was “Back stroke”! He wasn’t that far wrong as the back belonged to a large carp in distress…..shit! It was making large bow waves and swimming around in circles before beaching itself in the reeds next to the Bailliffs Point!
Lee scooped the fish up with his landing net and called Jake for an inspection of the mid-forty plus Mirror. Strangely enough the fish looked absolutely fine so we left it in the net in the deep margin to “revive” for a while and oddly enough after an hour or so it swam off strongly no worse for the strange display! Weird or what!!!
That night Lee pushed out in the boat a tad further where fish had been showing and dropped an A-Bait paste bomb off around the mid-point between the Bailliffs and New Biffos. He would get off the mark with a 32lbs Mirror….nice one.
Tuesday was almost a repeat of Monday weather wise and I was starting to get concerned as the Bay had been devoid of fish that was also confirmed with no more liners or any indication that I might get any more action……although I remained upbeat as it was so early in the week still and I’d seen a lot of shows in new places…..we just needed the Anglers and swims to start producing and keeping the fish on the move. Unfortunately the Anglers whom had fish in front of them were not fishing on top of them and were not putting much bait in! This frustrated me a bit as I always try and give people a steer when asked and believe me I was asked a lot having been a regular for some years now, however, none of that really mattered as the swim next to Lee called “In between the trees” was free but the wind was on the turn again and was now pushing into Colin and the Shithouse bay where he’d been “breamed”!
That night I was rudely awoken by an excited Lee whom I thought was winding me up when he said he’d just had a 51lbs Common and would I do some snaps! “Quality Mate…..Well Done, now we’ll be celebrating your PB as well”….so we did in style! The move was put on ice mainly due to the wind change which on Wednesday was now hacking into the last swim on the Field Bank! Surely Rory and / or Arron would have some action…..they did but only landed a 28lbs’er and got cut-off on the shelf a few times! I won’t go there again about 45lbs Quicksilver which is banned but suffice to say that you never know what you are losing when fishing Teillats…..it could be a 8lbs Bream or a 80lbs Common! Anyway, back to the plot…..Lee was absolutely over the moon and rightly so….little did he know that his mood would improve further the next day when he beat it again with a stunning big common of just under 52lbs!
51 and 52 Commons
Now I normally don’t wait too long to make my mind up to move when I’m not seeing any signs or feeling less confident of some action therefore I soon reeled in and moved “In between the trees” much to the displeasure of the Danny Fairbrass lookalike one down from Lee but rules are rules and if there’s a free swim with nobody bivvied up in then the water is in theory yours! I was soon rowing out and dropping my A-baits and Cell around 90yds past this fella’s casted left hand rod that was fishing smack bang in front of the vacant swim….he came round when I stuck out my marker rod and highlighted just how far short and left he was angling and luckily saw the light however, I wasn’t expecting his mate fishing in Biffo’s to come round and begin a debate of how far away from his swim I was! This was getting messy and I thought about moving back! The thing is with these swims is that deception plays a huge part when looking at a boat out in the open water. Luckily I had a banned H-block with me and asked him to try and cast to it where I’d drop my baits…..he got nowhere near it!!! Problem solved! Phew….now I could focus in peace and concentrate on the water and having another celebratory beer with Lee.
Time flies when you’re having fun! Friday was a beautiful Summers like day with no frost and only the sound of nature to soothe the head after another bite less boozy night! Lee had another two fish early doors…..40+ Mirror and a mental 29lbs’er that tore all over the place with a tail like a 50! He was really pleased with his five fish tally and rightly so…..I just greedily needed some more action myself now although it was already shaping up to be a perfect trip with PB’s smashed in what was rolling out to be a very slow start to the season with the majority blanking! I genuinely felt for these Fella’s as I can relate to what a blank week feels like having been there done that…..however, they all had an opportunity to move and they were mostly not fishing to where they were showing…..As Jake says…..you might as well talk to the fucking tree!
The day passed by and we got stuck into yet another case of beer lounging around basking in the hot sunshine when out of the blue my receiver begins to squeal!!! I’d literally not heard it for the best part of five days so was elated to get stuck into another fish! The long range rod with around 8kilo’s of A-Bait and Cell was under stress right from the moment I hooked this torpedo that made me think that a big cat was responsible. Pure and simple….I hate cats! But was not prepared to let it go thus aired on the side of caution until we got a glimpse to confirm…..the problem is that it took the best part of 45mins to do this! Was I over egging the cautious play? Was it a 120+ cat? Or was it a large carp??? “Danny” climbed the nearest tree and confirmed the latter making me a nervous quivering wreck with proper jelly legs! Awesome buzz! After the hour mark had passed I began to have a small audience all taking the piss but secretly willing the fish to give up so that they could see what was tearing my arm off! The mouths of these fish are really soft and with big barbless hooks you just have to wear them down and pray they don’t drop or cut you off!
The last half hour was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time although I had a good team of tree climbers, beer openers and an eagerly awaiting netsman in Lee with waders on in the margin.
This fish was mad! It had no let up in him and we were all getting twitchy to see which one it was! Jake had his opinion kept to himself although by now I was just hysterical with laughter that a carp could continue such long powerful surging runs characteristic of a large moggy! Eventually the fish got into the upper layers and began to tire….what a fight! Lee got him at first attempt and huge roar came out! “How big Lee?” Which one is it?” I asked excitedly…..”It’s not that big!” came the disappointing reply but at 48lbs 12oz I was more than happy and will remember that fight for the rest of my days!
48.12 Hard Fighting Bastard!
The photo session was hilarious with Jake leading the way with a mooney in the background and a bucket of water over the head for good measure! Lee was quick to quip “Looks like twins in that photo!” Good memories, lengthy celebrations, hilarious banter, fantastic weather and a really top week that will be hard to beat. Teillats really is the lake of dreams that will keep us going back time and time again until one of those massive commons crosses one of our paths! Until next time…..be lucky!
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