Fishing report from: Dan & Trev

A tricky week’s fishing with a couple of  carp and the sturgeon

This week we welcomed Dan & Trev to the venue for the first time. This session would be filled with firsts: first trip to France and first go at night fishing. They’d booked the tuition for Sunday to get them off on the right foot. They did fish on Saturday night and Dan caught the sturgeon within a few hours which was a good start.

Tricky conditions

I already knew that this week was going to be tough as the oxygen levels weren’t where we needed them to be. The recent storms were to blame and apart from putting the aerators on max there was little else to be done.

Tuition

The guys had set up in the Big Double but with the oxygen where it was, the only chance of a bite was going to come from the two swims that control the water next to the large aerator (point ‘A’ and home swim). During the session I walked the guys through everything they needed to know to put them in with a fighting chance of catching something. It’s standard procedure nowadays to discuss what a massive effect environmental parameters have on our fishing and the guys took a lot away from the session. It’s the kind of stuff that every carp angler should know but very few do because they’ve not been exposed to the actual science that drives it all. A good understanding of the subject has made me a much better angler. It helps me make better decisions and I’m able to maximise my chances. It’s so easy to make sweeping assumptions and bad decisions. When conditions are good you’ll probably still catch but when conditions are bad it’s so easy to ruin any chances you had.

A glimmer of hope

On Wednesday Trev had two carp, one at 5am and one in the afternoon. The afternoon capture was a great piece of angling. Very few anglers bother with stalking nowadays but that’s exactly what Trev did. It wasn’t a large mirror by any standards but it was nicely scaled and with lovely colours. I can only ever remember one angler catching a carp from snake bank using traditional stalking tactics so fair play, you did really well!

Oh so close

The height of excitement for Dan who was fishing point ‘A’ was when his tell-tale and blowout tube were moved following an ejection by one of our wily carp. It was a positive sign that he’d had a pickup but these fish are masters of doing rigs and this time it wasn’t to be.

A tough session

I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and that’s exactly what transpired. I was confident that conditions would pick up during the week but unfortunately, the guys had to leave early on Friday morning. In these situations it’s so easy to give up. Fortunately Dan & Trev are made of stern stuff and refused to quit. Yes experience counts but what’s more important in these situations is attitude and they are to be commended for trying their hardest until the end.

There are no guarantees in fishing and sometimes there’s very little that can be done. It’s moments like these that can either make you or break you as an angler. Dan and Trev learnt more about fishing in one week here that they could have done anywhere else and they were grateful for my assistance. I only wish I could have done more for them.