I had been fishing on RH Fisheries, Monument 1 for a good few years now but it all started quite a few years back when my mates and myself had started fishing there as a place to go for a treat once or twice a year, but it ended up being an addiction for me, the place is well kept and clean, you’re not allowed to use your own bait to feed your swim but you can use your own hookbait, reason being is that a guy one day put 50kg of Aldi’s crane baits and caused the lake to slowly become poisoned but they got on it quite quickly and drained the lake to clear up the mess on the bottom of the lake.

Back to fishing, the place holds carp to 54lb and like I say it became an addiction for me and I couldn’t get enough, so I started to go down there more and more to catch a PB, it took me years to sus these carp out they are very hard to catch and clever they know what a rig is and have seen every rig and bait that’s ever been made, so we had to outwit them, now the thing with place is that everyone who fishes there does the same thing everytime. I go time and time again, the spods come out they all fill it in, imagine that 15 pegs and 15 anglers all chucking spods in with a ton of bait so with this in mind after years of fishing there I decided to go down and do things different.

I arrived at the lake in January 2020 and I had booked on to peg 7, which is known as the best peg on the lake but you can blank like anywhere else, but I arrived at my peg and got my gear set up ready to cast out, I sat back before casting and watched the water for an hour with a nice warm hot coffee, it got to around 7.30am and I decided to get the rods out, single bait was my approach for this session so I had made up a few D-rigs with a red foam and maggots on the hook, I wrapped up the rods to 16 and a half wraps and punched out the first rod it landed with a big donk, I thought that is on the money, I got my second rod at the same wraps and got that one out and again landing with a nice donk.

I got the rest of my gear up and my bivvy and sat back to watch and listen, it’s so quiet there you can hear a pin drop in London, an hour past and the next thing my right hand rod ripped of at a rate on knots so I jumped up gripped the rod and was attached to a big carp, I played it for what felt like a lifetime, the carp came up in the margin eventually and I bent down to grab the net and my hook slipped out and I saw this big back of a common swim away, I was gutted.

So I got my hook baited up and blasted it back out, I sat there with a brew and a bacon butty then all of a sudden the same rod tore off again, I gripped the rod again and I was playing a decent size carp that ran me around a bit then into my net, it turned out to be a lovely 18lb Mirror, I was so happy that I didn’t lose it, so I took some pics, slipped the Carp back and got the rod back on the spot, I was tired from my week at work and travelling to Shropshire, I jumped in my sleeping bag and had an hours sleep to catch up, when I sat up and a Carp jumped out right over where my bait was, so I kept watching and then another carp jumped, I thought that this is going to happen anytime now, then 20 mins later the same rod let out a one toner and I was attached to a hard fighting fish, I managed to get it to the edge and it battered me in the margin, I was praying that the hook wouldn’t fall out, I then watched the Carp slide over the net and she was mine, I punched the air to celebrate, the manager of the lakes came to do the photos and weigh it, it turned out to be 33lb 4oz and a new PB.

I was happy with that result and I thought right!, re-bait both rods and get them both on the spot as all my takes are coming on my right hand rod so I recast my rods and sat down to some tea, I made myself some hot dogs and a nice brew, I was talking to the guy next door after my tea and my right hand rod was away again, I ran over and my reel was spinning like a speed boat had caught my line, I lifted the rod and netted another small Mirror of 19lb, after the pics I cast back out and I managed another 18lb mirror 20mins later, the light was starting to fade over the monument so I got my rod sorted for the night ahead and sat back watching fishing videos on my phone then drifted into a deep sleep, I slept right through the night and my eyes opened at 6am.

I got up and made myself a strong morning coffee and stood watching the water with the winter sun coming up it was a lovely morning then out of the blue my right hand rod let out a screaming take, I lifted into a very strong fish that ran me all over the lake then my hook pulled again, I was shaking at my knees and I stood there with my head down,

I checked the hook and it was fine so i don’t know why the hook slipped, so I cast back out and it took till at least dinner to receive another take and this time it was hooked the carp ran me round a bit and into the net, this was a big common.

I shouted the lad in the next swim and we weighed it at 31lb 15oz and a new common PB,

So with two PB’s in one session I was over the moon, with the rods back out I did manage to get another run but there was nothing there, a phantom take, the session was coming to an end.

I sat there with a brew and reflecting on my session of which I learnt that doing something different to everyone else can pay off, my tactic ended up with just chucking out single baits with no freebies at all and sitting on my hands being quiet, whist everyone else was spodding the lake to a froth.

I was using and still do today, the Wolf X3K 3.5lb 12’ rods to get my bait out and playing fish, which worked how I wanted them too, also using the Ultrablocks to keep my rods in place on violent takes.

Like I said do something different to fool the carp.

Karl Brandreth