ROB HUGHES’ DIARY
Underwater discoveries and a ‘worldy’ of a carp top a busy month
AUTUMN is such an incredible time of year. I don’t normally get to fish in September and early October as it’s always taken up with televising events, Team England duty and competing in the World Champs.
This year has been the first one for ages and it’s reminded me how important it is to get out more and take in the moment... something we often forget or neglect in this crazy, busy world of ours. I’ve actually been doing an awful lot of diving over the last few weeks before the water gets too cold. My Understanding Underwater series across YouTube is proving to be highly popular and it’s great to be able to pass on some of my underwater findings. One trip was spent swimming around in Wraysbury North Lake, looking at some incredible carp and some amazing features. Rafa, the owner of RK Leisure, jumped in the lake with me and we saw some amazing sights, including one of the biggest fish in the lake, a fish called Not Mike’s Pet. It was sleeping (yes, they do sleep!) on the bottom of the pond as we approached it. We woke it up and it was not really bothered about our presence at all, simply waddling off to find another chill-out spot somewhere else. Some of the other fish we saw were really inquisitive, swimming right up to us, and one in particular seemed really interested in my camera.
Seeing the lie of the land in any lake brings home how important it is to be bang on with your spots. Pub chucks simply won’t hack it, and being just inches out can mean your presentation is totally wrecked.
The most recent dive and film was nearly postponed as a result of ridiculously heavy rain. It was horrid, and I’ve got to say that at this time of year I think heavy rain is the kiss of death. The rain’s cold and a big downpour chills the water too quickly, knocking fish off the feed. It’s already on a downward spiral and my own personal view is that heavy prolonged rain in late autumn really slows the sport down when carping. Needless to say, despite conditions looking pretty good once the rain had stopped, I blanked for three days. This was a very long session for me, especially behind motionless indicators, and I think I’d built the session up too much in my head before I went. I fished a fairly static reactive session and that’s not my fishing. I like to make things happen rather than sit and wait, and a blank was the result.
When I got in the water it was clear why things were not great. Nothing had visited my baited spots at all and in the hollows all around the bottom of the lake were clouds of algae that was dying off. The cold rain had knocked it down in the water and it was hanging in the lower levels and across many of the areas carp like to feed in.
It’s a phenomenon that you’d never even knew existed without going down to have a look at it, and it was pretty clear to see, like mist patches hanging in a valley.
The fish of the month for me has to be one from my last session, a stunning absolute worldy that weeded me up twice. The key of course is keeping them moving, but sometimes that’s just not possible. This treasure dived into the weed and got itself stuck. Rather than pulling, as soon as I realised it was solid I slackened off the clutch and dropped the rod back in the rest. It eventually decided to move itself and I was back in clean contact once again. However, it found another heavy weedbed and once again became solid. Slacking off the clutch again, only just enough to allow it to take line if it really needed to, I put the rod back down. About half-an -hour later he decided to move.
I moved up the bank a bit to get some extra leverage, kept steady pressure on and eventually landed it. Being patient rather than pulling for a break or ‘going for it’, meant that the carp was caught.
Just look at it. An amazing creature, an amazing battle and an amazing memory too. I love everything about this carp, from its colour to its proportions, its lovely markings and particularly the back story. Just what our sport is about.