Pike or Carp fishing? A last minute change of plan.

It was now the 2nd week of November and my mind had been set on targeting Pike in my local club lake for some time. The problem was I was not feeling the vibe for Pike fishing yet as the weather had been very warm for November! Temperatures in the low 20s degrees celsius had me more in a Carp mood! So the day before the planned Pike session I set up my Carp gear and got 2kg of MCF Hartford mix out of the freezer to dry off overnight. My mate Colin was still going to target the Pike so would I regret my decision to change my plan?

I got the lake around 7.30 am, loaded the wheel barrow and headed up the track to the lake. When I got to the lake I saw I was the only angler there so I had 15 acres of water to myself. Happy days! The wind was a strong southwesterly so I knew the fish would be on the end of it. Sure enough they were showing where I thought they would. I glugged the boilies in a little hemp oil as I needed to draw the fish down to the bait. The lake is deep with an average depth of 25ft but deeper sections to 35ft. The water was still warm so the hemp oil would dispers easily and attract the fish to my bait. I scattered half a kg with the throwing stick about 50 yards out where the fish were showing. I baited the margin with a few bait scoops of mixed bloodworm and carp pellets. Again with a little bit of hemp oil and a light scattering of boilies.

Within 20 minutes the margin rod with half a balanced boilie and plastic corn was away! As is the norm with the fish in this lake it was a hard fighter going on long runs ploughing head down into the deeper water! The fish made several of these runs before I managed to net it. It was a nice fish just into double figures. I took a quick shot of the fish on the mat as Colin was still at home (probably in bed). He did arrive about half an hour later just in time to help me land a fish that took the pop up hook bait out in open water. This was a better fish of around mid doubles.

I topped up the margin rod with a couple more scoops of pellet and 10 boilies and the open water rod with a handful of boilies. This is my standard procedure as I find little and often keeps the bites coming. And sure enough they did. A procession of hard fighting Carp fell to the margin and open water rods. Most to the open water rod though. The fish ranged from 10 to 18lb. Mostly mirrors but the odd common was a nice bonus as they are not so common in this lake. Time was getting on and the light was starting to fade. I was wondering if any of the better fish were going to make an appearance?

I was sitting with Colin and having a good chat when my margin rod slammed down and bent over double as a fish took off at high speed! I lifted into a better fish that was still pulling line off the spool. I managed to slow the fish and turn it back to me. I now had it swimming around under the rod tip but it was still 25ft below me! It hung around at depth for a while until I could start inching it up towards me. Bubbles were coming up to the surface so I knew the fish was tiring. Sure enough we got a sight of it and it was much wider than the others. In the net it went 1st time. We weighed it in at 22lb 2oz and I was well happy to end the session with the biggest fish of the day.

Colin had some action from the Pike but only landed the one Jack and missed a couple. I had 11 Carp by the end of the day and it seemed my change of plan had indeed paid off.