The end of the "phoney season"

So far 2014 has been the most "stop/start" year of my angling life, with far more "stop" than "start"! I've managed just one trip to a commercial (in which I blanked and almost drove into the lake), and a few, very casual, but enjoyable walks along the canal towpath light heartedly spinning for perch. On the last of these (yesterday) I even lost a small pike at the net, the first one I've ever seen on the stretch that I perch fish.

 

 

However, although the perch fishing will continue (largely because- except for replacement spinners- it doesn't cost anything!), the attention will shift to a nearby lake that my 13 year old son and I are going to target for carp.

 

I'm not the biggest fan of modern carp fishing (perhaps, partly, because it was what I did almost exclusively for a 10 year period when I lived in Devon), but the joint father/son nature of this enterprise is giving me an unexpected sense of excitement. My son has, predictably, been seduced by the rigs, camping and "boys toys" element of carp angling, and we plan to spend the summer months doing a few "overnighters".

 

I have float-fished the lake a couple of times in the past, and once fished it in a more contemporary rod-pod, boilies and PVA bags style, with mildly encouraging results. (see picture below of one of the lake's smaller inhabitants caught on a home made float, using a match rod and vintage Intrepid reel.) The lake also contains a few large perch, which will become my quarry when summer turns to autumn.

 ... and so, for now, it's time to sort out rigs, buy bait, catch up with wherever the carp world has moved on to, and top up on my carp gear and to rejoin the carping  "circus" , and- much to my own surprise- I'm looking forward to it.