Venue :
Monks Pit – Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire
I had done 24hrs the previous week, a Sunday and Monday and seeing as there is a 7 day rule on the syndicate I could not get back on till the following Sunday. Work as ever gets in the way and it was not possible for me to do my normal 24hrs or 48hrs so really did not want to go.
Anyway after crying about it a bit as you do, I decided that I would get up early on the Sunday morning and just go and do a day session, not something that many do on Monks as it is not really a day water , is it !!
For those that do not know about Monks Pit, it is a crazy water in Cambridgeshire holding some very big fish, they run up to 55lb, all English and some proper stunners as well, the lake is around 17 acres and ranges in depth from 3ft in the margins right through to 22ft at the top end of the lake.
I arrived nice and early ( for me ) around 6am , I decided to jump in to the first swim on the lake called the Chat Room , obviously everyone has a chat as they arrive hence why it is called that. I set the rods up and chucked the first one out, was getting the second rod ready when the rod just cast out bent round and the alarm was screaming, I hit in to an angry fish but sadly managed to drop it , a few choice words calling myself a noddy etc and set about getting the rods in the water.
I had just started using the Hooks from Carp Tackle Online , you need a good strong hook here and a sharp one at that, the weed can grow to Amazonian proportions and I have seen many an angler
lose fish on there due to hooks bending , snapping etc, mainly bending .. There are some big fish present and they know how to use the weed. I had elected to try the Curve shank hooks in size 6 , I normally used wide gapes but wanted to try using a classic rig known as the Slip D , they like a snowman on here and wafter type presentation, so this rig was the chosen one for now anyway, tied to a size 6 curved hook the bait sat absolutely perfect.
The Slip D is a simple rig but deadly in the right situations.
I was fishing to the corner of the lake, always a gamble as they are either there or they are not, I had seen a fish top in the area when I arrived and to be honest, that was good enough for me on this lake, they do tend to stay in an area for a couple of weeks before moving on and I knew they were there the week before as had a few also that session.
I baited conservativley , few pults of boiles around the area I was fishing and a few pults of trout pellets scattered to hopefully create a nice sized dining table for the fish to chew over. Two rods were in this area and my 3rd rod was pub chucked towards the plateau to my left.
I was only on for the day so was not really expecting anything special to happen and after that early loss, nothing did all morning ☺
I rebaited both rods over the baited area around 11.30am , made another brew and one of the guys arrived never met before ( Dave ) was just saying hello when all hell broke loose on the right hand rod, I hit into this one and it shot out from the margins and made it nice and easy for me , was feeling a little grating on the line from the weed but everything held fine and after a couple of minutes or so, in to the net lay a pristine looking common, I was happy with that, had not expected much at all if honest so after weighing and a few photo’s we slipped her back in to the depths to fight another day, she went 20lb on the nose , well chuffed, happy days all round.
Then something strange happened, it does not happen very often but when it does, you just know.. The lake came alive they were everywhere, I was fishing the shallower end but could see fish topping all over the shallow end, rebaited the rod very quickly and back in on the money quickly.
I did not have to wait long for the second take, same rod burst in to life, alarms screeching, angry carp on the end, here we go !! 23lb + common in the net, thank you Carp Gods , I love you
So here I am with a nice fish , Dave is taking photo’s, when bang !! away goes my middle rod , Dave takes care of the fish for me, ie slips it back and as I am playing the fish and Dave putting fish back, yep you guessed it, away goes the 3rd rod, Dave hits it for me and I say take that one mate, it’s yours, he says no, I’ll play it why you sort that one, anyway long story short , I land the fish and what a cracker it is, black as my hat mirror at again just over the 23lb mark.
I take over the reigns from Dave and start to get the next fish close to the net but for some reason we part company and my line gives way above the leader and it is fish lost, gutted …
I make myself a brew and sit back a little, catapult some bait back over the spots and re bait the two rods, I am in no hurry to recast at this point and just take in the turn of events over the last few minutes.
So I compose myself, yeh I know… I was gutted about losing the fish, it is not greed, it is knowing that an item of tackle as let you down and I hate that , my biggest gripe in carp fishing.
The new hooks however are more than doing the job, the hook holds have been amazing and the rig is doing the biz so far, waffle aside, I cast both rods back out to the spots and get the kettle on, I get to the chair and just as my backside is about to hit the cushion, we are away again , been in the water around 2 minutes, now I am playing a hard fighting fish here, it does not feel massive but it does feel lively and it ain’t playing ball, eventually after several runs and a few weed moments I am staring down at one of the prettiest carp I have ever seen and it is in my net.
Now that is what I call a carp, 24lb+ of beauty , made up with this one, absolute peach of a fish and I have to say I was blown away , I have been lucky enough to have caught some very big fish over the years, but this fish is without question the prettiest thing I have ever caught, I was truly blown away. Hooks doing the do ..
So now I have caught 4 x 20lb + fish , I am feeling happy and surprisingly do not think I am as mad as I thought I was for doing just a day session and getting up at Silly O’Clock just to go fishing , anyway out goes the offending rod back on the spot, yep I had another take almost instantly, sadly I lost this one also , my guess is that kelp hindering the hook being driven home, I am only using 2oz leads, it is a small chuck.. despite this I put on some 3oz leads and hope I get another take.
It goes quiet for an hour and I am thinking you know what, I’m going home for some dinner , just as I think that, right hand rod away, we have a dance, it feels a little bigger, a plodder rather than a psycho like the last fish , a couple of minutes pass and in the net slides a nice fish, oooh this looks a 30lber and sure enough it is, a clean looking 34lb + resides in the sling and here it is :
That was to be the end of my day session, I did lose another fish as my rods were on the floor as was packing away, it was the biggest fish in the lake but I am not going to get emotional about it lol , my fault really as to why I lost it, but I am sure we will meet again before my time is up.
If you are going to tie the slip d rig, I can fully recommend that placing a tiny slither of putty about an inch off the hook, enables the hook to turn very aggressively , try it you will see what I mean.
Hope not bored you too much , but please do check out the range at Carp Tackle Online, I have known Mark for years, I know how boring , sorry I mean meticulous he is with end tackle and only quality items will ever he use or sell so you can take it that what is available has been tested and works more importantly, I cannot see me going back if I am honest to using the hooks and end tackle I used to use, Mark has put together the components which work and the quality is exceptional, the hooks out the packet are mega sharp and at £2.50 posted you cannot go wrong.
Wherever you are fishing , whatever your target, I wish you tight lines all the way , all the best : Steve Cartwright ( The Hat ).
Bait used : Key Baitsolutions ASM - https://www.facebook.com/keybaitsolutions/
