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Richworth diary
Following our recent appointment of Ian “Chemo” Russell as Richworth Manager, I received a phone call from Ian informing me of an idea for a diary piece for me to do on the website. “Nothing heavy, just about you’re fishing with your mates”, well I accepted and thought as I was on the bank at the time I’d better hurry up and catch some fish.
I had gone for a social with my good mate Alexei Bygrave to linear Fisheries in oxford. He had already set up on the far spit on Hardwick and as it happened Smiths pool on the other side of Hardwick was empty so I set up on the spit next to Alexei but fishing into smiths. The lack of activity was unbearable, not a fish had been taken from the lake in 4 days and nobody had seen one, with the new hungry stockies that had been introduced that was surprising. However we were still optimistic and once the rods were in position we settled down to the first of many brews. After a good couple of hours Alexei became restless and decided to put out a zig. For those of you who don’t know Alexei he has a ridiculous amount of faith in them, and rightly so as no sooner than he put a 14ft one out, he reeling in a low double stockie.
That was the extent of the action for the day. Before night I redid my rods and put 4 spods of particle and 10ml K-G-1 boilies, on a spot where gravel meets silt as about 40yards. Once everything was perfect we got the cooker on, a bottle of red open and talked about all things carp.
Night went and morning came and nothing had been had by either of us or the rest of the lake for that matter. It was a real struggle and we decided that zigs were once again the order of the day. However it all looked very bleak when sun gave way to a huge hail storm which battered and bruised our gear. Finally it passed and again Alexei had a small stockie, but lost a much better fish which cut him off on a gravel bar. The stockie came on a 17ft zig! That was the action for the day.
I decided to move one rod for the night from the deeper water to the gap between the two lakes in 4ft of water, although it seemed like an outside bet I knew that if the fish were to move from lake to lake they had to move through here. They had to pass my bait and to optimise this I also scattered half a dozen half baits in the area. The chosen bait was the ever faithful Richworth tutti, together with a few Richworth mini halibuts and some crumbled tutti in a small PVA bag. After photographing an oversized bream for Alexei I got my head down for the night. Then all hell broke loose, the rod on the shallow area screamed off and I was standing out in my socks playing a fish that stripped 30 yards of line straight away. I played it carefully believing it to be a good fish but once in the net it was evident I was perhaps too careful. As we looked in we were to be confronted by the sight of another stockie. Oh well I was off the mark and the guys at linear had made these fish very pretty.
Once morning was upon us Ziggy stardust (Alexei) was in again on the 17ft zig and another stockie graced his net. Not wanting to be outdone I threw one out next to him and proceeded to reel in a nice mid double common. I commented on how I had managed to land a “proper-un” whilst he was messing around with stockies, all in good jest.
We were soon joined by fellow young carper and current BYCAC champion Rob Sutton who had been fishing on the opposite side for a couple of days with no joy. I managed a 6lb tench on the spot in smiths, on a 10ml K-G-1, just after he arrived.
Another good evening was had and we tried to keep Rob away from the dangers of underage drinking, Rather a hard task with a bottle of red in the brolly. Alexei managed to persuade me to try to eat 28 weatabix without a drink. A fairly difficult prospect and one I didn’t manage to complete although proud with my efforts at managing 18.
It once again decided to throw it down in the morning and the thought of packing up was not an appealing one however it had to be done, and slowly I packed away happy to have been in good company but slightly annoyed that I had not had a few more and conditions for the following days looked just right. Rob jumped into Alexei’s swim and we said our farewells.
In the car on my way home my thoughts turned to Papercourt, I had fished it the previous season with varied success. I had managed many of the smaller stockies and fish up to low twenties and had done fairly well for myself in terms of numbers; however the bigger fish eluded me. I was still licking my wounds after the loss of a big fish on my final session of the season there and wanted revenge. Many of the fish are really good looking and this makes catching the small ones worth it. There are two fish in there that really take my fancy with various others that are also definitely worth catching. The first, “the bullet hole common” a lovely well proportioned fish that hovers at around the 40 mark. The other being “Shoulders” a real character and number one on my hit list. Last season I felt I had come so close to her, after a 3 fish catch I left for home, only to return 2 days later to find out that she had been caught from the swim I was in. I had become friendly with the captor previously and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. I was chuffed for him but couldn’t help thinking that it could have been me.
Anyway I needed to get this campaign underway for the season and knowing time is not on my side as in October I am off to university and will not be able to fish it properly until I have finished, couple that with A levels which I am doing at the moment, which take a considerable amount of effort, I have got my work cut out. I Managed one night and caught a double figure bream but no carp. Saying that only one came out that night and the weekend had fished hard with a lot of pressure. However it was good to be back and I will do my best to achieve my ambitions for the season.
On a final note whilst I was writing this Rob Sutton called me to inform me he had just had a 30lb 4oz mirror from Hardwick it was a new PB and he was over the moon, so well done mate.
Until next time, tight lines!
Harry Charrington |
