After success on my syndicate at the end of May the fish began to spawn and this coincided with my fishing taking a back seat for a few weeks due to buying a house. My mind was never too far away from Broadwater and I tried to walk round and trickle bait in as and when I could. My first overnighter came mid-month but ended in a blank, I couldn’t keep a rod in the water as the crayfish battered me all night, not ideal with a 4.30am alarm the next morning. I planned to do the last Saturday night of the month and turned up mid-afternoon to find a fairly busy lake. I settled in a swim called Tench Peg and one I rarely fished. All three rods were fished in a line up to a thick weed bed at around 30 yards with 2kg of Sterling Baits SP1 over the top. That evening a good friend of mine Chris Rouse turned up to fish in the next peg. Chris is one of the best anglers I know and the effort he puts into his fishing his phenomenal. He has tore Broadwater apart over the past few seasons and his results are all down to the hard work he puts into his angling. Chris was here for four nights so we decided to have a few beers and chatted the night away talking all things carpy. I retired to bed around 1am and after a rare lie in on the bank the following morning I found myself packing away after yet another blank. I checked the weather forecast for the week ahead and the conditions on Monday night looked perfect for Tench peg; a fresh southerly wind with low pressure, perfect! I put another 2kg of boilie on my spots as I left and hoped the swim would still be free Monday night.
After a long day at work on Monday I was soon driving through the gates of Broadwater and luckily Tench Peg was free. Chris had moved a few pegs the other side of me as nothing had happened for him. I was soon stood in my swim and it was like a Jacuzzi out in front of me; there was so much activity over my spots. I quickly set about getting the rods in position as myself and Chris had planned to have another few beers and watch the England game against Iceland that evening. All three rods went out perfectly and were fished with a critically balanced 18mm Sterling Baits SP1 hard hooker as my chosen hook bait with another few kilos of matching freebies spread in the area. It was time to relax and enjoy the game; I was happy with how I was fishing and felt very confident. Throughout the disappointing game of football I began to receive liners and with ten minutes remaining my receiver let out a series of beeps and started dancing across the floor. I sprinted to my rods and the right hand rod was in full melt down mode; I was soon connected to an angry Broadwater carp that was still stripping me of line. I managed to turn the fish before it buried itself in the weed bed in front of me. I kept steady pressure on and it was soon moving again plodding in front of me. Under the rod tip the fish found a new lease of life and tried to take me down both margins before taking one final gulp of air as I guided it across my net cord. It was a fish known as Jaffa and the colours of the fish were incredible; a proper old carp that rarely sees the bank. Chris did me proud with the camera and Jaffa behaved impeccably for the photos. I returned her safely back as we both watched the orange silhouette of this old carp slowly disappear back to the depths. I was buzzing with this capture; England were out the euros but there was no taking this smile off my face. Chris walked back to his swim and I was about to attach a fresh rig when my middle rod let out a series of bleeps that turned into a one toner, I was away again. The fish had kited to my left but was soon in front of me and set about beating me up in the deep margins. After a few more lunges another nice mirror was sulking in my net and it was a fish called Trio that was a re capture. I sorted the mayhem in my swim after two fish in quick succession, attached two fresh rigs and got both rods back on the spots with another kilo of bait over the top. I had a celebratory beer with Chris before retiring to bed ready for my 4.30 alarm the next morning. It felt like I had only been asleep for a few minutes when I received a savage take on my middle rod. This instantly felt like a good fish as it stripped me of line from the off. It took me ages to get the fish close in and it powered off more than once as it led me on a merry dance trying to take me round the snags to my right hand side. The fish eventually began to tire and after a final few spirited lunges I was staring at another member of the Broadwater ‘A’ team at the bottom of my landing net; a fish known as ‘Big Barry’. I had heard commotion a few swims down and Chris had a lovely common in the net as well. Chris came to take the graphs of Big Barry for me and I returned the favour for him. It was actually 3.30am and I decided there was little point going back to sleep. I sat admiring the breath taking sunrise drinking coffee after coffee until it was time to pack up an hour later. I drove out the gates that morning one happy angler having caught three of Broadwaters ‘A’ team in an overnighter.
At the beginning of July as part of the Broadwater ticket, a trout lake called ‘Cocks Close’ opens on the complex that members can fish for three months. It is extremely weedy but holds a very special strain of carp. The first Friday of July came round and I decided to fish that night after work on Cocks Close. I was on strict instructions to be back home no later than 8am the next morning as it was my son Dylan’s 13th Birthday on Sunday and he was having all his mates round for a sleep over on the Saturday night. I arrived at the lake straight from work and a warm south westerly wind was blowing straight across the lake. After a few laps I decided to fish on the end of the wind after seeing a few fish in the area. I had a lead around and found a lovely clear area amongst thick weed that I put two rods on roughly two rods lengths apart. The fish hadn’t been fished for in a year so I gave them two kilo of 18mm Sterling Baits SP1 straight away and my chosen hook bait for both rods was an 18mm critically balanced SP1 hard hooker. My third rod was fished under a marginal overhanging tree. My chosen hook bait was exactly the same as my other two rods and I scattered roughly 50 baits up and down the margin. I was extremely confident and very happy with how the rods had gone out. I didn’t have to wait long for my first take but unfortunately a greedy Tench was the culprit. Fellow Big Fish Gear Team Member George Farmer arrived and fished down the bank from me and we chatted away into the hours of darkness. Just before midnight I received a ferocious take on my right hand rod and I was attached to a very powerful fish that instantly weeded me up. I kept slow steady pressure on the fish as it led me from weed bed to weed bed. I could see the fish on the surface with a big ball of weed above it and thankfully George was on hand to net it for me. We removed all the weed from the net and revealed a cracking scaley carp and one of the nicest fish I have ever had the pleasure to catch. The night passed with another tench to show for my efforts but I was more than happy with my first night on Cocks Close. I packed up early the following morning to get home and enjoy Dylan’s birthday weekend with him. George had managed a corking common in the night and Chris turned up early Saturday morning to show the rest of us the way as he had a nine fish hit over three days showing off fine examples of the impressive stock that reside in Cocks Close. I have just finished writing this in time as I am off for a quick overnighter tonight, fingers crossed I have more success and some lovely carp to show you next month.
Being in full time employment which also involves working away from home all week means getting fishing can be a real effort at times! 
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