More fun at Fordwich!

Since my last post, Summer Carping on Fordwich Lake, I have been back to the lake 3 times, 2 of which were notably fish-less! Today however, I return from 48hrs fishing which have been somewhat more successful.
Over the last week, perhaps since the full moon, a number of good fish have been caught on the west end of the lake where the wind was headed. News of these captures filled me with excitement in anticipation of my weekends fishing. On my arrival however, this part of the lake was inevitably packed with hopeful anglers and so I trekked around to the furthest swim on the lake, being the first spot available I had any confidence in! The night and most of the following day passed without so much as bite and no fish showing at all so instead of re-positioning my rods for the night, I took a walk to look for a better spot. Although I was very comfortable with the wind behind me, time was limited and the fish were clearly not coming to me so I had to go to them. Serendipitously, a swim known to be consistently productive was available, only once again it was the furthermost point from where I was set up at the time!
It was a bit of a mission getting there and putting the rods and bait out before it was impossible to see what I was doing but I hit the sack confident that I was in a better place.
At about 10am the next morning I received a confident take on my right-hand rod which was positioned quite close in, unlike the other two which were out as far as a course of lily pads would allow. Although not too far out, the fish could have taken me round various snags had I not applied a fair amount of pressure without giving any line away. The fish cooperated until I got it to the net when it went totally nuts! I was grateful to have a good mate with me who helped me net it.
As per all the carp I've had this summer, this 24lb 8oz mirror fell to a very simple snowman rig of a 20mm fishmeal bottom bait and matching 15mm popup.

Shortly after returning this fish, I had a run on my middle rod. I connected with the fish, which felt good but it was much further out and the fish started kiting right into a bay. Again I applied considerable pressure and started reeling in quickly as there was enough line out for the fish to take me into numerous hazards. Unfortunately, this resulted in the fish coming free. Any angler who has lost a fish can relate to the feeling of devastation but on reflection I would rather have lost the fish this way than in the snags where the fish could have become tethered and so am consoling myself that I took the right course of action.

The blank sessions made me very wary of causing too much commotion with a spomb, so I restrained myself and used the catapult wherever I could get away with it this time. The other thing I have learnt this season is the power of persistance. In previous seasons I would fish a couple of sessions at Fordwich, blank and then go to an easier water to remind myself what a carp looked like. This year I have focused solely on Fordwich, aside from a few trips to the river for barbel but I'll tell you about that in another post! Coming back again and again has allowed me to be in touch with the lake and to a certain extent be in the right place at the right time. I've still got so much to learn about this amazing water but I am feeling very content to be making progress.