Buckshole Carp Fishing - The One That Didn't Get Away

After studying Buckshole reservoir for about a year I decided to begin fishing there this season. After two previous blanks I set off again for the lake.

7:30 am - Two Large Fish Swirling
I arrived at the fishery to see my desired swim taken so I sat my gear down on the swim straight opposite, only to find two large fish swirling on the surface.

8:00 am – Awaiting the Alarm Bells
I had my rods on the spots where I’d seen the fish, and sat well back awaiting the sound of my alarm.

9:30 am – My Rod was Away
Two bleeps came from my left hand rod, but a minute past with no further indications so I sat back down. No sooner than I had my bum on the chair, my rod was away. I lifted into the fish to find nothing there. I was devastated, but not giving up I put the rod on the same spot and returned to my chair.

11:00 am – Injured Fish
I looked round the lake to see the man in the swim opposite me playing a fish; I reeled my rods in and ran round there for a closer inspection. It was a mirror carp of 17lb; it had a nasty gash on its lateral line so the man applied some antiseptic to stop it getting infected before taking photos and returning the fish.

12:00 pm – Got Away Again!
With my rods back out and me comfortably back on my chair, my right hand rod began to scream, I struck but once more to my absolute devastation the fish had got away.

Man crouching in the lake holding a common carp

12:40 pm – Recovered with Lunch
After recovering from a very traumatic morning I recast my rod and began to tuck into my lunch.

3:45 pm – Line Melting Off the Reel
My rod began to scream as line was melting off the reel, I ran down and struck into to what I knew straight away was a big fish. It was heading for a snag but I was not prepared to lose 3 fish in a day, I notched up the drag tension on my reel and began to heave the fish away from the snag. I had got it in front of me, after scrapping about for around 5 minutes a lad that was fishing opposite me ran round to help net the fish. We got the fish up the bank and put it on the mat I unhooked it and wetted the sling in preparation for weighing. We slid the fish into the sling and put it up on the scales, the dial swung round to 21lb 10oz but after a bit of mathematics by subtracting the weight of the sling we worked out that the fish weighed 20lb 3oz equalling my personal best, nevertheless I was over the moon.

6:00 pm – Called it a Day
No more signs of any fish activity so I decided to call it a day.

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