The Broads Fisherman: May 2016

I had a couple of visits to Holly Farm on the 28th April and 4th May. This view is from the 'canal' lake furthest from the car park on the 4th May. Notice the reed bed to the right which was where the fish appeared to be lurking. I realised my Middy Battlezone 4 metre Carp Margin Whip was no longer up to the task of dealing with fish of more than about 3lb. Besides the elasticated end had lost its strength and I need to put a new one in. One of the reasons to take a stronger rod was fish like this one:-

This 55cm or 21.5 inch mirror weighs 7lb and is the largest carp I have caught there to date. I have put it in sling of my own making so that I could weigh it.

All pictures and text copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2016.

I was back at Holly Farm Lakes again today for another happy day's fishing. I have been a couple of times since my last blog post but didn't make a note here of how I got on. I will do so after I have described today's events.

Holly Farm seems to be very consistent. Every time I go I seem to catch plenty of fish and so do the people who are fishing near me. Today was warm (about 15C) with sunny spells. Very nice for sitting by the lake side and only a gentle breeze. One worry is the strength of the sun, so I do wear a hat, put on sun cream and if I feel the need put up my 40 year old fishing brolly! I am sure some people think I am a bit mad but it keeps the sun off me.

I arrived about midday and was pleased to see that the peg at the far end of the 'canal' lake on the north side was free. This is nice and close to a reed bed where the fish tend to hang out. I have stopped fishing with my Middy Battlezone carp whip as some of the fish I have caught recently are far too big for it. More on this later. Also, last time I was out, my old Abu Garcia reel broke and so I have been out and bought a Drennan Feeder 6-40 from the Red Range. It was only £19.99 but I am very pleased with it. I used this in conjunction with my old Shakespeare Eros Telescopic rod which can cope with most things.

I was fishing with cubes of luncheon meat and pieces of sausage which work very well. I used my carp pole float on 5lb line and a size 10 barbless. Most of the fish I caught today were mirror carp. I also had a common, several roach and skimmers. I don't intend to give the calculate the sizes of all the fish, however, you can work this out knowing that the disgorger in all the photos for comparison is 12.5cm or 4.9 inches long.

Here they are in the order I caught them:-

The above was the nice little common.

I have now bought some scales and so I was able weigh the above 45cm or 18inch mirror. It weighs 3lb. The average size of the fish on my first two visits to Holly Farm were about 16 inches and so this one is slightly larger than average.