As we got in the car Liam was bursting with excitement. He’s a smooth talking little beggar, and as I started the carp-mobile up and started to trundle up the road to freedom he piped up asking me if I knew “what his favourite past time in the whole world was?†I tried desperately to keep poker faced and acted clueless, but I knew and he knew.... fishing of course.
Liam is my 9 year old nephew, who had been begging to be taken fishing for carp for ages – rather than the roach and bits I had always guided him to in the past. It had probably been over a year since I had enjoyed the pleasure of his bubbling enthusiasm on the bank side, when I had promised him a day out for carp very soon. What a bad uncle I am....
Both the nephews, Liam and Alex, were due to stay the weekend, and despite the weather forecast being a bit rubbish, with increasing air pressure and a bright frosty start to the day, we rolled up at the Burghfield complex for a few hours on the Match lake. Where better to catch Lum (Liam) his first carp?
Having a quick stroll around the pond, the only area I could see where bubbles peppered the cold oily surface was just out in front of the small point near to the car park; and I pointed them out to Liam. I wanted to train him properly if he wanted to start carp fishing, rather than just have him follow the leader and not understand why we fished in a particular area...
“No buzzers today mate – I want you watching the rods and keeping alert†– knowing that with buzzers on Lum would be likely to wander off and rely on the buzzers and Klewlew (his nickname for me) to do the fishing for him. Slack lines and a small twig between the rod rest and the butt ring had him excitedly pointing at the rod every time a gust of wind made them sway from side to side. I took off the sticks and told Lum to simply watch the spools.
“You’ll see†as I nodded at him and smiled.
Rods for the little ’un comprised a pair of Johnny Wilson Avons matched with little bait-runners and 8Ib Primo XP; semi fixed little 1 oz leads and short hooklinks that started off as a silt skin on one and heavy skin on the other. All simple ; bait was a bit of fake corn and a piece of real corn on the hair to a size 10 Incizor, fished with a bag of pellet and a pinch Ben Hamilton’s magic powder.
Unsure of how to feed in the cold weather, I pinged out a few small pouchfulls of DT Juicy Peach betaine pellets and flicked out a little micromesh bag with the pellet and a couple of grains of the magical golden grains attached to the hook - only out to the bottom of the marginal drop off – a mere 12 yards from the edge where the bottom was still firm when the lead landed (any further and it went a bit irky)
The first hour all seemed quiet – the time elapsing slowly with little sign of carp activity so a few more pouchfulls of pellet were pinged into the general vicinity of the hook bait. The line on one rod flickered... they were here... in went another pouch full...
Suddenly the right hand rod is whizzing off and I implored a very excited and animated Liam to pick the rod up....He just looked at the reel – dumb struck for a moment before cracking on. This was the first time that Liam had played a fish that actually needed him to give line, apply side strain and keep in control - with only a tiny little bit of help too! Within 5 minutes I scooped his prize with my little net and patted young Lum on the head, a prouder uncle there simply couldn’t be!
He shook his arm and complained (with a broad smile from ear to ear) that the fish had made his poor little arm hurt!
Despite what I considered were pretty atrocious weather the Match Lake carp fed even better. The key seemed to be to keep the feed trickling in, and Liam’s first carp was joined by a further 5 in the next three hours; including a couple of decent nine pounders. All the fish were in fine condition and fought like tigers.
As normal we were a good hour late home – but we didn’t care – another carp angler had been born that day. I won’t leave it for another year until Liam is taken fishing again – perhaps some faster and more furious fishing in the spring when water temperatures are higher and those ravenous Match lake carp are even more eager to bend a rod and make his arm ache.
