Carp Fishing

Any fellow Carp anglers here @ OcUK?
i popped down to a local lake in Yateley this afternoon for a few hours.. first time carp fishing in 13 years, and 15 years since i fished this particular lake
i managed to take a 17lb Common off the top on pop-up boillie



i had another 3 hook-ups but lost them due to the thick weed the lake has

this is where i fished..
^^nice place to spend the afternoon
as ive got membership down there for the year i expect to have a few more so il post the pics here (although nobody ever comes into this sub-forum lol)

Well done mate, I bet it was magic

ta mate, yeah it felt good to get a bend in the rod again
that was my *87th fish from that lake* .... i fished it for a couple of seasons many years ago

* i caught some of them a couple of times so not 87 different fish, ive got photo's of most of them which ive been sorting out tonight,
it'l be interesting to see if i catch one that ive had before and see the weight difference, as they're so distinguishable it shouldnt be too hard to match them up
the lake has been restocked since i last fished it though so it maybe a while till i get a match up

UPDATE: (not worth a thread bump)11/07/14
ive been back down there a couple more times surface fishing but no joy
i lost another one due to the weed again.. as soon as i hooked it it bolted 25-30 feet away but my line was still entering the water where id hooked the fish as it had run through a weed bed and my hooklink parted, next time i go il be using 14lb mainline as a hooklink instead of the Fox 10lb pre-stretched buoyant fluorocarbon expensive crap ive been using, this 10lb pre-stretched stuff has no abrasion resistance qualities at all :/
i also lost another carp of around 8-9lb while float fishing on a smaller lake with maggots for roach/bream, i was only using a 2lb 4oz hooklink though and fishing in a bit of a snaggy swim so the expected happened there lol

managed to finish up at work early today so popped down there again for a few hours
and managed to take another one off the top,
19lb, almost a leather carp but had a few scales, no one was close enough to take a pic for me so here it is on the mat

Cracking looking fish, i managed to get out last weekend for the first time this year. Tried a new location had 3 mirrors and a common only about albs each but happy with the outcome. Even my daughter had a nice 4-5lb common on her 4m pole. Hoping to get out again this weekend.

Photo doesn't really do the size justice but like me she doesn't like touching the fish lol.

^^ great stuff, they put up a good scrap at that kinda weight.. especially on a pole, she did very well

UPDATE 13/08, been back down 2 times since my last catch, conditions have been pretty poor for surface fishing, we really need no wind, and no clouds is preferred.. as soon as a bit of wind hits the water you dont see the fish and end up just playing lucky dip, looks like tomorrow will be worth a shot, no wind to speak of but some cloud forcast

I sometimes fish for Carp but only on the surface as its the most exciting way to catch them, I'm mostly a River angler fishing the Kennet for Chub and Barbel.

Here are a couple of nice Carp I caught this year.

This fish was caught from Stag Lake on the Wasing Estate in Berkshire.
Surface Caught Common Carp, 28lbs 8 oz by Psycho_Hamster, on Flickr

Me holding the same fish as above.
P1030771 by Psycho_Hamster, on Flickr

This fish was caught on the A1 pit (Lenton Lakes) in Brampton.
First Carp off the surface in 2014 by Psycho_Hamster, on Flickr

And here is a Wild Carp caught from a lake up a welsh mountain last year, these are my favourite type of carp.
Untitled by Psycho_Hamster, on Flickr

lovely looking fish you got yourself there, loving the old school tackle as well

Cheers, no School like old school as they say!

very nice looking fish there J.T

those yately fish look a bit hammered. especially the parrot beak one .

used to carp fish a lot then stopped as trying to beat pb and local lakes apart from expensive syndicate lakes just wernt viable.

used to like centre pin stalker carp best in summer.

those heavy weeded places like op posted id fish 12lbs straight through heavy meaty short rod hook and hold.

^^ actually the common was a nice fish, not a mark on it, the white bits are slime as it went a bit mental once i netted it
the leathery one had been caught many times before though by the looks of it.
the Yateley lakes used to contain some of the best/most famous in the country, most of the lakes held just a handfull of big carp,
but as the years went on and the bigger older carp died off the lakes were re-stocked and are now mostly being run by a club with 3500 members, so the lakes get much more pressure.. it sucks to see what the place has become