I’m sure that many Bankside customers will know that Jon and I are regular competitors in the British Carp Angling championships, which is now into its tenth year. We were fishing for Team Carp Talk again this year, with our heat taking place on the prolific Broadlands Lake in Hampshire. After a successful practise session we were confident that given a good draw, we would be able to get amongst a few of the Broadlands carp and give ourselves a chance of a place in one of the semi finals. Sadly it was not to be, and despite coming out of the hat early and selecting one of our favoured swims, it turned out that we were simply on the wrong side of the lake. Everyone along our side of Broadlands struggled for a bite whilst there were several 100lb plus hauls off the opposite bank.

We thought that was it for this year, but on the final morning of the qualifier on Broadlands, we heard that a place might be coming available on the last round of heats in two weeks time. We showed an interest and before long it was ours.  We would be heading for Somerset on this occasion and to Silverwood Lake on the Velocity Angling Complex, a new lake in carp fishing circles but one which has definitely got a lot of potential.

A few days before the match we were heading down the M5 to have a look around Silverwood and looking back at it now, it was a day very well spent. The lake itself had just about everything a carp angler could wish for, and we quickly worked out that it wouldn’t be a push over. Very heavy weed growth in every swim and several snaggy areas meant that carp were definitely going to be lost, and our visit gave us a chance to think about the tactics needed to be successful. We felt that one fish landed in the 48 hours would give us a really good chance of getting through, and with this in mind we took no chances and spooled up with heavy mono. Within a couple of days we were back at Silverwood and stood in the car park with 11 other teams waiting for the draw. Our luck with the draw bag seems to have changed recently, and this time we came out fifth - another good result. Our top two pegs were the same as most and had already been snapped up, but we were more than happy with our choice about half way up the northern bank. The swim covered lots of water that no one else could get near to, and with big southerly winds forecast for the second half of the weekend, it just seemed the right place to be.

For the first few hours of any match we don’t normally do much in the way of feature finding or baiting up, and much prefer to get some rods out and try and nick a quick fish. Local knowledge suggested that action wasn’t expected until the hours of darkness, but you just never know for sure, and we gave the rods until 4pm before we got prepared for the hopefully more productive time ahead. Our main focus of attention for the first night was clear bar we found at about 80 metres range. With so much weed around it was nice to find an area where we could guarantee a good presentation, and we were quite confident that a few fish would move in if there was some food about. Jon spodded out a decent quantity of hemp, Grubber Pellet, and a new Bankside boilie he is currently fish testing, and fished a matching hookbait over the top on his right hand rod. My left hand rod was also going out to the same area, and on this one I fished a 14mm Pineapple pop up. On his other rod Jon was planning to rove around with a choddie, whilst my second rod was fished on a solid bag set up towards a set of snags to my right.

As expected the hours of darkness produced a number of bites to several teams. However, in the severe weed there were more carp lost than landed. Our only chance of the night came at just after 2am to my left hand rod fished at distance. Losing the lead on the take meant it was much easier to keep the carp up in the water and away from any hazards. I was also lucky that the carp didn’t fight too hard, and within a couple of minutes the mirror was safely tucked up in the net. After I kicked our marshal out of his bed we were ready for weighing, with our carp going just over 15lb. It was the biggest of the three carp landed that night and for the moment put us in the lead – a very nice position to be in.

By the Saturday afternoon the very carpy conditions meant that bites were starting to come in the day as well, with the next action a 10lb mirror for the team to our right. A couple of other fish had been lost too, but going into the second night we were still in the lead. With three other teams less than 5 pounds behind, however, we knew we needed another fish to make us safe. Our tactics for the second night saw us fish three rods out to the successful area, with my right hand rod fished a lot closer in. I had found a really nice spot near to some potamogeton weed which came right up to the surface. It was the perfect area for a solid bag, with four spods of mixed pellet and broken up boilies finishing the trap off.

As darkness descended onto Silverwood Lake on the Saturday evening, it wasn’t long before things started to change. A team which had lost four carp during the first night finally put one on the bank, and at 16lb, it pushed us back into second place. By 2am we were back into third. The team two swims to our right had landed two fish within an hour for just over 31 pounds and a clear lead. It was all getting very tight at the top, and there was surely time for a few more bites before the end.

The next chance would come at 4-30am, and I woke up to hear a Delkim alarm in full flow. In fact, it turned out to be mine! My rod fished close in to the right was bent double as a very angry carp attempted to make the weed. Yet again though, the lead release system had worked and the fish was already wallowing about on the top. A few twitchy moments followed, but luckily everything held and we were soon weighing in our second 15 pounder of the match. As we didn’t know if anything else had been out we had no idea where this would place us, and it wasn’t until 7 that we found out. Fortunately for us nothing else had been caught and we were back in second place, missing out on first by just half a pound. Knowing this meant we could definitely breathe a bit easier for the last few hours of the match.

However, there was still one bite to come. At 9-30 Jon’s rod fished over the main area of bait absolutely ripped off and nearly pulled the rod in. It was clear this was a much better fish, and after a fair old battle I slipped the net under a sizable mirror. On the scales it went 22-04 and put us on a total of just over 53lb for first place in the heat and our ticket for the semi final’s on Bradley’s in three weeks time. I’ll let you know how we get on.