Antics at Aspen

On my latest trip to Aspen Lake Fisheries on the Cotswold Water Park we were welcomed with blue skies and although the wind was gusty it was warm and everything felt aligned but as so often happens after the first 48 hours I was struggling and as so often happens in the Winter I was doubting myself and my approach – being wiped out by the swans throughout the first night on numerous occasions wasn’t helping!

The rods had been out on three separate spots and carefully baited to maximise my chances and there were signs that the Carp were responding to the warmer weather and searching out the shallower areas of the lake. 12hours came and went with no action so a beer and freshly cooked fahita’s were on the menu to raise the mood and after a tactical discussion with my wingman for the trip Mr Clarke we agreed there was no need to panic as I was confident in both the baiting approach and my tactics.

Just before midnight I received the first action of the session that resulted in a 13lb Bream. I know they are every Carp anglers nightmare but for me a double-figure Bream is still a special fish especially as a much younger angler I used to watch in awe as John Wilson was catching huge slabs never thinking that I would one day be able to do the same!



24hours in and I’d drank my body weight in tea with no further action and the weather had changes to overcast, very windy and the temperature had definitely dropped and I did start to question whether we had chosen the wrong venue but with a new spod mix created the rods were reset, rebaited and with renewed confidence the breakfast was prepared and with perfect timing the right hand rod went into meltdown but we soon discovered that it wasn’t our targeted quarry of a Winter Carp instead it was a 5lb Tinca.


Midday came and went with no further action but it did feel like I should be getting a
bite so the rods were withdrawn, rigs were rebaited all with Blitz Wafters tipped with a
few maggots and a fresh spod mix was prepared. Then finally, within a mad hour late
afternoon we made contact with our first two Aspen Carp a 20lber and an upper
19lber.

Not long after we had put back the 2nd Carp back two things happened firstly I discovered that I had forgotten the rolls for our planned hot dog tea �� and it started to rain and didn’t stop for over 10 hours so not an ideal situation. As the rain sub-sided I had just drifted off dreaming of fishing somewhere warmer and drier when I received a very welcome 3.30am wake-up call. As I picked up the rod it was clear this was no Bream, Tench or small Carp this one kept low in the water, plodded and every now and again showed me that I was not the boss.

Eventually I managed to net the fish and with the 37lber in the net I didn’t even
notice it was raining again! With only 12 hours of the trip left I was up at dawn relieved to see that the rain had finally stopped I rebaiting the rods once again and positioned them hoping the Carp would be a hungry as me as I started to prepare some breakfast.



Although after 13hours of extra water falling into what was already a flooded lake we did think it may be asking too much and so it proved to be with only another 5lb Tench for our
efforts.

On this session I was fishing one of my local syndicates and a water I have fished frequently for the last 7 years - Aspen Lake Fishery set in 30-acres of mature unspoilt Cotswold countryside.
 
The fishery features a 23-acre syndicate lake with a 10-acre island and a ½ acre day ticket lake. It’s by no means a runs water but what it does have is around 100 Carp to over 47lbs and this Winter it has been fishing well.

Myself, the owner and some of the other syndicate members have been doing really well for the last year using Hinders Baits Blitz or Nut 365alongside other products so if you think this fishery could be the one for you check out the website or Facebook page and of course check out the Hinders Bait website to check out their range of quality original products.

Check out the VLOG below