Local Whacker - Dean Macey

Fishing is always a juggling act for me; I really enjoy angling for all species and once I've had a few trips after one target, I always seem to get itchy feet and want to move on to another. I'm convinced this has cost me quite a few prizes in the past and I'm sure it will in the future, but enjoying my sport is the most important thing to me, not the photo album.

So, after a few pleasant trips after tench I made the decision to have a session after some carp. My local Walthamstow Reservoir was to be the venue for my short trip.

On arrival I was hoping to see a few fish move to give me an idea as to where to head, but with dead still conditions it seemed they were not going to give the game away that easily. In fact, I had to wait for a good few hours before a strong south westerly wind kicked in to see the first carp poke its head out right on the end on it. I made my way round to where the fish were showing and under-armed two rigs into position. Within minutes of them touching down I was into my first fish of the trip. There were no dramas and soon I had a stunning 18lb 10oz heavily scaled mirror safely in the net. Ten minutes later and the very same rod was off again with a small, but very spirited mid-double. Then, just as quickly as it started, the action stopped, well for a few hours anyway. The best was yet to come!

Rig wise, I kept it very simple as always, 15 inches of Dark Matter tubing, lead clip fished running, nine inches of 15lb N-Trap with just the hair stripped and a size-six Kurv Shank hook. My bait was also very simple as I was boilie fishing and to that end 1kg of Cell and 1kg of Hybrid was all I needed. I was looking for quick bites, so there was no need to shovel it in by the bucket load, just twenty or thirty baits in the area per bite.

With the end of the quick action I soon decided to move and found myself in an area known for bigger fish for the evening. The fact that I saw no signs of fish heading into dark, really didn't fill me with confidence but as the light dropped from the sky my Delkim sang one more song. This time the fish felt heavy from the start and plodded around as all big fish do. I managed to avoid my other lines in a tight swim and gently teased her nose to the spreader block, then dropped the rod and lifted the net to make sure she was mine. I knew it was a better fish but on lifting her from the water she got that little bit bigger and at 33lb it is my biggest carp of the year so far.

Roll on my next trip and hopefully a few more chunks.


Dean Macey