4 November, 2024 | Carp | Angler Blogs | Articles

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Ian Russell’s Diary October 2024

All the action from Ian Russell’s October in fishing including a rather special type of knot tying…

Well I’d decided that this trip to the little club lake was to be my last for a good while as I had other venues in mind.

On arrival I made the usual lap of the lake but the only place I’d saw any carp movement was in a small bay at the back of the smaller island, so off I trundled to get the Barrow and soon I had 2 rigs loaded with my usual solid bags with 12mm Choccy Malt pop ups as hookbaits.

Sitting back to enjoy the atmosphere, I only had to wait about an hour before yet another mid double was scooped up. Although I had really enjoyed my trips here, the constant onslaught of mid doubles had me craving some larger carp.

You see, just the last week yet another of the 40s was found dead. Now these are old old carp so quite clearly this happens but with the prospect of a dwindling stock of ‘Wanted list’ carp to hope for, it was time for pastures new.

The rest of the day was quiet but I did move the left hand rod away from the island into mid water after spotting quite a lot of fizzing there in the morning so the trap was set for early the next morning if the culprit was to return to that small area.

Well, you’ve gotta love it when a plan comes together and the next morning as hoped for, a lovely mid-20 linear mirror was landed. For sure it was a lovely parting gift for me as I slowly packed away and said for now my farewells to the little club lake.

In total I had fished 18 nights for 17 carp and 11 tench, so although only 2 of the better ones had fallen to me it was definitely time to move on.

Next up was my Total Carp Trouble Shooter trip and this was back to my fave day ticket complex in Linear Fisheries.

We had chosen Hardwick for our feature this month and my client was Martin Haywood. You will obviously need to check out Total Carp to see how we fared but to say that Hardwick did not disappoint would be an understatement – with some quite hefty carp caught for the camera.

My next trip out was a double tutorial with Tony and Shirley whom, I had met lots of times previously at various carp shows over the years and Tar Farm lake 6 was to be our chosen venue.

Once set up, we covered everything carp wise whilst drinking copious amounts of Lattes! It was mid-afternoon before we were angling properly and the carp started to make an appearance. Shortly afterwards, Shirley nabbed a lovely dark low-20 and Tony chipped in with a mid double.

By the end, they’d managed 10 carp between them, all of which were recorded amongst some horrendous rain showers. Thankfully, the morning brought sunny weather and we could pack away dry.

The approach we took to catch was a bucket mix of sweetcorn, Frenzied Hemp and 12mm Monster Tiger Nut boilies in each swim and the Tar Farm carp, much like every other lake I visit, loved it!

I will definitely be taking more clients onto the Tar Farm complex in the future.

Earlier in the year I had been asked if I would present the trophies at the final of a competition series which had been ran on the Linear Fisheries complex called the Biggun Carp Cup.

The final was being held on Hunts Corner the day after the Tar Farm trip so I was back up early the next morning for this commitment and have to say what a great bunch of lads who took part.

We all laughed and trophies were given in yet again heavy downpours and off home I went.

Now my next week was spent not angling but preparing for the next Saturday as Debbie and I were getting married – and what a fantastic day we had sharing it with our rather large family!

The reception, other than family, was a who’s who of the carp angling world!

It was truly a mega day spent with those we love and it honestly could not have ran smoother, so thank you to all involved.

Onwards and upwards and I’m off to Abbey Lakes in a few days with my good friend Keith so I will fill you in on that next month but for now its tight lines to one and all!

-Ian Russell