NIGHT AT THE DOCKS

Hey all! - Done a night session the the other day with my mate Alfie and a bloke Reg feeling, wet, cold but happy none the less!
Me and Alfie met up at the docks at 5pm - we were planning to fish the east dock for some carp and hopefully one of the 10 catfish that are in there. We had quite a selection of bait between us so we were ok on that lol
What we had: Maggots (3 pints), 8mm pellet, Worm (dendrabaena and lobworm), 4mm Smartbait smartbait hookers, Chickpeas, Sweetcorn, Bread, Smartbait boilies (10mm and 15mm)
We had the day all planned out - floatfish until dark then put out 2 buzzers out each during the night, we were confident and ready to go.
Then we got a bait in the water and all our hopes changed...the floats were dead, not a touch! And then the heavens opened! Pouring down and we were in it! We sought shelter under a ledge from an old aquatics centre between the 2 docks and whilst under there we set up out leger rigs. I ended up having one out on a bolt rig with hair rigged double corn and the other on a running rig with 2 worms on it - I was going for a cat. Alfie had his set out with a chickpea on a semi-fixed bolt rig also.
Alfie's rod was on the left of the LineaEffe pod - I had an old Lineaeffe Lotus rod in the middle and my Lineaeffe Senator carp rod on the right with the Lineaeffe B-King reel on it on the alarm on the right.
Alfie had his rod set in about 12 foot of water to the left, my middle one was in the middle of the dock about 18 - 20 foot deep and the one on the right was out to the right about 18 foot deep also.
Things were not picking up at all, not even a blip! Reg on the other hand was getting a few takes but was striking in to nothing! Which baffled us all, but it boosted out confidence a bit as we knew there was obviously fish moving about. So we re-baited all areas except for my worms which I left single all night. And then it started raining, again! And it didn't stop all night.
It wasn't until about 3am that when we were all standing there chatting, me, Alfie and Reg with tea and coffee all steaming upwards that Reg says, "Can you hear that...shhh!" and we listen...all we can hear in the distance is a faint "bzzzzzzzzzzZZzzZZzzZzz" so Reg runs to his rods thinking its his, silly me! I'd forgot to switch the middle alarm back on and it was the bait runner going on my running rig. I shouted for Reg to strike it and his immediate reaction was obvious. It was on double worm on a 3lbs test curve rod with 12lbs line and the rod had a good bend in it - so immediately I thought it was something nice, Reg then shouts "Ash I think it's a carp mate!" so I run over and take back the rod with one hand and thank Reg and shake his hand with the other (!)

It didn't feel like a carp to me though...although the rod was at a really nice bend it didn't feel like a carp to me, but the fight seemed familiar....it was like a big pull then a "kick kick kick kick kick" really quick at the tip, for a brief moment I thought it was a big tench but then upon further thought I knew there was only about 5 tench in the lake! It wasn't until about 5 minutes later when it surfaced and scared the heck out of Alfie as it jumped out of the water in the margins at him, that I found out what it was....not a cat like I was going out for, nor a carp, but in a way I was happier, it was a lovely sized eel! Now I know many of you hate eels but I love 'em! So I was ecstatic!

We kept the eel in a big bucket of water for the morning so we could show the lake owner as he thought they had all died in the lake, as well as for us to get a better picture of it on cam, and to weigh it also...It came to 2lbs 4oz - not that big but a new personal best! And considering it's an eel it must be about 14 years old! The eels cannot escape from the docks you see as there is no way of getting out, so once they get in they just grow and grow! Here's a pic of the eel - And the best one I could get as it was a wriggly little bugga :

NEW PERSONAL BEST EEL OF 2lbs 4oz

After returning the fish safely to the water I rebaited up my 3 areas but it was still quiet - not Alfie nor Reg had caught yet and we were finishing at 11am that morning.

It was about 7am and it was getting a lot lighter by this time - Alfie was freezing so he went to his bag and added a couple of layers on lol - I on the other hand has 2 sets of trousers on, thermal socks, - a top on, a hoody, a coat over that and over it - all I had was all in one on - lol.

About 8 o' clock the manager came and I was helping him out with some stuff on the west dock - it is getting starved of oxygen at the moment and I was helping him pump oxygen in to it via the use of pumps and filters around the lake. We stood there chatting about this eel for a while and all of a sudden in the background I heard a one toner! I, at the time thought it was Alfie mucking about with his bite alarm so I rushed round to check it and have a go at him for scaring me but when I got there I was shocked to see Alfie walking around on the other side of the lake and my bobbin hitting the rod whilst line getting stripped away from the reel at a good speed! I hit in to a nice fish on the double hair rigged corn bolt rig setup which put a nice bend in the 2.5lbs test curve Lineaeffe Senator carp rod, and after a few minutes I was netting a beautiful 7lbs 8oz mirror carp :

I was overwhelmed that I had caught after such a cold and miserable night and I was congratulated by the manager as he was impressed that I had caught at all!

Reg and Alfie on the other hand had blanked but were happy to see a couple of fish come out still.

It made the day even more special when we saw one of the resident Koi "Lockjaw" in the lake in the shallows near us - come up to bid us all farewell...

Thanks for reading all and happy fishing to you all!

TIGHT LINES ALL AND HAPPY FISHING DESPITE THE CHILL IN THE AIR!

Ash