( up to 60 ft in places) but nestled deep in the Cornish countryside & well grown over since the effects of the last mining era . The surronding area being a mixture of wood & undulating farmland. It is one of the most beautiful places I know of. The carp within, I had been told of, but apart from one or two brief glimses amidst the dense overhanging foliage, had never actually seen one on the bank.
The days before the rigs had seen me baiting up with all kinds of concoctions , but I was a youngster & the task of understanding the 'watercraft ' needed to get results from this type of water ,did not come easily to me. For a start I would watch how the 'experts' fished this water ,but of course they were not actually fishing for carp & rarely did they catch any . But I knew the monsters were there & I was going to catch one if it took me untill my dyeing day. I fished during the daytime as a youngster & the carp fever was gradually becoming engrained into me . I was persistent but not totally commited to carp just yet & when the going got too tough & I became temporarily overawed There was always the 3-5 lb Tench to fall back on ! I had learned where the carp lied up during the hot summer daytimes & would sit for hours hidden among the undergrowth watching a handfull of uncatchable bronze leviathans. Breadcrust ,luncheon meat , maggots & infact anything I knew about was totally ignored by these, indeed very crafty fish . There they lied without a care in the world, soaking up the afternoon sunshine , Uncareing, Uncaught, Uncatchable, Unbelievable., is how I would think of these fish, they had not been caught in more than a decade as far as I could make out . I gleaned all the information I could find about these incredible fish, but so far I could only dream about capturing one of them.
Well the situation was about to change , a local gravel company had purchased the rights to supply sand & aggregate from this pit & when he began to seperate the sand etc by circulating the water from within the lake ,it became very murky, & this affected the lake in more than one way . For a start,while the pump was running it shattered the tranquility of 'my carp lake' and secondly the dense beds of 'Canadian pondweed' (,which I have never seen in Canada) gradually & almost totally disappeared due to the lack of light penetration into the water. Partly because of the awfull noise & also due to now becoming an engineering apprentice, I had now purchased a Brolly Camp as it was then known (bivuac), also my new found sweetheart had bought me the latest (locally made ) electric bite alarm , armed with these latest gadgets I felt sure I now had the answers to capturing one of these elusive cyprinids. Well several episodes in the darkness ensued, during which time I caught bream , tench ,roach, rudd, infact almost everything except ,CARP. I was begining to think these carp were in fact a figment of my imagination. Gradually my enthusiasm wained and as I could see no way possible of catching them, my visits became less & less. I was fishing other pools in the area though, & at one of these pools I met a 'newcomer' to the area . This particular lake (about 8 miles away) I was doing quite well on; catching carp in the 4-8 lb range with the odd double thrown in & the chance of a monster (seen, but never yet caught ) . I was quite happy fishing this way . Then I met Bill,who had all the latest gear & I was totally in awe of the tales he would tell about fishing 'up country' & as we were chatting I mentioned about Bilberry Pool ." Yes" he said I've been there" First cast in, caught a leather 21Lb " , I staired in disbelief, those fish are uncatchable I said , but it turned out he had, indeed caught one of the very fish I had almost given up on. Well this news rekindled the flames & in the next session I was back to do the business !. By now I had purchased one of the latest alarms (electronic ) & infact still have a modified version of them today. I'd also learned about boiled (specials) as they were called at the time , and I had learned from the other lake, which was similar in nature, just what sort of structure to look for the carp in . Loaded with more tackle , new bait ,& wiser in Knowledge , once again I was ready to handle the(,not quite) , uncatchable fish.
I had learnt from the other pool that the carp would come onto the shallows during darkness ( I already knew where they were in daylight ) but I had already tried the conventional baits ( sweetcorn , luncheon meat, etc ) so I knew this was not the answer . I decided on a baiting campaign with 'catfood' boiled specials . Every evening after work I took down to the pool 60-70 baits and baited the largest area of shallows. On the second or third baiting I was following the bankside footpath & to my amazement ,actually spotted 2 carp feeding right under the trees next to the shallows where I'd been baiting up . They were not eating the baits but at least I had bait in the right area, my heartbeat quickened ,this was the first time I had actually seen these carp feeding & not in their daytime sunbathing area . I was gaining confidence rapidly , even from the sight of these fish. One of them looked very large & I could not hazard a guess at the weight, but it must have been close to 3 ft long. Friday night could not come quick enough I came out of work an hour early , because I wanted to get everything just right before darkness. I raced to the pool, the sun was still shining , birds & crickets were singing . The banks were deserted ,not a ripple on the water surface . It was an absolutely ideal setting , the sun was behind me & everything was in perfect position . I could feel the atmosphere ! The baits were in ,alarms checked,landing net ready , ---then slowly darkness enshrouded the pool , & the dew started to form and it began to get a little cold with the damp air coming off the Atlantic Ocean. I began to feel a little lonely & yes even a mite fearfull of the unknown !. Then something unbelievable happened ,the bobbin on the right hand rod moved , the atmosphere became electrifying, the bobbin hesitated then carried on going right into the butt ring , I was so shocked for a second I did'nt know what to do , then I jumped at the rod , snapped home the bail arm & next thing I remember was having to let go the reel handle to allow enough line to be taken without getting snapped up. For the next minute or two I tried to get the fish under control & during the darkness it was not the easiest thing to do ,the carp was fast & ran first to the left making toward the daytime sanctuary I had watched these fish from many times before . Then I managed to turn the fish & he came straight towards me and carried on going , this time making an escape route into a small inlet stream on my right , luckily the 12 ft rod was long enough to pass over the bushes growing along the bankside ! . From this inlet stream I played the fish out & when I finally netted the carp It weighed in at a little under 15lbs I believe ,but to me this fish might well have weighed 50 lbs, the actual size was not so important , because now my dream had been realised & this unless youve experianced it , is the most difficult thing to put into mere words . At that particular moment, I think I could have just reached out & touched the Moon ! I did recast but it did not matter if I caught anything more that night: For I knew now it was only a matter of time before the others would eventually follow & follow they did , but it took almost 2 years before I finally hooked the big leather & he was the last fish I actually caught from Billberry Pool . Bill on the other hand ,I dont think he ever caught another fish from this lake ! .
Hope you enjoyed it - - BFN Carpsava.
