http://www.carpquest.co.uk en-gb carpquest.co.uk 2009-7-31T00:00:00Z carpquest.co.uk http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#45910 I had the opportunity yesterday to get down to Colnbrook West to have a quick afternoon session. It turned out to be quite productive considering it was a bit of a wet morning. I arrived at the lake just after a very heavy shower. My swim of choice had been taken so I decided to fish the Smellie swim. On surveying the lake from the swim I saw a fish crash out on the plateau just in front of me. Justification enough for me to stop here and fish. I set up the shelter first as showers were likely then set about setting up the rods. Not knowing what I would be fishing on I decided to have a quick cast with the marker in the area I saw the carp crash out. I dont usually do this but on the plataeu it was fairly weedy. I cast just beyond the weed and found a small area which seemed to be a little lighter of weed. I set up the rod with a slow sinking snowman rig aided by a few nuggets of dissolvable foam to help the hook link settle on the weed. I placed a few boilies over the top and ca... 2009-7-31T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#44869 Weekend 35709 Well its about time I updated as I have been to the lake now twice since my last entry. Lets go back to last week and a quick social at Colnbrook. I had managed to get a friend of John and I to fish with us for a birthday get together. I was fishing the nights and leaving about 6am Saturday and Sunday mornings to go to work. I was returning about 1pm to continue fishing. On the run up to the weekend I had put a little bait in on a spot that doesnt get fished much. I thought this may provide an edge when the weekend came. The week was very hot and it seemed that all the carp wanted to do was chase each other through the weed beds. This was no different to the weekend. I got down after work on the Friday afternoon and set up in my chosen swim. I baited and sat back and awaited the arrival of my carp fishing buddies. I had managed a little cast around in their swims to find a few clearer spots for them to fish as this saved them alot of time when the turned up at 7... 2009-7-13T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#43332 Today all I was going to do was look in at the lake and see what was going on. I wasnt going to fish today but just bait up a few spots for a few hours carping on Wednesday and Thursday. I stopped at Point 1 swim and got talking to Stokey who was just leaving. In the bay to the left a few carp were sunning themselves and I just couldnt resist a few casts. I had just given Stokey my last half of box of chum mixers so quickly drove to the local garage and purchased 6 softwhite rolls. On returning I threw out some freebies into the bay and let them drift into the bay where the carp were. Whilst waiting I got my travel rods out the boot I always keep them in there just for such occassions and assembled one as quick as I could. I was going to freeline a bit of bread so setting up was not that complicated and it wasnt going to scare the carp off with a big splash. By now a few carp had taken the free bait on offer so I baited my hook and cast in. It didnt go that far so another bit of bread ... 2009-6-15T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#42641 I have just returned from a quick session at Slough House. I managed to get home early and the weather was beautiful so I thought an afternoon surface fishing was in order. I persuaded my better half to come with me so she decided to tiddler bash whilst catching a few rays. I set up my surface fishing rod and threw out some bread and mixers to get the fish going. Whilst waiting for the carp to start slurping down their free lunch I set up my other rod which I was going to fish a bottom bait. I thought that I would try and do something a little bit different. I mixed up a tin of tuna with some pellets of all different shapes and sizes and added some broken up shellfish boilies. I also added a few grains of corn and corn juices. For the hookbait I used a 14mm shellfish boilie topped off with a buoyant piece of imitation corn. This was all cast out in stick fashion to the margin opposite. I started fishing around 1pm and was going to pack up at 6pm. During the first few hours I ba... 2009-6-1T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#41820 After our last outing John and I had an opportunity to do a quick over night session at the lake. I was able to get down early on the Friday afternoon and John was meeting up with me later. On arrival at the lake I found only one other angler fishing and they were on the road bank swim know as A4. The wind was blowing into the the little bay at Point 1 swim so without any further deliberation I set up and cast one rod to the reed line and the other rod to the island. I was just using a single popup on the left and imitation corn on the right. Nothing much happened during the afternoon but I took the opportunity to find a few spots out in front. Just before John arrived I shifted my rods over to the right hand side of the swim and cast out to some likely looking spots in front. I had to go to work first thing in the morning so let John try out the reeds and island overnight. It has produced a few fish over the last few weeks so I think John was confident of a bite. I h... 2009-5-15T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#41757 Hello fellow carpers I have just returned from a five day session carping at Colnbrook West and must say its proving to be a bit of a challenge. I thought it would have produced a few more fish to both John and I. To be honest what we lacked in carp we more than made up for in finding out lots of carpy knowledge about our new lake. Previous to our session I visited the lake to bait up a few likely spots around the islands in preperation. On arrival at the lake Monday evening we found the Islands swim available which was a right result as it is quite a popular swim. There was only one other person fishing on the lake and they were in Point 1 off to our right. Colnbrook is a little on the weedy side and a new experience for us. We had a plan and after casting out we set our plan in motion and that was to spod out some gravel along with some pellet and hemp to a spot. We were going to try and make our own clear spot and fish it. The weed at this stage is only light but its still... 2009-5-1T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#40261 Well I just got home and must say I am feeling quite pleased with myself having fished at Colnbrook West for very first time and caught one of the original commons that inhabit it. I was only down for 67 hours so had to make the most of it. I chose to fish in the swim called Islands. There are 2 islands on Colnbrook and both are fishable from islands so I positioned a bait out to each one left and one right. Nothing was forthcoming for the first few hours so I decided to reposition the left rod to just off the point of the island. Within half hour the rod was letting out a familiar tone and I was into a fish. After a very spirited fight I landed a beautiful common carp of 22lb 7oz. The only problem was that I could not get a photo as the only other angler was the opposite side of the lake. I tried to take one of the carp on the mat but just as I was about to release the shutter it flipped and escaped back into its watery home. Still I have the memories I tempted Mr Carp on a 15mm... 2009-4-21T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#38113 Its been a few months since I added anything to the blog but have some news on the carp fishing front. I have just joined a lake called Colnebrook West out by heather airport with my fishing bud John. I have been wanting to fish here for some time but the opportunity never really was a possibility as its an hours drive from Essex. But after twisting Johns arm and telling him I would be able to fish some weekends he was willing to join. So let me tell you a bit about the lake. It holds an impressive stock of fish for what is a relatively small lake around 4.5 acres. Colnbrook West Lake can and often does produce some very big catches to anglers who get it right on the day. Some carp that were introduced a few years ago continue to pack on weight with one or two attaining 25lb with a current stock that can include over nine thirties to the current lake record of just over 38lb along with over thirty five fish over 25lb and hundreds of low twenties and doubles it is easy t... 2009-3-13T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#30795 Well just come back from a night carp fishing session with my Dad at Horton Kirby but sad to report that on this occassion fail to catch any carp. I however did manage to pull in yet another slab of bream around 5lbs after it greedily swallowed a double 15mm boillie. On a positive note at 1230am the old man did catch a lovely common carp around 22lbs which I think he was quite pleased with. It really did give him a good ole scrap all the way to the waiting net. It was only a brief encounter of an over nighter as I still needed to work today. Well done to Dad who managed his fish even if it was down to my accurate baiting 2008-10-10T00:00:00Z http://www.carpquest.co.uk/page18.htm#29567 Saturday 24th November 2007 Well what can I say it was the next day after the coldest night of the year. It was 3 last night and I had planned to do a 24hr session with John but given the over night temperatures thought maybe a day session was in order. I arrived at Birds Green fishery at around 7am. It was my 1st ever trip to the venue so didnt really know what to expect. Walking around the small lake I was surprised to see that at least 5 people had done the night. I spoke to a couple of regulars and picked their brains on size of fish stock methods etc. Usual questions I really didnt know much but the only swim worth fishing was towards the end of the island at the shallow end of the lake. Birds Green at dawnMost other anglers had set up nearer the bottom deeper end. Noone had a bite all night so it really was looking a bit bleak. The days had been quite warm since Wednesday and I was hoping for a warm one today. It started to look like it was going to warm up but it remain... 2008-9-11T00:00:00Z