By Chris Murray aka The Baitrunner.
 

After much anticipation my first chance to meet and fish wish some of the regulars off this forum had finally arrived. The time was 8:30am on Friday March 5th and having just dropped my wife off at work, so I could have the car, I now needed to get to B's café in Broxbourne to meet up with Jeff, Nick & The Lounge Lizard himself, Kingcamper!

Jeff was already at the R.V. when I arrived at about 9:45am, Nick had been in contact to say that they had gone down to have a look at the lake. Unfortunately Nick & Neil were unable to make it back upto the cafe, as they’d had to get the height restriction bar at the entrance to the Carthagena car park removed to accommodate Nicks van; so it wasn’t worth going through that rigmarole all over again for a few bits of eggs & bacon.

After the first of three big breakfasts to be consumed that weekend (more about that later) Jeff & I drove the short distance from the café to our destination. Awaiting us on our arrival was Nick & Neil, neither whom I had not met before. After short introductions Nick commented on how I looked totally different to what he'd expected; perhaps I should have worn my lab coat, yellow head and glasses, so as to be instantly recognisable and not cause unexpected surprises. Tim Luffman (Luffers), the extremely industrious event organiser, then greeted and signed us in and briefly run through the rules (of which there were few) and the outline plan for the weekend. With the informal 'formalities' out of the way it was just a case of passing the time until the crucial draw for swims. What seemed like a longish wait (our fault for arriving so early) was punctuated by a take on one of the syndicate members rods, which had been out since the previous evening. As could be predicted and expected with a crowd of around a dozen 'fish thirsty' carp anglers acting as spectators the fish decided it didn't want to put in an appearance, so managed to get itself off the hook.

Slightly disappointed not to see the first fish on the bank that weekend our attention then switched to lake & swim selection. Nick & Neil had already walked around both lakes, whilst Jeff & I breakfasted like kings, so had a fair idea of where, if given the chance, they’d like to fish. Brooke Lake is about 6 acres in size and had received a recent stocking of Simmo & Walthamstow carp, though there are a few thirties reported to be in there. Carthagena Lake is a smaller, much harder, though more rewarding proposition, due to the resident older & wiser fish. The four of us agreed to fish Carthagena Lake, as the fish in there are simply stunning creatures and one of us just might be lucky enough to put one on the bank. Shortly after midday Luffers unfolded the first bit of green paper to be drawn from the hat and announced the name on it “Kingcamper!” a right result for Nick & Neil, because if one person got drawn out they could choose a buddy to fish in the swim next to them. By the time I had turned round they had both vanished and were heading off to a fantastic double peg which gave them total control of one end of the lake. Who could blame them as it was a very comfortable and promising peg. It seemed like an age as name upon name were drawn from the hat before either mine of Jeff's was to emerge. A quick walk down the right hand margin, which had been recommended as a possible productive area, immediately followed the call of “Jeff” by Luffers. Two adjacent swims were duly selected by us both.

Jeff & I were still setting up when the other Fatcarp pair arrived to see how we were getting on (more likely to gloat about their premium peg AND swims!) shortly followed by a pair of EA bailiffs asking to see the obvious. Later, having finished setting up, Jeff & I made our way down to see Nick & Neil and get our first proper view of their swim. With the wind blowing into the bay in front of them and a lack of angling pressure at their end of the lake, we all agreed that if anyone had a chance of connecting with a Carthagena carp during the fish in, it could well be one of these two. During our social visit one of the Osprey lads fishing the River Lea, right behind the luxury peg, landed a cracking 5lb 7oz chub. After a can and a chinwag, Jeff & I both returned to our respective swims to get our baits out. A lot of bivvys around a comparatively small lake, meant a lot of lines in the water, and as the margins do have some form on this venue, it made sense to set both traps fairly close in. With baits in place, a long day behind us and another one ahead of us we both decided to hit the sack early, though not everyone had the same idea. The ethos of the whole event was very much a social one, which meant a few 'bivvy parties' going on into the early hours of Saturday morning.Dawn on day two soon came around after a runless night for all of the participants on Carthagena lake itself. We left the baits in place until breakfast time, as we were told that there was always the chance of a take up until about 10 am. Feeling a bit peckish, Jeff & myself reeled in and headed down to Nick & Neil’s luxury swim for a sociable breakfast. The pre-event information on the carp-angling.com website stated that breakfast would be a sausage, egg and bacon baguette, delivered piping hot to your swim! Shortly after our arrival in the big swim, Jerry, the owner of the Carthagena, arrived with BIG breakfast number 2 of the weekend. The 'baguette' turned out not to be a baguette, but a whole bloomer loaf, sliced across the middle and packed with the ingredients of a 'Full English' and wrapped in tin foil. This was the biggest sandwich I had ever held, and delicious though it was, very few anglers managed to eat their second half, which Jerry had wisely divided the monster sarnie into. I only wish all breakfasts were this generous and tasty, McDonalds could learn a lot from these guys.

The day sat in my swim, waiting and watching soon passed and it was time for the main social event of the weekend, namely the barbecue and raffle. The raffle was a high quality affair in terms of the multitude of superb prizes on offer, which included bedchairs, jackets, bait, days out with 'top' anglers with the star prize of a lovely print of carp feeding which had been signed by almost every imaginable ‘name’ in carp angling. At this point a special mention must go to the guys on the barbecue, they kept knocking out burgers, hot dogs and chicken until nobody could eat anything else. After the raffle a few of the anglers drifted off to their swims to cast in and try their luck once more in pursuit of a Carthagena carp. At around 7:00pm Big Ron did his slide show which was brilliant and well worth attending if any of you do get the opportunity in the future. After the slide show I retired to my bivvy to have one last chance at trying to stab, what were proving to be very elusive Carthagena carp.

An overcast Sunday morning followed another runless night for practically all the of anglers on the main lake, only Chad, one of the syndicate members, had the good fortune of a carp picking up his bait, but when he struck there was no fish there. This basically meant a blank weekend for all the participants fishing on Carthagena Lake, except for one crafty fellow, namely Nick, who managed a PB chub of 5lb 5oz from the River Lea just behind his bivvy swim. Despite the lack of fish, everyone I spoke to had a cracking time and are looking forward to next years fish in.

All that is left for me to say is thank you to the organisers, namely Luffers, for his hard work in putting together such an event and thank you to the Fatcarp lads for really making me feel like one of the crowd. Lastly and by no means least, the really important bit of the weekend was the fact that all together we raised around £8000 for Macmillan Cancer Relief, so in that respect it was a total and unequivocal success..... hope to see a few more of the Fatcarp lads there next year!

Chris