Make hay whilst the sun shines

Well go fishing and the sun wasn't shinning but al least it wasn't raining.

Last night I got to my one of my local pond at 7:45 pm and knowing I'd got at best an hour and a quarter I took just two baits to fish two tactics
Curried meat, which I fished on the bottom and bread for floating bait.

I picked a corner swim near some reeds and threw a few bits of bread in to the corner, then set up a simple float set up to fish the curried meat on the bottom.
Not a touch on the meat but after about ½ hour the bread began to be taken with a slurp, I continued to feed a few bits of bread to keep the carp (only 1 or maybe 2) in the swim.
After another 10 minutes I took the float of and fished the bread free line, and it took all of 5 minutes for a carp to fall for it.
After a 5 minutes fight a carp of a 7lb ish (lovely old dark common)was landed and returned.
The time was now 8:45 so I packed away my gear and returned home

Just goes to prove a little effort is worth it even if you only have an hour to fish

Well done Paul - A for effort on that. It takes me too long to decide to go, by the time i have made up my mind its usually too late.

I think warm, humid conditions after heavy rain are amongst the best to fish in, especially if its still quite gloomy.

I'd had a late tea (that's Yorkshire for evening meal)
And didn't get a chance to go until late - and given the weather of late I had to take the chance when I could

Like your day I often have short spells of fishing; maybe 2 or 3 hours. It is somehow more satisfying when you catch a decent fish or two during a short spell. Also I expect you find it satisfying to catch on simple methods. I often just use a simple float set up. Although you caught your fish on free line the same applies. I bet the fish gave a good fight, I catch carp around the 6-12lb mark usually and they can give a hefty scrap.

Hi Mark
Yes sometimes a short session, catch a couple of decent fish and home is more enjoyable than a long day fishing, and it's nice when you have a plan in mind and it works out.

Carp around the 7 or 8lb mark are great fun caught on a float in the margins and it was a really good fight this one put up - I was fishing on a wooden platform and the carp kept trying to get underneath it, if it had it would have probably got away, so it was touch and go a couple of times.

Yesterday was the first dry day in three weeks. I'd been down on the river trying to catch something in the floodwater to no avail. When I got back little wife wasn't particularly hungry so I nipped up to the pond at the back of our house to use up the spare bait.

First chuck with a brandling resulted in a small carp. Next I tried Chorizo moulded round the hook. These fish are as wild as you can get having been stocked 19 years ago and barely seen an angler until I moved in two months ago. So far, these naive fish have taken bread, sweetcorn, sheep pellets and luncheon meat even though they have never seen them before. Just shows how catholic carp's tastes are. It took half an hour before the float twitched and then another few minutes before it sailed away. I got another one on luncheon meat before packing up. I wish I had taken the fly rod though as there was a lot of surface activity. Still, there's always tonight.

Some may consider a half dozen average roach in a 2 hour session not a bad catch. The same over a 16 hour session would be a bit disappointing I think. I have had experience of both. I used to do these marathons on commercials a lot a few years ago and often felt the time, expense and effort weighed against what I caught not a good reward. But, even a few fish over a quick spell can seem like a good day. Probably just getting older and lazier though.