03 | Deer Park | James Tetlow

The idea of fishing on the park came to mind after a successful year down in the midlands. The park has always been somewhere I intended to fish at some point, but I just didn’t know when. That decision came after scoping up the red eyed wild beast I was after. I wanted to find that feeling that the midlands pit gave me, freedom and lovely carp without worrying about other anglers. Normally the size of the carp is less of an interest to me as long as I get excited about the place, fishing for a big carp is a just bonus and the park was one of those places, solitude and freedom. I couldn’t wait to get going.

My first trip ended up being a bit of a last minute decision, it was the April full moon, the weather was good and I knew I needed to be out there. I remember it being a Friday night and I had promised a few of my friends I would show up for a few hours to my mates birthday-do round his house. It was 11.00pm and I remember looking up at the full moon, techno booming down my ears and I thought fuck it - I’m having it… I said my goodbyes, the ten footers and my rucksack were thrown in the car and I set off to the park. I was relieved to have rods out fishing for around half twelve, especially after the drive and long treck in. I always have my kit as prepared and as ready as I can for them kind of trips. My rucksack is laid out in the same way every time to be able to operate as well as I can in the dark. Two 18mm hot shrimp cork balls plopped a short distance out on chods and a small spread of bait over each. I sat back on the mat under the shade of the oak trees, a southerly breeze lapped down the length of the pit towards my plot and with a full moon lighting up the lake, it sure felt like it was game on. Sure enough, boshhh…. A carp had clattered out to it’s wrist of its tale slightly further out than I was fishing, it was incredible. On a pit almost 90 acres in size with around 30 carp residing in it’s depths, there really is no buzz like it. No more than ten minutes later another show, it was same distance and slightly right. The carp really did put a show on that night under that full moon, the atmosphere was electric and I didn’t have to wait long till one of the chods was away. My heart skipped a beat, I grabbed the rod and proceeded to do battle with an angry park lake carp. The full moon provided me with a natural torch that night and it wasn’t long before I slid the net under a deer park mirror, and a good un too! A quick phone call to Rob and he soon agreed to come down to take some shots and share the buzz with me. Rob was down within the hour keen as mustard and looked just as buzzed as me, but that might have been the close encounter with a big stag on his way in!! After a short while we decided to get the fish out, we identified the fish as a mirror known as Chestnut - one of the two bigger mirrors which reside in the lake. I was buzzing, we’d both seen the mirror a couple of weeks previous on a hot day and it looked big! On the scales it went 31 something, so not as big as we thought but what a result and it was a carp from the deer park. To be honest, I was in awe to get a bite from the place and there was certainly something about the lagoon on a full moon. Rob rattled off some shots and we got on our way sharpish. I did have another go a few weeks later on the May moon but got plagued by the tench and the carp seemed to elude me.

Fast forward to the summer, and I got some sickening news through from Rob that somebody has found a massive common dead in the park. I remember finishing work that day and heading straight down there with a small rucksack and a small fold down shovel. I was hoping the news was just a rumour and packed the shovel just in case hoping that I wouldn’t need it. I walked down a length of the pit I’d been tipped off where the carp had been found, but saw nothing. I walked for a good half an hour up and down this area to no avail… I decided to head a little further up than I was told and it wasn’t long before my fear had become a harsh reality real quick. I was looking at the best in the land perished beneath me. My heart sunk, I was devastated. But felt the least that I could do was to show the great carp respect and bury it in the best place I possibly could. My chance had gone but I was relieved to find the carp myself, and not spend a lifetime chasing a ghost…

Before finding Jim’s, I’d started baiting an area consistently down the Northerly end of the pit. With the news spreading of the death of Jim's, a couple of the anglers that were fishing this area retrieved their kit out of the park and to my knowledge everyone had stopped fishing it after that. I didn’t know what to do at the time and after talking to Rob, he persuaded me to keep at it and have ago for some of the other park carp. To be honest it was a lot to risk for what was left in the pit, but sometimes you’ll risk it all for the possibility of something incredible. We had seen two fish in the Spring whilst walking it which were more than worth carrying on for, I didn’t have any other plans so I decided to keep at it for the rest of the year.

I had been baiting for around 8 weeks, 3 times a week with big dog food sacks of mixed particle and hot shrimp. The first trip I went in, it was blowing a southerly and I wasn’t really feeling the zone to be was honest. Even after all the baiting, I knew how much them wild big pit carp followed the wind. It was a full moon and it was my pencilled in start date so I went and put my pound in anyway. I did 72hrs that trip, and I got a bite on the first morning. It was an upper double common on a 22mm hard hooker and a 18mm tipper, I left that trip knowing it was game on as soon it blew a Northerly.

I was still baiting 3 times a week as well as working Monday to Friday at the time. I was taking holidays for the time off to fish the park midweek due to it being so much quieter with the public and ranges alike. With the next trip on the horizon and some consistent Northerlies forecast, a holiday was booked in with the manager and it was game on. I’d been giving them a lot of bait, so I was expecting that a few carp had been taking full advantage of that. Even though it was a low stocked pit, I knew a couple of friends that had done well baiting on there. Although, after speaking to them none of them had done it to the level I was doing. I was hoping I could go to that next level with the consistency and sheer volume of bait I was putting in. The holidays at work soon came round, and I was boating out at first light to my poke hole in the rhodies. I had made the swim boat access only to minimise footfall around the back of the swim. The last thing I wanted was to wear down a path through the bushes straight to my little hidey hole.

It was a simple case of clipping my rigs on and swinging them to their marks. I had already clipped them up before going in, and had little electrical tapes markers on the line the case of any re chucks. I had given them a full bucket of bait on first light as I drifted over the spot in the boat. I could see the two electrical hi viz spinners placed 6 foot apart and five inches below the surface so to be easily visible. I quickly dumped the bait quickly paddled back to my little poke hole. I was using big snowman hookbaits at the time, 22mm Hot Shrimp bottom baits and a 18mm Garlic Xtreme hookbait toppers. There was a lot of tench and hybrids that could cause you nightmares at times on there. The snowman’s seemed to combat them nicely, where as chods and hinges they would hang themselves every-time. I awoke to the following morning to an uneventful night on the park. It always appears to have a really thick mist on the water at that lake, that seems to take an age to burn off which is ideal really when your trying not to be seen I suppose. As mid morning came and the mist subsided, the sign of sheets of bubbles over the spot soon had my confidence sky high. They were all over it, and it looked bang on for a bite, the wind was pumping down to pit towards me plot and it was was going to be a nice day by the looks of things too. Then the carp just seemed to start showing, not just on my spot but around the whole area and a good 100 yards into the bay to my right. It was clear there was a lot of carp present, and well up for having a feed. I was blown away with what I was seeing and it didn’t take long for the sound of one of the clutches to start spinning. As I picked up into the rod I could see the braid zipping through the rising mist at water level and the carp was heading up towards the fence. After a short while I had a jet black dumpy common chugging water in front of me, netting carp on the easy. The silt is so soft and one wrong step can see you disappearing. I had to bring in my own planks to act as stepping stones just so I didn’t sink into the silt - dangerous place… Luckily the common played the game, and I’d caught a park special one. I decided to swing the rod back out with the amount of carp present in the swim. The rod went out first time and I sat back and gave Rob a bell, he had already arrived at the Midlands pit to go fishing himself. But the site of a deer park carp had him heading back up the M6 - respect mate. As I’d seen Rob clambering through the undergrowth, I set off drifting towards him with a sack full of deer park common! What a buzz. He quickly helped me ashore with the boat and as I peeled the sack back… I looked at Rob and said ‘ a black fucking deer park common’. Rob done me proud with the camera and took some incredible shots. We both headed out once more piss wet stinking of silt but with memories to last a lifetime.