The Wharf... A Lake Where Dreams Come True!
Ryan White had an epic session on The Wharf Fishery in Wales which saw him land his first Welsh 40!
I had been on a long blanking spree so I thought I’d book a week off work and give it a proper go on The Wharf. I started at the beer garden peg and blanked the first night but loads of fish were on me so I decided to stay put and do another night. I had seen more fish showing to my right so casted a single Ronnie Rig at it, in the morning the rig ripped off but it was only a low double. Even though the fish were on me they seemed small so I packed up and decided to move to the pillars, an area where the bigger fish had been coming out. I got to the swim, set the kit up and fanned the rods out all in the margins, I felt especially confident with one rod which was on a shelf in 10ft of water which drops down to 25ft +, the fish had been holding up there the past couple of weeks. I blanked on my first night, but little did I know what was about to unfold!
I reset all my rods in the morning, my approach was a simple Blow Back Rig with a 4oz lead and a DNA S7 boasted bottom bait topped with a cut down S7 pink dumbbell wafter as a visual aid. I clipped my rods up, put a pva nugget on and waited for the foam to hit the surface allowing me to put a light scattering of S7 boilies whole and crushed, S7 pellet, some tony tackle mixed pellet with S7 glug and stick mix for extra smell around my rig. The first fish didn’t take long after resetting the rod, I received an absolute one toner! It gave me a hell of a battle and if you know The Wharf then you would know how snaggy the place is, the fish got snagged on some scaffolding bars, I could see the fish and the size. After finally getting the fish free it swam into open water going on huge runs, it even jumped out of my net 3 times! Finally she was over the cord and it was a fish called ' The Slippery Common', one that hadn't seen the bank for a long time and it looked huge. I rang my mate in bits, I didn’t want to say it was a 40lb common but I knew it was huge. We did the weighing and the fish went 39lb 6oz, it was a stunning Welsh immaculate common. I was on cloud nine but a tiny bit gutted she didn’t hit my first 40lb Welsh carp!
I reeled my rods in and wasn’t in a rush to get them back out, I had to make fresh rigs so decided to rest the swim for a few hours. Six hours later I decided to get the rods back out, doing the the same tactics as before. I reset the rods and within a matter of 3 minutes the rod just went into complete meltdown again. This fish felt huge, going on huge runs to the snags and almost cutting me off on the deep shelf, again this one got snagged it’s clear in the margins and I could see the snaggy area and the fish. Panic stations started to rise! The bailiff confirmed it, his words still make me laugh now “Ryan don’t panic there’s only a 45lb mirror on the end of your line!” She slowly moved towards the middle of the water and was able to get free of the scaffolding poles, she kept going on huge runs towards the deep bowl. It was a mental battle! I watched her slip over the net cord and words couldn’t ever explain what I felt. I couldn't stop shouting, I was full of joy. The biggest common and biggest mirror 6 hours apart! A few of the lads came to help and we did the weighing and pictures, my first Welsh 40 at 41lb 8oz!
The night went by with no more fish so in the morning I decided to recast the rods, through the afternoon there was a lot of shows so I felt confident. The rod went off again this time it was a small low double. I clipped the rod up, put the pva nugget on the hook and I couldn’t believe how many fish was on the spot, I couldn’t cast out otherwise I would've spooked the carp. I waited until they moved off the spot to put the traps in. Just 2 hours went by and my rod went into meltdown once again, I couldn’t believe this was happening as I been really struggling on there and everything was going textbook this session! I picked the rod up and the battle was the same, the fish headed for the dreaded snags. An unbelievably beautiful fish hit the surface, ‘Tomi’ an old original fully scaled!' My favourite capture of them all, I am a sucker for a fully. The wharf is a place of dreams and a dream certainly came true for me...
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