The first night had passed away uneventfully for me and Will and the water in front of us seemed devoid of fish. A heavy snow shower out of the blue engulfed us and laid at least an inch of white carpet all around the lake.

I took a walk up to Will who was flat out on his bed-chair. He looked really rough, as he had been in the pub on herons point with Calvin for most of the night. I went back to my swim and no sooner than I had arrived when Phil and Andy turned up. I made Phil a brew and Andy and me sank an early morning Carlsberg. I gave them a rundown of the lake as they had never set eyes upon Farlows before and they then went to take a look around for somewhere to fish.

I arrived in pads bay and walked into Jim and Luke’s swim on the far side. They had chosen to move into a double swim together and were currently getting their last rods into position. I carried on round and as I past the channel out of pads bay I noticed a massive fizz of bubbles from over where Jim had told me he had cast his first rod and baited up. I went back round to him to tell him but as I arrived in his swim his right hand rod absolutely blitzed off and he was into a chunk. Unfortunately Jim couldn’t stop the fish and it snagged him on the edge of the channel going out of the bay under an overhanging bush. The line parted and Jim was gutted. ‘Don’t worry’ I said, hopefully you will get another chance soon. With that I left and walked back round the lake and down towards the knuckle to see how Will was doing and to recast the rods.

I was now on my own with a huge curry that needed devouring, even though I now had two portions all to myself. The pan was just put on the Coleman when the mobile rang. ‘Dad! Its bloody massive’ Jason bellowed down my ear. ‘What is?’ I asked hurriedly. ‘Darren has caught a right chunk, a mirror 36lb 9oz’ came the reply. Darren must have been over the moon with that one, his first time on the lake too. I told Jason to get some good photos of the fish and to say well done to Darren for me. What a result for Darren! First a personal best common and now a 36+, a fantastic achievement for sure. The Cyprinid boys were certainly having some fun up there I thought looking across at the seemingly fishless water in front of me.

20lb 4oz for Phil

It was now about 9.00pm and almost pitch black, for sure I was about to do a mad one and move. I just couldn’t help myself and I knew I would get in somewhere between Jason and the others if turned up in the dark and bent a few ears. I was in the middle of packing everything away trying not to lose anything when the mobile rang. It was Phil over on the factory bank. ’How’s it going’ he asked. ‘Shit’ I replied ‘I’m moving’. Phil started laughing and filled me in that he had caught a fully scaled mirror of 20.04 and more importantly that his dad Andy had fallen in the lake whilst casting out. What a result! A fully scaled and a quick dip all in one hit. I chuckled to myself and proceeded to move the mountain of gear in four trips to the truck.

I drove along the track with the lights off using just my head torch out of the window so as not to disturb anyone with the main headlights and soon passed Gareth’s and Darren’s swims. I pulled up just passed where Calvin and Jason were doubled up where there was an empty swim just before where Will was now situated further up. Engine off and everyone who was set-up along that stretch of the bank came over.

Jason thrust a can of some rough beer into my hand. ‘I knew it wouldn’t be long before you turned up’ he said with a big grin on his face. ‘Get them rods out dad, but just don’t get hooking one left in front of me’. I told him quickly that I would do just what I wanted as I dragged the rods and my hook-bait bag out of the truck. Two singles went out somewhere in the night and the third was a PVA bag of pellets that followed not far behind. I elected to not set the bivvy up and to sleep in the truck for the night.

Gareth informed me that he had caught a 24lb 8oz mirror earlier on a single cranberry & Garlic ‘snowman topper’ just whacked out at range. We all had a good laugh and a bit of banter between us and shared more than a few beers to celebrate Darren’s earlier result. This trip was certainly going to be one to remember for the boys.

Gareth was more than pleased with this 24lb 8oz mirror

Tap, tap, tap, sounded on the window of the truck and I turned to see Phil outside with a rather strange looking cigarette in his gob. It was just before 7.00am. ‘Any luck Phil?’ I asked. He told me he had lost one in the night and his dad Andy had also lost one at the net too. I was gutted for them both. I was glad Phil had arrived this early though and had woken me as I wanted to get myself into gear for the day and it was just getting light enough for a mark around to find some spots and apply a bit of bait.

All the rods were wound in and out went the marker. I decided to fish one rod to one of the islands under an overhanging bush on the right-hand side with a single snowman topper hook-bait and the other two rods over a bed of bait at 80yards range. About 2 kilos of the ‘warlock’ fishmeal freebies flavoured with Mulberry Florentine and N-butyric acid went out to the mark and I felt much happier for the day ahead. Darren appeared whilst I was finishing baiting up and said that he had caught a small fish in the night but nothing had happened for Gareth.

The morning was pretty much uneventful and it was certainly apparent that there was less fish movement in front of us compared to what the lads had seen the day before. It was just going to be a waiting game for us all this day and hopefully the afternoon would prove more fruitful.

20lb 14oz, absolutely stunning

It was my last full day on the lake as I had to be leaving first thing in the morning and it was a growing concern that we were seeing very little, however I was confident the baited area may trip something up. The afternoon turned into late afternoon without a twitch and I was beginning to wonder if a chance would come my way at all when all of a sudden my middle rod howled off and I was attached to something that had fallen to one of my baited rods. A good scrap was had for about ten minutes before Jason had it in the net. Darren and Gareth had heard the commotion and called round just in time to see me photograph a 20lb 14oz common. ‘Result!’ they both exclaimed. It was good to see a fish today as nothing else was really happening anywhere. The fish was soon returned and although not a whacker, I was well chuffed for a bit of action. Night time soon fell and was very quiet indeed with Darren the only one to catch. I had netted a small double figure common for him not long after dark, which was returned straight away.

The next morning Will and me packed up early to begin the long journey home. Gareth and Darren were soon for the off as well as were Phil and Andy. Jason and Calvin and Jim and Luke were to stay for another night as they fancied their chances and we left them to it and were soon on long drive back to Shropshire.

Later on that night Jason gave me a ring and said that he had caught a 22lb 4oz common and was over the moon with the result. The fish were definitely showing further over by the other side of the islands according to him though and he was sure some had moved down the lake further past heron point. I told him I was dead chuffed for him and the next day saw him turn up at my place with a few photos of the fish.

It was a great blast to have a bit of fun with the boys once again and I don’t think it will be too long before we all get back down there for another Farlows tour.