The other day I decided I wanted to do a few overnight sessions before the summer was over. I was torn which one to do first and decided to start with a place close to home, just in case the weather turned ugly quick. I went with Fisherville Dam. The are is a large section of the Blackstone river (well technically it may still be called the Quinsig river here, details details..)

  I spent the rest of the afternoon prepping for the trip. I made a selection of DAT Food boilies in some natural colors and flavors and more vibrant colored sweet corn flavors. I also made two batches of pop-ups, one naturally colored vanilla the other a vibrant orange tuitty fruity. I also prepared a 5 gallon bucket of particle mix including sweet corn, chick pea, various seed, and maize. Last but not least was a 3 gallon bucket of ground bait/method mix. My recent mixes have been an assortment of chicken feed, crumb and crushed boilies.

 After we packed the food/water and other things we needed..and I say only the important things, like my reclining chair...it was off to the swim. I took the canoe out to find the perfect spot while Nate and Liz headed back home. Liz would come back in the am with her kayak to spend the day on the banks with me.

I cruised around the river for a bit, looking for signs of fish. Crashing, bubbling, tailing through lilies, etc. Basically looking for where the fish were. I had a few ideas already but wanted to see fish to be sure. Shortly I found the backside of a cove that was simply littered with feeding fish. I saw them moving slowly through the weed beds, bubbling along the bottom feeding through the muck, shouldering above the surface...this was the spot.

 I made my way around the shoreline trying not to spook em off, if possible. The next 20 minutes were spent unloading the canoe, setting up the bivvy, tossing out feed and generally getting everything set up. The sun was setting as it was heading into the night as I got my first rod in the water.

 The first hour or so was quiet. I decided to reel in and move the baits around. This is when I noticed the weeds. I knew there was some weed here obviously, but I hadn't realized just how much..milfoil, blanket weeds, lilies...especially the blanket weed. It was like huge puffs of green cotton candy on my line. I realized the reason it had been slow, chances are, is that my rigs were bad for this place. I had to make a change, and while tying new things up in the dark is always fun, it had to be done! I decided to go with a 12 inch stiff braid hook length, with about 6 inches stripped of the coating to make it flexible. I placed a small split shot just about 2 inches from the hook, this allowed me to fish the pop-ups above the weed and give me the best possible chance of having a fish notice the bait.

  I went with Vanilla on on rod and the tuitty        fruity on the second. These fished over a bed of    my particle mix.

 1139..Action! A big run on the tuitty fruity. I grabbed the rod and banged into a great fish. The next 5 minutes were a flurry of strong runs and me trying to rough the fish out of and around the various weed beds. Anyone who claims that carp are dead weight has obviously never fished for them..or if they had used only 60 pound test line. Fighting a big fish through open water and weeds on a good 15 pound mono line is exiting. Knowing when to pull, when to let it run, how to control the head..this is exactly why I do it. Finally I got the    fish to the mat, also got a big clump of weed, an old hat and my other line!

 After everything else was removed , including the hook, I took my first pictures of the night with a great looking and tired 13 pound even mirror carp.

Got it back in the water quickly to avoid damage, as it was quite tired. I supported it for a few moments until it was ready to swim off on it's own. This is very important, and I am a huge supporter of fish care when fishing catch and release. Keeping the fish out of water a minimum, making sure it is able to swim and ready to swim, using a mat and soft mesh net to handle and unhook it..

 I was texting Ezra to brag around 123o, because he hasn't been able to fish in about a month, when I got my second run. This time on the vanilla and a much smaller fish, roughly 5 pounds. Luckily it also had a lot less weed!

After this I started dozing off in the bivvy. I woke at 2ish to a beep of the alarms, though I think it may have been in my head. Did a bit of video for the blog which I'll be working on later and will post when it is live. At this point everything was covered in dew and the temps were much cooler. The mosquito were still hunting me viciously though...

320 am scrambled out of the bivvy after an alarm started screaming. Through my groggy haze i could tell it was a bigger fish. Was a bit of a hairy fight as it drug me into 2 liliy patches and around a stick of some sort. Managed to smartly move it about and soon enugh had a great 15 pound 8 ounce mirror on my mat!

 Managed about another hours sleep and woke at 5am to another great runner. This one tipping the scales at 9 pounds. As i took the pictures I heard a fish crash that sounded like a horse jumping in the water...inside I really hoped it would get on my line! As i put the 9 pounder back in the water my other rod went off..I was excited but as I got into the fish I could tell it was a smaller one. After a short fight I got it to the banks, probably around the 4-5 pound mark again.

 

 

 

 

 

I was awake now, no sense in trying to sleep...ate a bit of breakfast and grabbed some tea. At 7 am I had back to back runs, one being a smallish fish the other just going over 11 pounds.

 

Took some great time-lapse photos of the sun coming up through the morning for the video...then everything went quiet. Liz brought a sausage egg and cheese on cheddar bagle out for breakfast, though she forgot my coffee! Meh I love her anyway ;)

 

Over the morning and early afternoon, the sun was bright and the pressure was high..humidity was sitting at roughly 70% and it drove the fish quiet.

 

Round lunchtime it got overcast for a few moments and looked as though it would rain. The fish perked up a bit and I managed another small common, and lost 2 fish..the only fish I lost all day. I'm surprised really with the amount of weed.

 

The sun came back out and we had another few slow hours. Then the rain came, a bit around 3pm and it brought the fish out again. Had another 2 or 3 in the 8 pound range to end the session. By 6 we had the car packed again and were heading home. We managed no monsters with 15 being the largest, this section holds fish to the 30's I am sure. All in all in was a great roughly 24 hours on the Blackstone and I look forward to the next over night!