First Twenty on the Steamies + Effort = Success

Well, lets get started. I am currently coughing up my guts up but yesterday i found myself on a local well known lake for a spot of pasty bashing. Yesterday, being Sunday the 22nd of May was a day where i was meant to be going sea fishing with my dad and josh. However, due to strong winds our trip was cancelled, we were all disapointed but we were determined to get out. I have to admit, waking up wasn't easy as i was suffering badly with the flu (and still am!) but the prospect of nice weather and a a bend of the rod always spurs me on. This lake wasn't a lake i'd normally fish, a heavily stocked commercial fishery where the banks were lined with concrete, not ideal! I try and stay aways from this kind of water but i wanted to go somewhere where we definately have a few fish to keep my dad happy! My dad loves his silverfish but i convinced him to have a carp rod, he probaly has only ever caught 3-4 carp before today. I favoured short hooklinks 5 inches max as the fish are constantly being hammered. I also believe that a heavier lead (i favoured 3oz) would benefit hooking, which it did. Well, my dad had the first fish, an 18lb mirror (Rubbing it in!) Incidently i was using Steamies TNT which is a lovely bait, when you crack it open it just oozes goodness a really nutty toffee mix which the bream dont seem to pick up but the carp love! Throughout the day we had a run every ten minutes, sometimes i had 2 fish in the net. I found myself often not being able to tie pva bags quick enough! Two things occured to me though, one being that we were outfishing everyone to our left and right, and secondly the fish seem to be bigger. My dad who i mentioned before has never been carp fishing even said that bait is doing the business! Towards  the end of the day i found myself attached to something a little heavier, this turning out to be a 20lb common, the fish only allegedly go up to 23lb so we must of something right! I never sat down for more than ten miutes which is key on every venue, never more so on commercial fisherys where i find you should always recast every 10 mins.  The bait i use can be found at http://www.steamies.co.uk/ Til next time, Jack.