Church Service - Oli Davies

CHURCH SERVICE

OLI DAVIES

A chance to fish the iconic Church Lake with Alan Blair and Oli Davies - find out how the KHV auction winners got on with 48 hours in front of some serious big fish and personal guiding from the best in the business!

LIFE CHANGING Keep your finger on the pulse - Next Generation Bite Indication

THE SIREN R3’S line speed sensing system eliminates false indications from wind, weed and even flowing water. Yet the moment a hooklength is tightened, a lead is moved or the bobbin lifts from a line bite the R3 tells you what you need to hear. It’s next generation indication.

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CHURCH SERVICE - OLI DAVIES

Alan and I have been lucky enough to have fished the Church a lot between us, and have landed some lovely carp but the pressure was on to ensure that the guys who had so generously donated to the KHV Research Fund Raiser were well looked after and had the best chance of catching some of its prized residents.

With the session falling at the start of March how the fish behaved was going to be very much weather dependant. Luckily, the signs were encouraging with a couple of fish caught the previous week so wake up time could just have been timed perfectly.

The four winners, Bryan, John, Ant and the youngest of the group 15-year-old Ben meet at the Nash offices to draw for swims. Young Ben draws the lodge, Ant to his left by the pump, John to his right in The Wibble and Brian opposite on the back bank. Time for a cup of tea and then down to the lake.

Anyone who has fished the Church finds one of the biggest challenges is the blanket weed that covers much of the bottom, even through the winter. Locating spots and presenting a hookbait effectively can be tricky. Alan gives the lowdown on some productive areas but casting about and feeling for spots with a marker isn’t the best plan with limited time, so it’s out with the boat.

Drifting slowly around and using a Prodding Stick to feel the bottom is a quicker way to feature find, and the fish in Church have no fear of the boat. A soft cushioned sensation through the stick means weed, bare clay is obvious by the solid donk. Many of the spots are small and would be tricky to find or cast to otherwise. Finding clay on the end of the Prodding Stick means a potential feeding area and a great place to position a rig.

Bubbling in front of John in the shallows is encouraging and as rigs are dropped in turn the Prodding Stick in front of the Lodge is being used by the carp as a rubbing post, repeatedly knocking it about – a great sign carp are active in the area. Bait around the rigs is minimal, tactics being to fish for one bite at a time with just a pinch of flaked Key Cray, The Key pellet and a few grains of sweetcorn.

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With the bottom rods positioned, Alan also prepares a zig rod each for the lads. The previous week all the captures fell to short zigs presented above the weed. Rig tying is interrupted by Ben getting a take – unsurprisingly on the rod where the Prodding Stick had been knocking before it was removed. After a spirited fight Alan slips the net under the fish for Ben, a massive relief to get the first one on the bank. The balanced plastic corn hookbait has worked perfectly.

At 21lb this pristine Church Linear isn’t quite a PB for Ben but he is well pleased. After unhooking, weighing and a quick photo call it’s time to get the rod repositioned.

Grains of corn are kept permanently in soak in the creamy Liquid Sweetcorn Extract, and each recast a fresh hookbait will be taken from the pot to ensure it is giving out maximum attraction.

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CHURCH SERVICE - OLI DAVIES Next it’s Brian’s turn over on the back bank. There’s been steady bubbling between him and John next door, and finally at 3pm it materialises into a hooked carp. After another spirited fight Alan does the honours again. This one is a bit bigger than Ben’s fish, registering 29lb and a new personal best for Brian!

He is over the moon, grinning like a Cheshire cat as we read the weight from the scales. Like the first fish the winning tactics have been a small trap with 2 grains of glugged and balanced fake corn.

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As evening comes the action has died down – time to scoff pizzas in the Lodge that Alan has collected. After an early start and a hectic day everyone is in bed by 10pm. John in The Wibble has the first action the following morning with a take on his right hand rod whilst watching the lake with a morning coffee. He nets a chunky mirror then his middle rod is also away, and after a less spectacular fight he nets an even bigger common. What an amazing ten minutes, two Church chunks safely in retainers in the margins!

“Not only another new PB for John, but also a new 40 for Church – what a result!"

We know straight away with a PB of 29lb John has beaten it, the question is by how much? The mirror goes 36lb-plus, and with that photographed and returned we turn our attentions to the common.

There aren’t many commons in Church, and it looks like one we know to be an upper 30. Amazingly the needle bounces round to just over the 40lb mark. Not only another new PB for John, but also a new 40 for Church – what a result!

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CHURCH SERVICE - OLI DAVIES The grin stays on John’s face for the remainder of the day, and with three of the four guys with fish under their belts, and two with new personal bests it is down to Ant to bag one for a full house.

Alan keeps busy as always repositioning rods, tweaking rigs and hookbaits to try and get the Church carp to respond.

He talks Ant through everything from camouflaging leads with clay from the margins to hook and rig mechanics.

Despite maximum effort the rest of the day remains uneventful with the Church carp now very quiet.

Another Lodge social and takeaway, this time kebabs and burgers, followed by an uneventful night and worryingly no morning bite to start the day with a buzz.

It’s grim news – the lake has shut down.

With Ant the only one of the guys yet to catch and the clock ticking, Alan won’t take failure as an option and heads to the office lake to try and get him a bend in the rod while the other guys have a slow pack down.

Even the office lake carp prove tricky, but right at the death one of Ant’s rods goes into meltdown and he nets himself a spirited double, finally a Nash prize trip carp, albeit a consolation.

And so it was time for our guests to leave. It had been a tougher session than first impressions promised, and it would have been nice to see all the guys leave with a PB but that’s fishing. For everyone to have caught was an achievement, and memories taken away, lessons learned and experiences shared we would hope are a fair exchange for such generosity donating to the KHV research fund.

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