Roughs Lake Big Common Carp

Roughs Lake Fishing Season

My adventure with Embryos Roughs Lake began with a seeing a Facebook post promoting the lake and seeing the images of this gorgeous looking lake. As I was looking for somewhere new this seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

Embryo were looking for new members and first impressions of the Lake were it was a beautiful place surrounded by silver birches and bracken with some huge ancient oak trees as well. It felt like a really special place. Approximately 6 acres in size it held just 60 carp with some right old lumps of large carp swimming about just waiting to be caught.

 

After putting my name down for a ticket and receiving a start date I planned my first trip to Roughs Lake and couldn’t wait to get set up. From reading the description on the Embryo website I realised the lake was very shallow and had a lot of bird life but I went and fished it to see how I got on.

 

I arrived at the lake for my first visit loaded up my barrow and secured it inside the fence and took the opportunity to walk around the lake and see if I could locate any feeding fish. It was quite easy to see carp, but catching them would prove more difficult. There was not many people fishing midweek and I had a good choice of swims and I settled into the oak tree swim for my first session where I could see a lot of the lake. Within an hour or two I saw fish of over 20 pound swimming past in the slightly deeper water that was close in. On casting out it dawned on me just how shallow the lake was as you couldn’t feel a lead down unless it was an ounce, anything heavier hit the bottom before you had a chance to feel anything down. The lake was also very weedy apart from a strip along one bank. My initial reaction on finding how shallow it was, was how on earth am I going to catch anything in here. It certainly dented my confidence somewhat and resulted in a blank session.

 

The following week I decided to fish what was known as the trench swim. This was a swim in a corner quite near the feeding station where the management fed the carp on a regular basis with pellet. I flicked a pop-up on a light helicopter rig out into the open water, slightly towards the feeding pen and halfway to the island. While I was setting up my second rod the first rod I had flicked in gave a beep or two, the line suddenly tightened and it rattled off. I couldn’t believe it, my first Roughs carp. 22lb and that first rod had only been in about 10 minutes.

First Bite 18th Oct 2023

 

When you get a take in Roughs it is so shallow that the carp bow waves across the lake as it goes on a run. It makes for very exciting heart in the mouth  fishing. From that moment everything changed and I realised that the carp knew their environment and were happy to feed in this shallow water, the only problem is the bird life also knew there was a ready supply of tasty boilies available and were constantly patrolling looking for a quick snack. I found myself settling down fishing but then also having to worry about birds finding my bait and picking up my rigs which made for quite a stressful time in the day. The swans  would dip their heads under the water looking for boilies all day. After catching my first carp I couldn’t wait to catch the next one. I wouldn't have to wait too long.

 

The next trip after a quick look around the lake I ended up in the boating bay. I have often seen the fish hanging around in this area but it was very shallow so I wasn't confident. It gave you access to the end of the island which was not very far away from the feeding station. I set up in the middle of the afternoon flicking out three krill pop-ups on a multi rig. I saw a few fish cruising out near the feeding station so was happy I was close to feeding fish. I settled down in the swim and the afternoon passed and eventually  darkness came with no action, then at 5:00 in the morning I had a one toner on the alarm and leapt out of bed. The fish fought hard, but I couldn't see what it was up to in the dark and after a spirited fight it was bundled in the net. 

21lb Mirror 25th Oct 2023

I had quite a few blank sessions after this and couldn't seem to get on feeding fish, everywhere I looked seemed to be really shallow. I did see fish quite often in the oak tree swim but had blanked a few times in there as well. Before I knew it the cold weather was upon me and it became very hard fishing indeed although I saw plenty of carp I couldn't catch one. One day I walked around the lake in January with very mild conditions and I saw carp continuously crashing out in the oak tree swim so I set up with very light leads and pop-ups and flicked out my rigs and scattered a few hook baits about.

Roughs Lake 30th November 2023

 

I sat there feeling quite excited  because I could see fish moving, however I was getting pestered by the seagulls, they could see my baits on the bottom in two feet of water. The seagulls were trying to dive on to my baits but couldn't reach them but the strange thing was every time they dived down onto my spots,  a few moments later I would get a liner as if they had spooked the carp. Ended  up coming home very disappointed with nothing to show for all my efforts.   

Naturally while I was busy fishing every week and not catching much I was looking about trying to work out where the fish were and where they were hiding away. I noticed that one corner of the lake with a jetty was never fished and I dug out my marker float and had a little look around in this corner. It didn't seem to get much sun so I didn't hold out much hope for this being a good spot. To my surprise I discovered that whilst it was very shallow close in, nearer to the bushes was 4 to 5 foot in the winter months. Once I found this out, when I had finished fishing I would walk around and throw in a few handfuls  of pellets and boilies, with a view to fishing it at some point in the future.

 

About early March time I started to bait it a little more often but still fished elsewhere until I felt it had warmed up enough. The next session was April and I decided to fish it even though it looked really tricky wobbling along a small jetty as there was no room for my rods. I  managed to use my rod pod, securing it to the platform with two platform screws. I opted to fish just two rods in this corner as it would be very tight if I was lucky enough to hook one.

 

I set up my rods with my favourite 14 mm Krill pop-ups on my usual multi rig to a helicopter setup using very light one and a half ounce leads which is my go to bait and setup for Roughs. I flicked both rods out near to the bushes that were overhanging, confident  that the swans could not reach my hook baits. I was using fluorocarbon line so that I could lay it flat on the bottom and not risk spooking anything. I had the rods out all day and was beginning to think that it was going to be another blank. About an hour before dusk I got a  bite which powered away from the trees and up the deep channel. I got two wet feet trying to get on the jetty in a hurry as the alarm was screaming. I could feel it was a very powerful fish but I had no idea what a surprise was waiting for me when I finally netted it. I played the fish back and forth for about 10 minutes before finally I had enough of its games and bullied it into the net. In the half light I could see it was a good fish but because the water was very shallow it was stirring up all the silt and clouding the water preventing me from telling just how big it was. I laid the rod down and parted the net and my first thought was thats a good 30. I left it in the net while I prepared the weighing equipment and when I went to roll up the net and place it in the sling I knew this was something special.

 Big Common 42lb 11th April 2024

 

I zeroed my scales and hoisted this lovely common carp onto the scales. I couldn't believe my eyes, the scales settled on 46 lb including the sling. I struggled to weigh the fish and had to get some help from the next swim to assist weighing this amazing common carp. I settled on a weight of 42 lb and was absolutely ecstatic. I managed to get the photos done while there was just about enough light for a good picture before carefully slipping her back and watching her swim away safely. A stunning fish, a new personal best and my first 40 pounder.  Embryo informed me that this beast of a common was uncaught since its stocking in 2017 which made it feel even more special.

I did go on to catch a few more carp after this including the one called Jambo. But all too soon the fish were spawning and it was time to close a chapter on my Roughs adventure.

 Jambo 33lb 8oz 25th April 2024