Ecton Lakes & A Deluge.

Monday night saw me fishing for Carp on the invite of Carp "legend"
Alan Taylor at Clover Lake , the smallest of his Ecton Lakes Complex.
The journey had myself and syndicate member John bathed in sunlight, but as we pulled into the complex, old Izaac looked down, thought to himself,"That looks like ol' Gurn down there" and the heavens opened.
The lake is around 5.5 acres in size,depths range from 4 to 11 feet and it is well stocked with Carp to just over 30lb.
This was to be my first night on the lake and I opted for the left hand side of "Road Point".
Setting up in the rain is never ideal and I duly set about the task of sorting my home for the night.
With the bivvy set up and daylight rapidly dwindling I started to get my baits out. A Pallatrax "Jungle" Bloater pop-up fished on a D-rig on the left and a Carp On Baits Peach and Pepper boilie fished Blowback style on the right were placed stealthily no more than a rod length from the bank and my usual Betaine Green and particle groundbait concoction went out with them.
I beat a hasty retreat to the dry of the bivvy and before long darkness closed in.
It rained lots, in fact continuously throughout the night. The sound of the rain and bigger droplets falling from the trees were not condusive to sleep and relaxation. As I looked out over the lake I half expected Noah to come floating by in his Ark.
Rain, oh rain, it follows wherever I go. However, we all know that with the rough comes the smooth and at 4am my left rod was away.
I squelched out to the rod in the still pouring rain and struck, the rod took on that satisfying arc we all hope for. The fish had gone a fair way down the left margin and I began to wish I'd put my coat on before leaving my bivvy.
A spirited battle ensued and even when the fish was in front of me it made it quite clear it wasn't coming to the net easily,making lunges for freedom. It was no match for old Gurn though and eventually succombed.A beautiful fish that at the time I presumed to be a Mirror. It's feisty nature and the pouring rain meant that I only had one photo (having now got the coat on) before returning it and looking back feel it quite possibly could've been a Leather!
Daybreak arrived quickly and the birds started calling. A group of Blue Tit youngsters noisily enquired to a parent "When is this rain going to stop" as they sheltered in a nearby tree. That most noisy of waterside birds, the Kingfisher shouted it's distain to the sky from a willow limb, unable to fish as the water rippled with the torrent. Even the Aylesbury Duck swam for cover, the Mallards braved it though, pretending to be tough..or just plain crazy.

As I looked out over the lake I had this for my view..

...having packed away the bivvy, with only the rods left to reel in before going, my view was this...

Ah well, that's fishing, you really couldn't make it up.