By way of a quick introduction – for those of you who are not familiar with “Toadless”........... The appropriately named "Leather Lake", near St. Albans, is home to the infamous "Toadless Leather". It is a snaggy little gravel pit of some three acres, run (very well, I should say) by a local club. The lake is situated in a public park area and, it's fair to say, that it comes with all the "anglers-annoyances" of that type of location! It’s a totally unique lake to look at – whilst only small, it is full of features and nooks and crannies – depths range from 2 to 14 feet, there is an abundance of gravel bars, silt pockets, islands, pads, weed and snags. As a result, there is plenty of sanctuary for the fish! The main island - which you could be forgiven for thinking was just the back bank of the lake - is really a series of smaller islands, with a maze of channels of varying depth between them and the main lake. There are also the “finger bays” at the West end of the lake - these are over 60 yards long and full of snags! It really is a wonder anything gets caught, as the fish have so many safe-havens. And so to the fish – there’s a small head of large tench and bream – both species going into double-figures – and there’s the 13 carp. Of the carp, there are 6 smaller commons that form the affectionately known "Brat Pack” – ranging from 10lb to just over 20lb; There are also 3 better commons in the 23-26lb range; and 3 mirrors from 13 to 25lb. Then there’s the leather...........affectionally known as “Toadless”. [Apparently it was Terry Hearn who named her - in an effort to keep the venue quiet, he conspired with his chums to come up with the name - a word-play on the location of the venue - Frogmore. Frog More - Toad Less.] She is truly a special fish – as old as the hills, pukka, and the second largest “nude” (i.e. totally scale-less) leather carp in the UK – second only to the amazing Heather. The aerial photo (below left) shows the venue - albeit the channels in the “island” can’t be made out clearly (but it’s that big lump that splits the lake into a horseshoe) – or the “finger bays” to the west end of the lake. (Photo of part of one of the fingers, below right).
I’ve got numerous photo’s of her in the water – none are particularly great, mainly because I don't have the right photographic equipment for sub-surface shots ............here she is looking fit and active earlier this year.........this photo has been well used elsewhere, but I took the original - about 25 foot above her - from the Climbing Tree down in Summer Bay.
40lb+ Leather Carp without a care in the world
2008: So, to cut to the chase.......my first year on there was reasonably successful in terms of my targets - I'd have been happy with one carp on the bank the first year. I landed the smallest carp in the lake - a 10lb 4oz Common - on only my third night, mid-March, from the Point (casting to the spot Terry Hearn caught the Leather back in 2000 I believe). This fish tends to hang-around with the leathe, but gets caught far less than the big girl (only two captures in the past three years that I know of!!) I lost a fish from "Pole Position" in early Jun - thanks to my hooklink snapping employing "hit and hold tactics" trying to keep it from reaching the far margin snags. (That hooklink material was promptly binned, never to be used for another rig again!) My next take from a carp came towards the end of July, when I had another of the "Brat Pack" - a 14lb 2oz Common - again taken from the Point. And I lost another (small common, another of the Brat Pack) from Summer Bay in the first week of August. Amongst that action, I had a fair few tench and a solitary bream. I even had a chance of the leather off the top - late in the spring, I had her going mad on the surface and even watched her come up and “go for” my hookbait – missing it by a couple of inches. Whether she missed it deliberately or not, I’ll never know. From the last weekend in February until into October, I’d clocked up 53 nights - virtually all "quick overnighters" of between 10 and 12 hours. The place had well and truly got under my skin – I had tickets for other fantastic waters – but Toadless had become an obsession – I just couldn’t settle anywhere else as my mind was on the leather. She had been caught 3 times during 2008, but sadly I wasn't on the bank for any of the captures, so had yet to see her in the flesh on the bank. 2009: I was there for the Leather's first capture of the year - a very early one in Mid-March, after a bitter winter, at a weight of 41lb 8oz, from memory. I saw her again in May when she came out at an all time top weight of 44lb 8oz. It was July when she came out for a third time - to my good mate Steve - but I missed that one. I'd lost a fish just before that second capture in May. Everything seemed good for a bite - the lake was alive - and I lost one from "Pole Position" - thanks to another failed hooklink. This time there was no excuse - it was in open water and the stuff just parted on me. It wasn't the same stuff that let me down the year before - but this too is now in the bin! (Incidentally, I know of a lot of people who have been let-down by this particular product, but that's another story). I ended up fishing the next two nights too (not easily done with hard days at work in between!) - with Martin "the Dentist" bagging her on the morning after my third night. That was it until early August, other than a few large tench. I was on night number 42 - the big gal hadn’t been seen much since Steve’s capture of her nigh on a month ago. In previous years, she’s typically been good for two or three captures a year - very rarely anything more than that. So it was no surprise to me that she’d not be getting seen much. I suspected she’d be lurking around somewhere out of the way, in an area she felt safe in, feeding very cautiously. My positive outlook on things told me that she'd have to be eating plenty - she's a big fish and despite the relative lack of competition for food from other fish, she did like her boilies! The areas she’d been frequenting prior to Steve's capture were very quiet now – I'd had just the odd sighting of the smaller commons, but she was giving the areas a wide berth - possibly more due to the drop in the water level than having been caught from there. Although she hadn't been seen and I’d been spending a lot of time watching the water recently – never more so than the past month, I had a hunch I knew where she would be. I bought myself a wetsuit from e-Bay – about 2 sizes too small for me and a tad embarrassing having to ask a passing dog-walker to "zip me up" each time I wanted to go out – with the sole purpose of finding spots that I’d never hope to find with a marker – and for bait placement in areas that I just couldn’t get to with the chesties. I spent a fair bit of time walking the area I fancied - using my feet to really "feel" the bottom and examine it in a way that is impossible by traditional means. It’s fair to say I’d certainly putting in the effort in terms of giving it my best shot – I can’t imagine there’s many people swimming out to place their baits on midweek overnighters!
Chesties, Wet-suits and all sorts – effort in abundance. What’s that to the left of the shot?!!
Although I had a good idea where I thought she would be - a spot fishable from one of two of the swims I'd concentrated my efforts on previously, whenever they were free; this particular swim was always taken. I'd had to adopt a "Plan B" - by fishing another area - a quiet corner of the lake that was generally left alone by other anglers. Despite spending a bit of time here - and seeing some of the other fish regularly - I didn't see a sign of the leather. This just reinforced by view that she was holed-up in the area I'd ear-marked.
Carp-heaven for sure, with the odds stacked massively in their favour!
I’d been fishing one rod on “heavies” and the other on pop-ups for a while now – hedging my bets really, if I’m honest. Previous takes (5 in the previous 94 nights!) had all been to the bottom baits, but past captures of the leather suggested she was more likely to get nailed on a single pop-up – and as she was the only fish I was interested in – whilst any fish from the Leather Lake is a special and valued prize - we were all there for one reason – the second biggest pukka “nude” leather carp in the country. It was a hot and humid evening – just standing there watching the lake was uncomfortable (although more enjoyable than the hard day in the office!). I eventually got around to sorting the rods out – one of them donked to the area that Terry Hearn had caught her (not somewhere that can be fished easily from any swim this time of year due to the pads between you and the spot – see earlier pic!), the other on the spot I fancied she might be frequenting. I put the “heavy” – a single 14mm boilie - on the first rod (the right hand rod) as it was ultra clean gravel there and a pop-up would just be too blatant, I felt. The left hand rod had the pop-up on – a bait that I’d tied on prior to the previous visit (Sunday night) and, being a 14mm cork-ball pop-up, was still good for another night - this being the Wednesday. I’d baited with about twenty freebies on the right-hand rod – and nothing at all on the left – an approach that I’d stuck with in all my time on the pit, knowing she was a cute old fish and freebies just served to help her “regulate her suck” – making it even easier to “do” you. It’s interesting to look back and see that Terry Hearn was calling her “old” 8 or 9 years previously! Steve popped down just as I was getting the rods out - as he’d often done since having her the previous month. Tom arrived a bit later – as he did pretty much every night for the past 2 years. We sat drinking tea – I only had two cups so, I let the guys have the tea and I sank a couple of beers. Tom left as it was getting dark and Steve and I sat chatting until well into dark. It was a partly-cloudy night, but the full moon was bright behind the trees and the whole swim was illuminated – “sleep could be a problem” I thought – the bright moon, the hot humid conditions that meant being in the bag wasn’t an option for comfort, but vital to avoid the biting insects. And an early start to get to work in the morning. Oh joy! I’d forgotten about this next little occurrence until Steve reminded me “after the following morning’s events”. About 11p.m. - I was just looking out at the water and glanced up to the sky when, at that second, I saw a shooting star right in front. I said to Steve, “did you see that mate?”. Steve was looking at the lake, expecting me to point to some ripples or some other sign of a carp, “the shooting star mate – did you see it”. Steve replied, “nah mate – make a wish but keep it to yourself”. I didn’t make a wish, but said to him “bet you can’t guess what I’ve wished for?” – and we had a little chuckle. If you didn’t think you had a chance of catching her every time you went down, you’d not be able to fish the place for any length of time – it’d do your head in – as it had for lots of guys in the past. Steve headed off home shortly after and I positioned the barrow across the gap between the trees and the shelter – a security/peace of mind thing – before getting into the bag. I had a beep in the night on one of the rods and remember thinking, "that’s not too loud" – so got up to remove the “plugs” from the Nevs – it’d not bothered me in the past half-dozen or so nights since getting the bungs, but for some reason, even though the bedchair was within 6 feet of the rods and knowing I’m a light sleeper on the bank, I had the urge to do it this night. I slept on and off through the warm, muggy night, waking to the occasional “odd” noise in the night – I’d always sleep like a log when there were one or more of “the other lads” on the pit with me – and very restlessly when I was on my own, as I was tonight. At 4:30 a.m. the rain started – it came down quite hard and the best I could do was shut my eyes and snooze, knowing the alarm clock was only 2 hours away from singing it’s evil song. 4:55 a.m. (or at least that’s the time I estimate) and it was just starting to show signs of getting light and the rain had stopped. I was slumbering – as you do when you’re half asleep on a comfy bedchair. The left Nev gave two beeps and the bobbin had pulled to the top (I always fish a small “drop” when locked-up – which was the only option on this snaggy little pit – God help anyone who fishes with baitrunners!). I was into the fake Crocs and took two steps to the rods when I heard the line pull from the clip – what a sound that is! - and watched the tip pull round! As I reached for the rod it had just lifted out of the Nev. The spot I was fishing was “interesting” – the bait as close to the far tree-line as I could get it, just left of a small set of pads, in the deep hole behind the bar, with weed all around it.
I was sure she was spending a lot of time here....?!
I managed to get the fish from the tree-line easily – it soon weeded me just my side of the bar (which is like a small wall!) but constant pressure
soon had it moving. I was beginning to wonder – there was no doubt it was a carp – but which of the 13 was it?
By now, I was up to my knees in water – having waded out from the Point, along the gravel between it and the “dot island” to get a
better angle and avoid the possibility of the line hooking up on the tree to my left. It weeded me again,
but as before, it was easily freed. The weed had quite clearly died back over the past few weeks –
which was a touch! It was then – about halfway to where I was now waiting with the net,
that the fish touched the surface for the first time. It was barely a flap of the tail and had me wondering if it might have been one of the small commons?
It was now clear of the weed and I found myself looking at the tip of the rod, thinking to myself, "that's a healthy curve for a fish that isn't doing much"
– could only have been the sheer weight………could it be her?
It had to be? The fish hit the top again as that thought was going through my mind – I didn’t “see the fish” as such,
but the volume of water displaced on it's last appearance on the surface could mean only one thing. My subconscious was obviously working ahead of my concious-thinking - I now realised my hand was shaking and my knees started
to go to jelly – “it can only be her?” I was thinking. She took a bit of line off the clutch, but nothing to worry me (more than I already was)
but was soon on the surface headed towards the net – her leathery flanks lit up in the moonlight – I couldn’t see any scales……….
I pushed the net out – she was nearly there when the little cow flicked her tail and moved to my right –
so her body was over the net but her head and shoulders were outside the right arm of it. I could only inch the net sideways very slowly
(disadvantage of a very deep mesh in shallow water!) so just leant the rod across my left shoulder to pull her back over. It did the trick, I lifted the
net up and she was mine. Deep down I knew, but I still searched her back and flanks for scales once, and then again for a second time – but there
definitely weren’t any. Lifting the net as a final confirmation it was apparent it was her –
she’s the biggest fish in the lake by miles – the next biggest fish being mid-20. I’d got her.....I’d got the 
The successful rig
My Obsession - "The Toadless Leather", 41lb06-August 2009
