River Trent

My good friend Pete happened to mention last time we were talking how my posts were mainly made up of what I wanted to catch but didn't. So this tiime Ive tried hard not to disapoint and I've struggled again!
Its long been my ambition to catch a river carp as I believe these are as close to wild carp as we're likely to catch. So it was back to the river Trent to try my luck. Just upstream from trent bridge is a stretch known as the steps, its a popular place to feed the swans, ducks and geese and its my theory that the carp cruise up and down the stepped banks looking for food.
I set up a pair of carp rods but struggled to get a bank stick in but finally managed to get a single rest wedged in. I kept my rod tips high to keep as much line as possible out of the water and this is where i met my second problem. It would seem that its not only the carp that cruise up and down the steps but also the swans. I'm not sure what the Nottingham swans get upto but they all seem to have bad sight, the few that did spot the rod tips certainly didnt see line and ploughed straight through them. Twice I had hairy moments where the birds stripped line from the reels. Those that know me know my views on these bad tempered vain overgrown ducks and thursday evening did nothing to change my mind!
I was fishing 14mm pellets on one rode and rubber corn on the other and pva bagging small pellet, corn and dry ground bait. Needless to say with the few hours I had, the learning curve to climb and my dubious skills another blank was the only possible outcome!
I did however come to some valuable conclusions for next time
1. I need a rod pod (and now have one!) to have the adjustability on those concrete steps and other solid pegs like Farlows complex.
2. For peace of mind and so I dont have to usher every swan around the lines I'll fish with the rod tips submerged. Good job I now have a pod isnt it!
3. To save money on pva, open ended feeders filled with small pellet and corn will deliver the freebies.
4. I'll stick to the margins as this is where the food the carp are looking for is found, maybe I was casting over their heads
All sounds simple huh?!
The one saving grace was my float rod and stick float, double maggot on a 16 hook. I managed a fairly regular stream of small roach and perch, nothing huge but enough to keep a smile on my face.
Sorry Pete but I'm afraid the news isnt great. Maybe next time.......