I couldn’t swing the hours at work this week so I had to go
fishing on a Saturday. The venue of choice today was Hare Lake at Gabriel’s
Fishery.
I’d fished Hare Lake once the previous season. On that
occasion I’d fished the swim at the bowl end of the lake in the wooded area.
Whilst there I saw someone having a good day fishing the channel immediately
before the lake opens out into the bowl and it was this swim that I hoped to
fish today.
I arrived at the venue at 6:55 to find the car park empty
(unusual especially for a Saturday) I assumed that the weather was having its
toll.
I unloaded the car and packed the trolley ready for the
short trip to the swim. The swim on first impression looked very ‘fishy’. On
the far bank (far being relative) there was a reed bed and already I could
signs of underwater life.
On previous visits to this lake I’d caught mainly roach and
skimmer bream so bearing this in mind I decided to start with a waggler and a
size 18 hook.
I mixed up the groundbait and threw 2 large balls about
three quarters of the way across. I then fed some hemp and maggots in the
general area of the groundbait.
Starting on single red maggot I made my first cast at 7:50.
Seconds later the float dipped and in came a nice little roach.
The first hour was very productive. The single maggot was
working wonders on the hook. It managed to lure 5 more roach, 2 rudd, 2 very
small carp, 1 bream and reasonable size perch.
After the first hour I realised that I could probably keep
catching these small fish on maggots all day but if I wanted something a little
more substantial I would have to change baits. To this end for the second hour
I swopped to corn.
As the swim appeared to be alive with fish I fed some more
groundbait, loaded the hook with corn and waited. The second hour wasn’t as
productive as the first but did yield another small carp and two skimmer bream.
I decided to try a small cube of meat as well as corn for
the next hour and this seemed to give me better results, 3 roach, 3 small carp
and a bream. The roach and bream were on the whole bigger than those I caught
on the maggot.
The last hour before lunch continued in much the same vein,
3 roach, 1 bream and 6 small carp.
Whilst eating my lunch and having a well earned cuppa, I
still managed to land six more small carp. I was beginning to suspect that
either the larger fish weren’t around or that the smaller carp were just
getting to the food quicker. I was feeding relatively heavy in comparison with
recent trips but it still didn’t seem to deter the small carp.
The next hour showed a return to the swim of the roach and
the bream perhaps the carp were taking a siesta! There were 2 bream and 2 roach
as well as another 6 carp.
I was beginning to give up hope of catching anything over a
pound in this session however I still had another card to play – bread flake.
For the next hour I alternated between meat and flake. The result I hear you
ask? Eight small carp and a gudgeon!
I only use the middle of the slice as bait so from time to
time I broke off a piece of crust and threw it into the reed bed to my left.
Within a few minutes a mirror of about 3lb came up and scoffed the lot! I knew
then they were still in there.
After landing another 4 carp and one each of roach, perch
and bream I got into an almighty tangle. By the time I was sorted I was left
with just line. I took this opportunity to switch to the feeder rod for a spot of
free-lining down the margins.
In the margins I used a large piece of flake however I still
couldn’t tempt anything substantial and had to be content with 2 more small
carp.
In conclusion this was a day of two halves. The first half
was dominated by the silver fish and then the second half by the small carp.
I’d never caught small carp in Hare before so I can only assume he’s bought
some in or stocked it from Swallow lake.
Due to the larger carp not making a visit today I’m forced
to have to go back there in the near future to see if they make themselves
available.
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