I have a certain reluctance to fish the club’s carp lake at
Chittenden although it is a fine fishery. This is purely down to the fact that
in summer it gets very busy and very noisy, that is the constant commentary of
certain members. For this reason I hadn’t been down there all summer but today
I figured that the crowds might be less and it could be worth a visit.
I set off at around 6:30. The sun was out but there was a
chill in the air, this was borne out by the fact that the temperature in the
car at one stage registered 4.5 degrees.
There were 2 cars in the car park when I arrived, after a
quick look around I saw they were set up on the near bank. This was good news
for me as I planned to fish the far side of the first island.
This photo shows the lake when I arrived:
I loaded up the trolley and headed off round the lake. Not a
lot had changed since my last visit in the spring, even the discarded keep net
was still where it was thrown. The NO LITTER policy obviously working!
I quickly set up my 2 rods. Both had size 14 hooks to 6lb
main line. The left hand rod had 15ml pineapple frenzy boillies and the left
hand one had 10ml monster crab.
I made my first casts dead on 8am. I then settled back on my
chair to read my latest Stephen King (11-22-1963) while I waited.
At 9am I decided to feed the swims again with about half a
dozen boillies.
The photo below shows the lake after the mist had gone.
At 10am I checked the baits on the rods, fed the swims again
and re-cast to the same spots. It was about this time that I was joined by a
couple of senior members who told me that they had come there because the car
park at Nursery Fields was full!
Here is the pineapple swim:
Here's the view going up the lake: The angler in the photo was havinga s much luck as me.
Noon came and I once again checked my baits before feeding
the swim and re-casting. I also started my lunch, small sausage rolls and a
couple of very spicy scotch eggs!
Here's my set up :
13:00 arrived and went with no apparent change in the
proceedings. So yet again I fed the swims.
Here's the two guys who couldn't get into NF:
At 14:00 I decided on
a little change when I reeled in to check my baits. On the monster crab boillie
I wrapped some halibut paste round it for some added attraction.
The clear blue sky
of the morning was now replaced by a heavily overcast sky. I suspected the rain
was imminent.
The action finally started at 14:35 when the pineapple rod’s
buzzer went off and I was into a fish. I knew straight away it wasn’t a carp.
It turned out to be a small skimmer. How it managed to get the boillie I’ll
never know but all that was academic as it came off as I went for the landing
net. I was still blanking!
15:00 came and went after I fed the swims again. The wind
was also getting stronger. On a positive note I was getting through my book.
Finally at ten to four in the afternoon the buzzer on the
pineapple rod went off big time. This time I knew it was something more
substantial than a skimmer bream. I took my time playing it, I didn’t want to
lose this one. It circled around in front of me for a minute or two before it
came to the net. I hadn’t blanked! When I weighed it I found it was a 5.5lb
mirror, not a monster but a welcome sight indeed.
At 16:00 I checked the baits for the last time as I’d
decided to pack up at half past five.
During this time other people had also decided to leave. As
I packed up I wondered why things hadn’t worked out for me. Was I in the wrong
swim? I had caught from there before however that was before the island had
been heavily pruned. The guy fishing opposite me had been catching consistently
throughout the day but he had been the only one.
If someone could offer some advice I would be grateful.
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