Peg 3 was my target for today having been thwarted on my previous visit. As usual I arrived at the fishery just after 7am to find that there were quite a few cars already present. This did not bode well for my plan as most people tend to keep their walking short and peg 3 is one of the near ones.
I unloaded the car and made my way to the lake. As soon as I reached it I could see that the peg was taken. Second choice was one of the top swims on the far bank. On the way to the swim I passed peg 3 and discovered it was Peter the bailiff who had nicked it.
Anyway I carried on up the far bank until I reached one of the few pegs where you can fish to the lilies right handed as can be seen from the photo below.
Big tactical change for today was that I was only going to use maggots as loose feed. Hook bait today was going to be onlycorn, bread and meat. I was going for quality not quantity.
I mixed the usual ground bait and set up my two rods. The first, a standard 3bb waggler with size 16 hook and 5lb main line. The second a feeder rod with a small feeder on 6lb line with a size 14 hook.
Using corn on the waggler rod and monster crab 10mm boillies on the feeder rod I made my first casts at 8:10am.
My master plan seemed to stall in the first hour as I never got a tickle on the corn. The feeder rod though was alive producing a bream and a tench.
Roles were reversed in the second hour as I switched hook bait to bread. The waggler rod yielded a bream and a tench and the feeder rod, nothing!
Another switch of bait and the waggler productivity went down again. Just a solitary tench with a taste for meat came to the net. Another tench and a roach came in via the feeder rod.
With none of today's baits setting the world alight I went back to corn. The change was a success if only to bring the lake's barbel into play, two of them in fact. The feeder rod stayed silent and still.
As I was going through a quiet period(!) I decided to have an early lunch so in came the rods, out came the flask of tea and the food. I then took advantage of the sunshine to enjoy a very pleasant 10 minute break before resuming battle.
Another change of hook bait, this time to bread started the afternoon session. As it turned out it was the best of the day as far as numbers and variety of species were concerned. In no particular order there were 2 crucians, 2 roach, 2 tench, 1 bream and 1 barbel. The feeder rod joined in as well producing 2 further barbel. The bream was a good size, see below:
I realise now that I should have stayed with the bread however I didn't and opted to go for another session on the meat. This produced only two fish, a barbel and a tench. The feeder rod was active but only just with the capture of another tench.
The next hour was my best on the corn although to be fair it only resulted in 4 fish. One each of bream, barbel, roach and tench. The feeder rod produced yet another solitary tench.
Back to the bread and yet again the fish responded. This time primarily tench, 3 of them to be exact and a lone bream. The feeder rod chipped in with a single crucian carp.
From 16:30 to packing up time at 18:00 I went back on the meat. The result was a slow finish to a slow day. Just the two barbel made the net. The feeder rod producing nothing, apparently it had shot its bolt for the day.
So was the day a success? I did go for quality which meant a drop in the numbers of fish caught would be expected however I couldn't tempt any of lakes carp to come out to play. Bottom line, I did enjoy the day so that is all that really matters.
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