I was up at 5am and on the road at 5:45 for the 20 mile journey. It's not that far from Chittenden, the society's other lake and I found it really easily which is a relief because I do get a bit worried when I drive into the unknown.
As I pulled into the empty car park I felt a sense of relief that there was no one there. I could take my time walking round the lake and choosing my swim. After the first lap round there was only one winner, peg 1 (didn't know it was peg 1 at first). It is a corner peg with plenty of lily pads which are quite close to fish too.
Apologies for the quality.
Here is a view of the swim from the opposite bank.
For a change the weather was fine and sunny as I set up. I intended to fish close to the pads with the float well shotted down for easier bite detection. Obviously I knew what to expect species wise but not size wise so to be safe I used 5lb main line with a 4lb hook length.
Next up was the groundbait. I like to initially lay what I consider to be a good amount of feed at the beginning of a session and then spent the rest of the day topping it up. To this end I mixed a generous helping of brown crumb and red tench/carp attractor (about 90/10 split). Into the mix I added some meat and corn. When ready I put in two large balls. I had some hemp with me so in went about half a pint. I also had some maggots/casters left over from a previous session so in went some of them.
So off I went with the eagerly awaited first cast. There was some initial float movement which told me that there was something alive in this lake but no instant take. Thirty minutes or so into the session and the float dived under, I struck, the rod bent and I was into a good sized skimmer. Just as I was about to celebrate a non blank day the fish came off! Undettered I re-cast and a few minutes later it's brother made the net. I now knew there was at least 2 bream in the lake!
Now that I had caught I settled down into the job. Feeding regularly with free offerings and with strawberry sweetcorn on the hook I started to attack the swim. After the first hour I began to catch quite regulaly. Roach, Skimmer Bream and small Tench mainly.
During the day a few other anglers came and as each passed me they stopped for a word. We discussed how things were going and they all agreed that what I was catching was about as good as it gets apart from the carp which normally make an appearance in the late afternoon.
Around 11am I set up my feeder rod with a small cage feeder which I loaded with some of my groundbait mix. For bait I attached a 10mm strawberry boillie to a size 14 hair-rigged hook. I cast in, put the rod in it's 'sleeper' position and carried on float fishing.
I didn't have too long for the tip to go round. A nice skimmer of around the pound mark. The next one was a small tench. It appearred that my tactics were working. I didn't think it would be long before a carp came a knockin'.
The early afternoon period followed the morning's pattern. I was consistently catching fish however they were all on the small side. My fist personal best from Nursery Field came around 15:30 when I tried using maggots on the hook. After one unsuccessful attempt to land a 2 ounce roach the float and bait landed just in front of me. Before I had a chance to retrieve it the float went under and I was into the smallest barbel you'd ever likely to see. Half an ounce if it was a day! A personal best all the same though!
As the afternoon progressed the carp began to show on the surface. I made the decision to switch to meat to see if I could tempt a few out.
For the first time ever since my return to fishing I never got a sniff using the meat. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
I did get a take by a carp on the boillies late on in the day but unfortunately it managed to get into the lily pads and that is where it stayed. Shame as it would have completed a good days fishing.
In conclusion I think this could be a very good lake for me once I have learnt a bit more about it. There are some good looking swims which I need to explore further. The carp will not elude me forever!
On the downside I got into a bit of a tangle that took me at least 10 minutes to unravel. Once I managed it I promptly stood back on my rod breaking the middle section.
So the history of the rod is this - Bought it new 2 seasons ago, broke the top section last season, broke the middle section this season - any guesses for next season?
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