Sunday, 10 April 2011

Cut Short!

Sunday 10th April

Firstly, apologies for no updates over the last couple of weeks, a combination of a nasty cold and the fitting of a new bathroom put paid to any chances i had of getting out last weekend. Thankfully however ive had the oportunity to get out a few times in recent days and although its been somewhat tough and slightly lacking on the fish front ive still enjoyed myself.
Thursday evening on a local club pool saw me targetting some Tench with little success. Id never fished it before but my old pal Phil had a bit of a result there earlier in the week and i figured it was worth a bash. Other than one missed chance i blanked but it gave me a good taster of the place and i will be back.
On Friday afternoon i headed for another local club lake, this one being a decent sized gravel pit. I didnt even see any sign of a fish let alone get any bites, another blank!
My next session was to be on Sunday and i needed somewhere which would give me a good chance of catching something in order to restore some confidence. As i racked my brains, one lake in particular kept popping into my head and after a quick recce on Saturday afternoon my mind was made up. With the bright daytime conditions of Saturday being predicted to continue into Sunday i figured an early morning start would give me the best chance of catching something.
I arrived at about 5.30 and setup in the half-light, out went two bolt-feeders baited with maggots and half a pint of maggots was then spodded on top of each. Once settled i sat back to soak up the atmosphere of the place, the dawn chorus was in full swing, mist was rising off the lakes surface and the sun looked pink as it tried to burn through it.


Nothing happened for a good while until around 8.30 when my right hander signalled a steady run. The fish had me backwinding from the off as it headed towards a large tree on the far bank. A bit of steady pressure saw it turn but unfortunately it began to kite to my left which wouldnt have been too bad exept that it went behind some nasty looking branches which were sticking up out of the water in the margin. I could feel the line grating and was just waiting for it to part. Amazingly, despite much tugging it all held together but now the line had looped around a solitary branch and the Tench was well and truly stuck about 15 yards out from the edge. I could clearly see it and had no option but to go in the lake to rescue it. I waded out and eventually managed to scoop it at full stretch with the net. At 6lb it was a nice fish and provided some consolation for getting wet!


After returning it my swim resembled a bomb site, my shoes were full of silt and i had a distinct aroma of wet dog about me. I packed up somewhat beaten but certainly not out of the game and i left with a mind to return for the evening stint.
I re-arrived at the lake for about 4.30 and setup in a different area to the morning. The action was surprisingly slow but i eventually managed to pull a small Tench of around 3lb out of the hat as the sun went down. That was the only bite i had but at least id managed to catch a couple over the course of the day.
The warm weather over the last week or so certainly seems to have got nature kick-started and summer only seems just around the corner. The Koi in my garden pond havent been as hungry as what they are now for several months, i darent put my fingers near the water in case i dont get them back!




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