Closed Season done and dusted

Saturday 12th June

After last weeks Bream exploits i thought id have one last crack at catching a proper-un before the rivers open. I decided upon a night on the same pit i did my last night session on in the hope of landing a real lump.


After the dismal failure of my maggot methods last time around i decided to try a pellet and boilie approach alongside method feeders. A chuck around with the marker rod reavealed a fairly uniform bottom with very little weed. The lake is virtually split in two by a large bar in the centre and it was along this that i cast my right hander. The other two rods were fanned around to the left of this with the middle rod in about 10ft of water and the left-hander out in about 16ft. Each rod then had a scattering of boilies and i sat back for the wait.
As it started to get dark, one or two Bream began to show in the deep water near my left-hander, some good fish too. As day turned to night i settled into my sleeping bag , full of anticipation of some action during the darkness but alas none was to be forthcoming.

After a fairly decent nights kip i awoke to bright sunshine at around 5ish. After answering the call of nature and checking the rods i jumped back in the bag and spent the next hour drifting in and out of conciousness until the alarm on my left hander jolted me back to reality. I was out of the bivvy like a shot and soon found myself connected to a fish. It came in like a wet lettuce but but even so it was great to actually land something from the venue. At 7lb on the nose it was a small-un but very welcome-un!

Just after returning that fish i noticed a couple of bream roll in the open water about 40 yards off the big bar. I quickly reeled in my middle rod and repositioned it to where i spotted the fish. I was well confident but even so, it still caught me off-guard when the middle alarm sounded about half an hour later!

I struck into the fish and was surprised when this one actually pulled back! it fought well for a Bream but after a quick tug-of-war in the weed, a nice 8lber was soon landed.

No more action came my way after that but i was well chuffed to have banked a couple and soon decided to start packing up. As i put my sleeping bag away i was shocked to find that id been sharing my bed for the night with the worlds biggest and most disgusting bug! it had shed its skin and everything! think it was a dragonfly but cant be sure, it was nasty whatever.

Well, thats the closed season done for me, my next trip will be on a river and im itching for it!