On the slabs

Monday 2nd May

Having been away on a break all week with the family i was chomping at the bit to get back on the bank especially after last weeks bagging session. The lake i have been fishing of late had been producing some fantastic bags of fish to other anglers whilst i was away but i felt it had been a little hammered and fancied a change of scenery. I geared up on Sunday evening with a mind to visit the pool at Tamworth that i fished back in  March but when i awoke on Monday morning i really couldnt get motivated to drive all the way over there. Phil had mentioned during the week that he was going to try his luck on a local club water on Monday so, with a lack of any better offers i decided to head there myself and join him.
It was about 7am when i arrived in the car park which i thought was fairly late but i was quite surprised to see only one other car present. The skies were clear and the sun was already out in full force but there was a really good blow on the water which boosted my confidence no-end even though it was coming from the East. A couple of Carp boshed out in the waves and i was soon scurrying around to a likely looking swim laden with kit.
I spent a short while having a bit of a cast around to see what was in front of me before commiting some bait to a spot and casting both rods on top. As usual i fished maggot hookbaits, my confidence in them is sky high at the minute and theyre always my first choice where Tench and Bream are concerned.
I didnt have to wait long for a bite and soon enough a feisty Tench of 4lb was landed closely followed by another of 4.8.

The bigger of the two Tench

After catching those two in quick succession i was looking forward to a good day but a quiet hour or so afterwards soon calmed me down a bit. It was around mid-morning and the sun was really starting to burn when i had a drop-back and found myself attached to the first Bream of the day. At 6.12 it was a 'proper' Bream and i certainly wasnt going to complain if a few more came along .............

................ and came along they did! over the next 4-5 hours i landed 10 more dustbin lids. Apart from two smaller fish of 3lb and 5lb all the others were between 5.12 and 7.2. The lake has no history of big catches of Bream that i know of so i was most chuffed to have landed around 80lb of them by the time i packed up. If it wasnt for the fact that i ran out of bait i reckon i couldve topped the ton quite comfortably because they were still biting when i left. As i  did pack up i managed to hook a cheeky Jack of about 2lb which hit the maggots as i reeled in and duly landed it to cap off a great days fishing.

Below is some pics from the Day;

6lb+

Some of them were bristling with tubercles

 Double header

Maggot muncher!