My downer changed for the better on sunday morning when i decided to join some friends on a bit of a pre-season recce along the Trent. Much fishing talk ensued and after seeing the river in its full summer glory my appetite was very much whetted for an evening trip somewhere. There's a little pool in a nearby town situated in the middle of a housing estate and I've been meaning to give it a try for some time because despite its location, its reputed to hold some nice crucians and after persuading my fishing buddy Phil to give it a go we soon found ourselves on its banks.
Neither of us had ever seen the pond before but It was pretty much exactly what youd expect from a suburban duck pond. The swims were well worn, lost floats adorned the trees and the murky waters surface was swimming with bread thrown in for the ducks by the local residents. At a glance it didnt look like any kind of aquatic life could possibly eek out an existence in there but first impressions can be very deceptive it turned out. I soon spotted a small Carp sunning itself in a quiet corner and after walking along the bank a few yards the one Carp had become dozens of them, they were all over the lake!
Thinking i was about to get a couple of easy doubles i quickly set up a bubble float as one or two fish were confidently taking the bread that was already out there. I missed one straight away on the first cast but after that the fish did a pretty good job of proving that they were no mugs. They were obviously well used to being fished for on the surface and they had the uncanny ability to remove the bread from the hook without registering a bite or hooking up. Several times i struck at thin air and after a couple of frustrating hours in the full glare of the afternoon sun i got bored with Carp and set up a float rod to target what i had originally gone there for, Tench and Crucians.
Keith had joined us by now and had already landed a small Tench from the margins so that is where i decided to base my attack. Some of the lakes Tench obviously had other things on their mind and were frantically chasing each other amongst the tree roots and marginal reeds but i hoped there would be enough fish still feeding down there to give me few chances. I missed a couple of fast bites in the first half hour and bumped something which, judging by the solitary scale on the hook was obviously a passing spawner. I decided to bury the hook in a piece of bread in order to try and minimise such hookups. As the afternoon turned to evening the wind got up and the temperature became more bearable, i also began to get a few more indications. It wasnt long before i finally hooked a fish and after a short battle i landed a small but fiesty Tench.
This set the precedent for the rest of the evening and although the action wasnt exactly hectic, i was probably getting a bite every ten minutes or so. Four more Tincas followed over the course of the evening and although none were very big it was most enjoyable watching that float bury and made a nice change from my usual buzzers and bolt-feeder approach.
Phil never managed to extract a Tench but he did have a couple of nice carp in the 6-8lb range on floatfished maggots. He was only two pegs away from me but he fished further out than me so i dont know if that made the difference between getting the Tench or not? Keith finished up with the one Tench and a couple of missed opportunities.
All in all a pretty good trip i thought and certainly one i needed to get some confidence back. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the fishing in the pool and will surely be back for another session in the future.
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