Taking the hint

With it being a sunny bank holiday I had to think carefully about my choice of venue as everywhere would be pretty much packed. I had originally planned a night session on Redhouse lake, a large local pit with form for some big bream but due to the venues popularity with Carp anglers I figured it would be packed out with long weekenders. I wasn't wrong either! Reports filtered through that there was dozens fishing so that crossed that one off the list. Another lake nearby that's usually good for a day session was a non starter too as its in the middle of a housing estate and people's gardens back onto it. With the sunny weather I could almost smell the BBQs and hear the loud music echoing across the pool, sod that!

Locally that pretty much left me just the hard pit if I wanted another big Bream to add to last weeks haul at Haversham. With its recent form the chances of catching might be slim but at least I'd have the place to myself with plenty of peace and tranquility!

I got to the lake at first light and I barrowed my kit straight around to my favourite peg. The conditions were horrifically bright and the lake was flat calm, it didn't look good. It looked even worse when I got to the swim and found that a large tree had blown over right across it since my last visit making it completely unfishable! Due to the lakes overgrown nature, swims which enable you to reach certain areas are at a premium and this fallen tree had effectively blocked off about a quarter of the lake, the best quarter of the lake in my opinion!

I stood there feebly pulling at the tree whilst pondering my next move. I'd had a plan in my head of how was going to hit the lake as I drove there and now that was in tatters. Maybe it was a sign I should be elsewhere on the pool? At this point a Heron flying across the lake caught my eye, it alighted in the only fishable swim on the far bank and in an instant my mind was made up. If the fallen tree was a hint then so was the Heron! Fifteen minutes later I was stood in the Heron swim, sweating my ass off after fighting through the undergrowth and now surveying the water in front of me. As ever it looked dead.

A quick bit of marker float work showed an impressive drop off slap bang in front of me at about 40-50yards going from a steady 8ft on the right of me down to a flat 13ft on the left side over a distance of about ten yards, that'll do! I balled in around twenty jaffas across that line and cast a rod in at each end. The sun was really burning now and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

I set up my bedchair and got comfy, I was already well prepared for the blank especially after the last half a dozen I'd previously suffered on there! As I lay there catching the rays I suddenly became aware of a cool breeze starting to blow in, over the next hour it really began to gather strength, cloud too was coming in, things were looking up. Even though it was still very bright a good ripple can make all the difference and this ripple was certainly a goodun!

My left hand rod in the deeper water suddenly burst into life and signalled a stuttery take. Even as I picked the rod up I was scanning the water for signs of tufties just in case but upon striking I knew I'd finally hooked a Bream and it didn't feel like a bad fish either. Seeing the big hump back roll out in the waves certainly got the excitement going and I have to admit that after all the effort I've gone through previously on the lake I was actually shaking as I slid the net under the fish! The relief was immense!

It wasn't quite a double at 9lb10oz but to be honest it didn't matter, I'd finally got one on the scoresheet and I was over the moon. I set the camera up to take some pics and ,unbelievably, I'd literally only taken one photo when my right hand rod decided to go into meltdown! I was forced to quickly slip the Bream back and hit it. There was nothing there! It was a similar story to some of the bites/liners we'd had on Haversham the week before. To make matters worse the one pic I'd got of the Bream I'd just had was absolutely god awful, the camera was at the wrong angle to the direction of the sun making everything appear white, gutted!

I recast both rods and within minutes I hooked another Bream, this time it was probably the smallest in the lake at about 3lb. A couple more savage liners occurred over the next hour before I hit into another fish of around 7lb. I couldn't believe I was fishing the same lake, I'd had more action in an hour than I'd had in my last six trips!

I obviously had a few fish on the bait but apart from the action on the rods you would never have known it. Not a single fish had showed, no rolling, bubbling, nothing whatsoever. The bobbins didn't stay still for more than ten minutes and two more Bream followed in quick succession. I didn't weigh them but neither were bigger than 7-8lb, not that I was complaining! A lost fish shortly afterwards seemed to quieten things off a bit. One thing I did notice was that all of the fish I'd landed so far had been males covered in tubercles, I actually cut myself on one of them.

At lunchtime I hit into another substantial fish which was certainly no Bream, this one took line! My first thoughts were of Tench but when a Pike suddenly burst out of the water tailwalking in front of me I was certainly a little surprised! I didn't think I'd land it but I thought I'd give it a go anyway seeing as it had stayed on for so long already. I eventually netted it to find the hook was neatly out of harms way in the scissors and quite why it decided to pick up three red maggots is beyond me but at 10lb on the nose I'm to going to look a gift horse in the mouth!

An hour later I managed to hook and lose a nice looking Tench at the net which was a bit disappointing as they run to a good size in there. That pretty much rounded the session off because I had all but ran out of bait. I left with plans to return the following day......

...... Plans which never came to fruition. I awoke the following morning to torrential rain and seeing as the hard water involves a pretty brutal walk through waist deep foliage, I couldn't muster up the motivation to attempt it. I'd have been soaked before I even started and decided to hold off till next week in the hope they'd still be having it.

A snap decision to go Carping on another local pool saw me back on the bank again. A couple of laps of the lake revealed a few small carp moving in one corner and not much else so I setup nearby to allow me to put a bait on them. A screaming take after an hour showed me just how small they were as a little mirror of about 4lb found itself on the mat, obviously one of the new stockies. It saved a blank though bless it and after losing a Tench in a weedbed I decided to head home to the dry as it hadn't stopped chucking it down all morning.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy