An interesting new pool

I managed to find a new water for this weeks briefest of fishing trips. Rumour had it there are some nice crucians and Rudd to be caught there and with no king carp present whatsoever to ruin things I figured it might be worth a look. I only had the afternoon to fish and upon arrival at the lake I was a little disappointed to see a sign stating the gates would be shut at 8pm on the dot which meant I had even less time to get a feel for the place. It wasn't very encouraging either when the three anglers already fishing told me they hadn't had a bite between them and that the lake was hard going at the best of times!

Nonetheless I pressed on regardless and set up in an inviting looking spot next to a large reedbed. Floatfished maggots was my plan of attack but that soon fell to pieces as the lakes entire population of baby Rudd appeared to be in front of me and were ravenous. No matter what I put out baitwise they were literally boiling on the surface for it! I was finding it hard to believe that the other anglers hadn't had a bite, this was ridiculous!

I had to find a way through the Rudd and after a good root around in my kit bag I found a mini pepperami stick. I upped my hook size and soon a small chunk of the questionable meat product was fishing away happily and Rudd-free out in front of me. The float still bobbed about as the little Rudd attacked it but I decided to sit on my hands until a proper bite materialised.

I didn't have to wait long and soon enough the float buried and stayed buried. A swift strike had me latched into something quite substantial and I got a brief glimpse of a nice bream just beneath the surface before the hook pulled. At least it proved there were one or two decent fish out there in front of me.

My next bite came pretty quickly and again it was a nice fish. A flash of gold in the murk had me thinking but when it surfaced I was pleasantly surprised to see a sizeable Rudd roll into the net. It looked worth a weigh and at 1lb8oz it was the best Rudd I've caught in ages. Theyre pretty thin on the ground in my part of the world!

After that the bites kept coming, I was having to feed pretty heavily to get the loosefeed through the little Rudd to the bigger fish below but over the next hour or so I managed to latch into a trio of bream in the 3-5lb range which were good sport on the light float gear.

As the sun got lower in the sky I was becoming more and more aware of the time and that gate being locked. I was really hoping my next bite would be from a chunky crucian but when it came and I struck into something which made for the far bank at a rate of knots I wondered just what it was I'd hooked into.

The fish pulled like a demon and I have to confess I actually thought it was a carp all the way through the fight until it surfaced at my feet ready for netting. I've caught many many tench over the years but never one that pulled like that fish did, it pulled like a barbel and upon inspection it was shaped like one too! Long and lean it wasnt a monster but was certainly a worthy adversary.

Another tench and a bream shortly afterwards pretty much brought my session to a close and I packed up full of ideas on how to approach the place next time. I've since heard that one or two monster perch reside in there aswell, no doubt growing fat on those tiny Rudd, so a return trip is a certainty!

Incidentally the other anglers who blanked were all fishing pellet on the method feeder out into the middle of the pool. I'm told that's the going method on there but the only other guy to catch was fishing the float down the edge like me, strange that :-)

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

A change of scenery and some mixed bags

Friday 27th May

Reports from the Tench lake have been pretty poor to say the least of late, the lake seems to have properly switched off for some reason. With this in mind i headed out with the float rod to a club water with a reputation for being quite tough. Its a mature and very deep lake with clear water and lots of marginal cover. The Tench arnt huge but they dont give themselves up very easily at all and seeing as ive never caught one from the lake i decided to take up the challenge and do so.
I arrived lakeside at around 4ish, there was only one other angler on the lake and the secluded corner i fancied was free and the wind was pushing into it. I placed a bolt feedered corn hookbait along the margin to my right and floatfished corn along the left hand margin. I had about seven feet of water tight to the reeds and after feeding some groundbait, corn and pellets as i setup it wasnt long before i was fishing.
Within five minutes of casting out the float dipped and being caught somewhat off-guard i promptly missed it. Next cast the same thing happened and i hit a skimmer of about 2lb, an encouraging start.

The swim went  a bit dead after that but within half an hour a patch of pinhead bubbles appeared next to the float and i hovered over the rod in anticipation. Nothing happened however, despite my swim beginning to resemble a jacuzzi my float never even dipped! i tried going overdepth and also tried maggots and pellet to no avail. I had a think and setup an ultra sensitive rig which involved the use of a tiny 1/8oz free-running lead and a pole float .
I gently lowered it in amongst the fizzing bubbles and began to recieve tiny knocks almost imediately and within a few minutes the float slid away proper. I hit into a heavy fish which powered off along the bank before heading out to open water whereupon it bent the size 14 hook straight!  At least the new rig seemed to do the trick.
The bubbles started up again after a while and i missed another couple of bites . I tried maggots but everytime i did i just got a small Perch so i decided to stick with the corn. The feeder rod was a bit quiet although i did bump a fish off and catch a nice Rudd of about 12oz on it.



I love Rudd and its nice to see them showing in the pool because i didnt even realise there was any in there. Lots of fish began to show on the surface as the light started to fade so, with no further Tench activity, i decided to shallow up the float and fish maggot to see what they were. I was pleased to catch three more Rudd before it got too dark to see the float. Id love to see them get a real foothold in there because they are few and far between in these parts and they are a delighful fish to catch.

An enjoyable trip i thought, although i caught no Tench on this occasion i did get a few bites and learned a bit more about the water, it will give up one of its emerald prizes sooner or later!

Sunday 29th May

The plan for todays trip was to target Bream and Tench on another club water, my mate Keith accompanied me and it was his first time on the place. The weather was overcast and windy with an ever present threat of rain although thankfully the rain managed to hold off for most of the session as it turned out.

Due to  some overindulgence the night before it was around 11oclock by the time we got to the lake and even though it was a Sunday there wasnt a soul there so we had our pick of the swims. We opted for a large double swim overlooking the main body of the lake and hopefully some big shoals of Bream!

We fished four feeders along the same line at around 60yards and it wasnt long before the first fish of the day was landed, a Perch of about 12oz. We were getting lots of tugs and pulls on the maggots which indicated there was a lot of small fish about and this was confirmed as a succession of Perch, Roach and Rudd were caught. At one point Keith had what looked to be a good sized Roach but it turned out to be a Roach/Bream hybrid unfortunately.

It was about 2 hours before the first Tench of the day made an appearance, a scrappy male of about 3lb to my rod. As i landed it i noticed a large shadow close behind which turned away at the last minute, the Tench had a lucky escape! A while later Keith had an even smaller Tench which was grabbed by what i assume was the same Pike, it spat it out though but still followed it right up to the rim of the net. It wasnt a huge croc but certainly a nice double.

On the Bream front it proved to be pretty slow for me with only one fish landed, Keith on the other hand managed to find a few and went on to land 5 of them for a total weight of over 35lb. I did manage a last gasp Tench of 5lb on the nose prior to packing up just before Dark. 

Another enjoyable trip out then, plenty of bites, good company and the rain held off , what more could we ask for? heres some pics from the day .........