By the end of May I’d landed 17 fish from the syndicate water which was good going, but the bigger fish seemed to be proving a little elusive. So far 4 fish were over the 30lb mark, the biggest going 33.8 however I had caught 10 fish in a row now without a 30 which is very unusual for this water…
my last biggie at 33.08
At the beginning of June I took over a new store with work and this really took its toll on my fishing. Throughout June, July and August I only fished 3 nights which I think is the least amount of fishing I’ve ever done! I did bag 2 more low 20s during those 3 nights so at least the rigs and baits were still working.
I must add at this point that throughout my time away, my friend Gay Michael (don’t ask!) has been hugely successful. This, despite his apparent inability to cast coupled with the fact that he spends most of his time chasing after Melford, his mental labradoodle and dragging him away from the crotches of poor unsuspecting passers-by! In just 2 sessions he caught 11 fish, including 4 well over 30 and then returned to top it off by landing the mighty Dragon at 41.4. Well done mate (you jammy sod)
"melford the mad labradoodle"
Back to me and by the early September things had calmed down a little at work and I was able to start taking a day off now and again. Needless to say I was suffering serious withdrawal symptoms and absolutely dying to get back. First session was just a quick over-nighter and was just after a weekend of gale
force winds. Surprisingly very little had been caught during the weekend of the gales and the lake was almost empty – just the way I like it!
I did 3 laps and did not see a single fish so decided to do something a little different and fish a tiny finger bay at the far end of the lake. The bay is about 20 yards across and apart from the odd stalking session, it is very rarely fished, particularly at night. I did have some success here last year and for some reason it appealed to me again tonight.
I set up as quietly as possible with the left hand rod going out to the left into the silt in the middle of the bay and the right hand rod a tricky under arm flick under the trees opposite.
I got my head down not long after dark as I had work the next morning and soon drifted off into the land of nod. At about 1am I was woken by a screaming take on the right hand rod. I must admit it scared the crap out of me because it took me a while to remember where I was and what the noise was! I came to my senses and grabbed the rod as a powerful fish took line as it headed towards open water. At night, the dense woodland on the opposite bank in this bay blocks out all of the light and it made the following few minutes very hairy as I played the fish
in absolute pitch black darkness. Eventually though I managed to net it and shone the torch a nicely proportioned mirror.
Once I’d got the rod back out I got everything sorted and weighed her at 33.6oz. As ever the 360 rig did the business and the fish had been nailed in the bottom lip.
- “Back among the biggies”
- and another shot….
After a couple more hours sleep daylight arrived and I left for work well happy that I’d ended my run of smaller fish. A feeling inside told me my luck was changing in terms of getting amongst the bigger fish my next session proved I wasn’t wrong…..
