 |
| Keeping it simple on Jeff's Lake |
After a string of recent visits to the doctor, the consensus of opinion was that I was not getting enough exercise and spending too much time sitting in front of the computer. My latest visit was actually to see the practice nurse, and she agreed with me that fishing would give me some of that badly needed exercise... Result! She did not have to tell me twice. With that in mind, I went fishing again today, and I intend to try and make it at least once a week.
The rivers will be open from tomorrow so that will give me a few more places to fish but for today it is back to the 'old slippers' that is Beaver Fishery. I wanted to get a bend in the rod and where better than on Jeff's Lake. Stocked with a good selection of fish, it is the ideal lake to get a bit of a workout.
An early start got me to the venue in plenty of time and even being half an hour early, I was still third in the queue. It was obviously going to be a busy day. The weather was fine with the promise of a nice day in prospect. The specimen lakes were popular with a sprinkling of bivvies pitched around the banks with a couple of guys waiting to take soon to be vacated pegs. Jeff's Lake was yet to be populated with anglers so I could take my pick of pegs. I opted to fish off the back of the lake on what I call The Beach; a large area of chippings with no defined pegs, as such, meaning setting up can be as casual as it can be.
 |
| The maggots are in a deep bait box, but that did not stop the little fellow sorting out the white ones |
A simple approach was the order of the day; a feeder rod and a tele-pole, a selection of bait and a nice comfy chair. After all, I intend to be here for the full twelve hours. I picked a couple of spots where I had intended to fish with the pole and balled in a couple of golf ball sized offering of my specially made groundbait consisting of bread, biscuit, prawn cracker leftovers, mixed with the dregs of the cereal packets I have been saving. I also mixed up some Two Dog groundbait for use on the method feeder and left it to absorb the lake water. While the groundbait is soaking up the water and the robin is tucking into my maggots, I set about plumbing up my rig on the tele-pole. At a shade under five meters the pole fishes at a seldom fished distance equating to just under the rod tip of a decently sized float rod. A size 18 hook seems to work with a single or double maggot, and that was what I tried first. Within seconds of dropping the baited hook into the swim, I was battling with my first fish of the day. A nice little roach that falls into the size bracket just above tiddler!
After an hour or so the fish did start to get bigger, and I was catching a good number of roach that were of a reasonable size. Nothing to write home about but at least it was proving the point that if you persevere and continue to fish the same swim, the bigger fish do start to come in.
 |
| The roach are getting bigger! |
By now I was getting bored with fishing for the smaller fish and changed tactics. I balled in a couple of balls of groundbait special mix, that I mentioned earlier, consisting anything I could find that needed using up, and switched to the feeder rod. I had eyed up a spot to the right of my original swim. I had intended to put a few feeders-worth of Two Dog feeder mix down by making a few successive casts. Normal I would do this without a hook length. Today I decided to go with a baited hook and guess what. The first cast I had a bite within a few seconds of the feeder entering the water!
 |
| Hello Mr F1, My haven't you grown! |
It was one of Jeff's lake's, resident F1s. They have got progressively bigger over the past few years I have been fishing here. This was a nice fish and it is really good to get a decent bend in the rod. Thinking this was going to be the start of a run, I quickly baited up and sent out another feeder into the same spot (I am getting better at doing that, these days). Nothing. A few more casts and still nothing. I decided to leave the bait out there for a bit longer while I had a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. As usual, as soon as I got my teeth into my sandwich the, rod tip bent around, and I had the second fish of the day on the feeder.
 |
| The second fish off the feeder was a much more of a golden colour. These F1s are good looking fish |
This one put up a bit of a fight, but eventually gave up the fight and was a bit cross to find itself captured in my landing net. Several more casts were made but with no reward. It was time for a change. Back to the tele-pole and a change of hook and bait. I stepped up the size of the hook and replaced the maggot with a kernel of sweetcorn. This selected the bigger fish most of the time and the skimmers and bream were starting to slime up my gear.
 |
| The first of many skimmers on corn... |
 |
| A very nice little rudd |
It gets far more interesting with bigger fish on the tele-pole. I was catching lots of skimmers and small bream. I even caught a small roach that would have found it hard to get the corn in its mouth. My favourite fish of the day, on the pole, was a little rudd. Really nice little fish that are not that common on this lake. But the most exciting battle of the day was one of the larger F1s who had taken a fancy to my corn only to find me on the other end of very light tackle and a cheap pole that was bending far beyond my comfort zone. After several minutes of letting it swim, turning it and letting it swim back the other way, it eventually tired enough for me to get it in the net. I landed it on the unhooking mat only for it to leap straight off and back into the lake. I guess he did not want his photograph Taken next to such a cheap piece of kit, it would have been humiliating!
 |
| The bream were coming thick and fast today |
The last few hours of the day were spent feeder fishing for F1s in the open water in the middle of the lake. Once they get going, they are only punctuated by the odd bream. This time of day, it is a fish a chuck. Bait up with Bacon Grill, and the chances are it will be an F1. Put corn on the hook, and the odds move towards it being a bream. I had lots of bream today, not as many as the F1s but more than usual. I even caught a reasonably sized tench, I have only caught one other on this lake, and that was a small one.
 |
| Best fish of the day in my book was this nice tench. I have only ever caught one of these on this lake before |
The only problem with bream and tench is the amount of slime they carry around with them with the sole purpose in life to cover me and my gear with the stuff. There is nothing worse than the smell of hot baked slime in the back of the van after a drive home in the sunshine. To paraphrase the words of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, in the film
Apocalypse Now: "I hate the smell of slime in the morning"
It was a really good day's fishing and the second trip in two weeks. I must try and keep this up with another trip next week. Another trip to Beaver and this time I will probably have a go for some bigger fish in The Major's Lake. I have not fished there for a while, and I fancy fishing down on the bank between this lake and Maze Lake. I nice secluded, natural spot.
Then next weekend, me and the other bloke will be fishing at the bottom of his garden. Yes, my jammy-beggar of a brother has just moved to Maidstone and now has private access to a stretch of the River Medway at the end of the garden. It even has a pair of small jetties from which we can fish. It looks like the perfect location for a spot of dropshotting. I will let you know how we get on.
Ralph.
