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| My first tench from the estate lake |
One of the best things about moving out of London is that I have so many places to fish now, I am spoilt for choice. The private estate lake that my mate John, got me an introduction to, is a great place to go for that quick session. Not only that, I now have fishing friends close enough to encourage me to actually go for a few hours.
Last night, John suggested that a few hours at the lake this morning would be a good idea as the weather for the rest of the week was not looking too good, with high winds and storms forecast for the weekend. We arranged to meet at the lake. I had decided to get there a bit earlier than the suggested 09:00 rendezvous, as I really needed to get back home for lunchtime at the latest.
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| First fish of the sat was a nice roach, enticed by a small cube of on meat |
Today was all about minimum gear, just minimum bait, a float rod, a small amount of tackle, a landing net, an unhooking mat and a lightweight chair. I jumped in the van at about 07:00 and was at the lake and fishing well within half an hour, even though it is nine miles away. Fantastic, I could never do that in London. I had taken meat (Bacon Grill) corn and maggots with me.
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| One and only rud today |
To be honest, maggots are not much use on the lake at this time of year as it has a vast population of small fish that all just love them too much. I had tried corn last week and had some success. Today was the first time I had tried the meat here, and it was far more successful than I had expected, attracting some slightly larger roach and a succession of skimmers/bream. Nothing huge, just bigger than the normal pester-fish that just rattle the line get swung to hand.
I was not getting bothered by the lake's massive population of small rudd, in fact, I only caught one in the three and a half hours I was there.
However, I was still not connecting with any bigger fish, so I went back to the corn for a while and landed my first estate lake tench. A nice respectable 2-3 lb female that put up a good fight on light float gear. I managed to get it netted after a good few minutes of playing the fish, praying it would not break off or shed the hook. That fish alone made the trip worthwhile for me.
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| I managed to land one without getting snapped off |
John came over and took the picture at the head of this post of me, pleased as punch with my first tench from this venue. After I left, John also caught a similar fish which cheered him up somewhat. A few more skimmers were landed, and I was back home before midday.
Ralph.
