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| Standing half way down Pan Lake, looking over Langley's Lake (Specimen) back towards the car park |
We went fishing yesterday and pulled a complete blank. I am now convinced that it is all Tim's fault. Every time I go fishing with him, same result...
The weather was dry but an awful wind whipped across the open fields that surround Bax Farm Fishery. I am not complaining though, it gave me a chance to get some fresh air and to listen to my brother moaning on about being cold, not catching anything and that his van needs a four-figure repair...
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| Even the gnomes looked cheesed off... |
The day started with a long drag to get out of town. I couldn't get to meet Tim until at least eight o'clock in the morning, in Sittingbourne, as he was dropping his van off for a service first. It took me an hour and a half to do a sub 40 mile journey, and that was going out of town, against the traffic - the joys of living in London! I am so pleased I do not have to do it the other way around, coming in by road must be a nightmare. I got there, three quarters of an hour later than expected and went off for the obligatory
Full English in the local cafe, courtesy of Tim. Thanks Bro!
It's a short trip down the road to Tonge, along a country lane and on to the farm through a low bridge under the railway. We arrived to see the guys out in the yard fettling a big net. "That's cheating!" I pronounced. With a cheery smile they said they were preparing to net the lakes and sort the fish out to remove a lot of the small fish from the larger lakes.
As it was a cold, windy Monday morning I was not really surprised to discover that the on site shop had run out of maggots on Sunday evening as the weather had been fine and they had a lot of people fishing (Grrrr...). Mental note: Next time buy some beforehand! We paid our day ticket money and purchased a can each of Sweetcorn and luncheon meat to complement the bread and groundbait we had with us.
We drove down to the car park and trudged our way through some really soggy bits, down to Pan Lake, past a couple of guys fishing for the big fish on the now renamed Langley's Lake. One of the guys had caught a high teens carp, while I was still in bed, and that was all. It was not until we were leaving that a guy, who was fishing down on the other side of Langley's, said he had caught something, but it was too cold to start a conversation and we were hand-balling all our gear back to the car. Even with the small amount of tackle we have, a trolley would be really handy. but first on the shopping list has to be some kind of shelter - we don't need a full-blown bivvy, but something that kept the wind off would have been useful. The shopping list is growing...
We started to fish the open area of the Pan but it was so windy there we moved around the corner to get out of the direct wind. The end of the lake is very narrow and we decided to fish on corn to start with. I had brought some groundbait with me so I threw a couple of small golf-ball size lumps in and started to fish a waggler. Tim decided he would give the meat a go. I opened the can and realised we had nothing with us to chop it up. Another note was written to the diary to bring a knife next time... We improvised by using the part of the tin the key had removed as a cutter. Although not perfect, it did the job and we continued to fish for a while. As nothing was biting, a change of tactics was called for. Tim decided to go ledgering with the only lead we have between us and I decided to have another go with my tree-catching feeder rod - guess what? Yes, I caught another tree. No pictures this time as that is getting rather boring. We continued to fish for a few more hours but the day was also plagued by
Bonnie and Clyde, a pair of mallards that were determined to eat our bait and frighten all the fish away. After a few hours we called it a day around four o'clock and headed back to collect Tim's van.
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| Bonnie and Clyde... |
When I got home I still had a fair bit of bait left. Sweetcorn goes mushy after freezing and besides I still had plenty frozen in small flat packs from last time. I decided to pour the rest of the can, juice and all into the groundbait mix. I added some filtered water and mixed it together. Left it for an hour or so and added a drop more water. Mixed it up again and formed it into balls. The odd maggot is from last time we went fishing, was included, it also has some strawberry pellets added. The original base is 50/50 bread and custard creams. Mmmm... Yummy!
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| Groundbait balls - a bit big for this time of year but I can always reform them on the bank... |
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I formed the mix into half a dozen balls and froze them. I will either save these for later on in the year when I can use them whole, once the fish are feeding again, or take them as they are and mush them down into lose groundbait again. Either way it will get used - eventually! I also had an open can of meat. This I chopped up into cubes, placed in a plastic bag, added red colouring and strawberry flavouring - smells great! This too was consigned to the freezer for future use.
For our next outing we plan to visit Beaver Fishery in Surrey. I have been there before (see
HERE) and had a good day. It is much more sheltered than Bax and there are plenty of lakes to choose from, most of which have hard standings making it possible to park very close to the peg all year round. There is also a burger van, that does peg-deliveries, I am sure Tim will be keen on this idea!
All in all we had a good day chatting, even if the fishing was rubbish, Tim didn't stop moaning and the wind was howling! Hopefully we will make up for it next week at Beaver... Always assuming something doesn't get in the way! Next time Tim, put a few more clothes on!
Ralph.
