Majors lake from the other side... |
Preston over/under pole rests |
Whilst discussing it on the Maggot Drowning forum, the Preston over/under gripper pole rests were mentioned and a fellow member offered to sell me a pair. These I had with me and though I would use them with the long Maver pole to fish the edges of the lilly pads. I also wanted to try feeding my swim to encourage fish in or keep any that happened to be there. This is on top of putting out a sleeper rod to fish the far margin, do a spot of feeder fishing and try out the margins with my shorter Maver Abyss X. You see what I mean about too much stuff? Although I had a twelve hour session to fill it is amazing how quickly the time can pass.
First of all I wanted to have a go at feeding my swim. Before I did anything else I balled out a few tennis ball sized balls of goodies. This was made up of all sorts of goodies including breadcrumb, ground biscuit ground as well as boiled whole birdseed, hemp, corn, meat, dog biscuit and much more.
While that was sitting there I put out a carp rod with chod-rigged boilie, sitting close to the bank in front of some reeds. I then sent out a few small balls of the feed just to make some attractant. The rod was set up on a pair of banksticks and buzzer, just waiting for that screaming bite.
Now for the main event. I set my chair up with the over/under cups fitted and assembled my pole. What I had not realised was just how far out those lilly pads were. I had expected to get to them easily but with the pole out using all sections (14.5m) I was still just short. At that distance, my pole is a real handful on my box and almost impossible to control from my comfortable seated position. Although the cups held the pole perfectly, shipping it in and out was a real nightmare. I gave up on the 'real' poles and put them back in the van. By now a few hours had passed and I had nothing on the carp rod, not even a line-bite.
The one and only fish of the morning |
I put the made up rods and gear in the back of the van and decamped lock stock and barrel. I thought about hitting The Pond (Eden Pond) but ran into Andy (the bailiff) on the way around and he said there were a couple or three people fishing there already. Eden is a small pond. Apart from the fact that the best swims were probably already taken, I did not want to spoil their day by me turning up and muscling in on their action. So it was off to Jeff's Lake.
A map of the complex at Beaver Fishery 1-Snipe Lake, 2-Tuscany Lake, 3-Jeff's Lake, 4 Major's Lake, 5-Maze Lake, 6-Moat Farm, Pond, 7-Daughter's, 8-Eden pond, 9-Jounior's Lake, 10-Horseshoe Pond |
The back of the lake where I like to fish from had been taken by some school kids and their teachers. I assume this was an end of year treat. However, this had obviously gone pear-shaped as they were packing up to leave. Andy had told me the teacher had paid him and said that one of the kids was misbehaving so the trip was cancelled and they were off back to school.
I parked a safe distance away, eating my pack lunch, and watched the unhelpful and rude kids do nothing but moan as the teachers who were collecting the gear together. As I got to the parking they were just leaving and one of the kids was walking around the car to get in. He looked at me and I asked if he had caught anything "Yeah." came the reply "That's good, did you have a nice time?" I asked. "Nah" came the reply and with that he got in the car and slammed the door. They drove off leaving me wondering if all mid-teens are monosyllabic? I could now get on with the serious task in hand and attempt to catch some fish.
What a surprise, an F1 on the Two Dog... |
Ideal conditions for a spot of pellet waggling. Out with the pellet waggler rod. Feeding 6mm pellets, and dropping the float on top, it took a few goes to get the depth just right and then the F1s were churning the water and I could pull them out one after the other every few seconds. I could have caught hundreds of pounds of them. The only problem with all this is that it gets mechanical. Great for match fishing but very quickly gets monotonous.
Great fun at last. try landing a feisty F1 on light gear and thin elastic with no puller |
It took a while to get in, but when it gave up it just played dead, like bream do |
I had a large hook on for bread and I thought as some of my maggots, that I had been keeping for the past three weeks or so, had started to turn in the warm sunshine, I would give one a go. I impaled a caster on the large hook, just to see what would happen. It did not take long for another F1 to hitch a ride to the surface and into my landing net. It caught a fish, almost straight away. I think I could have used a bent pin and cotton tied to a stick and so long as there was something on the pin as bait I would have caught a fish. I had great fun in the end and was absolutely ready to pack up when a fish threw the hook again and the little dibber, line and shot ended up wrapped around the tip.
Time to go home, methinks |
KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid.
Ralph.
* Did you know?
According to Wikipedia, Tiddler can refer to:
A small motorcycle, similar to a moped but with a bigger engine
Also, Tiddly, a barbershop