stevetheangler

Tuesday 10th September 2013 and I’m back at the club’s non-carp pool – really should call it that as, as I’ve said before, it’s not solely tench stocked but has most species bar common carp – or even use it’s proper name which is Barlow’s. Whatever….

Anyway, I arrived there, after dropping Liz off at work, at around 0730 and headed to peg 11 – which is the peg I fished on the last visit – just opposite the end of an island – fuller details see last posting I made for this venue. At the time I was the only one there but it seemed a couple of others fished too lower down the pool later in the day. I fished then through to 1800.

I used two rods – (a) my standard laying-on setup – float rod with size 16 Kamason ‘Animal’ barbless hook, 8lb braid hooklength, 6lb mainline, and overshotted antenna float fished about 4″-6″ overdepth and (b) a leger rod with 6lb mainline, 8lb braid hooklength and size 6 hook fished on a bite alarm set up.

On arrival I fed the intended float line – front and to left – with dead maggots and topped up this throughout the day on little and often approach, and to the right of the swim with prawns in the leger rod swim.

The leger rod I fished, experimentally, until midday with an half-sprat hoping to entice perch, chub or any possible resident eel (no pike in this water) but not one touch was received. From midday until the close of play I changed bait to prawn – and this elicited two short and sweet pulls in that time but nothing capable of striking at. Easy reporting! :)

The float rod was much much busier. Bait was maggot and worm, singly or as a cocktail. At the start of the day most bites were coming from directly in front of me in the clear water but later in the day the ‘hotspot’ shifted to the edges of a patch of lilypads to my left.

Catch:

• Barbel:  1 – about 4oz
• Chub :  2 – both about 4oz
• Tench:  5 – 3oz, 2lb 4oz, 2 of 2lb 7oz, and 2lb 12oz
• Perch:  approx 22, mostly 2oz to 8oz but a nice 1lb one too.

The 2lb 12oz tench was a bit of a wrangle! Had intended to pack in at 1730 but decided to have a few extra minutes and hooked into this fish which went straight into the lilypads – I was applying pressure to get it out and suddenly line became looser and I was trying to wind down to make up the tension again but absolutely nothing was happening – and then I noticed that the line spool had dropped off the reel and was lying in the water’s edge. Now winding when the spool is not attached is not a good idea – you end up with the grandmother’s of a tangle due to the twisting of the line and the wrapping around on itself and this time was not exception :( In the end I had to cut the line from the reel and feed it up through the rod rings until I could attempt to handline the hook end back in – and amazingly the fish was still attached and thus I was able to land what was then my biggest fish of the day! :)

Pics of the day:

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Plans… well, I’m thinking of heading to my club’s stretch of the Shropshire Union Canal on Friday and drop shotting in the hope of capturing a lunker perch that has evaded me. I’ve hooked him (well, it may be two different ones but I like the ‘him and me’ aspect) twice and both times, once whilst pike fishing in the 2011/2012 winter and again in the 2012/2013 winter, he’s shed the hook before landing… So I’m hoping for third time lucky!! :)