Session 18 – A Real Stick In The Mud Day…

So, Tuesday 5th April 2016, and I head off to a club mixed fishery (B) that I’d not visited for a long time – probably June/July of 2015 from recollection without referring to past blog entries…

2016-04-05 Barlows 01 2016-04-05 Barlows 02

And so I arrived on site at around 0730 and I was intending to fish down the far end of the pool in my favourite swim. HOWEVER …as I started to drive down the track to the far end I noticed it was getting a bit muddy ahead and decided to reverse back and park on the hardcore car park just behind me … but it seemed I’d gone that yard too far, wheels spun and car sank deeper and deeper despite placing bread crate bottoms, bits of brick and wood, etc beneath, in front of and behind the tyres. In the end I had to walk to the neighbouring kennels, who gave me the number of the local farmer and after a quick word – and a short wait whilst he finished his milking – he arrived with a tractor and towed me back to the hardcore. So, now that meant I had a 200 yard walk to the island at the far end so I cut my losses and settled into a swim (peg 1) by the car that looked good anyway with a large overhanging bush and it is a noted tench swim usually although I’ve never previously fished it…

So pre-tackling, I baited up the area of the bush with particles and maggot and a few small prawns… and then, changing from my intended method of the day of laying-on with the float rod, I set up my 10’ Syntra quiver tip rod with 8lb mainline straight through to a size 6 hook which was originally baited with a small prawn. Over the next two hours or so I fed small additions of maggots and particles in the area, twitched the bait, re-cast but nothing seemed to induce any sort of interest and the bait was switched to a small lobworm for the next hour with a slight improvement in that a couple of ‘trembles’ (rather than ‘twitches’) were seen over that time … and then I switched over to a size 12 hook baited with four mealworms for the next couple of hours with seemingly no interest … and then I decide to call it a day at around 1330 as there were things at home that I needed to sort out and with little action at the waterside I thought it a better use of my time.

Anyway, as often at this water it was another ‘millionaire’s day’ for me…. as not another sole turned up all day and so I had this pool AND the adjoining carp pool all to myself. The carp pool and the mixed (carp-less) pool are in fact only separated by a 5 metre wide strip of land ….