stevetheangler

Monday, 20th June saw me arriving back at the club’s tench/bream pool (AA-B) at 0630 – and I wasn’t the first arrival ad there were already 2 cars parked up by the picnic bench area halfway up the pool as I passed by on to my selected swim for the day.

I parked up and just had a quick glance back down the pool (15 yards) to ensure my spot was vacant … and breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted no-one there!

Today, I was solo as Liz who should have been with me had been suffering with a bad chesty cough which had stopped her sleeping for several nights despite the hot drinks, LemSips and Benylin … good to say though that she is improving slowly… so perhaps next Monday she’ll make it :)

All usual preps performed I picked up my trusty 13’ Hardy Matchmaker, pre-tackled with 6lb Hyper Sensor mainline and size 12 hook attached via 6” of 6lb braid and fitted with my 3AAA driftbeater float shotted with 2 x SSG shot plus an AAA shot to provide the necessary overshot needed to utilise the lift method, The swim was plumbed using the anchor overshot as the reference and an extra 6” of depth added.

Bait used for the day was primarily maggot although I did try the strawberry jelly bread that had been so effective on the previous sessions but I think my swim was totally devoid of veggies, at least at that time, as I had not a touch after an hour of it being in the water… whereas maggots were producing perch, albeit small (ca up to 3oz) …

At 1010 I had a slightly better take but unfortunately I suffered a hook pull within a few seconds..

At 1115 I did make a switch to fishing on the drop with a 3AAA bodied antenna for half-an-hour but that didn’t make much difference so, as I prefer fishing lift method style anyway, I reverted back to the driftbeater setup…

1310 a slight overcast into the bush on the island that I was fishing under saw it tangle with a twig. I managed to retrieve the line and end tackle complete BUT the catapult effect of the tackle coming free caused a major birds nest as it flew back revolving arse over tip and so required me to do a complete re-tackle …

1405 another good fish on BUT again trying to hold it away from the island’s bushes the hook again pulled free within a few seconds…

1430 another overcast … another bird nest … and as I was intending to leave for home at 1500 anyway I decided to just re-tackle the rod ready for Thursday’s outing (although I’ll most likely not use it as I’m more likely to be fishing my two ledger rods on alarms) and then pack up the rest of the gear and head home.

So, result of the day …. 7 perch, up to around 3oz.

PLANS:

Thursday – bream – with the unhoped for possibility, but great likelihood, of carp … but that’s fishing, take the rough with the smooth!