stevetheangler

Monday, 28th August and I set off at 0545 back to the Mike Day Fishery (AA-B) in search of, primarily, tench and bream. Arriving about 40 minutes later I was a bit surprised to discover, especially as it’s a Bank Holiday Monday, that I am first there… and hence have choice of swims and the one I had wanted to fish opposite the near end of the small island.

I had been wishing to fish the swim for some time but it had been virtually unfishable due to lily pads having covered the margins in front of the bank and reeds encroaching from the sides but this time I was prepared having taken my double bladed weed cutter and the new 4.20 metre landing net pole and that I could do some gardening and open it up….

The swim was prebaited with catapulted micropellets, seed particles and dead maggots and a few tangerine sized balls of groundbait with crushed wheat added to ‘activate’ it, CoffeeMate to create a cloud, and some hemp-infused oil.

Usual fishing style again – I do keep intending to try changing my usual laying-on/lift method to do on-the-drop and suspended bait type methods but truth is (a) I’m too lazy and (b) I love to see that float rising and then travel… :)

I fished from 0730 through to 1500 and not one bite or nibble from a fish all session long (one way) BUT I did have one bite and landed something (the second way as referred to in the title) by way of a mallard!

Whilst fishing Mrs Mallard arrived in the area with her now not so little chicks … in the three weeks between my last visit to the pool when I fished the swim next door and this one, the chicks are now grown to parent size… and started to do their diving and seemingly found my particles a feast for a duck. They were, as I thought, well away from my fishing area but looks were deceiving as suddenly my float shot under and my resulting strike found me connected to an indignant mallard who had taken my worm/maggot cocktail … and her Mum wasn’t happy either. Miss Mallard then took leave of the water and dove landward into the island’s undergrowth, bushes and trees…. oh dear, I thought (or at least words that implied that opinion)… but luckily I managed to play her back into the water and then eventually into my landing net with the mesh enclosing her. Once on land, luckily the size 16 barbless hook was just caught on the very edge of her bill plus the landing net’s mesh was orientated so that by by just lifting the edge the hook could easily be accessed with my forceps whilst she was restrained and unable to damage herself … and within 10-15 seconds she was able to be released without any harm, flying off with her mother and both cussing me! LOL… the rest of the session the mallard’s ensured that the island remained between me and them.. LOL…

So that was my day … very quiet … and a few other anglers who arrived later than myself didn’t seem to have been doing very well either.

PLANS

Liz is away Monday to Friday next week (4th-8th Sept) so I’ll have access to the car on the Tuesday to Thursday and I’m hoping to get 3 sessions in … with a possible short one on the morning of the Friday before I’ll need to collect Liz from the station. I’m hoping to fish a BAA section of the River Severn and also a BAA pool for two of them but we’ll have to see what transpires with weather and water conditions.

PICS