That's more like it
Entry posted by tomhaggett
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17th October - Berkshire Lake
After last weeks complete and utter fail I had a bee in my bonnet and a score to settle so I popped back to the lake that I'd fished the evening on during my previous outing. I'd been down a couple of evenings previously to prep the spots and hopefully get the fish used to finding my bait in those areas. I'd bought a kilo or two of pellet along in the hope of keeping the fish grubbing around after they'd finished all the boilies off but quickly realised that a mini spomb isn't made for putting any amount of bait out quickly. I didn't fancy carting them back to the car so I popped them in the swim my Dad had fished on the river in case he fancied another crack at it.
I arrived on the day at 10ish and amazingly got the main rod sorted perfectly first cast. I'd used the bankstick wrapping trick while at work and clipped the fishing rods up slightly shorter than the spomb rod this time to allow for the extra stretch in mono that had caught me out last time. The number of wraps is now stored in my phone for future reference... that is of course until I inevitably break yet another I-phone.
The other rod was fished a bit off to the side of the snag where I'd caught one or two from before and once again went out perfectly first cast... unbelievable... perhaps today was the day. I was then able to sit back, relax, watch the water and make a brew, confident that I'd be called into action. Half an hour later a good fizz of bubbles popped up in the open water that I'd never really fished before. It was bang on a spot I'd seen a bit of activity the last time I'd fished and when I'd baited a couple of days before. I'd lined the spot up with a tree on the horizon and sure enough it was bang on the same place. In came the rod that was fished off the snag, the hook was licked with a file and, after pulting 20 or 30 baits out to hopefully move them off briefly I flicked the rod out, getting a dull drop in pretty deep water. My mate popped down shortly after wards and it was an hour later while telling him I was going to give that rod another 30 mins that it burst into life and I was putting maximum side strain on a fish that was doing it's best to kite around a bush down to my right... something all the fish I've had from the swim have done. It was touch an go, but I managed to turn it milliseconds before it was past the point of no return and a couple of frantic minutes later my mate bundled a wide looking common into the net. RESULT. I'd never had a fish over 18lbs from the lake before but this one looked like it would push the 20lb mark.
We got him on the mat quickly and slipped the hook out before slipping him in a retainer sling while I got some more bait out and a new rig ready before getting the camera sorted. With everything ready we hoisted him out, weighed him in at 22.11 and took some nice pics in the sunshine. The mat and sling were covered in my digested bait, a sure sign that they were feeding on it pretty hard. WELL HAPPY.
Chuffed with a result like that I set about relaxing a bit, extra confident of more action. A lot of cups of tea were drank over the next few hours with things looking rather quiet before the snag rod burst into life without warning. This time the walking backwards trick worked it's magic and the fish drifted away from danger with relative ease... something that enforces in my head that the one I lost last week was a far better fish 
. Back to present, the fish did the usual business of kiting towards this troublesome bush but I was ready for it this time and turned it pretty quickly before my mate once again slipped the net under a nice looking common.
The same procedure was repeated, hook out and fish in the retainer while the rod was sorted and a bit more bait was spombed out to the spot.
This one went 19.8, making it my two biggest fish from the water in a matter of hours. It was a totally different looking fish to the other, much older looking and nice and dark across his shoulders. The sun had gone in by this point but the pictures came out wonderfully... it has a sort of timely feel to it somehow.
That was the end of the action unfortunately, despite nervously fishing half an hour into dark. I say nervously because the lake has a certain feel to it in the darkness... it's hard to put into words but it just never feels quite right, spooky if you like. Strangely 99% of people that I speak to say the exact same thing, without any prompting or prior mention on my part. Even my Dad said it the other day and I've never heard him say anything of the sort in the last 25 years.
That reminds me, I had been trickling little bits of bait into the swim he fished last week on the river. A handful of chops and small bits of paste every hour or so throughout the day so it was all primed ready for him to come and empty it of barbel as dusk approached. It didn't quite go like that but he did have a lovely fish of 8.8 just as I pushed my already packed barrow into his swim. A good day all round and a stark contrast to last weeks debauch.
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