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9 July


Chris Plumb

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Willows Lake - Thatcham

1800 - 0000

Warm, overcast with a southerly breeze to put a bit of ripple on the water - neigh on perfect conditions - pity no one told the fish!

2 Carp 12lb 14oz & 6 lb 7oz. 1 Tench c1lb & a Perch.

Dismal evening on the float despite same tactics/baits and swim to my last trip here in June. No bites before 2030 - and precious few after that despite the odd fish rolling in my swim! Thankfully I had a Plan B. I'd thrown a couple of slices of bread into my bait bucket and put a carp rod in my quiver with the notion that I might get the carp coming in close after dark to snaffle a surface bait. By 2230 I was confident the resident wildfowl (which had been a PITA up to that point!) had roosted for the night and I started to flick thumb sized pieces of bread into the margins by my feet. It wasn't long before slurps and swirls started to appear and it was simply a question of dapping a bait on the surface and hanging on for dear life. Alas my first attempt met with failure as I'd set the clutch too lightly and within a couple of seconds of my first bite I found myself attached to a lily stem and not a carp! (How do the do that?) Hook safely retrieved and clutch tightened up my next fish was the 6lber which was in the net before it knew what had happened. After all this commotion - things went quiet for a while - though I now had to contend with the rats swimming out to take my freebies! Thankfully there was still time for one more fish - an ugly looking mirror EXACTLY twice the size of my earlier carp both of which had somewhat redeemed an otherwise poor evening.

 

Carp 12lb 14oz.jpg

Edited by Chris Plumb

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While I wish you had caught a netful, it is very comforting to hear that even the mighty have a futch with their clutch occasionally.

Yes, those bloody ducks, grebes, geese and terns are relentless. I'd have sworn loudly at them hundreds of times if it wasn't for the public path around the nature centre behind. I've given up surface fishing there, which may have cost me fish, but is far better for my blood pressure. Instead I've tried 'zigging' by suspending a pop-up bait from a bomb just below the surface where the feathered fiends can't see them. Results: inconclusive - I caught one brute of a carp (Willows really has the ugliest carp) in a couple of hours trying. Alders has far fewer foul fowl, but of course, is generally not so carpy. I had 4 good tench and a 5lb 8 bream from there earlier in the day. Sorry to have missed you.

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On several occaisions I had over a dozen in my swim - most taking and unwarranted curiosity in my float! Surface fishing would have been completely out of the question!

 

BTW - did you get your key back? - might be worth asking on the NAA FB page if you haven't - gets more traffic than the forum!

Edited by Chris Plumb
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