The First and Last.

Back on the pool again, the lake has been very busy with some good catches, both in quantities and size, with most from one particular area of the lake. There has been one fish out which I can't 100% guarantee it was Roxy but from the pictures I've seen and comparing side by side with mine, I'm calling it, it's good to know she's still with us but at a very out of shape weight, however, last winter did drag on for ages which I think has dented some of the bigger fish weights, I was told she still felt a little hollow after spawning so she probably wasn't at her best and could do with getting her head down, roll on spring.

 

I opted to fish the far corner of the pool due to the pressure the other end had been seeing and when I arrived at my peg I knew I'd made the right decision. In front of my swim the surface bubbled away and plumes of mud rose up from the lake bed, I was shaking as I got the first rod out of the bag and I couldn't get it out quick enough, I was all fingers and thumbs selecting which cork pop up to use but the cast was spot on, it went out beyond the fish and I wound down straight away to bring it over the cloudy area and dropped it right onto their dinner plate, there were loads of smaller effervescent bubbling in the area which were probably Tench but the spot I was on had clusters of much bigger bubbles, it was just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the take. I set about getting my PVA bags tied and second rod ready but before I could get this rod out I heard the clutch of my reel fizz as line tore off the spool, I was in and less than ten minutes from arriving at my swim I had my first fish in the bag.

 

First chuck mid double.

The rest of the session was rather non eventful, I chased a few more bubbler's even moving across the bay to get a better angle but nothing developed. I'd baited one spot off the island through the day and did cast to it a couple of times but I mostly left this area alone, it was approaching the end of the session so I put a rig 'bang on' this spot for the last hour and a bit, it was one of those casts that was so good you know it's going to go.

 

This cast sat there for a good hour and I was contemplating moving it as nothing had happened then I heard my alarm give a series of short bleeps, I was having a chat with Barry at the time and ran straight round to the rod to see the bobbin at the top and the line pulled up tight, I immediately though 'Tench', as there hadn’t been a blistering run off the spot, I lifted into the fish and felt a grating on the line, whatever it was had gone through the roots of the island tree I was fishing too, it was still there so I just kept the tension on and it pulled itself free of the roots, then it ran, it was a Carp. This fish fought like stink and just didn't want to give up, I thought it was going to be a good twenty the way it was going and when it did eventually come to the net I was a bit disappointed as it wasn't quite the size it was making out to be, still a good upper double common though.

 

Last cast upper double.