I made the drive over late afternoon, after a terrible day at home.....The last few weeks have been a little difficult to bear at times. We had a few mishaps with the business and a nasty incident of our beloved female tortoiseshell cat Chloe having a fall in the garden at home and breaking her neck. She died in the wifes arms on the way to the vets, which was extremely sad for us all as a family.
To top this off, If you can believe it....our oldest cat Ash suddenly came down with a severe case of heart disease and after a trip to the vets on Tuesday, we had to make the conscious decision to have the gorgeous boy put down....we were all devastated to say the least. Well after such a horrid day, there was only one way to spend the evening consoling myself. Get the rods out on my quiet little water!
I arrived down the pond to find as usual that it was empty! Just the way I like it! I dropped into the same spot I fished last week and opted to fish two very likely looking spots that i had been gently baiting with the ever awesome CBS Red X boilies! I've been trickling them in over the last week or two into a few likely looking spots and it appears the fish seem to like having a few free meals without the fear of a hook in amongst the offerings.
I got the rods out into the weed free spots and threw out around a kilo of Red X around the two rods. I presented a critically balanced pop up on one rod and a Red X Pop up just pinned to the deck on a KD rig on the other. Both using Katrans amazing Joker hook link, which blends in incredibly amongst all the bottom debris! I sat back with a coffee and awaited the light to fall away.
I snuggled up and listened to the owls and a male fox calling and drifted off into a very peaceful sleep. This was much needed after such a busy and depressing week....It wasn't too long before a few liners started and the next thing I know I have a bream around 5lbs in the bottom of the net. Not what I came for but a welcome catch all the same. I must remember that introducing pellets isn't the best plan of action in a bream heavy water!
Well, needless to say my next fish around mid-night was also another bream! This one again around the 5lb mark....I decided to introduce a few more boilies without the pellets this time and recast into the inky darkness in the hope that my next take would be a chunk!
I got back into my sleeping bag and tiredness hit me like a train! I was in the middle of a very deep sleep and as usual I had turned my buzzers down to silent and placed the sounder box just above my face in the arms of the brolly. This insures that I hear the take and it keeps the noise down to a dull shrill! Around 4am I was blissfully counting sheep when there was the most viscous take I think I've ever witnessed from my right hand rod! Using braided mainline only intensifies the take but it was so violent that when I jumped up to grab the rod, I actually struck the wrong rod as it was causing so much movement on the stabilized buzzer bars!
After hitting the wrong rod and realizing my mistake, I chucked the rod down into the bush and grabbed the hooked fish....It didn't really do much to start with as it was heavily covered in weed. I pulled and kept the pressure on the fish and gently she came back through the weed and small lily pads. Eventually it became lighter and she hit the surface free of the weed and lead free too. I quickly stuck the net under her and she went ballistic at that point....thrashing around in the net, I made sure she had plenty of mesh and water to move around in before going to set up the mat and camera.
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| My second fish from the new water and at 20lb 6oz a stunner to boot! Well happy! |
I'm having a few days away from the bank and a bit of time off with the family over Easter now. Going down South to spend a bit of time with loved ones.
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and just remember to enjoy the company of your loved ones as life is so short!
Kindest regards
Keith x
