Cor what a change in the weather all of a sudden! A couple of fine warm days and then all of a sudden the almighty storms of hell rage upon us! lol
Well, not quite but it certainly felt quite heavy last night at the lake. As usual I was on my own and sat in the middle of nowhere surrounded by very old gnarly trees in the monster of thunder storms was a little unnerving to say the least! I must admit to be a little bit of a loon though and the idiot inside me thoroughly enjoyed playing chicken with the lightning bolts whilst trying to have a pee!
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| A gnats cock over 13lbs.....game changer time at last! |
I've done 2 nights in a row this week due to a slightly quieter few days rolling, which albeit not the best news, I confess a little break has left me feeling great!.... 'ish! Sunday night was a game of two halves....the weather started amazingly with high temperatures in the mid twenty's and dry. The second half was that of thunder storms and heavy rain. On arrival the fish could be seen evident in my baited areas. There had been plenty of grubbing around going on and I felt pretty confident I'd manage a fish during the night.
I got the rods out and settled down with a brew before hitting the sack for the night. There were plenty of line bites occurring and I was remaining high in confidence as I fell asleep. My left hand rod went into overdrive at around 11.30pm and I was quickly on it with a good bend in the carbon. I kept the pressure hard on the fish, but after just a few seconds of battle I was left with rig returning to me unattached to the fish....the hooklink had unfortunately snapped under the immense pressure in the thick weed. I felt bloody devastated...I don't cope well with loosing fish and I take it very personally!
Things weren't to improve much either as about 2 hours later after changing to a heavier gauge hooklink, I connected with another good fish, only to have the hook pull this time! Absolutely gutted, I checked the rig, to see that the hook point had turned over and was as blunt as a Jim Davidson stand up joke! I couldn't believe my luck and vowed I'd make the effort the next night to get back in shape....
I thought I'd just take a moment here to show you a few more pics of my PVA and rig I use for the weed fishing as i have two versions...the first I showed you all in my previous article. The following pics should explain the set up a little bit more ;)
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| Blow back rig |
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| crumble boilies by hand |
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| Ready to go into the pva bag |
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| Compress the bait |
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| Pinch the top of the bag |
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| Tie off the end |
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| Insert stringer needle |
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| Pull rig through PVA |
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| Ready to go with the hook hidden from any weed! |
Monday night arrived and so did yet more rain and heavy thunder storms. None of this mattered to me as i had other things going through my mind....like big carp! The fish had been munching on the few freebies I'd left them that morning before I'd left for home and the spots had been cleared out. A quick sort out to ensure all the gear was ready and out went the rods. The weather couldn't have been much worse and as night fell the storms came in. And did they come! The lightning was epic....lighting up the lake like November 5th! The rain was torrential and my Delkims continually buzzed and bleeped from the vibrations. Felt like I was 18 years old again and out clubbing! The only thing missing was the scantily clad birds, cheap booze and the smell of crappy fags!
Around mid-night things started to quieten down a little and at last a lull in the rain. It was just after 1am that the left hand rod was away again this time I got her away from the heavy weed and pads without a problem. Only a small common at just over 13lbs, but very welcome indeed. I thought that was probably going to be my lot for the night so after a bit of fiddling around, I got the rod back into the water and settled off to sleep. It was 3.20am that I was to next be awoken by the sound of an ailing Delkim....A sudden couple of bleeps alerted me to a take on the right hand rod. This one was deep into the pads and it was going to take a serious bit of effort to get this one out.
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| 14lb 6oz and absolutely loaded with Red X! |
I pulled for all I was worth and to my amazement this time I got lucky! She came free and headed through the looser weeds towards me, result! In a few seconds I was at last clear of the danger areas and playing the fish in less problematic water. Eventually I got the net under a very feisty little common of 14lb 6oz. Not a monster by any means but at last I was making haste in the ever increasingly thick weed.
There was no more activity over the course of the night and I packed away just after 8am to get home in time to drop sprog no 2 in school. I'll be back down early next week for another overnighter all being well. Let's hope that those 2 remaining big girls show up soon as my time is running out! That June 16th feeling is approaching fast now and I can feel the ever increasing need to catch a few Barbel!
See you all soon
K
x
