Top trumps

Stunning backdrop in Hereford

Another day and another weather front....This weeks trip over to my new water saw me frowning upon the conditions I'd decided to go out in. The rain was persistent and the wind no less vile! To say it was unpleasant was an understatement. The lake was as ever devoid of anglers and up a little due to the water intake of the prior few days. A few branches had found their way down into the swims and some clearance work was required before i could get to the majority of the swims.

Small common for starters

Interestingly the water had a very cloudy grey colour to it and a slightly different smell too. I set up in one of my pre-baited spots for the night and laid back with a brew to await the results of my actions. Well, I waited until around 2.30am before I eventually had any indication of fish activity in the area. My left hand rod gave out a short and fast take which lasted just long enough for me to get out the sleeping bag, before dropping the rig and leaving me sat in dismay. 6 out of 6 captures and now 2 out of 2 blanks.... oh well!

The next trip out was on Sunday. My new angling friend Joel Drapkin....(yep another Joel!) and I went up to Herefordshire to enjoy the day at a beautiful estate lake of 4 acres. The venue set in stunning surroundings and with no company other than that of the wildlife and resident cattle in the field behind us.

Truly stunning scaly mirror from the estate lake in Hereford. Well happy with this one!!!!

Some of you may remember it was the scene of a few nice fish for myself, Joel Biddle and Ceri Jones a few weeks back. Well, this time round we had an idea how to approach the place from the word go. We set up our rods with a view to casting across the small pool to the far side and hit the spots we had results from before with a barrage of Red X and Sea Monster boilies. We fished them on size 4 CBS Saber hooks to Katran Cobra hooklink. We also added a 4.5oz CBS COG lead to the equation too finish off the rig.

Joel and his dustbin lid bream!

I was first away with a stunning low double figure common on the Red X boilie on my left hand rod. The fish kited hard towards us and put up a cracking fight. We grabbed a few nice pics and got sorted for another cast. I had a feeling that things would probably die a death come afternoon as they had on our previous trip, so I was keen to ensure we grabbed as much action as possible while they were on their morning munch.

Within just a few minutes my other rod was away with a slightly better fish on. This one put up yet another cracking scrap and I was delighted to land a beautiful scaley mirror in pristine conditions, The fish there are certainly in dam good condition that's for sure! Joel was next up with a take on his rod. This fish fought a bit more randomly and it became apparent it was a bream of exactly five pounds that had taken his Red X boilie.

Yet another beautiful common. All the fish here are stunners!

Get in son!

It took about an hour before our next bite which was on Joels rod. We'd moved it over to another spot as the original one had done very little to produce anything of any decency.

This take was a one toner! The fish was hell bent on finding the roots of a fallen tree and despite pulling hard Joel was unable to keep it from the impending snag. The fish unfortunately got the upper hand and got away.

I managed the next fish, a nice common of just under 15lbs again in perfect condition too. The wind started to increase and despite accurate feeding and casting we struggled to get any more action until around 2pm. Joels rod ripped off with another hard fighting common on it. This one being the best of the day at 15lb 8oz.

A brilliant shot of Joel with his stunning common. A great day with great company!

We had a great day and it was lovely to get out again to the estate lake. Just wish it fished well all day and not just for the morning. Such a great little place with almost no angling pressure on it. I think I'll try and get another night in this week on the secret pool and see if I can finally temp one of those big mirrors before the river season starts and I have no time for the lakes again!

Tight lines all
Keith