Well after 2 blank sessions on my little pool and numerous other quiet recent trips, I've finally broken the silence with a nice little fish.
I decided to take the trip over to the intimate little water Wednesday afternoon after work and turned up as usual to an anglerless venue! Great! I opted to fish the same swim I've been targetting through the past fortnight as it contains a variation in depth from 3 feet to 8 feet with a lovely mid pool drop off area which seems to be a great spot to target.
The weed in there makes presentation a little more interesting but that's all part of the appeal of the place to me and the fact that it keeps away the majority of the numpties. I put a handful of Fireball boilies out to the left of the swim near a weed bed that borders some lily beds. I saw fish in this area last week in the warmer daylight hours. The right hand rod went out to the drop off mid pool and a good helping of baits were scattered around a 10M area.
I set up the brolly, chair and made myself a cuppa. I sat back as the light faded and the temperature dropped away. It felt like it was going to be yet another coldish evening and it wasn't long before I felt the need to snuggle up in my sleeping bag to keep warm. I sat playing a few solitaire games on my mobile and eventually started to think about sleep. I had a visitor around 8.30pm from another young angler who was putting a bit of bait in for the next evening and we chatted for a good hour before he left for the night and I settled down.
I had a couple of odd bleeps from moving fish early evening and nothing else for the rest of the night. The temperature rose a little around midnight and the rains started. It was pretty torrential and the wind picked up with it. But at least it was a little warmer and I was full of confidence for a bite at some point. I awoke to the early morning sun and clearer skies around 7am and made myself a coffee.
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| Sometimes the size is irrelevant! What a bloody peach of a fish! |
The suns rays were quite warm down behind the bankside coverage, which was keeping the Easterly winds off me. I decided to stay a little later than I had originally anticipated and I'm glad I did as at 11.30am during my umpteenth cup of morning coffee, my left hand rod burst into life....the bobbin rose in an almost breamy, twitchy take. I got up and watched the tip. The rod tip bounced about and the line went slack. I decided it was almost probably the dreaded slime monster on the end and struck in a state of disbelief.
To my pleasure it was a carp on the end and not the dreaded snot gobbler! A really decent fight ensued and amongst the dead weed and flotsam came a stunning bronze aged common. Not the biggest fish in the small pool by far but what she lacked in size she made up for in looks! Absolutely stunning classic shape and colour which glistened in the early morning spring sunshine.
At 11lb 5oz she was never going to break any records but that really didn't matter to me in the slightest. The weather was warm, the sun shining, I had a carp on the bank and I was happy! That's all that mattered for now. To top things off I'd dealt with a lot of the crappy things in my life that needed sorting out this week and I was feeling top notch! Lets hope the weather keeps up and at last we can say a long awaited good bye to the winter which seems to of lasted for ever this year!
I'm off down to visit family with the wife and kids this week for Easter so things will be a bit quiet for a few days. I have a day booked in with my old pal Joel Biddle this Saturday at Dyffryn Springs. Just a bit of fun and the chance to bag a load of stockies hopefully. Lets hope the weathers not too bad as the forecast is abysmal at present!
Whatever your all up to this coming week or two, please do enjoy your Easter!
Love yas
K
