Monday 17th sees me at Witherington Farm. I have a day of today and try to combine a number of things with fishing. I have hours to kill between 9.00 am and midday. Of to Withy on this cloudy but warm morning. Arriving I find Barneys peg (peg 3 on Barnmoor Lake, called Barneys peg as only he manages to draw it!!) is empty. Never fished it before and despite wanting to draw it in a match clearly never done that either. So I lay my stall out and decide to start on the splodger to the island.
I need the practice, I don't use the splodger much. I now own a little Browning wand at 8 foot long, it is perfect for the short chuck on commercial type fisheries. In fact it is called a commercial king wand. Starting on the method mix with a banded pellet the bites are finicky, and it takes a little bit of chopping and changing to realize its Rudd and Roach, not really having it.
I am reliably informed that Barney uses maggot, so I roll a couple of maggots on my thigh and ping the dead maggot with pleasing accuracy to the same spot time and again. A little bit of experimenting brings the realisation that yellow maggot is picking out the bigger skimmers ahead of red maggot. This results in semi positive bites (not whacking round) but several 10 oz skimmers.
I have been pinging a little bait down the edge which results in a big swirl. So I put on the tiger paste and drop it in. Bang straight away and the yellow hollow 17 stretches out. Not the expected carp though it was a Bream, a proper Bream, thick enough in the shoulder to stretch my grip. Black, really black and very gnarly /scarred. Clearly an old fish. I estimate between 4 and 5 lbs.
Nothing after that so out on the splodger again but the skimmers have left. I keep feeding the edge, and go out on a choppy line at 6 meters. The worm gets pulled side to side by small stuff until a proper, flying skimmer stretches the red 11 hollow elastic.
Three more 1.5lb skimmers then that line goes dead. Meanwhile the edge is swirling again and in I go to repeat the Bream incident, another blackish bream between 4 and 5 lb. So similar it could have, may have been the same fish!
Both lines are now quite. So back out on the tip to the island, and with no method mix left (didn't mix a lot for the short session), I am using sticky pellet powder on micro pellet around my 15 gram feeder. Semi pop up pink krill pellet results in 3 quick fire "pasty" size carp around a pound , very silvery in colour and beautifully scaled. This was followed by two more pound skimmers then nothing.
As the time had crept on past my planned midday finish; I decided to drop in the edge and use the last of the tiger paste, which resulted in a lovely reddish carp around 14/15 lb, a lovely fish to finish on.
1.30 pm. Popped into Reid's tackle, ordered my bait for Saturday collection (Canal on Sunday). Jumped in the flyer and sped away to complete some chores for the wife. After the chores, I cooked tea (ate mine, put hers in the microwave) walked the dogs, fed the chickens and then went to pick up the wife from work.
Dropped her at home loaded the van with sledgehammer, spade wheelbarrow and other tools and sped of to Pewsey, to a work party on the Lake. A few willing volunteers embarked on much chatting general banter and working in repairing broken and sinking platforms + building steps down to pegs. Good three hours was had in waders or on the bank cutting scaffold poles or manoeuvring the heavy blue clay soil around.
It is hoped that after a bit of work and a restocking of the lake; this century old club can rebuild a dwindling membership, so its a good cause. Whilst I don't mind the work, I would rather be fishing so roll on Sunday and the match on the Canal at Lady's Bridge - Pewsey Versus Calne AC.
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