The Lake it self is around 105 acres in size and absolutely gin clear. I cannot stress how clear, on this hot day I wanted to strip off and dive in. The lads fearing a tsunami, warned against. I think they are jealous of my lithe' frame. After strolling to the near pegs and salivating at the black patches , which turned out to be shoals of fry and Rudd. We settled on a cuppa and tried to contain our enthusiasm as we dipped out nets in a sterilising solution.
A far cry from some of the venues I have the dubious pleasure of visiting. Clearly the Carp guys respect the place, there is no graffiti, chewing gum stuck to the floor, or dog ends littered around. Every swim is a picture, no rubbish or discarded tackle, tins etc.
Lily pads are crawling with wildlife, I cant recall how long ago it is since I have seen so many Dragonflies and Damsel Flies. Stepping into the lake (more later) I disturbed a layer of silt on the golden gravel and a cloud of blood worm vortex-ed in the crystal clear water.
We had met earlier in the week for a team meeting - match members discussing Chris Rushtons practice trips and to formulate a plan. Rough order of the agreed plan was not to target the big Tench, but to go all out for the Rudd. It was felt going for the Tincas would risk a blank. We needed points to catch Swindon ISIS.
Lechlade A started the draw and delighted all by drawing peg 1 for their team members and the scales, to roars of delight. I fancied it and decided to go a quid with Spanners, in the hope he would feel pressurized and drop a couple of points. He won the first two legs of this comp, and I had, come 3rd and 4th.
I drew peg 5 (Midsection ) for the boys, with B5 in summer bay for me. Arriving at the peg, (drive to your peg!) I noted the water was much shallower than the our Tuesday night team brief had suggested. I was expecting 6-7 feet in fact I had 3 to 4! Team brief had also suggested Rudd - shallow - would be the way forward; but to be honest the massive shoals of 4 lb Rudd were not in evidence. Fry yes. 7 Carp between 18 and 30 lb, yes, but no big shoal of Rudd.
Standing on the wheel then bonnet and up onto the roof of the flyer (parked at my Peg) I surveyed with little bino,s the scene before me. Weed , more weed and even more weed. The shallow gin clear water had allowed Canadian pond weed and other varieties to grow up from the gravelly bottom to within around
inches of the surface.There was a gap around 18 x 6 feet between the thicker weed, at around 5 or six rod lengths out. In addition right across the swim from left to right a gravel bar about 3 feet deep where the weed came thickly right to the surface like Hadrian's wall.
I raised the tackle box on its legs waded out into around knee depth water where it started to shelf off to 4 feet. Set up two wagglers, an old favorite Silstar spliced tip whippy rod, very soft on the strike. Closed face ABU 706 and 2lb mainline, completed by dumpy crystal Drennan puddle chucker float ( black top for the bright conditions) Size 16 hook. The other a Preston 13 foot carbon active "Excel" with Diawa team match 2058 reel, 3 lb line insert crystal size 18 hook.
Plan A . Using bait dropper - hemp and caster, choppy worm into a tiny clear patch in weed, 10 feet to my right for later on pole. Fish the whip out in front up to Hadrian's wall, fish on the bottom or mid water. Change later (after exhausting inside line) to fishing long to the gap with waggler pinging loose fed caster and maggot.
Plan A, failed. Hooter signaled the 3pm start to this afternoon /evening match. I pushed the whip out and swung the long lined rig out. Pinged a handful of maggot to get em going, and the 100 or so Rudd whic had just moved in, immediately vacated the swim, clearly spooked by the whip over their head in such clear water. Slung the whip behind me. Bait dropper area is already fizzing so instead of waggler I think I will give it a quick try. Grabbed the pole and went over the bait dropper , slightly deeper water - hoped the fish on the bottom wouldn't see the pole. Small fish tugged the worm side to side but didn't really take it.
There was indication of bigger fish so I - on impulse - placed a grain of strawberry red sweetcorn on the hook and dropped it in again. Whoosh it was away in a maelstrom explosion of activity. Red Hollo immediately bottomed out as a train of a fish ploughed into Hadrian's weed wall. After 30 plus minutes of tugging bag and forth and putting the Tourny X under unwarranted pressure, I pulled in by elastic hand over hand, what looked like a sack of weed. Panic set in as it got close and I realised the most beautiful common carp of around 25+ lbs in amongst the weed.
Stepping gingerly of the platform box I slid the landing net underneath and to my dismay it wasn't big enough. The carp was benignly calm, as I cleared the hook and weed away. Holding it upright in the water to allow it to get its breath, it then just slid away. Bol****s! No photo. who will believe me? Who cares a treasured moment with a beautiful fish is imprinted on my mind. Typical catch a decent carp in a match and it don't count.
No further action this side of Hadrian's weed wall me thinks. So waggler time. After 20 minutes got my first bite, a glorious Rudd around a pound and a quarter.
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| Ruddy Marvellous.
Trouble was they got smaller not bigger. It was a hard job getting the fish. I lost several trying to get them through the weed, before I worked out a routine. Strike, hook, stand up , reach up high and lift over weed, hoping the fish wouldn't flip off barbless hook. I worked hard trying different depths and shotting patterns but settled on 10 inces deep no shot on the line.
I also realised despite the float being clear crystal it was spooking fish. So I used a waggler as weight to get a tiny carp blob float out to the feed area, the reeled the float to the edge of the weed, and used the blob with as an indicator with the bait 10 inches deep in the "clear patch" Worked a treat.
The day was blighted by my line inexplicably getting tangled behind the spool on the close face. To be fair I was thinking of scaling down to an 18 hook any how, as Rudd were not at the predicted weight. So that rig was placed aside and out came the Preston. Being a longer rod it helped getting the fish over the weed.
Other irritants on the day was the willow herb fluff at one point the lake looked like it had a frosted covering, and it was a nightmare. It bunged up the eyes on the rod, wrapped around the spool and in general made it Ruddy Hard Work. Spanners to my right was catching steadily but all the fish were small. I am sure I wasted an hour in the match just cleaning fluff off to make it possible to cast. Bonus news came along the bank, that the ISIS bloke in our section was blanking.
The Hooter blew for the all out. The weigh showed the three blokes to my left including ISIS man had all blanked.
Me - 5 points - 4th with 7 lb 2.5 oz. Spanners had taken a quid of me catching 67 fish for 10 lb 2.5 oz for second in section. Lechlade 12 lb + on home water. Martin - 3 points- in A section had 7th with 2 ounces
Will = 2 points -had 8lb 10 oz for 6th in his section and Steve Dean - 6 points -had fourth in his section.
Pewsey Blue had been pipped 3 to 1 by Red on the day. Despite the blank, in my section ISIS picked up well with 3 second places in the other sections. A weird day look at Will and Martin. Will had 8 lb but got less points than Martin with 2 oz.
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Viaduct with the Army on Wednesday for AGM and last match of this 2012/2013 season.
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