Following the result of the previous day as described in
part 1 of this piece I got to the lake a lot earlier. Although Rob had already got to the venue 15
minutes before I arrived he had kindly left the swim vacant even though he knew
of my results, just for this one day mind you, tomorrow is open house on swims
again.
The results of yesterday had suggested that the maggots out
fished the corn about 2 to 1 so I had decided to fish both rods on the maggot
feeders. Again no extra feed would be
used since this idea obviously worked the previous session, although I did not expect
to repeat that result I was hopeful that just maybe I would get the big fish
that I had possibly missed.
Today started more sedately in that it was probably a couple
of hours before the first fish put in an appearance, I was not sure if that was
just they were nervous with the number caught the previous day or the fact I
had started a lot earlier. In the event
that first fish made it all academical since it was a new personal best for the
water and when Rob confirmed 8lb-15oz it came as a double edged sword. Nobody in their right mind can think that one
ounce is a get deal, but this one ounce short of my target 9lb weight did make
a difference far greater than its size.
That small individual quirk aside I was well made up with such a
magnificent looking fish and thought that irrelevant of the results for the
rest of the day it would have been worth the effort.
Of course I did continue to fish in the hope of even larger
specimens that were potentially in front of me but it was not to be. The sport was slow but steady as fish after
fish came to the net, several more 6lb tench were landed and then yet again I
hooked a big fish that immediately put the thought of yet another carp in my
mind. It would just not respond to the
pressure I used on the 1.75lb test rods and that can be quite
considerable. Of course there would be
only two possible options, it either came in or I would pull the hook, lady
luck was watching and I did finally get it to come to my net, all 8lb-6oz of
it. Slightly smaller the previous big
fish but a far better fight and yet again I fished on with a big smile on my
face, definitely building up to be a couple of days to remember.
Towards the evening I landed a 7lb-11oz tench that really
made the day as one of a nine fish haul, no carp this time but I am not fishing
for them so that was no loss, with a total of 25 tench over the two days with
three 8lb plus fish and a further three 7lb plus amongst them I retired well satisfied and looking forward
to the next session after the big red eyed monsters.
Ah, the old one ounce under conundrum! I have the same for roach just under two (where half an ounce under is just cruel!) and carp just under twenty. The carp will turn up one day by accident, but the one-fifteen-eight roach seems impossible to better by 8 drams round these parts, by design.
ReplyDeleteMind you any of the above would beat my PB for tench. Nice looking fish too, Phil.