Some I am back down at my club water - A Mid Kent Fisheries Gold Ticket venue, and as I look out from the bivvy door, I see the same scene I have viewed so often before. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. It’s just that when you return home from a great fishing session and return to your ‘home’ water, things look, well, a bit ‘samey’ if you know what I mean.
There are some wonderful fish in this lake (although nothing you would count as a real monster); but this doesn’t make up for the fact that the place is, well, a hole in the ground if I’m honest. I’m being a little too harsh I know because I have had some great sessions here in the past, but to me, it proves that the actual lakes themselves are intrinsically part of the Fishing as a whole. I don’t expect everywhere I fish to win a Beauty Pageant but I think the word I’m struggling to find is - Bland. Yes, it’s a bit of a bland water, out here on the Kent Marshes, a bit of a bleak and austere place at the best of times.
After my experiences in the Dordogne I have decided to go all-out in simplifying my approach as much as possible. Simple baits on simple rigs, with a simple baiting approach where I think the fish are.
I mentioned previously the success of the ‘Basic Complicated Rig’. A very simple fluorocarbon knotless-knotted hair, carrying a wafter, straight out of the pot. For this session, I decided to take things just one step further; in addition to the wafter, I added a ‘D’ rig to the armoury carrying a ‘Snowman’ presentation consisting of a ‘Hard Hooker’ type bottom bait and a small 12mm. pop-up. Both Krill baits from ‘Sticky’.
Now this guy is a nationally known ‘bait guru’ whose knowledge and expertise is universally acknowledged so I had complete faith in the quality of the bait. We had a long conversation about bait costs and so on and he convinced me that because of the economies of scale he can make (by ordering ingredients by the tonne) he can still make money at this price.
For far too long have we been ‘ripped off’ by the likes of the big manufacturers who insist that “if you want quality, then you have to pay for it”. PIFFLE!… Rant over. On to the fishing.
The Roach in this water are huge - and I mean huge. Even I have had two pounders and threes have been caught. They will demolish boilies at the drop of a hat although peculiarly, they seem to leave ‘potted baits’ alone, or at least, these baits seem resistant to their attentions.
So I’ve got two wafters and one snowman out over a light scattering of freebies. My intention is to ‘top up’ regularly because I know the Roach will have the freebies away no danger although I am hoping the ‘Tuff Ones’ will withstand their attentions.
My back is absolutely killing me! Putting the bivvy up is an horrendous task as the bending double is quite the worst thing I can do to it these days. It’s not so much the weight of the thing (it’s one of those very light Trakker Brolly things), it’s the bending down and awkward postures you get into putting poles together, pushing in bivvy pegs and so on. I’m lying on the bed taking a well earned rest and am about to put the kettle on for the first cuppa when I can hear a droning noise…
OMG! It’s the right hand rod away!… So unexpected was the take it took me completely by surprise and it took several seconds for it to register I’d actually got a fish!
The big common (for that was what it was) ploughed up and down in front of the pitch for several minutes before I managed to get some semblance of control over it and I was greatly relieved to slip the net under what I thought was a thirty pound fish!
Although it fell short by just a couple of ounces, the weight has little relevance for it was a great ‘beast’ of a fish. Isn’t it peculiar how some fish (and not necessarily the very largest) have a kind of ‘presence’ - an impact which transcends the pounds and ounces by which they are characterised. I managed some good self-takes too which makes a change!
What a start! A bigg’un in the first hour! I’m right going to have it off here!
I never got another bite…
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