Wednesday, 24th.October 2018
The Back Lake, (The Lifebelt)
11.00 First job - swim survey. This is my first session on here so I have no idea about the bottom contours:
The past few weeks saw me have a ‘crash’… It was probably the stress of living with friends (lovely though they are, it was unfair of me to expect them to put up with my Depression for more than a short while). The ‘Black Dog’ descended and I was in a very dark place. More than once I said to Christine “I wish we had never started this house renovation malarkey”, although now we are half way through it I’m sure it’ll all be worth it in the end. Only recently have I felt the need to be at the waterside rather than at home painting doors, walls, and skirtings, chopping down a forest of trees and digging out bushes.
There is one vital component however I am lacking in my fishing. Confidence. I know I should be at the reservoir trying to break my duck but I just don’t feel mentally ready for it yet, recovering as I am from a particularly bad spell of the doldrums.
The Back Lake is not hard; but it’s not easy either. There are some very good fish indeed in here and they certainly go to mid-thirties. There are even rumours of a thirty-eight common although I can not substantiate that yet. A thirty-pound fish will do nicely however. Correction. Any carp will do nicely at the moment, just to give me that much needed confidence in my bait and rigs.
My ‘banker rig is a ‘D’ rig I have caught so many fish on in the past. Tied in two versions - one in fluorocarbon, the other in semi-stiff coated braid. Both carry ‘snowmen’ comprising 18mm. HDC ‘Pokernut’ bottom baits with 12mm. Cherry Carp ‘Tarby Specials’; one pink, the other white. The third rod is a 12mm. ‘Tarby Special’ pop-up fished on a Withy Pool rig.
All rods have a three-bait stringer with no other bait being introduced. I’m fishing one along the margin to the left by the lilies, and the other two out in the lake at five wraps. I did find fifteen feet a bit closer in and I may put one out in this deeper water.
For now, it just feels great to be out, feeling the sun on my face with the rods on the ‘dance floor’.
13.10 Just had another look at my sketch-map and I note there is fifteen feet at three-and-a-bit wraps. I think I’ll put both baits out at three-and-a-half (to accommodate ‘swing-back’ at such close range) maybe three plus three [no, on second thoughts, three plus one]. For the moment I think I’ll leave the baits out at five but fish the deeper water tonight.
14.00 Decided to go early doors on the fifteen foot line and put both baits out at three plus one wraps. Back leads on both to keep the lines down.
14.15 Matey-Boy in swim one to the right has greatly increased my confidence by reporting that a twenty-nine was caught from my swim last night. He also reports that fish were moving in front of both our swims during the hours of darkness so I think I shall keep watch this evening. I am always confident when fish are ‘on the move’; let’s hope they’ll be inclined to pick up a bait or two!
15.00 My hiatus from the waterside has allowed me to think long and hard about what I want from my fishing, and how best to go about getting maximum enjoyment from it.
My aim is to try and catch a UK PB and in this the reservoir is undoubtedly home to the stamp of fish I want to catch. Those who have followed my Blogs this summer will know that my fishing on there has been a complete failure - I’ve not even seen a carp much less caught one, a failure in no small measure down to my own lack of skill. I am constantly told by friends that the carp in Bough Beech do show if you look for them and in this regard I have done my level best to secure at least a sighting. I have literally walked miles and miles around its banks looking for fish - but never seen a single, solitary thing… A very big question arises: if I am ‘not good enough’ to catch sight of a Bough Beech carp, does this also mean I am ‘not good enough’ to catch one? Location is a vital strategy which puts you in the vicinity of fish wherein you can then set about catching them. But if you can not find them in the first place?
Watch for fish. Get on them. Offer a decent bait on a simple rig. Bob’s yer uncle, Fanny’s yer aunt.
Since I seem unable to resolve this conundrum on the reservoir, should I concentrate on waters where I know I can make this approach work?
Big question number two: I know of a water which offers a better chance of catching a fish as well as an even better chance of a UK PB. Should I stick to the big picture and my overarching aim - or keep fishing the reservoir for no other reason than it represents an heroic challenge which would be a boost to the ego and self-esteem should I get one?
At the moment I am finding it harder to walk away from Bough Beech than to actually go and fish it. If I walk away I lose all the investment in hours I have accrued on there. I may even lose the respect of my peers - “couldn’t hack it. Gave up!” Loss of face. Loss of self-esteem. Loss of credibility as a carp angler in the eyes of those whose respect I value.
If my ultimate need is to catch a PB, would I be better off fishing an easier water capable of producing such a fish - as opposed to blanking heroically on one where it is going to be very very difficult to catch anything of any size at all?
15.35 Ripples keep emanating from down the bank in the vicinity of the lilies. Is it carp or water fowl? I don’t want to risk frightening away a fish so I think I’ll just sit tight and observe.
17.45 All baits replaced and back on their spots. No signs of carp activity - the light is beginning to fail. Feeling confident though I am yet to catch a fish from the water. Of all the sessions I had at Bough Beech I never once felt this good.
Thursday 25th. October
07.30 The ‘Solunar Theory’ has it that fishing is best around the time of the Full Moon. This is no doubt due to the Moon’s gravitational influence on the Earth causing maritime tides and so on.The Full Moon shone beacon-bright all through the night - it was like daylight and although I heard a couple of fish jump, the expected action didn’t materialise.
Two lure anglers are thrashing about on the far bank; they were here last evening too. I have yet to see them latch into anything though.
I had one slow, drop-back on the pop-up early on but that was the only action during a disturbed night of sleep, disrupted as it was by the traffic noise from the Link Road not far away.
08.45 Plop, plop, plop. Thrash, thrash, thrash. Cast, retrieve. Cast retrieve. Cast retrieve… There is a kind of relentless satisfaction about switching off the brain and fishing on ‘autopilot’ for the lure fisherman. I’ve done a bit of drop-shotting and fly-fishing myself in the past and I admit there is a certain satisfaction in the rythmic casting and winding-in that is part and parcel of this form of fishing. At least every cast has the promise of success - the lure landing in a slightly different part of the swim, perhaps right on a fish’s nose. This is in direct contrast to carp-fishing where we cast our baits and leave them for hours on end before trying a different spot. Sometimes not trying a different spot at all.
Oh! Things must be slow! He’s got a different lure on. The fluorescent green monster has been replaced by a more conservative, discreet, silver jobby. Perhaps patience is wearing thin? Having raked every inch of the swim in which he has spent the past couple of hours, I see he is now in conference with his mate for whom boredom has finally set in. Rods and landing-nets are being packed away, the promise of an early morning fish having evaporated and they are now off the lake.
For the lure angler at least, the ‘pain’ of being fish-less is over and done with in an hour or so. Unlike the carp angler whose ‘pain’ can go on for days or even longer. Tell me about it!…
09.45 There’s a chill wind blowing down the lake now and although the thermometer is showing 11.5 degrees, it feels a lot colder than that.
I took off the Withy Pool rig and replaced it with a bog-standard, simple-as-you-like mono hair rig. This is armed with a Pokernut bottom bait and three-bait stringer and I have made a cast half way across for the last couple of hours of the session. Next time I think I might try a Wafter as this too is something I’ve had success on in the past.
Hope springs eternal. The day looks bright and sunny as does the future. I must be feeling better…
Saturday 27th. October
I found out that Matey-Boy’s name is Jake and he works for Solar Tackle. Although he looks about twelve years old (everyone does to me these days!) He is a cracking angler and has a far better tally of big fish than I ever had at his age. I got some very good pointers from him, like the fact you must fish your baits extremely close to the reeds or lilies - I’m talking inches. I’ve noticed this on many waters in the past - that the bait a foot or two off the reeds is left untouched while the bait right next to, is taken.Having banged on about Location in many of my Blogs I have decided to make regular visits to the lake to observe the whereabouts of the fish. I have a sneaky suspicion they move on the wind (as is common on most waters) and in this, I would have been better off fishing the opposite end from where I was during the last session.
Busy, busy, busy. There are rigs to make up and tackle alterations to make. Jake has given me much to consider before the next session which I am quietly confident about although the weather forecast is for arctic weather this weekend…
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