19th.-20th.November 2019
Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 30
13.00At last, an opportunity to fish P30. Lunch configured by my dear lady, Christine is a confection of hot soup, bread and butters, some cold sausages, and an unexpected jam doughnut! The greatest of benefits of married life is the loving care of a dear wife!
Eighteen wraps, straight in line with the rooftops of the houses opposite and seventeen and a half on the spod rod.
Steve in The Box had a fish this morning although Ryan in ‘Nolan’s’ two swims along blanked; he has now moved into The Box vacated by Steve who has now left the lake.
More spodding to do. I am determined to ‘spod-the-granny’ out of my swim again like last week the only drawback being the 4lbs. TC spod rod will not make the distance with the large size Spomb; a ‘medium’ it is then.
Back to it - there’s a lot of bait to get out there…
Taking a well earned break from spodding. I never knew that continual casting and retrieving could be such hard work! I started off using a ‘Fox Spomb’ and ended up with an ‘Avid Spod’; the latter the best compromise between payload and not over-loading the spod rod. Pulling the damn thing back through the water with its ‘mouth open’ was another matter however!
13.30
Phew! Knackered with all the casting, retrieving, loading up the Spod, casting again… who says fishing is just sitting behind rods doing nothing? Not in my world it ain’t!
All baits are the now familiar Wafters with short lengths of 4mm. cork in them to make them just buoyant enough to be held down by the weight of the hook.
Even Rocky seems bored with the whole ‘spodding thing’.
My mark is just to the right of the swan and I’m landing on it pretty consistently but boy, is it arm-aching stuff!
14.50
At last my spodding activities have finished for the day. I tried an ‘Avid’ spod instead of the ‘Fox’ Spomb and this seemed to get more feed out there although there is some ‘spod spill’ of Hemp. This is the trouble with spods rather than spombs. Think I’ll try a Fox large size Spomb and see how I get on with that; I did compare one to the large size ‘Spomb’ and it seems a little smaller which won’t overload the spod rod so much.
It’s quiet out there. This ice cold weather seems to have put the kybosh on things for the present. Well and truly winter conditions now. Things can only get tougher weather-wise from now on, I’m confident however with how I am fishing and don’t think there is anything else I can be doing to improve matters. It’s all down to the fish from now on.
15.30
Just taken the water temperature by casting the thermometer out a few yards and it’s still 10.5ยบ C. That’s not winter by any means - it’s a Spring temperature, so despite it being as cold as charity on the bankside it’s not too bad in the water. It’s not truly winter until the water gets down to six or seven degrees.
15.45
Whilst on the phone to Chris I had a take!… felt like a really good fish - slow, ponderous, and heavy; got it about twenty yards towards the bank and the damn thing fell off!
Bugger!!
16.30
Topped up with some spod mix in case it’s been eaten by the fish I lost and his friends.
I reeled in the centre rod to check it and found the rig tangled around the fluorocarbon. I wonder if the rig I lost the fish on was similarly tangled? This is now an issue; if I can not depend on the rigs landing well-presented then I’m in all sorts of trouble.
What has happened is that the supple braided part of the combi-rig has spun around and wrapped itself around the fluorocarbon ruining presentation. This has been fine for shorter range work up to ten wraps or so but at eighteen wraps there is obviously potential for tangling. Looks like a ‘D’ rig is in order here.
17.30
As it was now dark, I retired to the bivvy to get tea on the go and zipped the door down. Prior to having something to eat however I got all the ‘bits’ together to construct a ‘D’ rig - fluorocarbon, size four ‘Curve’ hook, ‘Mouth Snagger’ aligner, when all of a sudden the middle rod was away!..
This time the fish was well hooked and after a dogged battle a 26:02 was in the net. Yippee! Another one bites the dust.
Pleased to get a twenty-six however.
18.00
At last got the centre rod re-cast with the ‘D’ rig on. Still got cork in it to help it lift up; Ryan doesn’t seem to think it will make any difference and he could be right - but it confers an essential ingredient to my fishing as far as I’m concerned - Confidence. And you can’t beat a good dollop of that! Six inches from eye of hook to end of loop.
Tea was care of the wonderful Mrs. S. Who by her own fair hand, invention, and dexterity conjured an exceedingly fine chicken noodle dish. Never was a husband better looked after by his other half! Let’s hear it for Chris! Whoop, whoop!!
18.40
Just snuggling down in the sleeping-bag and I’m in again - a rip-roaring take that you just knew was never going to stop… It’s on the ‘D’ rig on the centre rod again. Not quite as big this time but a lovely fat, chunky common of 23:02.
Once again I struggled with the camera - this time it was the flashgun batteries which died and I had to use the on-camera flash; never ideal, but at least I got some sort of shot. 23:02 Common; like all the fish I have out of Pollard, as fat as you like. These fish are in really good order in this lake.
21.55
Just got sorted out after yet another epic battle! This time with a 25:12 mirror that thought it was twice its size!
I got the problems with the camera sorted after Googling it (good old Google); turned out to be something really obscure I’d have never have discovered on my own. This is the trouble with modern cameras; they have so many functions, shortcuts, and multi-function buttons, that if you press something accidentally you are in all sorts of strife! Anyway, it is now sorted.
Every now and again you catch a fish which just will not stop flapping on the mat. As for holding still for the camera - forget it! With the interval timer going off every ten seconds it took about twenty attempts before I even got this! Bloody thing just would not hold still! I’d lift it up just before the flash was due to fire - and it’d start flapping and kicking! Carp. I love ‘em. But now and then I hate ‘em! 25:12, fit as a butcher’s dog!
It has really turned into a bumper night - the sort of session I could previously only have dreamed of. Get in!
Wednesday, 20th.November 2019
07.45What a freezing night that was! Everything is covered in ice this morning and the biting cold makes your hands hurt when you pick up the rods to re-cast.
Unbelievably cold!!… it was so cold it made my hands hurt just picking up the rods!
Everything frozen solid. I don’t know what the temperature went down to last night but it was well into the minus figures.
All rods out on the spot. Just having breakfast and then spodding the last of the feed.
09.00
Spodding all done, well in time to bag one more fish before ‘stumps’ at midday. Alan is moving in behind me so I shall have his company until then.
12.00
No more action. End of session.
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