Thursday, 8th.July 2021

Burrows, The Goose Shit

Back again for another session to see if I can emulate last week's adventure.

'The Goose Shit' Peg
My spot is in front of the reeds over on the far side at the bottom of the marginal slope

There's a guy next door in The Shallows casting across, not quite into my water - but close enough to be a nuisance. Can't say anything of course. He did come and have a word and I said he wouldn't be interfering with me, but as is often the case,he just really wants approval for being a selfish so and so. Have just got to live with it. The perils of fishing busy waters.
No activity on the lake although I just heard someone to my right land a fish.

Manilla on the left-hand rod, Nashbait Squid and Krill on the right-hand. Both bottom baits on fluorocarbon rigs.

Ah..... Fish just moved to the left of my spot. Come on!

Ten Spombs of spod mix over the top of the two rods.

Oh bugger. A Cormorant just surfaced. It was probably that I saw move.

And it's still only a quarter past eight.

And at a little over an hour later I'm away on the red rod. This fish was proper angry and beat me up royally on the bank. Literally. I fell in the water and grazed my arm and leg. Soaked to the knees! At least it proved the effectiveness of the red bait which I shall be keeping on of course. 16:01

This fish beat me up good and proper. As I netted it, I grasped the net meshes to haul it out of the water and it thrashed so hard it pulled me, off-balance, into the water. Fell on rocks and grazed my arm and foot, plus, got a soaking for my trouble!

16-01 Mirror. Fish still lean after spawning. I don't suppose they'll be in good condition until much later in the year.

Three Spombs to top up.

Eleven o'clock and things are looking dead quiet. I've noticed before that bites drop off around lunchtime so I've come armed with some Nash Zig Screws on which I intend to fish a yellow and a black, two foot off the bottom.

Gone over to the zigs since I noticed one or two fish on the top. Both over the baited spot. The reasoning behind this is there may be fish cruising above the bottom but not going down to feed and I want to intercept them there.

Yellow foam screwed onto a Nash Bait Screw. Better than the Fox ones which are fiddly to insert using the special little tool.

Tied up another black zig, this time at five feet. That puts it in mid-water.

Recast both zigs; one at two foot and the other at five. Both are armed with Proper Jobs pop-ups 11mm. Squid and Octopus. These are what I'd be using on the Big Boys lake so it would be great to get some confidence in them on here.

Proper Job Pop-Ups. There's nothing more buoyant than a PJPU

Well it's nearly four o'clock and there's been nothing on the zigs so I've gone back down on the bottom with the Manilla and the red. The red I put out on a German Rig because the fluorocarbon hair splits the boily. Threading floss through is much better.

Four or five Spombs out to freshen up the spot.

I'm wondering whether I'm putting too much bait out? Killing the peg? Could be. Might be worth fishing with minimal bait next time, say stringers only with perhaps a light scattering of pellets over the top?

Spot out to the left where fish have been moving - 10.75 wraps. I'm putting a bait on it with a stringer.

Revised my thoughts on the amount of spod mix to put out. I've put 5 out onto the LH spot because I have rarely seen more than single fish or pairs swimming together. I also think that 3 rods on a spot may be ok for Linear (a la Tom Maker) but lower stocked waters there is less competition between the fish 🐟

Friday 9th.July

Usual blank night; at least I slept well. The baits have been out all night and I'm going to leave them there as there seems little point in recasting them. The interesting thing is, why do sessions get worse rather than better? This is the umpteenth time I've caught an early fish, only for the rest of the session to be blank? Not just curious - fundamental.

I've changed my mind and reverted back to the original plan of two on the spot for the morning session. Eight Spombs on the spot.

Just had a dropped take on the LH rod. Fish didn't hang on. So the spodding did the trick?

There was a show from a fish about half way across and then a funny stuttering sort of take to the red rod. This turned out to be a 12:02 common which went under the other line. All kinds of mayhem!

12-02 Common

3 spombs to top up.

And we're off again... This fish tore off like Usain Bolt. 🏃 Straight up the lake to my left. Had to be a mental common, and so it proved. Biggest of the session so far 21:14.

Biggest fish of the session 21-14. In normal circumstances this fish would be much heavier but having recently spawned its weight was well down.

So that was the end of the session. No more fish. A good result though given that there were few fish caught on the lake. It's time to go after the Big Girls on the Big Boys Lake.