With Brian out of action this week I hatched a plan for the Sunday. With the weather forecast looking good I thought I'd set about putting matters right at Ryton. Looking at some of the blog reports which have seen a fair few Tench coming out, I was optimistic.
I was first into the car park and was just getting my gear out when Danny "The Lure of Angling" arrived. Not knowing who I was he whipped the gear out of the car and was ready for a swift march up the bank to his chosen swim. It was an overtaking manoeuvre that Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of.
To be fair, it doesn't take a lot to overtake me these days. The new seat box has its benefits and with my newly added DIY wheel kit made from a sawn up trolley, it's now more mobile. It just takes a bit of prep work before I can move it anywhere! I had a brief chat with Danny to introduce myself and we moved off to our swims.
This was only going to be a shortish session so I opted for a peg on the roadside bank that I did OK from at this time last year. I stuck with one rod and just went for a simple float rig, over the usual 4-5 balls of groundbait.
An hour in and I finally broke my Ryton duck for this year with a Perch of about 12oz. I thought that things would kick off from there, but Ryton reared its ugly side again and had other ideas. It turned out to be the only fish of the 4 hour session. Still, the early sun was very pleasant and I had part two to come later.
I spoke to Danny a couple of times during the session and he hadn't had anything prior to me leaving. Saying that, he had circumnavigated the place by that time and was now over on the other bank, so he could have been amongst the action for all I know. I'm sure he'll report back in due course. From what he said it sounded like the Saturday wasn't the best of days on the Pool, despite plenty of anglers on site. As ever, it remains a frustrating place.
The next session of the day after lunch was much closer to home and was Exploring New Waters Part 2. I had previously identifed 4 pools on a local disused site and I wanted to take a look at the 2 that were closest to my home. Similar to the previous week I would split a short session between the 2 pools.
The first pool was shallow, gin clear, but I could see a few small fish moving about, so I was optimistic of not blanking. It was full of interesting features:
Reed beds, lily pads, islands with trees and shallows - oh and if you look carefully you'll make out a carrier bag on the far bank, while the near bank margins contain a Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council red recycling crate. Motorbikes whizzing around a few feet behind my peg just added to the experience! I doubted my sanity, but figured on nothing ventured, nothing gained.
It didn't take long to start catching, but they were only small 1oz Rudd. In the gin clear shallow water they kept backing off though, but to be honest I wasn't too fussed. Eventually I did find one better Rudd - a monster of about 6oz!
I had been monitoring events at the other pool which was about a 150 yard walk and wasn't being fished. The motorbikes had gone, but a noisy family gathering (almost as bad as the motorbikes!) then descended on the pool. Once they started to move after half an hour, it signalled my chance to home in on the pool.
This pool was a little smaller in area and a totally different shape. It was almost like a bowl and at first glance it looks a bit bland. However, there was a lot of cover in the margins and there was a bit of colour in the water too. It was equally shallow, but again I was confident having seen a fish or two rising.
Note the delightful backdrop of a local factory!
10 minutes in and things weren't really happening. A very small Perch broke the deadlock and I figured that I was in for a load more 1oz fish. Then the Rudd moved in and I had a hectic 90 minutes or so. It was a fish a chuck from there, with Rudd in the 4-6oz range.
There were a few different, but pretty looking fish, amongst the Rudd though and I'd welcome any views on what they are.
It has the classic Rudd shape and an upturned lip, but not a red fin in sight. I'm assuming if it had any Roach in it, then there would definitely be red fins. Does it have Bream in it perhaps? I've caught plenty of Roach/Bream hybrids before and none have looked like this, so I'm ruling that out. I'm plumping for Rudd/Bream.
I now know broadly what to expect from these pools, so I'll return at some point to see if I can get amongst something a little better. Timing is the key though if you want a half peaceful day at this venue. Sunny Sunday afternoons in April are not perhaps the best choice!
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