Thursday 16 June 2011

The Glorious 16th

I've been a bit quiet with my fishing recently, but I've been busy behind the scenes making plans and giving my tackle a much needed tidy up. However, June 16th saw me kick off a hectic 10 day spell which sees me spending more days on the bank than off it.

I only had a short morning session to play with and it also had to be worked around a 7-45am drop off at Coventry station. Still, 3-4 hours of fishing time was worth the effort and I knew the Alveston Club section (which I've rejoined again), would be fairly quiet.

The pegs in the area I usally head for were occupied, but I had the choice of pegs 1-7, so I settled on peg 5 which is feature packed peg I've managed to overlook in the past. There's a fair depth close in, with plenty of lily pads and an overhanging bush. There's no flow on the inside, but it moves at a steady pace down the middle and there's the bonus of a far bank tree along with more lily pads.





I caught a few small fish quickly on the inside using a home made stickfloat and centre pin set up. Bites dried up quickly though and I needed a rethink. I fed in some groundbait on 2 lines and set up a straight lead rig. After a barren half hour mid river on the lead, I noticed that the inside line I'd baited up beyond the pads, was bubbling away like a witches cauldron. I switched the lead to the inside line, but nothing seemed interested.

I decided to change the presentation and within a minute I'd hooked something that felt quite decent and bolted off into mid river. I was cursing at this point, as the straight lead rod I had just discarded had a slightly beefier set up. Instead I was now left to play a hard fighting fish on a lightish hooklength in a snaggy swim with a size 17 hook. The fish was a strong favourite to win this battle.

With a dose of luck, a bit of skill (?!) and a lot of patience, I won the battle and netted one of the resident Carp - a Common of 6lb 6oz. A rather ordinary fish in Carp terms, but only my second ever from a river, so I was more than happy with it.


I had a few Perch up to about 12oz to round off a short but pleasant morning.

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