Now it might have been Good Friday, but for me there wasn't a lot of good to come out of it. But for a turn of fate at the end of the session, this was a trip destined not to make it into a post of its own.
We both struggled for the whole session, suffering all manner of finicky and seemingly unhitable bites. I'm sure that a more delicate approach with a pole, fine hook lengths and small hooks would have seen more fish on the bank.
However, once bitten twice shy. Snitterfield has a few lumps in it and if you hook them on light pole gear, it's generally only going to end one way - the fish wins. I've experienced it there before and I now like to use rod and line to give me a better chance if a Carp puts in an appearance.
Although struggling to catch anything, my approach seemed justified when something relatively large picked up the double maggot hookbait and tore off at a rate of knots. 5, 10, 15, 20 yards of line was ripped off the reel and it wasn't stopping. I was fishing a size 20 to 2lb bottom, so I couldn't really apply much pressure. I had no choice but to get off my backside and chase the fish around the reservoir.
I ended up a good 50 yards to my my right but never got an ounce of control over the fish. In the end we parted company when it headed towards the now disused pier and I had to crank up the pressure. The annoying thing was that my sleeper rod which was geared up for the Carp, went totally ignored for the whole session!
We'd pre-agreed that the session would end at 3-30pm, but I managed to convince Brian that we needed another 15 minutes. It was lucky that I did, as it was during the extra time that Brian connected with a Carp on his float rig. It gave him a right old run around, but he eventually got top side of it and landed a clean looking Common Carp of 9lb 11oz.
A poor day for me on a water that I know is perfectly OK and has produced for me in the past. I just wasn't able to crack it on this occasion. I'll rethink my tactics before tackling it again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment