Felthorpe 08.05.12

I had a day off work, so decided to go fishing (what a surprise)

I'm glad I did...

You know when things just fall into place every once in a while? It was like that....

I fished Mirror lake. I felt it was time for a change, so headed to a new swim... One that doesn't seem to get visited very often....

I decided to aim for the tench. The water was bubbling away merrily as I set up my gear.

I began by fishing the lift method in 2.5ft of water and was rewarded pretty swiftly with a chunky little greeny...

I also took a rather fat common on a method feeder

The Tench kept coming

Some pretty nice looking roach too (My big fat hand shown for scaling purposes... I do own a thumb....)

I had another run on the feeder rod and thought i'd hooked another decent tench. Then I saw a flash in the water and began to panic. I'd hooked one of the Ghostys!

A ten minute fight on 4lb line and she was in the net. 13lb 5oz of gorgeous Carp! My best fish since I began fishing again recently.

Most fish were taken on my hair rigged maggot/corn combo. It's a new rig for me and involves a size 10 hook with a hair, onto which a size 14 hook is tied. a piece of corn is threaded on the smaller hook. You then thread the maggots on and then turn the point of the hook into the corn to prevent any "double hooking". It work perfectly and it's a technique I intend to use again very soon. It seemed to work better than the korda maggot clips I tried later in the day.

I eventually changed the float for another feeder on a 10ft ledger rod (my first ever rod) and a £19.99 Drennan Red reel (superb for the money) I fished tight lines and watched the tips for signs of activity (of which there was plenty)

There's something about the sound of a clutch that just injects that dose of adrenalin around your body. The "unknown" factor is a real buzz and it's something I never tire of.

I can heartily recommend Felthorpe lakes. Steve and Charlotte are great hosts and they really look after their water.

Visit their site by clicking this link

I was rewarded with another Common towards end of play too...

So, all in all I had...

3 Carp
5 Tench
3 Good Roach (definitely the biggest i've ever caught)
Zillions of Perch....... :(

Light/Cheap/Old gear, basic baits, no bite alarms, no rod pods, no bait boats.... just simple fishing

You know what? In my eyes, it beats all that techno guff any day of the week ;)

Roll on the next session.